#Millions of liters of juice from 1 grapefruit (Nanowerk News) The Austrian Centre of Industrial biotechnology (acib) uses the positive aspects of synthetic biology for the ecofriendly production of a natural compound("Production of the sesquiterpenoid
(+)nootkatone by metabolic engineering of Pichia pastoris"."The challenge of the biotechnologists Tamara Wriessnegger and Harald Pichler in Graz was to produce Nootkatone in large quantities.
The substance is expensive (more than 4000 USD per kilo) and can be found only in minute quantities in grapefruits.
the acib method replaces chemical synthesis-an energy-consuming and anything but environmentally friendly process.
ability to conduct electricity and heat and many interesting optical, magnetic and chemical properties. However, early studies of the behavior of electrons in graphene were hampered by defects in the material.
it takes an increase in energy for the electron to continue flowing. As a result, they are reflected often,
This research outcome potentially allows for great flexibility in the design and optimization of electronic and optoelectronic devices like solar panels and telecommunication lasers.
This research outcome potentially allows for great flexibility in the design and optimization of electronic and optoelectronic devices like solar panels and telecommunication lasers.
All these properties combined make it a tremendous conductor of heat and electricity. A defect-free layer is also impermeable to all atoms and molecules.
because a jump between two tightly-packed stones requires less energy. A band gap is much the same;
Light is an electromagnetic field, and the field of single-color, or monochromatic light oscillates at all points in space with the same frequency but varying relative delays, or phases.
Polarization refers to the trajectory of the oscillations of the electromagnetic field at each point in space.
By 2020, the EU aims to have 10 per cent of the transport fuel of every EU country come from renewable sources such as biofuels.
which are crucial for enabling reactions in devices such as fuel cells or electrolyzers. Molecular electrocatalysts have the advantage of being relatively easy to tune by chemical treatment,
which is the universal electrode material in batteries and fuel cells, Surendranath says. By finding a way to make this material tunable in the same ways as molecular catalysts
In addition to their possible uses in fuel cells, such new catalysts could also be useful for enhancing chemical reactions,
Despite the fact that all the treatments produced similar plasma OT increases compared with placebo, there was a main effect of treatment on anger ratings of emotionally ambiguous faces.
A laser-driven plasma wave accelerates and wiggles electrons, giving rise to a brilliant kev X-ray emission. his so-called betatron radiation is emitted in a collimated beam with excellent spatial coherence and remarkable spectral stability.
First, the laser pulse ploughs through a plasma consisting of positively charged atomic cores and their electrons like a ship through water, producing a wake of oscillating electrons.
#MIT Invention Turns Salt water Into Drinking water Using Solar power From plants to people, every living thing on this planet needs water.
The group came up with a method that uses solar panels to charge a bank of batteries.
The batteries then power a system that removes salt from the water through electrodialysis. On the most basic level, that means that dissolved salt particles,
which have a slight electric charge, are drawn out of the water when a small electrical current is applied.
they have energy harvesting capabilities, and engineers can periodically wake them up to get fresh readings from the sensors and check for any changes.
but powering sensors--even really efficient sensors--requires some form of electric charging or battery replacement.
Renewable energy is tricky in tunnels, since the sun's rays don't reach that far. But each GENESI node and sensor includes a miniature wind turbine that harvests energy from passing trains.
For all other sensors, whether tucked away in tunnel walls or nestled in dark unlit crevices under bridges,
replacing batteries isn always the easiest task for humans, so that might be a future job for drones.
Currently cars are pieced together on long assembly lines inside large factories that use massive amounts of energy.
and the vaporisation part of the process doesn't require any electricity. This means the new method is both inexpensive and suitable for areas without a regular power supply-both factors that are very important for developing countries.
"Classified as a metamaterial because it displays properties that have yet to be found in nature,
tailored phase transitions could enable metamaterials to be adapted specifically for different needs in future, "says Heyderman.
'while the high-energy state where the magnets are strongly interacting with their neighbours allows for the movement of information through quantum dynamics.
using little energy at a low cost, it is now possible with Mexican technology, thanks to the creation of a solar cooling system designed by Susana Elvia Toledo Flores.
Solar energy heats the zeolite and increases the methanol vapor pressure, the refrigerant is condensed and stored in a tank flowing to the evaporator."
where there are areas without electricity and the system could adapt well to preserve their foods
The project was presented at the International Congress of Solar energy at Germany y
#Future antibiotic-making kit for amateurs? Kit could one day Be led by widely available Professor Jeffrey Bode of the Institute of Transformative Biomolecules at Nagoya University in Japan,
"This means we have demonstrated the most important step toward a hydrogen economy--producing distributed and affordable green hydrogen from local biomass resources,
and how it plays into the future of alternative energy production.""Joe Rollin, a former doctoral student of Zhang's at Virginia Tech and cofounder with Zhang of the start-up company Cell-free Bioinnovations, is the lead author on the paper.
the Virginia Tech team used dirty biomass--the husks and stalks of corn plants--to create their fuel.
Distribution of the hydrogen to users of fuel cell vehicles is another key challenge. Rollin's model increased reaction rates by threefold, decreasing the required facility size to about the size of a gas station,
and then, powered by solar energy, convert that carbon dioxide into valuable chemical products, including biodegradable plastics, pharmaceutical drugs and even liquid fuels.
which plants use the energy in sunlight to synthesize carbohydrates from carbon dioxide and water. However
and the Kavli Energy Nanosciences Institute (Kavli-ENSI) at Berkeley, is one of three corresponding authors of a paper describing this research in the journal Nano Letters.
Yet fossil fuels, especially coal, will remain a significant source of energy to meet human needs for the foreseeable future.
"In natural photosynthesis, leaves harvest solar energy and carbon dioxide is reduced and combined with water for the synthesis of molecular products that form biomass,
"says Chris Chang, an expert in catalysts for carbon-neutral energy conversions.""In our system, nanowires harvest solar energy and deliver electrons to bacteria,
where carbon dioxide is reduced and combined with water for the synthesis of a variety of targeted, value-added chemical products."
"By combining biocompatible light-capturing nanowire arrays with select bacterial populations, the new artificial photosynthesis system offers a win/win situation for the environment:
the Berkeley team achieved a solar energy conversion efficiency of up to 0. 38-percent for about 200 hours under simulated sunlight,
which uses gravity to save energy. We observed that the residual water in the container was pumped to reactor tank,
where it received a dosing of the dissociating elements in predetermined amounts. In this phase solid, organic and inorganic matter as well as heavy metals are removed by precipitation and gravity;
and a sludge settles at the bottom of the reactor. The latter is removed and examined to determine
under the sunlight, a small portion of solar energy(<1 percent) captured by chlorophyll is emitted as fluorescence.
or biocarbon that can be defined as a carbonaceous material obtained through thermal treatment of biomass at low temperatures and under inert atmosphere.
#An engineered surface unsticks sticky water droplets Enhancing the mobility of liquid droplets on rough surfaces has applications ranging from condensation heat transfer for heat exchangers in power plants to more efficient water harvesting in arid regions where collecting fog
According to financial reports, the global market for graphene reached $9 million in 2014 with most sales in the semiconductor, electronics, battery, energy,
According to financial reports, the global market for graphene reached $9 million in 2014 with most sales in the semiconductor, electronics, battery, energy,
Arrayby 2020, the EU aims to have 10 per cent of the transport fuel of every EU country come from renewable sources such as biofuels.
the so-called metamaterial exhibits phase transitions, much like those between steam, water and ice. This effect was observed by a team of researchers headed by Laura Heyderman from PSI."
the result of the new study also reveals that the PSI researchers'metamaterial would be a potential candidate here.
Thanks to a special measuring technique, the scientists initially studied the collective magnetic behaviour of their metamaterial at room temperature.
When the researchers cooled the metamaterial gradually and constantly, however, they reached a point where a higher order appeared:
tailored phase transitions could enable metamaterials to be adapted specifically for different needs in future, "explains Heyderman.
Besides its potential use in information transfer, the metamaterial might also prove useful in data storage or for sensors that measure magnetic fields.
and therefore the properties of the metamaterial, can only be conducted exclusively at PSI. The equipment at the S S,
The device is an'acoustic metamaterial a structure patterned with smaller features and designed to affect the acoustic waves that pass through it.
and then, powered by solar energy, convert that carbon dioxide into valuable chemical products, including biodegradable plastics, pharmaceutical drugs and even liquid fuels.
which plants use the energy in sunlight to synthesize carbohydrates from carbon dioxide and water. However
Yang, who also holds appointments with UC Berkeley and the Kavli Energy Nanosciences Institute (Kavli-ENSI) at Berkeley
Yet fossil fuels, especially coal, will remain a significant source of energy to meet human needs for the foreseeable future.
leaves harvest solar energy and carbon dioxide is reduced and combined with water for the synthesis of molecular products that form biomass,
says Chris Chang, an expert in catalysts for carbon-neutral energy conversions. n our system, nanowires harvest solar energy and deliver electrons to bacteria,
where carbon dioxide is reduced and combined with water for the synthesis of a variety of targeted, value-added chemical products.
By combining biocompatible light-capturing nanowire arrays with select bacterial populations, the new artificial photosynthesis system offers a win/win situation for the environment:
With this approach, the Berkeley team achieved a solar energy conversion efficiency of up to 0. 38-percent for about 200 hours under simulated sunlight,
where it began beating again after being fed with oxygenated blood and electrolytes. Without such help, surgeons consider hearts from dead donors too damaged to use. he device is vital.
The heart gets an absolutely essential infusion of blood to restore its energy, says Stephen Large, a surgeon at Papworth Hospital in the United kingdom,
Several privately funded companies and small university-based research groups pursuing novel fusion reactor designs have delivered promising results that could shorten the timeline for producing a prototype machine from decades to several years.
but the outlines of such a reactor can now be perceived. Traditional fusion research has centered on large, doughnut-shaped machines called tokamaks,
which exert powerful magnetic fields to compress high-temperature plasmaoiling balls of charged particles that fuse to form helium, releasing large amounts of energy in the process.
The challenge is to contain the hot plasma and keep it stable; the fusion reactors of today,
such as the one at the International Thermonuclear Experimental reactor (ITER) project in southern France, use giant coils of electromagnets that consume much more energy than the machine actually produces.
ITER (pronounced ater, which combines scientists and funding from China, the European union, India, Russia, Japan, South korea,
and the United states, is projected to cost dozens of billions of dollars to produce a working reactor sometime in the 2030s.
Two recent developments, offering new and faster pathways to energy-producing fusion reactors, have galvanized the fusion community.
Tri Alpha Energy based in Foothill Ranch, California, said in early August that it has succeeded in keeping a high-energy plasma stable for five millisecondsuch less than the blink of an eye,
but alf an eternityon the scale of fusion reactions, according to chief technology officer Michl Binderbauer. Tri Alpha, says Binderbauer,
such as the Large hadron collider, to bear on the problems of fusion reactors. Specifically, the team has built a device, 23 meters long,
that fires two clouds of plasma at each other to form a ring of plasma. The magnetic field that holds the ring together is generated by the plasma itself technique known as a field-reversed configuration.
The plasma is sustained by the injection of high-energy particles from accelerators. The challenge for Tri Alpha design, says Binderbauer,
is ot enough and long enough? keeping the plasma stable at a high-enough temperature to achieve energy-positive fusion.
The recent experiment indicated that the companyhich has attracted millions of dollars in funding from investors including Goldman sachs and Vulcan Inc,
Making the plasma hot enough is the next key challenge. Next year, Tri Alpha will begin building a new
At MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center, a group headed by Dennis Whyte a professor of nuclear science and engineering and the center director, published a conceptual design in July for a machine called the ARC reactor (ffordable, robust, compact.
The novelty of the ARC design is the nature of the electromagnets that confine the plasma.
Using recently developed, flexible superconducting tapes made of rare-earth barium copper oxide, the ARC reactor can achieve magnetic fields with much higher energyhus enabling a reactor design much smaller than other tokamak-based machines.
The researchers also envision a liquid lanketsurrounding the plasma that will absorb neutrons without damage
and provide an efficient heat-exchange medium to produce electricity. Increasing the amplitude of the surrounding magnetic field raises the amount of fusion power produced in the plasma to the fourth power dramatic increase that could lead to a commercial prototype in a matter of years,
according to Whyte. t well known that you can make very compact devices if you raise the magnetic field to very high levels,
he says, ut the electromagnets had to be coppero superconductor could tolerate that magnetic field. Now the advent of advanced superconductor tapes could enable a compact reactor that produces fusion continuously.
Published in Fusion Engineering and Design, the ARC reactor paper stresses that, for the moment, it a conceptual design only.
Whyte is hoping to attract funding to build an experimental machine over the next few years.
but also Tokamak Energy Ltd.,based in England, and Vancouver-based General Fusion, are working on related
Jonathan Menard, a plasma physicist at the Princeton Plasma physics Laboratory, directs the National Spherical Torus Experiment,
designed to hold a camera, LED light, an integrated circuit for receiving control instructions and transmitting data, antenna, 1. 5v button battery and, at the rear, the drive unit, to
Their chunky, bright orange soles are made of an elaborate flexible grid of interwoven fibres which resembles a crushed honeycomb.
The tubes act as scaffolding for the grid of fabric to be built on top. To make the structure rigid
#Revolutionary tidal fence is set to trap the sea power A British company has announced plans for an array of unique marine turbines that can operate in shallower and slower-moving water than current designs.
Kepler Energy, whose technology is being developed by Oxford university department of engineering science, says the turbines will in time produce electricity more cheaply than offshore wind farms.
It hopes to install its new design in what is called a tidal energy fence, one kilometre long, in the Bristol Channel#an estuary dividing South Wales from the west of England#at a cost of £143m.
The fence is a string of linked turbines each of which will start generating electricity as it is completed,
until the whole array is producing power. The fence total output is 30 megawatts (MW),
and 1mw can supply around 1, 000 homes in the UK. Peter Dixon, Kepler chairman, told Reuters news agency:
And just to visualise that, it like one small nuclear reactor worth of electricity being generated from the tides in the Bristol Channel. he new Transverse Horizontal Axis Water turbine (THAWT)
Because the turbines sit horizontally beneath the surface of the sea they can be sited in water shallower than the 30-metre depth typically required by current designs.
There is more good news for proponents of renewable energy after the UK government #which is no longer encouraging onshore wind
and solar energy#gave the go-ahead for a large offshore wind farm that could provide power for up to two million homes.
The new wind farm is to be built near the Dogger Bank in the North sea and will have 400 turbines.
Its developers say it could create almost 5, 000 jobs during construction. And, earlier this year, they obtained planning consent for another installation nearby which,
with the new development, will form one of the largest offshore wind farms in the world. But the fossil fuel industry is far from abandoning its own interest in British waters as the energy giant BP has announced that it is to invest about £670m to extend the life of its North sea assets.
It said it would be drilling new wells replacing undersea infrastructure, and introducing new technologies to help it to produce as much as possible from the area,
#Gallium nitride and Sol-Gel Transistors to Change Electronics and Energy consumption August 5, 2015-Graphene is seen as a material that is altering our technical world.
The Gallium nitride Energy revolution is About to Happencambridge Electronics, Inc. CEI), whose motto is"Dream it.
"is a Massachusetts company on a mission to reduce energy consumption while giving energy users access to all the familiar technology they want and need.
How can it achieve this promise? Through a new semiconductor material, gallium nitride (Gan. Already being used in LED light bulbs, television and computer displays,
and mobile phones, Gan has efficient light emission capability, something silicon cannot duplicate. But silicon remains the defacto material of choice semidconductors
It also means huge savings for energy utilities who will benefit not only from the use of Gan in power generating equipment
a material that cuts power consumption by more than 90%,produces the same or better levels of performance,
solar power inverters, industrial motor controllers, and other electronics will produce $900 billion in energy savings annually by 2025.
That's impressive. But don't count silicon out just yet. That's our next story.
Sporting higher energy density than lithium-ion we may even see batteries made with this material.
Performance of sol-gel thin film electrodes at Georgia Tech's laboratories has exceeded all existing commercial electrolytic capacitors and thin-film lithium-ion batteries.
but to the best of our knowledge, this is the fist time these two types of materials have been combined into high-density energy storage devices...
this is the first time I've seen a capacitor beat a battery on energy density.""The research into sol-gel supercapacitors appeared in the July 14th edition of the journal, Advanced Energy Materials.
Now the question becomes, can the materials be scaled up and become cost competitive. Essays and comments posted in World Future Society
2015-Yesterday the President of the United states released the revised Clean Power Plan with a focus on fossil-fuel burning power plants.
Because these power plants are the largest carbon dioxide (CO2) emitters in the U s. contributing 31%of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
and Research (BMBF) hydraulic engineering experts of KIT built an underground cave power station. For the first time they succeeded in completely filling a karst cave with water.
In 2010 they handed the cave power station over to the Indonesian authorities. The plant can supply 80000 people with water.
By a pipeline system fecal sludge of the hospital enters a two-stage unaerobic reactor where it is mixed with biowaste.
Bacteria decompose the mixture and produce among others the energy-rich gas of methane. It is used then for the gas stoves in the kitchen of the hospital.
The ability to mold inorganic nanoparticles out of materials such as gold and silver in precisely designed 3d shapes is a significant breakthrough that has the potential to advance laser technology microscopy solar cells electronics environmental testing disease
This capability should open up entirely new strategies for fields ranging from computer miniaturization to energy and pathogen detection.
this area of research could revolutionise renewable energy production. Working in collaboration with researchers at the University of Sheffield,
and replace them with synthetic components to create a new generation of solar cells. Evans concludes:"
--whether it is for energy capture, or to create artificial noses for the early detection of disease
The energy generated by the sun and transferred to the fiber-optic cable system--similar in some ways to a data transmission line--can heat up the reaction chamber to over 600 degrees Fahrenheit to treat the waste material disinfect pathogens in both feces and urine and produce char.
and provides energy comparable to that of commercial charcoal. Linden is working closely with project co-investigators Professor R. Scott Summers of environmental engineering and Professor Alan Weimer chemical and biological engineering and a team of postdoctoral fellows professionals graduate students undergraduates
While the idea of concentrating solar energy is not new transmitting it flexibly to a customizable location via fiber-optic cables is the really unique aspect of this project.
and solar energy work environmental engineers for waste treatment and stabilization mechanical engineers to build actuators and moving parts and electrical engineers to design control systems Linden said.
Tests have shown that each of the eight fiber-optic cables can produce between 80 and 90 watts of energy meaning the whole system can deliver up to 700 watts of energy into the reaction chamber said Linden.
In late December tests at CU-Boulder showed the solar energy directed into the reaction chamber could easily boil water
and energy on our team and the Gates Foundation values that Linden said. It is one thing to do research another to screw on nuts and bolts
because we have a high interest in developing countries and expertise in all of the renewable energy technologies as well as sanitation.
and can save irrigation water labor energy and fertilizer. The authors of a report published in Horttechnology said that the use of sensor-based irrigation technology can also accelerate container and greenhouse plant production time.
Sensor-based irrigation systems substitute capital for water and associated inputs such as energy labor and fertilizer the authors explained.
#Safe drinking water Via Solar power Desalination Natasha Wright, an MIT Phd student in mechanical engineering, has designed a solar powered system that makes water safe to drink for rural, off-grid Indian villages.
their designs are intended to be powered grid. When operating off the grid, these systems are not cost-effective,
essentially blocking disconnected, rural villages from using them. Wright solution offers an alternative to grid power:
She designed a village-scale desalination system that runs on solar power. Since her system is powered by the sun,
operational and maintenance costs are fairly minimal: The system requires an occasional cartridge filter change,
#More than 80%Efficiency Attained in New Ultralow-power Circuit Researchers at MIT developed a new ultralow-power circuit that improves efficiency of energy harvesting to more than 80 percent.
however, will require extremely low-power sensors that can run for months without battery changes or, even better, that can extract energy from the environment to recharge.
Last week, at the Symposia on VLSI Technology And circuits, MIT researchers presented a new power converter chip that can harvest more than 80 percent of the energy trickling into it,
even at the extremely low power levels characteristic of tiny solar cells. Previous experimental ultralow-power converters had efficiencies of only 40 or 50 percent.
Moreover, the researcherschip achieves those efficiency improvements while assuming additional responsibilities. Where its predecessors could use a solar cell to either charge a battery
or directly power a device, this new chip can do both, and it can power the device directly from the battery.
All of those operations also share a single inductor the chip main electrical component which saves on circuit board space
Nonetheless, the chip power consumption remains low. e still want to have battery-charging capability, and we still want to provide a regulated output voltage,
Ups and downs The circuit chief function is to regulate the voltages between the solar cell, the battery,
If the battery operates for too long at a voltage that either too high or too low
since the rate at which it dissipates energy as heat is proportional to the square of the current.
and falls depends on the voltage generated by the solar cell, which is highly variable. So the timing of the switch throws has to vary, too.
whose selection is determined by the solar cell voltage. Once again, when the capacitor fills, the switches in the inductor path are flipped. n this technology space,
because there a fixed amount of energy that consumed by doing the work, says Brett Miwa,
and the technique is much more detailed by looking at energies involved scientists can see many other things about the molecule,
not including battery), the robot is built entirely from off-the-shelf parts. The robot's operator watches the Trakür's progress through a cheap security camera mounted on its hood, for example."
and the country's National Atomic energy commission (CNEA, in Spanish) is pushing forward with the design of a small, low-cost atomic energy reactor called CAREM.
a technology that replaces the oil-based feedstock for part of the synthetic rubber-making process with renewable biomass.
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