Posted by admin2 on 10 Mar 2010 | Tagged as: Biofuel
Pakistani scientists have converted spent tea leaves into biodiesel.
Tariq Mahmood and Syed Tajammul Hussain of Nano Science and Catalysis Division, National Centre for Physics, Quaid-i-Azam University used a nanocatalyst to accelerate reactions, that produced biodiesel from used tea leaves.
They converted used leaves from the tea plant Camellia sinensis.
Posted by admin2 on 09 Mar 2010 | Tagged as: Biofuel
The gribble, a pink marine insect, produces an enzyme that can break down wood cellulose into sugar. Scientists at the universities of York and Portsmouth are studying how this process could be used to produce biofuels.
Enzymes produced by the tiny creatures are able to break down woody cellulose and turn it into energy-rich sugars.
A gribble-like processing plant could make sugars from woody raw material that can be fermented into alcohol-based fuels for vehicle engines.
Posted by admin2 on 08 Mar 2010 | Tagged as: Solar
Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories have developed a way to make solar arrays out of silicon nanowires.
Not only does the technique require less silicon than conventional wafers, but it works with metallurgical grade silicon, also referred to as “dirty” silicon, which could mean an additional price reduction. Because of their orientation, each nanowire behaves like a separate solar cell. Currently silicon photovoltaics with 20 percent efficiencies exist, but Yang’s approach increases the ability of the solar cells to trap light by a factor of 73, according to the lab.
Posted by admin2 on 06 Mar 2010 | Tagged as: Conservation
The Missouri Capitol dome, Saint Louis City Hall, the Arch and Busch Stadium lights will be turned off for one hour on March 27th.
The lights are being turned off starting at 8:30 p.m. on March 27.
The action is being organized by the World Wildlife Fund to promote cleaner energy sources and efforts to address climate change. This is the third year for the event and 19 states and 47 cities are participating.
Posted by admin2 on 04 Mar 2010 | Tagged as: Wind
Sweden plans to install 2000 new wind projects in order to meet its goal of 50% renewable energy production by 2020.
The new turbines would provide Sweden with an additional 10 terawatt hours (TWh) per year. Within the same timeframe, Sweden would also expand its use of other forms of renewable energy like biofuel and solar power to increase its total output from such sources by 25 TWh. That can be compared with a total electricity production from Swedish nuclear power last year of almost twice as much.
Posted by admin2 on 03 Mar 2010 | Tagged as: Solar, Wind
Solar thermal collectors convert more solar energy into useful heat than concentrated solar power and has more capacity than wind power, according to the “Solar Thermal Buyer Report” by ReportBuyer.
Solar thermal (ST) collectors–used for water heating and building heating (or cooling through solar chillers)–have more capacity and produce more energy than wind power and more than geothermal, solar PV and ocean energy combined. By 2009 there were 147,000 megawatts (MW) of wind power, 174,000 MW of solar thermal collectors. By comparison there was only about 1,000 MW of CSP and about 17,000 MW of solar PV capacity.
Posted by admin2 on 02 Mar 2010 | Tagged as: OTEC, Ocean Energy
Ocean Renewable Power Company will install its Turbine Generator Unit in Eastport, Maine on March 2, 2010.
This TGU project incorporates significant new advancements and technological innovations in ORPC’s proprietary design, including its proprietary turbine engineered with 100 percent composite materials, its proprietary underwater permanent magnet generator, a TGU support frame incorporating significant use of composite materials, and a power electronics system that will convert the variable generator output to grid-compatible power. Nearly all of the project components were made or assembled in Maine, including the 60′ by 24′ Energy Tide 2 vessel that was fabricated in the Eastport area.
Posted by admin2 on 01 Mar 2010 | Tagged as: LEED
A DeLand, Florida 7-Eleven store has applied for LEED certification.
Heat removed from the store coolers usually would be released through the roof. In this store, it will be captured and used to heat water.
“We have free hot water forever,” Pauls said. “As long as we’re in business.”
Posted by admin2 on 28 Feb 2010 | Tagged as: Geothermal
The World Geothermal Congress will be held in Bali, Indonesia on April 25-30.
With the theme “Geothermal: the Energy to Change the World”, the congress will be attended by about 2,500 participants of more than 80 countries consisting of researchers, experts, industry players, organization, academicians and related parties.
Posted by admin2 on 27 Feb 2010 | Tagged as: Solar
The PlanetSolar catamaran is the world’s largest solar-powered ship, expected to begin a round-the-world trip in April 2011.
While the speed of the PlanetSolar ship may be underwhelming, the technology is pretty impressive. The 38,000 solar cells were provided by SunPower, which claims each cell has a 22% efficiency rate… pretty high for solar cells. And since this boat runs solely on the sun, there are no fuel costs. The PlanetSolar ship has been designed to be the first ship to make a round-the-world journey on solar power, and plans to set off in April of 2011. At 9 mph, the trip will take approximately 140 days of solar sailing, not counting stops at Hamburg, London, Paris, New York, San Francisco, Singapore, and Abu Dhabi along the way.
