#Scientists develop process to make inexpensive synthetic gas Synthetic gas would be much better for the environment.
We are still massively dependent on fossil fuels even though they are limited a resource. But, a team of scientists at the University of Illinois at Chicago have figured out#a way to make synthetic gas inexpensively,
using carbon dioxide and carbon nanofibers.####The first step in the process of creating synthetic gas requires the conversion of carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide.
Many scientists have attempted this before, but previous experiments always required silver, along with an ionic liquid (like a salt solution), to trigger the reaction.
The use of silver is obviously too expensive to make synthetic gas a feasible option for commercial use,
The facility is a series of small buildings in the shadow of the looming Orot Rabin power station on Israel s northern coastline.
Trainees mostly IT and systems workers from energy and infrastructure companies sit in the##defence room##experiencing the hacks in real time
Energy Minister Silvan Shalom, who attended Cyber Gym s inauguration, was equally enigmatic.####We can t give you any specific details,
and attach the crash-proof bumper/battery pack to the front. That front piece also has Bluetooth capabilities,
The battery charges via mini USB and lasts for 10 minutes of continuous flight. The app itself gives you a pilot s view, complete with a range indicator, a thrust level indicator,
#Will 3d printing bring space-based solar power to reality? Spiderfab 3-D robotic printer Since the 1970##s, space-based solar power has been a futuristic fantasy
but the advent of 21st#century 3-D printing may bring it a step closer to reality.
It would##enable construction of large support structures for systems such as multi-hundred-kilowatt solar arrays, large solar sails,
##For#space-based solar power (SBSP), there would be two basic steps, Hoyt explained. First, the 3-D printer would build a carbon fiber truss structure that would act as a frame for the system.
if concentrating solar power was being deployed.####We haven t yet looked in detail at space-based solar,
But a just-completed design analysis for a 300-kilowatt orbital solar array verified that Spiderfab can provide the projected tenfold decrease in stowed volume
TUI also developed a lab version of the device that would fabricate the truss structure in that analysis.##Geostationary solar could produce baseload electricity for 99 percent of the hours of the year,
Terrestrial solar arrays have achieved grid parity Davis said, but without storage they cannot provide the baseload power utilities need.
And#the cost of storage#to provide that service will##double or triple our electricity rates.##
##The Solar High Group is working##to put together a consortium of government and industry, ##Davis said.
They looked at technology feasibility, environmental impact, land use, manpower needs, energy payback, and estimated costs and confirmed the concept was##technically feasible with no new science
The microwave transmission that would deliver SBSP s electricity from an orbiting antenna to terrestrial rectennas would be##2 million times the power of that produced by the microwave oven.##
##and Lobbyists who protect#other energy sources subsidies#who would be##out of their jobs###The term 3-D printing has become a catch-all for a number of purposes
along with 18 zero emission motors powered by six battery packs. Its frame is created from carbon fiber to keep the aircraft lightweight and It seats two people.
There s no battery on board. For the time being, the flying jellyfish is tethered to a power cord. What s most remarkable about the device,
Of course, any practically useful version of the jellyfish would have to carry a small battery and a navigation system##right now,
swapping out parts like the battery and camera until users have#a phone that s#just for them.
#Heat from subways to warm homes in London London s subway will be supplying green energy to warm up more homes around the borough.
which has provided already green energy for 700 homes in the borough. The London Underground vent from a Northern Line station will supply most of the heat,
low cost energy in other parts of the capital because we have dotted electricity substations throughout London
this heat-recycling project could account for 25 percent of London s energy by 2025. This London project is part of the larger European union CELSIUS project
and turning it into useable energy. Photo credit: Bloomberg Via psfk Share Thissubscribedel. icio. usfacebookredditstumbleupontechnorat e
the magnetic field induces a flow of power that charges the batteries. Stationary inductive chargers for electric vehicles typically use sensors to ensure that the receiver coils on the vehicle are aligned above wireless charging pads correctly.
Dynamic wireless power transfer could also be used for robots. The techniques that the NCSU researchers used for dynamic EV charging have already been applied in some consumer electronics,
#The death of coal in America Train carrying coal to a power plant. The Great Energy Shift is happening in spurts
and is starting in places like Arizona and Mississippi instead of coming from legislation in Washington. Last week two two utilities faced decisions on whether to fight the future or embrace it.##
running a fleet of coal fired power plants that have long been the source of cheap electricity. But yesterday, the TVA board of directors voted to shutter eight of those power plants
taking 3, 000 megawatts of carbon-intensive electricity off the grid in the face of intense opposition from coal miners and politicians decrying##Obama s war on coal.##
###That s the equivalent electricity production of three huge nuclear power plants.####These were difficult recommendations to make as they directly impact our employees and communities,
##TVA chief executive Bill Johnson said in a statement.####TVA must respond immediately to challenging trends in lower power demand, a slow economy, uncertainty in commodity pricing,
So the TVA directors voted to transform the utility into a power provider that will obtain a majority of its electricity from carbon-free sources.
coal will provide 20 percent of the utility s electricity in the future, down from 38 percent today.
Nuclear power plants will generate 40 percent of electricity while natural gas will supply another 20 percent. The remaining 20 percent will be supplied by renewable sources,
including hydropower, and energy efficiency measures. Meanwhile, in Arizona yesterday, the state s utility regulator turned back a request by Arizona Public service (APS) to#impose steep new fees on homeowners who install solar panels#on their roofs.
It s a battle being fought elsewhere in the country as utilities grapple with an existential threat to their century-old business model.
As more customers generate their own electricity utilities face declining revenues while still retaining responsibility for paying for the transmission system.
In Arizona, for instance, there were 900 solar arrays installed on Arizona residential rooftops in January 2009. By June of this year, that number had grown to 18,000 with 500 more photovoltaic systems being installed each month.
Under a regulatory scheme known as net metering, homeowners receive a credit for the solar electricity they send to the grid that is used to pay for the power they use
when the sun isn t shining. In Arizona, that credit is calculated at retail rates and APS argued that penalized homeowners who don t go solar as the utility will be forced to raise their rates to pay for the transmission system
##As a result of net metering, residential customers with rooftop solar do not pay for most of the electric service they use,
the expansion of solar capacity meant the utility saved money by not having to build additional power plants and transmission lines.
stick it to consumers and bolster its bottom line,##Rhone Resch, chief executive of the Solar energy Industries Association,
The Coin s battery life is said to last two years, which is about the normal expiration date for credit/debit cards anyway.
Beijing#is focused especially on security for government, energy, transport, and finance networks. In August, the#National Development and Reform Commission,#China s top economic planning body, published a statement setting cybersecurity standards for financial institutions, cloud computing and big data, information system secrecy
Its included suction cup mount has an##energy antenna##embedded inside to gather electromagnetic activity (such as from#Wi-fi signals) to translate for use as power,
along with its own internal battery. Currently, Sono is still in prototype stage and is not ready for production,
#Off-grid solar is the next big market in clean energy Off-grid solar The off-grid clean energy market is booming.
half the planet s population may be served best with pay-as-you-go solar technology, not grid services.
That s clean tech s next big frontier, according to energy expert Ted Hesser. I caught up with him after a recent presentation at Stanford university (video below) to get a better understanding of why he s bullish on pay-as-you-go solar s ability to end energy poverty
##and to make investors a whole lot of money. Ted s thesis is simple: poverty and profit tend not to mix##except
when it comes to solar power for the poor. The best way to understand this is to consider the case of a villager in Tanzania.
and polluting energy sources like kerosene (or even worse, candles). Selling cheap basic services like solar electricity into this market through#micropayment schemes#is
what makes pay-as-you-go solar not only economically viable, but perhaps the largest opportunity in energy services worldwide.
After all,#small is big. But just because the alternative is expensive, that doesn t make solar an automatic solution.
money loaded onto cell phones that the poor can use to pay for services like energy.
For much of the world s poor, access to mobile networks has surpassed access to#energy, water and even basic sanitation#leaving an estimated 550 million people with phones who can t even charge them on a regular basis.
For more on this topic, listen to#last week s episode#of the Energy Gang podcast.
and consume almost no energy##it s all about mass manufacturing and deployment. That s why Bryzek is shooting for one trillion by 2020.
the Milton Keynes pod cars will run on electricity, returning to their charging stations between fares.
#Replacing batteries with super capacitors: Volvo s quest to create the ultimate electric vehicle The battery is the biggest limitation for electric vehicles (EV.#
#Tesla, General motors, Nissan and others install heavy batteries that limit vehicle range and performance. The batteries take up as much as 15%of the vehicle s total weight.##
##So Swedish automobile maker,#Volvo#(now owned by China s#Geely Holding#Group) decided to dispense with the battery entirely,
substituting a super capacitor made from advanced carbon fiber-based nanomaterials that can be integrated into the body panels of the vehicle.
Volvo has chosen the S80 model to demonstrate this concept. The vehicles side body, doors, hood
and roof panels are made of nanomaterial (see image below) that replaces the electric batteries used by conventional EVS.
A single body panel like the hood can easily supply all the energy needed to run the vehicle s internal electronics.
but it is encouraged by early tests which show that the material stores energy much faster than conventional batteries.
but also 52%that is being incinerated for##energy recovery##purposes, i e.,, generating heat or electric power.####If we burn the plastic,
we generate toxins and a large amount of CO2. If we convert it into oil, we save CO2
To convert that amount takes about 1 kwh of electricity, which is approximately#20 or 20 cents worth.
#Electric power without transmission lines Hundreds of companies are investing in electricity transferred through magnetic fields. Nikola Tesla, the inventor and rival to Thomas Edison, in the early 1900##s built the Wardenclyffe Tower, a 187-foot-high structure on Long island,
which he said could transmit electricity wirelessly. Financier J. Morgan backed the Wardenclyffe Tower. The project failed,
and electricity flowed from faucets when turned on. Oops.####Fast-forward over a century, and wireless electricity is finally gaining some traction.
More than one hundred companies including startups such as Witricity and Proxybypower and giants such as Toyota (TM), Intel (INTC), Samsung,
to take the wires out of the power equation by transmitting electricity through magnetic fields. When in the atmosphere, electricity exists as a magnetic field.
The trick is to capture it safely to recharge devices. Today s electric toothbrushes charge wirelessly##as power is transmitted through a magnetic field from the charger to the brush.
##which means electricity can be moved farther distances without a wire. The way it works: Two devices resonate at the same frequency
##We all love electricity and are willing to do almost anything to get it. It will be the last thing to go wireless,
Because electricity moves through the air as magnetic waves that are similar to the earth s magnetic waves,
powered by solar technology. The defense contractor is hoping to sell its spy rocks for surveillance, border protection
and other forms of passive energy, our future water networks will be operate with far more efficiency and convenience than anything imaginable today.
After many years of development and testing, the WMS1000 (shown above) became the world first wind turbine able to produce 1, 000 liters of water a day from air condensation.
and is designed to work with PV solar panels and batteries, to continually generate water even in emergency situations.
#Battery-free Wifi devices that run on radio waves What if devices could pull enough power wirelessly from the air to run themselves
we must provide connectivity to the potentially billions of battery-free devices that will be embedded in everyday objects,
so that it can can carry the battery, electronic centers, and all the other things necessary for autonomous flight.
In theory, they would just have to come back to something to recharge their batteries. But we re very early on in working this out.
That s important for the battery and other electronics and sensors. Once the robot can stay aloft on its own,
increasing its battery life, and making it fly faster. Then there are a whole host of issues to work out dealing with wireless communications s
#China and India race to fully harness thorium for nuclear power Thorium is an alternative to uranium as a way of doing nuclear fission.
and more sustainable sources of nuclear energy to provide our electricity. And just like in a Hollywood movie,
thorium has taken almost 200 years to be taken seriously as an energy contender. After a period in the 1950s and 1960s in which it flirted with thorium,
has announced plans to build a thorium-based nuclear reactor by 2016. But it faces competition from China,
where the schedule to deliver a thorium-based nuclear power plant was overhauled recently, meaning scientists in Shanghai have been told to deliver such a facility within the next ten years.
While thorium nuclear exploration is had not New britain its own reactor in Dorset carrying out tests 40 years ago the will to make it a viable energy source is growing stronger.
because an overheating thorium reactor can be switched simply off, avoiding the problem that occurred at Fukushima, for instance.
meaning it cannot be split to release energy alone, but when exposed to neutrons it will react to produce a particular isotope of uranium (U-233) that becomes the nuclear fuel.
and produces less waste than the usual uranium power plant reaction that generates plutonium, which can be used to make weapons.
people are going to want more and more energy. Although they re building lots of coal fired power stations, they re also looking at other ways of generating power.
And many supporters of green energy believe the nuclear equation should be abandoned not solved. But Prof Barlow thinks those campaigning solely for alternative energy sources such as wind
and solar are missing the bigger picture. If you re trying to move to a low-carbon fuel economy,
And nuclear power has got to be part of that basket t
#Researchers develop new process that raises prospects of 3d printed bone grafts 3d printing could help mend broken bones.
in order to take advantage of the sun s energy, or grow indoors with the help of artificial lights. Vertical farming is promising
and energy and improve crop yield. It takes advantage of the vertical space of city buildings rather than turning over wide expanses of land to agriculture and uses advanced greenhouse technology:
The cost of growing Vertical farming s biggest limitation is energy consumption. Considerable energy is required to power a closed, indoor greenhouse facility s artificial lighting, heating and cooling
and hydroponic or aeroponic growing systems. The amount of energy required per unit of product is an important factor for ensuring
not only that the farm is sustainable, but that it is economically viable. Recently, more and more studies have focused on pairing solar panels
and wind turbines with greenhouses to provide self-generated renewable electricity on-site. But the single technology that will be key to making vertical farms possible is lighting.
New LED light technology is the key that makes it possible to build vertically integrated farms.
and reduces transmission losses. They re also physically small, have a long service life, lower power consumption, generate less heat,
and can produce light of varying intensity. Because it produces less heat, the light can be moved closer to the plants.
This increases efficiency, not just in terms of energy use but by allowing layers of growing plants to be packed more densely, making more efficient use of space.
#Imprint Energy is developing flexible, printed batteries for wearable devices Ultrathin zinc-polymer battery. Imprint Energy is developing flexible,
rechargeable batteries that can be printed cheaply on commonly used industrial screen printers. The California startup has been testing its ultrathin zinc-polymer batteries in wrist-worn devices
and hopes to sell them to manufacturers of wearable electronics, medical devices, smart labels, and environmental sensors.
The company s approach is meant to make the batteries safe for on-body applications, while their small size and flexibility will allow for product designs that would have been impossible with bulkier lithium-based batteries.
Even in small formats the batteries can deliver enough current for low-power wireless communications sensors, distinguishing them from other types of thin batteries.
The company recently secured $6 million in funding from Phoenix Venture Partners, as well as AME Cloud Ventures, the venture fund of Yahoo cofounder Jerry Yang, to further develop its proprietary chemistry and finance the batteries commercial launch.
Previous investors have included CIA-backed venture firm In-Q-Tel and Dow chemical. The batteries are based on research that company cofounder Christine Ho began as a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley,
where she collaborated with a researcher in Japan to produce microscopic zinc batteries using a 3-D printer.
The batteries that power most laptops and smartphones contain lithium which is highly reactive and has to be protected in ways that add size and bulk.
While zinc is more stable, the water-based electrolytes in conventional zinc batteries cause zinc to form dendrites,
branch-like structures that can grow from one electrode to the other, shorting the battery.
Ho developed a solid polymer electrolyte that avoids this problem, and also provides greater stability,
and greater capacity for recharging. Brooks Kincaid, the company s cofounder and president, says the batteries combine the best features of thin-film lithium batteries and printed batteries.
Such thin-film batteries tend to be rechargeable but they contain the reactive element, have limited capacity,
and are expensive to manufacture. Printed batteries are nonrechargeable, but they are cheap to make, typically use zinc,
and offer higher capacity. Working with zinc has afforded the company manufacturing advantages. Because of zinc s environmental stability, the company did need not the protective equipment required to make oxygen-sensitive lithium batteries.
When we talk about the things that constrain us in terms of the development of new products, there s really two that
I lose the most sleep over these days. One is batteries and one is displays, says Steven Holmes, vice president of the New Devices Group and general manager of the Smart Device Innovation team at Intel.
Despite demand for flexible batteries, Ho says no standard has been developed for measuring their flexibility, frustrating customers who want to compare chemistries.
So the company built its own test rig and began benchmarking its batteries against commercial batteries that claimed to be flexible.
Existing batteries failed catastrophically after fewer than 1, 000 bending cycles, she says, while Imprint s batteries remained stable.
Imprint has also been in talks about the use of its batteries in clothes andweird parts of your body like your eye
Ho says. The company also recently began working on a project funded by the U s. military to make batteries for sensors that would monitor the health status of soldiers.
Other potential applications include powering smart labels with sensors for tracking food and packages. Via Technology Review Share Thissubscribedel. icio. usfacebookredditstumbleupontechnorat t
#Mcor Technologies improves their paper-based, full-color 3d printer Mcor Iris 3d printer Most people think 3d printing involves a machine that either extrudes molten plastic, in a way similar to how a hot glue gun works,
or think of one of the larger industrial level 3d printers manufactured by 3d systems or Stratasys.
#Project proposals nearly double California s energy storage target Energy storage On paper, California s push to transform the market for grid-scale energy storage is working even better than expected.##
##Last year,#California created a mandate#calling for 1, 325 megawatts of energy storage projects by 2020,
to be scaled up every two years. The first installment of proposals due this year adds up to 200 megawatts.
As of mid-2014, more than 2, 000 megawatts of energy storage projects have applied to interconnect with the state s grid, according to recent data from state grid operator California ISO (PDF.
The list includes 1, 669 megawatts of standalone battery storage, 44 megawatts of other standalone storage,
255 megawatts of batteries combined with generation projects, and a 90-megawatt project combining solar and batteries.
They are all seeking interconnection under the initiative scluster 7 window, which closed on April 30, 2014.
when wind and solar power interconnection requests added up to enough projects to supply three times the mandate s needs.
and discharges electricity, unlike traditional generation resources that only produce power, she said. That may sound like a simple problem to solve,
CAISO is also working on fitting energy storage into its new rules for#flexible, multi-hour grid resources#to help it manage the so-called#duck curve problem.
when lots of distributed solar generation pushes midday energy use way down, then fades away just as a steep rise in evening energy usage sets in.
How many hours of continuous ramp should these flexible resources provide? And should smaller-scale storage be aggregated into larger blocks for multi-hour availability?
Energy storage paired with solar and wind power accounts for a growing portion of the capacity now being proposed,
which further complicates how it should be treated. Finally, CAISO isn t ruling out the potential for distribution-grid-connected,
energy storage to play a role in grid markets and programs. That brings the state s utilities into the picture,
It uses electric charge to separate semiconducting nanotubes useful for transistors from those that conduct electricity like metals
where it is used as a source of energy. This means an imbalance in blood sugar not only starves blood vessels
and organs of energy but also keeps the blood saturated with glucose, which can cause tissue damage and sometimes lead to coma or even death.
and it wastes massive amounts of energy in the process. An app called Comfy is trying to put temperature control back in the hands of employees.
Though the new app might seem at first like it would use more energy, since any employee can trigger it to work at will,
we re saving an enormous amount of energy. As someone uses the app, they can also see what preferences their coworkers have.
This is a bold move by HP. The ability to process large amounts of data with little energy consumption plus nonvolatile memory could be a game changer on the hardware side.
and take over the server world just for the energy savings alone. Pricing will be the adoption issue for consumer mobile devices.
#Electric car travels over 1, 100 miles without a recharge on a new aluminum-air battery Together the Israeli company, Phinergy,
#The Phinergy aluminum-air battery at 100 kilograms (220 pounds) weight contained enough on board energy to allow the vehicle to travel up to 3, 000 kilometers (over 1, 860 miles.
Compare that to the best, current lithium-ion batteries in the Tesla Model S sedan.
and the on board battery weighs 5 times as much. How does an aluminum-air battery work?
They use an air-electrode capable of breathing ambient air and extracting the oxygen from it.
Compare this to traditional batteries which store and release oxygen from chemicals contained in a liquied or solid cathode.
An air battery doesn need t to replace or recharge its cathode. And an air battery is far lighter.
The combination means significantly more power for a longer period of time. Phinergy batteries use a porous electrode with a large surface area that captures the oxygen from ambient air.
The electrode also contains a silver-based catalyst that doesn t let CO2 interact with it.
This unique and proprietary catalyst solves a common problem in air-battery technology carbonization caused by CO2 permeating the electrode.
To make the aluminum-air battery even more economical they are produced in areas where electrical energy capacity
In the case of the demonstration EV this week, the battery was forged at the Alcoa smelter in Baie-Comeau,
Quebec where the company can draw on a significant hydroelectric power resource. Aluminum-air batteries do break down over time.
As they drain the metal turns into aluminum hydroxide. When spent the entire battery can be recycled to forge new aluminum-air batteries.
For the air-battery operator it will mean swapping out the old battery for a new one every few months.
This could be done at service centres which would keep an inventory of these batteries in supply.
Tesla#demonstrated its plans#for charging and swap out service centres back in July of last year.
In the Tesla demo the battery was swapped out in 90 seconds. So this notion of a quick battery replacement service that is as fast as refilling a conventional gas
or diesel tank seems very doable. In the case of the test car demonstrated at the#Canadian International Aluminum Conference#on Wednesday in Montreal,
it was outfitted with both an aluminum-air and lithium-ion battery system. The notion behind this was that the EV could run on its lithium-ion charge
but when used for longer trips the aluminum-air battery would kick in. To feed the chemical reaction from the aluminum-air battery drivers using a test car like this would add tap water every month
or two to feed the chemical reaction. Phinergy is also experimenting with other metal-air technologies.
They have developed a zinc-air battery that has some advantages over aluminum. Zinc-air is extremely durable.
A battery can last thousands of hours without chemical deterioration. The company hopes to see metal-air batteries made with aluminum
and zinc become the primary storage devices for transportation, for backing up renewable power sites, for electronic devices and for industry and defense.
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