Off-the-shelf Dyes Improve Solar Cells
Like most technologies, work on solar devices has proceeded in generational waves. First came bulk silicon-based solar cells built with techniques that borrowed heavily from those used to make computer chips. Next came work on thin films of materials specifically tailored to harvest the sun’s energy, but still more or less borrowed from the realm of microelectronics manufacturing. Then came the third generation, described by one researcher and blogger as “the wild west,” which among other objectives aims to build inexpensive next-generation solar cells by relying on decidedly low-tech wet chemistry.
In a paper in the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, which is published by the American Institute of Physics, Ram Mehra of Sharda University in Greater Noida, India, reports success in boosting the ability of zinc oxide solar cells to absorb visible light simply by applying a blended mixture of various off-the-shelf dyes commonly used in food and medical industries. Working with colleagues from the University of Delhi, Mehra doused cells with a variety of dyes in a soak-then-dry procedure not unlike that used to color a tee-shirt in a home washing machine. (more…)
Electricity Collected from the Air Could Become the Newest Alternative Energy Source
Powering homes with electricity collected from the air may be possible after scientists report solving a centuries old riddle about how moisture in the atmosphere becomes electrically charged. (Credit: Martin Fischer)
Imagine devices that capture electricity from the air ? much like solar cells capture sunlight ? and using them to light a house or recharge an electric car. Imagine using similar panels on the rooftops of buildings to prevent lightning before it forms. Strange as it may sound, scientists already are in the early stages of developing such devices, according to a report presented here today at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS).
“Our research could pave the way for turning electricity from the atmosphere into an alternative energy source for the future,” said study leader Fernando Galembeck, Ph.D. His research may help explain a 200-year-old scientific riddle about how electricity is produced and discharged in the atmosphere. “Just as solar energy could free some households from paying electric bills, this promising new energy source could have a similar effect,” he maintained.
“If we know how electricity builds up and spreads in the atmosphere, we can also prevent death and damage caused by lightning strikes,” Galembeck said, noting that lightning causes thousands of deaths and injuries worldwide and millions of dollars in property damage.
The notion of harnessing the power of electricity formed naturally has tantalized scientists for centuries. They noticed that sparks of static electricity formed as steam escaped from boilers. Workers who touched the steam even got painful electrical shocks. Famed inventor Nikola Tesla, for example, was among those who dreamed of capturing and using electricity from the air. (more…)
Powering Australia with Waves
Coledale Beach south of Sydney, New South Wales
Wave energy is surging ahead as a viable source of renewable energy to generate electricity — with Australia’s southern margin identified by the World Energy Council as one of the world’s most promising sites for wave-energy generation.
One problem for wave-energy developers, however, is that previous estimates of wave-energy potential are based on information in deep ocean water, while “wave-energy generation systems are typically positioned near to shore,” says physical oceanographer Mark Hemer of Australia’s CSIRO Wealth for Oceans National research flagship.
In a paper in the AIP’s Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, Hemer and colleague David Griffin provide new estimates of the wave-energy potential of Australia’s near-shore regions. They also calculate how much of Australia’s energy needs could be obtained from wave energy alone. Australia’s present-day electricity consumption is 130,000 gigawatt-hours/year. Hemer and Griffin show that if 10 percent of the near-shore wave energy available along Australia’s Southern coastline could be converted into electricity, half of the country’s present-day electricity consumption would be met. (more…)
Hydrogen, Possible Fuel of the Future, Causes Metal to Break
A researcher installs an enviromental chamber in the special laboratory in which metals' susceptibility to stress corrosion can be tested. (Credit: Fraunhofer IWM)
Most likely, there is hardly a soul that cannot recall K.I.T.T. – the legendary talking supercar from the US television series “Knight Rider”. A hydrogen turbo motor fuels the fantasy vehicle and propels it on the chase for the bad guys at over 300 miles an hour. In the future, cars may be equipped with hydrogen propulsion not just in the movies, but in real life as well.
In the transportation and energy sectors, hydrogen is viewed as an eventual alternative to the raw materials of fossil-fuel power, such as coal, petroleum and natural gas. However, for metals like steel, aluminum and magnesium - which are commonly used in automotive and energy technology – hydrogen is not quite ideal. It can make these metals brittle; the ductility of the metal becomes reduced. Its durability deteriorates. This can lead to sudden failure of parts and components. Beside the fuel tank itself, or parts of the fuel cell, but ordinary components like ball bearings could also be affected. These are found not only in the car, but also in almost all industrial machinery.
This lightest of the chemical elements permeates the raw materials of which the vehicle is made not only when filling the tank, but also through various manufacturing processes. Hydrogen can infiltrate the metal lattice through corrosion, or during chromium-plating of car parts. Infiltration may likewise occur during welding, milling or pressing. The result is always the same: the material may tear or break without warning. (more…)
DOE Designates Center for Ocean Energy Technology a National Center
This is a rendering of a 20kW multi-use research turbine under development at FAU’s Center for Ocean Energy Technology which will be a platform to test and develop new ocean current technologies. (Florida Atlantic University)
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has designated the Center for Ocean Energy Technology (COET) at Florida Atlantic University as a national center for ocean energy research and development. The new Southeast National Marine Renewable Energy Center (SNMREC) at FAU joins centers in the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii that also work to advance the operational readiness of ocean energy technologies. DOE will fund the SNMREC to undertake research and development of technologies capable of generating renewable energy from ocean currents and ocean thermal energy. FAU is ideally located to oversee the development of technologies that can generate sustainable, cost-competitive electricity from the ocean energy resources in the Florida Straits and the Gulf Stream. With this competitively-selected investment, DOE is expanding the nation’s assets for testing and deploying innovative new approaches to clean energy generation. Innovative approaches are crucial to addressing climate change and building a strong, renewable energy economy, both in Florida and across the nation.
“This is a very proud day for our University, our state and the nation,” said FAU President Mary Jane Saunders. “This prestigious, national designation of our Center for Ocean Energy Technology is a testimony to the expertise of our researchers and staff and their commitment to provide a viable source of clean, renewable energy for Florida citizens and beyond.” (more…)
New Inexpensive Solar Cell Design
Professor Ted Sargent, University of Toronto
One of the most promising technologies for making inexpensive but reasonably efficient solar photovoltaic cells just got much cheaper. Scientists at the University of Toronto in Canada have shown that inexpensive nickel can work just as well as gold for one of the critical electrical contacts that gather the electrical current produced by their colloidal quantum dot solar cells.
The change to nickel can reduce the cell’s already low material costs by 40 to 80 percent, says Lukasz Brzozowski, the director of the Photovoltaics Research Program in Professor Ted Sargent’s group. They present their research in the July 12, 2010 issue of Applied Physics Letters, which is published by the American Institute of Physics (AIP).
Quantum dots are nanoscale bits of a semiconductor material that are created using low-cost, high-throughput chemical reactions in liquid solutions. Since their properties vary according to their size, quantum dots can be made to match the illumination spectrum. Half of all sunlight, for example, is in the infrared wavelengths, most of which cannot be collected by silicon-based solar cells. Sargent’s group has pioneered the design and development of quantum dot solar cells that gather both visible and infrared light. They have reached a power-conversion efficiency as high as 5 percent and aim to improve that to 10 percent before commercialization. (more…)
Sandia National Laboratories and Sunpower Corp. Extend Solar Energy Research Partnership
SunPower has finished the first phase of Italy’s largest solar power plant in Montalto di Castro. Construction of the €120 million, 24MW plant was completed in eight months and it was connected to the grid in November last year.
Sandia National Laboratories and SunPower Corp. recently formalized an agreement to conduct research on integrating large-scale photovoltaic (PV) systems into the grid. By signing a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA), the organizations will leverage approximately $1 million of combined U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and SunPower funding. Additionally, a consortium led by SunPower, which includes Sandia as a partner, was recently awarded a $1 million grant from the California Solar Initiative (CSI) to improve modeling of high-penetration PV systems.
“This partnership will enable Sandia and SunPower to capitalize on their respective strengths and bring together PV modeling and analysis expertise with extensive system data to answer many of the urgent questions facing utility companies and their customers who are turning to clean, solar energy resources,” said Terry Michalske, director of Energy and Security Systems at Sandia.
“As an experienced leader in developing and delivering high-efficiency solar cells and systems, SunPower is pleased to partner with Sandia Labs, an expert in predicting PV output and modeling,” said Jack Peurach, vice president of advanced product development for SunPower. “I’m confident that our collaboration will lead to innovative technology solutions for our utility customers today and in the future.” (more…)
Waste Chip Fat Fuels Hydrogen Economy
Don’t pour that dirty fat from the frier down the sink – it could be used to make the fuel of the future.
Hydrogen has been tipped as a cleaner, greener alternative to fossil fuels. But scientists have struggled to find a way to make it that doesn’t consume vast amounts of energy, use up scarce natural resources, or spew out high levels of greenhouse gas.
Researchers at the University of Leeds have now found an energy-efficient way to make hydrogen out of used vegetable oils discarded by restaurants, takeaways and pubs. Not only does the process generate some of the energy needed to make the hydrogen gas itself, it is also essentially carbon-neutral.
“We are working towards a vision of the hydrogen economy,” said Dr Valerie Dupont, who is leading the Leeds-based project. “Hydrogen –based fuel could potentially be used to run our cars or even drive larger scale power plants, generating the electricity we need to light our buildings, run our kettles and fridges, and power our computers. But hydrogen does not occur naturally, it has to be made. With this process, we can do that in a sustainable way by recycling waste materials, such as used cooking oil.” (more…)
Award Will Help Researcher Build Efficient Organic Solar Cells
Assistant professor Qiquan Qiao in the South Dakota State University Center for Advanced Photovoltaics was awarded a National Science Foundation grant of $400,000 — $80,000 over each of the next five years — to build new high-performance organic solar cells with increased efficiency. (South Dakota State University)
A prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER award will help a South Dakota State University researcher build new high-performance organic solar cells with increased efficiency.
Assistant professor Qiquan Qiao in South Dakota State’s Center for Advanced Photovoltaics has been awarded an NSF grant of $400,000 — $80,000 over each of the next five years — to carry out the project. He said it fits well with SDSU’s goal of making solar cells less costly and more efficient.
Qiao said the project deals with organic photovoltaics, or solar cells, assembled from carbon-based polymers instead of traditional solar cells that rely on inorganic, or non-carbon, materials such as silicon.
Organic materials have the advantage of being inexpensive, but to date they have also been less efficient than traditional solar cells.
Organic photovoltaics currently are based primarily on conducting polymers with characteristics scientists describe as short lifetime excited states and short diffusion lengths. Those limitations mean the polymers have low efficiencies, currently in the range of 6 to 7 percent, Qiao said.
With better materials and more efficient designs, organic solar cells could reach 10 to 15 percent efficiency, Qiao said. (more…)
Nanotech Coatings Produce 20 Times More Electricity From Sewage
Frank Chaplen
Engineers at Oregon State University have made a significant advance toward producing electricity from sewage, by the use of new coatings on the anodes of microbial electrochemical cells that increased the electricity production about 20 times.
The findings, just published online in Biosensors and Bioelectronics, a professional journal, bring the researchers one step closer to technology that could clean biowaste at the same time it produces useful levels of electricity – a promising new innovation in wastewater treatment and renewable energy.
Engineers found that by coating graphite anodes with a nanoparticle layer of gold, the production of electricity increased 20 times. Coatings with palladium produced an increase, but not nearly as much. And the researchers believe nanoparticle coatings of iron – which would be a lot cheaper than gold – could produce electricity increases similar to that of gold, for at least some types of bacteria.
“This is an important step toward our goal,” said Frank Chaplen, an associate professor of biological and ecological engineering. “We still need some improvements in design of the cathode chamber, and a better understanding of the interaction between different microbial species. But the new approach is clearly producing more electricity.” (more…)
Gwynne Dyer: Climate Wars
Gwynne Dyer discusses the content of his latest book “Climate Wars” over tortillas, guacamole, and stuffed poblano peppers at Frida restaurant in Toronto. He presents four conclusions on the geopolitical implications of a warming globe.
Conclusion 1 and 2
Iowa State Students Take Their Professor’s Advice and Start a Bioenergy Company
Three recent Iowa State University graduates, left to right, Cody Ellens, Anthony Pollard and Jared Brown, are working with Dennis Banasiak, a former energy and agchemical executive, to launch Avello Bioenergy Inc. The new company is based at Iowa State's BioCentury Research Farm. (Photo by Bob Elbert/Iowa State University)
Iowa State University’s Robert C. Brown pulled a few of his graduate students aside a couple years back and offered up an extracurricular challenge.
“You are all experts on pyrolysis,” he remembers telling them. “Why don’t you start a company specifically to commercialize bio-oil recovery?”
The result is Avello Bioenergy Inc. based at Iowa State University’s BioCentury Research Farm just west of Ames.
Brown – an Anson Marston Distinguished Professor of Engineering, the Gary and Donna Hoover Chair in Mechanical Engineering and Iowa Farm Bureau director of Iowa State’s Bioeconomy Institute – had worked with the students to research and develop fast pyrolysis technology. Fast pyrolysis quickly heats biomass (such as corn stalks and leaves) in the absence of oxygen to produce a liquid product known as bio-oil that can be used to manufacture fuels and chemicals and a solid product called biochar that can be used to enrich soil and remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. (more…)
The Vanishing Face of Gaia - Dr. James Lovelock Video
Corporate Knights presents Dr. James Lovelock, originator of The Gaia Hypothesis (also known as Gaia Theory), discussing the need for human adaptation and survival in a coming era of massive environmental change due to global heating based on his latest book, “The Vanishing Face of Gaia”.
Biography:
(Excerpted from Wikipedia)
A lifelong inventor, Lovelock has created and developed many scientific instruments, some of which were designed for NASA in its program of planetary exploration. It was while working as a consultant for NASA that Lovelock developed the Gaia Hypothesis, for which he is most widely known.
In early 1961, Lovelock was engaged by NASA to develop sensitive instruments for the analysis of extraterrestrial atmospheres and planetary surfaces. The Viking program, that visited Mars in the late 1970s, was motivated in part to determine whether Mars supported life, and many of the sensors and experiments that were ultimately deployed aimed to resolve this issue. During work on a precursor of this program, Lovelock became interested in the composition of the Martian atmosphere, reasoning that many life forms on Mars would be obliged to make use of it (and, thus, alter it). However, the atmosphere was found to be in a stable condition close to its chemical equilibrium, with very little oxygen, methane, or hydrogen, but with an overwhelming abundance of carbon dioxide. To Lovelock, the stark contrast between the Martian atmosphere and chemically dynamic mixture of that of our Earth’s biosphere was strongly indicative of the absence of life on the planet.[ However, when they were finally launched to Mars, the Viking probes still searched (unsuccessfully) for extant life there.
Lovelock invented the electron capture detector, which ultimately assisted in discoveries about the persistence of CFCs and their role in stratospheric ozone depletion. After studying the operation of the Earth’s sulfur cycle, Lovelock and his colleagues developed the CLAW hypothesis as a possible example of biological control of the Earth’s climate.
After the development of his electron capture detector, in the late 1960s, Lovelock was the first to detect the widespread presence of CFCs in the atmosphere. He found a concentration of 60 parts per trillion of CFC-11 over Ireland and, in a partially self-funded research expedition in 1972, went on to measure the concentration of CFC-11 from the northern hemisphere to the Antarctic aboard the research vessel RRS Shackleton. He found the gas in each of the 50 air samples that he collected but, not realising that the breakdown of CFCs in the stratosphere would release chlorine that posed a threat to the ozone layer, concluded that the level of CFCs constituted “no conceivable hazard”. He has since stated that he meant “no conceivable toxic hazard”.
However, the experiment did provide the first useful data on the ubiquitous presence of CFCs in the atmosphere. The damage caused to the ozone layer by the photolysis of CFCs was later discovered by Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina. After hearing a lecture on the subject of Lovelock’s results, they embarked on research that resulted in the first published paper that suggested a link between stratospheric CFCs and ozone depletion in 1974, and later shared the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work.
Gaia hypothesis
First formulated by Lovelock during the 1960s as a result of work for NASA concerned with detecting life on Mars, the Gaia hypothesis proposes that living and non-living parts of the earth form a complex interacting system that can be thought of as a single organism. Named after the Greek goddess Gaia at the suggestion of novelist William Golding, the hypothesis postulates that the biosphere has a regulatory effect on the Earth’s environment that acts to sustain life.
While the Gaia hypothesis was readily accepted by many in the environmentalist community, it has not been widely accepted within the scientific community. Among its more famous critics are the evolutionary biologists Richard Dawkins, Ford Doolittle, and Stephen Jay Gould — notable, given the diversity of this trio’s views on other scientific matters. These (and other) critics have questioned how natural selection operating on individual organisms can lead to the evolution of planetary-scale homeostasis.
Lovelock has responded to these criticisms with models such as Daisyworld, that illustrate how individual-level effects can translate to planetary homeostasis, under the right circumstances.
Nuclear power
Lovelock has become concerned about the threat of global warming from the greenhouse effect. In 2004 he caused a media sensation when he broke with many fellow environmentalists by pronouncing that “only nuclear power can now halt global warming”. In his view, nuclear energy is the only realistic alternative to fossil fuels that has the capacity to both fulfill the large scale energy needs of humankind while also reducing greenhouse emissions. He is an open member of Environmentalists for Nuclear Energy.
In 2005, against the backdrop of renewed UK government interest in nuclear power, Lovelock again publicly announced his support for nuclear energy, stating, “I am a Green, and I entreat my friends in the movement to drop their wrongheaded objection to nuclear energy”. Although these interventions in the public debate on nuclear power are recent, his views on it are longstanding. In his 1988 book The Ages of Gaia he states:
“I have never regarded nuclear radiation or nuclear power as anything other than a normal and inevitable part of the environment. Our prokaryotic forebears evolved on a planet-sized lump of fallout from a star-sized nuclear explosion, a supernova that synthesised the elements that go to make our planet and ourselves.”
James Lovelock in conversation with science editor Tim Radford.
New Green, Bio-Based Process for Producing Fuel Additive
Thomas Bobik, professor of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology, along with David Gogerty, a doctoral student, invented a process for manufacturing isobutene (isobutylene) by identifying a new, natural enzyme that produces the fuel organically.
A new green, bio-based method for producing a much-used fuel additive and industrial chemical that is currently made from petroleum products has been developed by an Iowa State University researcher.
Thomas Bobik, professor of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology, invented a process for manufacturing isobutene (isobutylene) by identifying a new, natural enzyme that produces the fuel organically.
Bobik, along with David Gogerty, a doctoral student working with him on the project, believe that once more research is completed, there could be huge benefits to the biofuels industry.
“I would emphasize that we are very early on in the process,” said Bobik. “But isobutene has some special properties that could have a big impact.”
Bobik’s enzyme makes it possible to convert the glucose found naturally in plants to make isobutene. The enzyme is found naturally in about half of all organisms in the world.
While patent applications proceed, Bobik will not disclose the specific enzyme. (more…)
Enzyme Trio for Biosynthesis of Hydrocarbon Fuels
By Lynn Yarris
Harry Beller (foreground) and Ee-Been Goh of the Joint BioEnergy Institute have identified a trio of bacterial enzymes that can help convert plant sugars into hydrocarbon compounds for the production of green transportation fuels. (Photo by Roy Kaltschmidt, Berkeley Lab Public Affairs)
If concerns for global climate change and ever-increasing costs weren’t enough, the disastrous Gulf oil spill makes an even more compelling case for the development of transportation fuels that are renewable, can be produced in a sustainable fashion, and do not put the environment at risk. Liquid fuels derived from plant biomass have the potential to be used as direct replacements for gasoline, diesel and jet fuels if cost-effective means of commercial production can be found.
Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have identified a trio of bacterial enzymes that can catalyze key steps in the conversion of plant sugars into hydrocarbon compounds for the production of green transportation fuels.
Harry Beller, an environmental microbiologist who directs the Biofuels Pathways department for JBEI’s Fuels Synthesis Division, led a study in which a three-gene cluster from the bacterium Micrococcus luteus was introduced into the bacterium Escherichia coli. The enzymes produced by this trio of genes enabled the E. coli to synthesize from glucose long-chain alkene hydrocarbons. These long-chain alkenes can then be reduced in size – a process called “cracking” – to obtain shorter hydrocarbons that are compatible with today’s engines and favored for the production of advanced lignocellulosic biofuels. (more…)
Geothermal: Pumping Up the Heat for a Climate-Friendly Future
Making ground-source heat a cost-effective alternative to fossil fuels has long been a dream for countries that depend on energy imports and need to cut their CO2 emissions. A team of businesses and researchers in Slovenia and Serbia set out to develop the heat pump technology that would make this dream a reality.
The chaos caused by a volcanic eruption in Iceland April 2010 and the dispersal of its ash cloud across European airspace was a reminder of the tremendous forces of nature that exist below the ground. Not all subterranean heat sources have such sinister power, however. Across Europe, there are plentiful sources of geothermal energy: heat stored in the ground which can be tapped to provide a renewable and inexhaustible energy supply. Using the right technology to access this power at varying depths and temperatures, we can use this heat to reduce our dependence on imported and climate-damaging fossil fuels.
Until recently, the technology to exploit geothermal energy in a cost-effective way has remained under-developed. However, in response to the growing economic and policy pressures to cut CO2 emissions and improve energy security, one company set out to change this state of affairs, with remarkable results. (more…)
One Vision for a Zero-Carbon Energy Future
A University of Nottingham professor is to outline his vision for a UK powered completely by renewable energy by 2030 in an open lecture taking place later this month.
Professor Seamus Garvey, of the University’s Department of Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering, will speak on the potential of vast floating offshore ‘energy farms’ off the UK coastline, which could produce ‘green’ electricity at a fraction of the cost of its nearest competitors.
Professor Garvey said: “Imagine for a moment that renewable energy was the cheapest way to source power and that this power could be dispatched on demand. Imagine further that the landscape did not have to be blighted by man-made structures to gather that power.
“The impact on the world would be profound: secure low-cost energy supplies for most countries, reduction in the environmental assault that is most mining and oil/gas extraction and some hope of curtailing climate change not dependant on politics.” (more…)
Poll: American Opinion on Climate Change Warms Up
Public concern about global warming is once again on the rise, according to a national survey released today by researchers at Yale and George Mason Universities. The results come as the U.S. Senate prepares to vote this week on a resolution to block the EPA from regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant.
Since January, public belief that global warming is happening rose four points, to 61 percent, while belief that it is caused mostly by human activities rose three points, to 50 percent. The number of Americans who worry about global warming rose three points, to 53 percent. And the number of Americans who said that the issue is personally important to them rose five points, to 63 percent.
“The stabilization and slight rebound in public opinion is occurring amid signs the economy is starting to recover, along with consumer confidence, and as memories of unusual snowstorms and scientific scandals recede,” said Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication. “The BP oil disaster is also reminding the public of the dark side of dependence on fossil fuels, which may be increasing support for clean energy policies.” (more…)
Will the Gulf Oil Spill Inspire a New Focus on Nuclear Energy in the US?
Catawba Nuclear Station is located on Lake Wylie in York County, South Carolina.
On June 3rd, spurred by the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, President Barack Obama called on Congress to roll back billions of dollars in tax breaks for oil and pass a clean-energy bill that he said would help the nation end its dependence on fossil fuels. “I will continue to make the case for a clean energy future wherever and whenever I can, and I will work with anyone to get this done,” the President said. “And we will get it done.”
Obama said the country’s continuing dependence on fossil fuels “will jeopardize our national security, it will smother our planet and will continue to put our economy and our environment at risk.” He outlined a set of goals that included improvements in energy efficiency and pursuing nuclear power.
In addition to the President, a growing number of environmentalists are urging a serious examination of nuclear power, which has an unparalleled safety record since the industry took action after the Three Mile Island incident.
As New York magazine recently reported, many leading greens have switched sides from no-nuke to pro-nuke: early Greenpeace activist Patrick Moore and former Greenpeace UK executive director Stephen Tindale; Gaia theorist James Lovelock; longtime Friends of the Earth board member Bishop Hugh Montefiore; and, most recently, environmental icon Stewart Brand, who founded the Whole Earth Catalog and helped inspire Earth Day. (more…)
Working Toward the Next Battery Breakthrough
Esther Takeuchi, who developed the battery that made possible the first implantable cardiac defibrillators, is using her knowledge to improve the electrical grid.
If battery-making is an art, then University at Buffalo scientist Esther Takeuchi is among its most prolific masters, with more than 140 U.S. patents, all in energy storage.
Takeuchi developed the battery that made possible the first implantable cardiac defibrillators, a feat that was recognized last fall with the National Medal of Technology and Innovation from President Obama. Millions of heart patients worldwide have benefited from the implantable cardiac defibrillators powered by Takeuchi’s silver vanadium oxide battery. With funding from the National Institutes of Health, she is developing new cathode materials for improved implantable cardiac defibrillator batteries, with her latest advances on this project recently published in the Journal of Power Sources.
But now Takeuchi is applying to the electrical grid — the vast, national network that delivers energy from suppliers to consumers — her unique perspective on how to coax the best performance out of battery chemicals.
Having two years ago made the jump from industry to academia after 22 years, Takeuchi, a SUNY Distinguished Professor in UB’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, may be just the scientist to find the right combination of materials that will usher in the next energy storage revolution.
“Esther has a unique perspective,” says Amy Marschilok, PhD, UB research assistant professor of engineering, who has worked with Takeuchi for more than six years. “In developing the silver vanadium oxide material that now powers the implantable cardiac defibrillator, she took an idea and turned it into a functional battery.” (more…)
Saul Griffith Taps Wind Energy with Kites
In this brief talk from TED that was filmed back in February, 2009, Saul Griffith unveils the invention his new company Makani Power has been working on: giant kite turbines that create surprising amounts of clean, renewable energy.
Saul Griffith was awarded a 2007 MacArthur “genius” grant.
Research Examines Effects of Scientific Claims on Oil
A University of Alberta researcher says people generally do not act on information about the effects fossil fuel-based products are having on the environment. And the reason, says English and film studies researcher Imre Szeman, is because of the way discussions on environmental issues are structured.
In a recently published study, Szeman says the main assumption among scientists—that with knowledge comes behavioural change—is proving to be an ineffective premise in dealing with environmental problems resulting from oil production and use.
In “System Failure: Oil, Futurity, and the Anticipation of Disaster,” Szeman says there are three social narratives that prevent people from acting on the knowledge they have concerning the effects of oil on the environment: strategic realism, the notion that oil production is good because it supports economic security; eco-apocalypse, which Szeman explains as our incapacity to act on knowledge we have; and technological utopianism, the belief that technology will solve environmental problems resulting from oil and its usage. (more…)
Gene Discovery Potential Key to Cost-Competitive Cellulosic Ethanol
by Katie Freeman
Steven Brown (left) and Shihui Yang, researchers in ORNL's Bioenergy Research Center, have developed a strain of microorganism with an improved ability to convert wood products to biofuel.
Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are improving strains of microorganisms used to convert cellulosic biomass into ethanol, including a recent modification that could improve the efficiency of the conversion process.
Biofuels researchers and industrials have generated improved mutant microorganisms previously, but authors of a paper in the on-line Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences identify a key Z. mobilis gene for the first time and show the strain’s improved efficiency and its potential use for more cost-effective biofuel production.
“Microbes have been breaking down plant material to access sugars for millennia, so plants have evolved to have very sophisticated cell structures that make accessing these sugars difficult,” said Steven Brown, staff microbiologist in the Biosciences Division and one of the inventors of the improved Z. mobilis strain.
Currently, biomass materials like corn stover and switchgrass must undergo a series of pretreatments to loosen the cellular structure enough to extract the sugar cellulose. Brown said these treatments add new challenges because, although they are necessary, they create a range of chemicals known as inhibitors that stall or stop microorganisms like Z. mobilis from performing the fermentation. (more…)
Biodiesel From Sewage Sludge Within Pennies a Gallon of Being Competitive
Sewage sludge, shown at a waste-water treatment plant, could provide a new source of biodiesel fuel that is cost-competitive with conventional diesel. (iStock)
Existing technology can produce biodiesel fuel from municipal sewage sludge that is within a few cents a gallon of being competitive with conventional diesel refined from petroleum, according to an article in ACS’ Energy & Fuels, a bi-monthly journal. Sludge is the solid material left behind from the treatment of sewage at wastewater treatment plants.
David M. Kargbo points out in the article that demand for biodiesel has led to the search for cost-effective biodiesel feedstocks, or raw materials. Soybeans, sunflower seeds and other food crops have been used as raw materials but are expensive. Sewage sludge is an attractive alternative feedstock — the United States alone produces about seven million tons of it each year. Sludge is a good source of raw materials for biodiesel. To boost biodiesel production, sewage treatment plants could use microorganisms that produce higher amounts of oil, Kargbo says. That step alone could increase biodiesel production to the 10 billion gallon mark, which is more than triple the nation’s current biodiesel production capacity, the report indicates.
The report, however, cautions that to realize these commercial opportunities, huge challenges still exist, including challenges from collecting the sludge, separation of the biodiesel from other materials, maintaining biodiesel quality, soap formation during production, and regulatory concerns. (more…)
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