The future of energy

SINCE the industrial revolution 200 years ago, mankind has depended on fossil fuel. The notion that this might change is hard to contemplate. Greens may hector. Consciences may nag. The central heating's thermostat may turn down a notch or two. A less thirsty car may sit in the drive. But actually stop using the stuff? Impossible to imagine: surely there isn't a serious alternative?

Such a failure of imagination has been at the heart of the debate about climate change. The green message—use less energy—is not going to solve the problem unless economic growth stops at the same time. If it does not (and it won't), any efficiency saving will soon be eaten up by higher consumption per head. Even the hair-shirt option, then, will bring only short-term relief.


This time it's serious

Alternative energy sounds like a cop-out. Windmills and solar cells hardly seem like ways of producing enough electricity to power a busy, self-interested world, as furnaces and steam-turbines now do. Battery-powered cars, meanwhile, are slightly comic: more like milk-floats than Maseratis. But the proponents of the new alternatives are serious. Though many are interested in environmental benefits, their main motive is money. They are investing their cash in ideas that they think will make them large amounts more. And for the alternatives to do that, they need to be both as cheap as (or cheaper than) and as easy to use as (or easier than) what they are replacing.

For oil replacements, cheap suddenly looks less of a problem. The biofuels or batteries that will power cars in the alternative future should beat petrol at today's prices. Of course, today's prices are not tomorrow's. The price of oil may fall; but so will the price of biofuels, as innovation improves crops, manufacturing processes and fuels.

Electrical energy, meanwhile, will remain cheaper than petrol energy in almost any foreseeable future, and tomorrow's electric cars will be as easy to fill with juice from a socket as today's are with petrol from a pump. Unlike cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells, of the sort launched by Honda this week, battery cars do not need new pipes to deliver their energy. The existing grid, tweaked and smartened to make better use of its power stations, should be infrastructure enough. What matters is the nature of those power stations.


The price is right

They, too, are more and more likely to be alternative. Wind power is taking on natural gas, which has risen in price in sympathy with oil. Wind is closing in on the price of coal, as well. Solar energy is a few years behind, but the most modern systems already promise wind-like prices. Indeed, both industries are so successful that manufacturers cannot keep up, and supply bottlenecks are forcing prices higher than they otherwise would be. It would help if coal—the cheapest fuel for making electricity—were taxed to pay for the climate-changing effects of the carbon dioxide produced when it burns, but even without such a tax, some ambitious entrepreneurs are already talking of alternatives that are cheaper than coal.

Older, more cynical hands may find this disturbingly familiar. The last time such alternatives were widely discussed was during the early 1970s. Then, too, a spike in the price of oil coincided with a fear that natural limits to supply were close. The newspapers were full of articles on solar power, fusion and converting the economy to run on fuel cells and hydrogen.



Source: http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?source=most_commented&Story_ID=11580723

Power-Energy - a new Hydrogen Technology

Power+Energy is leading the way to the hydrogen economy with proprietary manufacturing and patented hydrogen purification and membrane separation technologies. Power+Energy's palladium-alloy hydrogen purifiers purify commercial compressed or liquid hydrogen to nine-nines purity, meeting even the most stringent requirements for semiconductor fabrication processes, including MOCVD for LEDs, laser diodes, and other compound semiconductors. Our hydrogen purifiers are also ideal for metallurgy, R&D, and instrumentation, No matter how large or small your ultra-pure hydrogen needs are, Power+Energy has the right hydrogen purifier for your organization.

Additionally, by using Power+Energy's patented membrane separation technology, liquid fuels like gasoline, diesel, propane, and ethanol can be converted into a stream of pure hydrogen gas with less than 100 parts per billion of carbon monoxide, meeting the highest purity standards for powering a PEM fuel cell. Power+Energy's advanced hydrogen technology can be utilized to deliver hydrogen to where it is required, using the existing liquid fuel infrastructure. Whether it's propane to support a fuel cell at a remote site, diesel fuel to hydrogen gas for auxiliary power for commercial trucking, backup power for hospitals, police, and fire stations, or converting gasoline into hydrogen for hydrogen fueling stations for automobiles, Power+Energy's unique ultra-pure systems can deliver the high-quality hydrogen needed to enable the widespread use of ultra-clean fuel cells.


Source: http://www.powerandenergy.com/?gclid=CJaJvsmlh5QCFQU3egodahp3wg

A Chevrolet Volt Review

A big-buzz plug-in hybrid car is on the fast track to showrooms as General Motors races to trump hybrid-leader Toyota. But it won’t look like the racy Volt concept, and a carload of costly and complex “clean tech” could mean a stiff un-Chevy price.


What WeKnow About the 2011 Chevrolet Volt

General Motors is determined to sell a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) before anyone else. That’s why it’s working flat-out to meet a self-imposed November 2010 deadline with the 2011 Chevrolet Volt. Among the most radical of GM’s near-term “green car” promises, the Volt is not just a symbolic “moon shot” for this beleaguered American company. It’s a grudge-match challenge to Toyota, which is poised to end GM’s 75-year reign as the world’s largest automaker, an achievement fueled in part by the Japanese brand’s big lead in hybrid technology and sales. As Larry Burns, GM vice president for research and development, told Car and Driver magazine, “Toyota creamed us on the Prius. It won’t happen again.” Yes, folks, this is personal.

The 2011 Chevrolet Volt will differ markedly from the Prius and other gasoline/electric hybrids. It will also differ in many ways from the racy-looking Volt concept unveiled at the January 2007 Detroit Auto Show. Since that big-buzz reveal, GM has gone out of its way to keep the media fully briefed on the production car’s progress. As a result, we now have a good many specifics about this “extended-range electric vehicle” or E-REV, as GM terms it, though important questions remain.


Source: http://consumerguideauto.howstuffworks.com/2011-chevrolet-volt.htm

See also: http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/the-great-hybrid-showdown-chevrolet-volt-vs-toyota-prius/

Is Run Car on Water A Scam? Must Read This Before

Run car on water has been the latest buzz. Can you really add water to your car? Is water-powered car a miracle or scam?

As gas price is selling over $4/per gallon, gasoline is becoming less and less affordable.

The rising oil price makes oil companies very happy but at the cost of millions of motorists. We have to do something to stop this insanity.

More and more motorists are searching for alternative gas-saving technologies to combat rising oil prices. Recently, there are several Do-It-Yourself (DIY) kits such as Water4Gas , Run Your Car with Water, Simple Water Car , and Drive With Water Fuel etc claimed to provide such a solution which allow your car runs with water. This article looks into the facts behind these claims and review these kits. Some claims are legitimate, some claims are simple misleading, you must be very careful.

With less than $100 or about the cost of filling one gas tank, a legitimate and proven working water-gas hybrid system definitely worth to give a try.



Source: http://www.squidoo.com/run_car_with_water

See also:
(a) http://www.gas-water-car.com/
(b) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZVuwiJKGaU
(c) http://video.aol.com/video-detail/create-your-own-water-car-hybrid-for-under-50-free-energy/3757897513

The Motion of the Ocean

The energy from the same ocean waves that push surfers to shore can be harnessed to power light bulbs.

In fact, researchers believe that by harnessing just 0.2 percent of the ocean's power that could be enough to power light bulbs around the world.

Engineers at Oregon State University have taken the first steps towards generating power from waves. They have built a buoy system capable of capturing the ocean's power in the form of offshore swells, and converting it into electricity. One system bobs two miles offshore and is called the permanent magnet linear generator buoy.

Inside the buoy, an electric coil wraps around a magnetic shaft, which is attached to the sea floor. The coil is secured to the buoy, and it bobs up and down with the swells while the shaft stays in a fixed place. This movement generates electricity.

Each buoy could potentially produce 250 kilowatts of power, according to researchers, and the technology could be scaled up or down to suit the needs of the people on shore. Researchers estimate it would only take about 200 of these buoys to provide enough electricity to run the business district of downtown Portland.

Wave power is 15 to 20 years behind other clean energies, like wind and solar power. However, it is more predictable, available and energy-dense than wind.


Source: http://www.livescience.com/imageoftheday/siod_050518.html

SPECIAL REPORT: Thinking Beyond Oil

"There is tremendous potential in the oceans to supply energy for the world."
Annette von Jouanne, an Oregon State electrical engineering professor

---


AS THE PRICE OF A BARREL OF OIL continues to surge and oil traders eye possible disruptions in production from hurricane Katrina, scientists are turning to the ocean as a possible source of alternative energy.

Many forms of renewable energy have been contemplated, and of course solar and wind power plants are already in use. But so far, only a small fraction of the world's energy production comes from renewable resources.

Scientists have even proposed giant space projects to capture solar energy above the clouds and beam it back to Earth. Those proposals have not come close to getting off the ground, however.


High stakes

Meanwhile, scientists agree that the world will eventually have to rely on something besides oil. Just when the crude will stop bubbling is a matter of huge debate. One scientists says the slow decline will begin later this year. If the wells go truly dry later in this century, as some experts figure, the major nations of an unprepared world might be drawn into all-out war.

"The oil will run out," says Caltech physicist David Goodstein. "The only question is when."

The strain is already building. The United States now imports nearly 60 percent of the oil it uses. China's oil consumption is expected to grow 7.5 percent per year, and India’s by 5.5 percent, according to the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security.

But so far, no renewable resource has been developed to the point that it could replace oil.


The new wave

The potential for harnessing the power of waves has drawn serious study by Oregon State University, federal and state agencies, and communities along the Oregon Coast.

"There's a real good chance that Oregon could turn into kind of the focal point in the United States for wave energy development and I think that would be a boon to the economy,'' said Gary Cockrum, spokesman for the Central Lincoln People's Utility District.

Groups hoping to begin work on experimental technology are considering the International Paper mill site in Gardiner.

"We have a lot of momentum going for it, I think, but we still have to work out lot of details,'' said Alan Wallace, Oregon State University professor of electrical engineering.


Source: http://www.livescience.com/technology/ap_050826_wave_energy.html

Hybrid Cars: How They Work

The paycheck giveth. The gas pump taketh away. With rising gasoline prices as sure as death and taxes, it's time to get to know hybrid cars (or, alternately, bankruptcy court).

The basic problem with automobile gasoline engines is that, to let you blithely roar down the highway, they have to be designed for peak power demands. So, for crawling around the city, they're grossly inefficient. (For waiting at red lights, they are infinitely inefficient.)

In response, hybrids use a battery-powered electric motor in low-power situations, and a gas engine in high-power situations, switching back and forth automatically. The gas engine is simply switched off at red lights, and is often designed to operate in a narrow power range when it is switched on, making it more efficient. The battery is recharged by the gas engine. Generators attached to the brakes can also turn some of the braking momentum (normally lost as heat) into electricity for battery charging.

Of course, in the real world things are more complicated, and in the one we inhabit, hybrids fall into three classifications: full-court full hybrids, half-court mild hybrids and the plug-ins.


Full-court Full hybrids

These cars use electric power for low speeds and low-acceleration settings. When higher speeds or acceleration is demanded, the gas engine comes to life.

Such cars include the Toyota Prius, and hybrid models of the Toyota Camry, Chevrolet Tahoe, Ford Escape, Honda Civic, and Nissan Altima, among others.

The Toyota Prius appears to be the most successful, with a Consumer Reports miles-per-gallon rating of 50 on the highway and 44 in town. That beats even wheeled shoeboxes like the Mini Cooper S (rated at 38 on the highway, 22 in town.)


Half-court Mild hybrids

Half-court hybrids are less elaborate and deliver less fuel efficiency. They have gasoline engines that can cut off while idling, and usually have an electric motor that can give the car a boost, as when accelerating from a stop or when clawing up-hill. The battery is charged, as with the full-court hybrids, by the gas engine and by braking.

These cars include hybrid versions of the Chevrolet Malibu and the Saturn Vue, among others.

The Malibu is a sedan (i.e., it's bigger than the Prius) with a government miles-per-gallon rating of 32 on the highway and 24 in town. The Saturn Vue is an SUV (i.e., it's even bigger than the Malibu) with claimed mileage of 25 in the city and 32 on the highway. Supposedly, that makes it the most fuel-efficient SUV on the market.


Plug-ins

All the hybrids described above charge their batteries with their gas engines — you cannot plug them in and recharge them as if they were huge toys. That was the case with the electric cars that were tested in the 1990s, but their limited range and long recharge times were, indeed, painfully reminiscent of huge toys. They are no longer on the market.

The chief remaining standard-bearer of the plug-in concept in the United States is the Chevrolet Volt, expected to hit the market in a couple of years. It will have an electric motor, a large battery, and a small gas engine. The gas engine will charge the battery, which will run the motor. The concept is similar to that used in diesel-electric submarines, except the Volt weighs about one-seven-hundredth as much, cannot submerge, and does not require a trained crew. You can also plug it in at night to recharge — and thus avoid gas pumps entirely if you are not going more than 40 miles.

Plug-in versions of other hybrids are in the wings, including the Saturn Vue and the Toyota Prius.

If the plug-in concept catches on, wags suggest that we'll dispense with gas engines under the hood and hitch little trailers with generators to the cars. The generators could be powered by small steam engines fueled by firewood, shredded junk mail, dismantled furniture, or, if trends continue, irrelevant tax documents and near-worthless paper money.


Source: http://www.livescience.com/environment/080609-how-hybrids-work.html

See also: http://www.livescience.com/technology/060511_hybrid_cars.html

A Prius hybrid car review

As with many of Toyota's vehicles, the Prius has become a standard-bearer in its segment. While many automakers have yet to even develop a gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle, Toyota is already on its second generation of the Prius. This four-door hybrid has become a hit with consumers because of its stellar fuel economy, relatively uncompromised driving and acceleration characteristics and reasonable price.

The Toyota Prius (its name comes from Latin and means "to go before") exists as a partial solution to the automobile's problem of tailpipe emissions. The Prius, like other hybrid vehicles, has a special powertrain that combines a gasoline-fueled internal combustion engine with an electric motor. This powertrain, along with other advanced features, allows the Prius to deliver higher fuel economy and lower emissions compared to regular cars.

Due to its popularity and relatively long sales history, Toyota's original hybrid car is a strong candidate for a shopper interested in a used hybrid vehicle. So far, it seems Toyota's reputation for reliability and durability is holding true for the Prius. Early concerns about long-term durability have turned out to be mostly unfounded. However, potential buyers of a used Prius should take extra care during the research process. As the Toyota Prius is quite complex, future repairs and part replacements could be quite expensive.



Source: http://www.edmunds.com/toyota/prius/review.html

How Less Zoom Zoom Could Power the Future

Hybrids may be the great green hope, but new research shows that improvements to normal cars could reduce the nation's fuel consumption sooner and cheaper.

"We can absolutely reduce petroleum use and greenhouse gas emissions over the next 30years," said Anup Bandivadekar of the International Council on Clean Transportation. "But in order to do that, we must halt increases in vehicle size and horsepower."

Bandivadekar and his former colleagues at MIT recently did a study on how to double the gas mileage (miles per gallon) of the average new car by 2035. They found that advanced technologies such as hybrids could help, but not by themselves and not anytime soon.

"Even if you have a great new technology, it takes decades-worth of time to see an impact," he said.

But present "mainstream" technology has the potential to significantly reduce fuel consumption in a traditional car at a cost that is about $2000 less than buying a hybrid.


The tradeoff

Normal cars keep getting better all the time. Over the last three decades, vehicle efficiency has increased by a few percent per year thanks to improved engine designs, reduced drag and lighter-weight materials, Bandivadekar told LiveScience.

But in the United States most of these improvements have not been used to reduce fuel consumption, but instead to increase vehicle size and acceleration, or what Bandivadekar called "the zoom-zoom effect."

If this trend continued up to the year 2035, the average vehicle would go zero to 60 mph in 6.5 seconds, while still getting around 25 miles per gallon.

In such a scenario, the U.S. fleet would consume around 200 billion gallons (765 billion liters) of gasoline per year. This is roughly 35 percent more than today owing to growth in the number of cars and miles-traveled.

Bandivadekar and his colleagues looked at how to bring down the nation's projected fuel tab by shifting some portion of technological advances away from higher performance and towards better fuel economy.


Source: http://www.livescience.com/environment/080611-pf-fuel-usage.html

How Satellites Could Power the Future

Placing solar panels in space above both night and clouds was first considered 40 years ago. But the estimated cost was, in a word, astronomical.

The idea, however, has seen a resurgence, thanks to rising oil prices and advances in solar technology. A report from U.S. Defense Department found that space-based solar is technically feasible and economically viable.

To help prove the point, the Air Force Academy recently announced plans for a small demonstration satellite that would beam down a meager, but still significant, 0.1 watts of solar power.

"Our vision is to build the world's first-ever space-based solar power system to light a single bulb on Earth and in so doing light the path for business to follow," said Col. Michael "Coyote" Smith of the Air Force.

The type of transmission beam is still not decided, but the project may benefit from separate research in Japan that has been studying the two most likely technologies: microwaves and lasers.



Source: http://www.livescience.com/environment/080618-pf-space-solar.html

Whatever Happened to Geothermal Energy?

The world's greatest source of power lies a few miles under our feet. Geothermal energy, which draws on the heat from the Earth's interior, could supply the present global energy demand for more than 30,000 years.

The trick is tapping into it. Geothermal energy accounts for less than a half-percent of global energy consumption, according to the International Energy Association.

Most of the active geothermal plants are located in volcanically active places, like Iceland, where the Earth's outer crust is thin.

"Conventional geothermal has limited use because the required geology is not found everywhere," said geophysicist Roy Baria of the company Mil-Tech UK LTD.

Baria and others are engineering non-conventional places where the heat is farther down and there is no room for water to flow. These geological enhancements can have their drawbacks: One project in Switzerland was shut down earlier this year due to induced earthquakes.


Hot-button issue

A typical geothermal plant captures steam escaping from underground and uses it to turn turbine blades that generate electricity. The first such power plant began in Italy in 1904 and continues to work to this day.

Considered a green technology, geothermal does raise environmental concerns. In certain cases, steam extraction can allow other gases, like carbon dioxide (CO2), to escape. However, the amount of CO2 released per kilowatt-hour of electricity is only a few percent that of coal-fired power plants.


Source: http://www.livescience.com/environment/071204-geothermal-energy.html

Solar Power Technology Claims Misleading

A new type of solar cell has recently gained attention as a possible cost-effective way to turn sunlight into electricity. Made from organic materials, the cells are cheaper and more flexible than currently used silicon-based solar cells.

But new information suggests organic solar cells may not work as well as advertised.

"There is a lot of press about breakthroughs that are basically unsubstantiated," said Keith Emery of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo.

In the November issue of Materials Today, an international review magazine, Emery and 20 other experts have signed a letter asking for more restraint in organic solar cell publicity. They think claims of "world record" performance must be independently verified.

Such independent evaluation is customary practice for all other solar cells, said Emery, who has done this sort of testing for 27 years.

"I have no interest in one solar cell technology over another," he told LiveScience. "But there needs to be a level playing field."

Organic market

Organic solar cells are the new kids on the block. Because they are essentially plastic, they can be cheaply manufactured and even painted onto a surface.

Sunlight striking one of these cells creates separate positive and negative charges that can move through the material. The trouble that organics run into is that these charges often recombine before they can be corralled into a wire to generate a current.

Because of this, typical organic solar cells are only able to convert 3 percent of incoming sunlight into electricity. In comparison, most silicon-based solar cells have so-called efficiencies of around 12 percent.

But manufacturing silicon is not cheap. The current cost of electricity from silicon-based solar panels for houses or businesses is 25 cents to 40 cents per kilowatt-hour, roughly triple what most people pay their utility company.


Source: http://www.livescience.com/technology/071101-organic-solar.html

Whatever Happened to Solar Power?

Solar energy is the light alternative to a carbon-rich energy diet, and it may be the only renewable energy that can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, engineers say.

"Wind can play some role, as can biofuels and geothermal, but they are all too small," said Erin Baker of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. "The three really big players are solar energy, nuclear power and carbon capture and storage ."

Over the course of a day, the amount of energy in sunlight striking the continental United States is more than 2,500 times the amount of the nation's daily electricity consumption. Despite this potential, solar power is far behind other renewables, making up just 0.07 percent of the U.S. energy portfolio, according to the Department of Energy.

"Solar energy would have to provide 20 percent of the energy supply to have a climate change impact," Baker told LiveScience. "We'd like it to be more than that."

In a report released earlier this year, Baker and her colleagues looked at the technologies that might bring solar out into the full light.


Sand in demand

Solar panels contain photovoltaic cells that turn light into electricity without releasing any greenhouse gases. One of the attractive features of solar panels is that they can be relatively easily added to a home, as opposed to the bigger construction projects typically associated with wind turbines or other energy-gathering setups.

Almost all cells in current use are made of silicon. Although silicon is abundant in sand, it must be processed to make it usable in solar cells and computer chips. In fact, the current high demand from the electronics industry for silicon wafers has caused a shortage of high-grade silicon, which means the solar industry could have even more trouble trying to become competitive.

For a typical home's electricity needs, the cost of solar panels is several tens of thousands of dollars. Over the lifetime of the panels, this works out to about 30 cents per kilowatt hour, three times what most utilities charge.

To reduce this price, much of the current engineering effort is focused on making solar cells from thin films that either use less silicon or replace it with other photovoltaic materials. Baker said that many experts think this should be the first goal of research and development.


Solar on the horizon

There are other ideas as well, such as organic solar cells based on cheap, flexible plastic. However, organic cells are currently inefficient at converting sunlight into electricity, and what's worse, said Baker, "they tend to fade and breakdown in the sun."

Some researchers are working on future "third generation" solar cells, which could employ a number of new technologies, such as lenses, chemical dyes, multi-layer cells or tiny quantum dots that trap more of the incoming sunlight.

But even if highly efficient solar panels could be made cheaply, they can't make electricity at night or on a cloudy day.

"The biggest problem for solar is the intermittency of supply," Baker said.

Source: http://www.livescience.com/environment/071210-solar-power.html

Inventors: Solar Dish Could Revolutionize Energy Production

A new type of solar energy collector concentrates the sun into a beam that could melt steel. Researchers say the device could revolutionize global energy production.

The prototype is a 12-foot-wide mirrored dish was made from a lightweight frame of thin, inexpensive aluminum tubing and strips of mirror. It concentrates sunlight by a factor of 1,000 to produce steam.

“This is actually the most efficient solar collector in existence,” said Doug Wood, an inventor based in Washington state who patented key parts of the dish’s design - the rights to which he has signed over to a team of students at MIT.

To test the prototype this week, MIT mechanical engineering Spencer Ahrens put a plank of wood in the beam an generated an almost instant puff of smoke.

At the end of a 12-foot aluminum tube rising from the center of the dish is a black-painted coil of tubing that has water running through it. When the dish is pointing directly at the sun, the water in the coil flashes immediately into steam.

Ahrens and his teammates have started a company, RawSolar, to hopefully mass produce the dishes. They could be set up in huge arrays to provide steam for industrial processing, or for heating or cooling buildings, as well as to hook up to steam turbines and generate electricity, according to an MIT statement. Once in mass production, such arrays should pay for themselves within two years or so with the energy they produce, the students figure.

Wood, the inventor, said the students built the dish and improved on his design.

"They really have simplified this and made it user-friendly, so anybody can build it," he said.

Wood said small dishes work best because it requires much less support structure and costs less for a given amount of collection area.

"I've looked for years at a variety of solar approaches, and this is the cheapest I've seen," said MIT Sloan School of Management lecturer David Pelly, in whose class the project first took shape last fall. "And the key thing in scaling it globally is that all of the materials are inexpensive and accessible anywhere in the world."

* Video: The Solar Collector Explained
* More Solar: How Satellites Could Power the Future
* Top 10 Disruptive Technologies
* Original Story: Inventors: Solar Dish Could Revolutionize Energy Production

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20080619/sc_livescience/inventorssolardishcouldrevolutionizeenergyproduction;_ylt=AvpMxFcrwh04Pyh6Cth5cPKzvtEF

Why does Berkeley have so many Priuses?

BUYING green is all the rage: barely a day passes without the rollout of a new “environmentally responsible” product. This week it’s the waterless car-wash, an energy saving computer monitor and a biodegradable dish-rack. Ignore, for a moment, whether green consumerism is a contradiction in terms. Pass over the question of whether these products actually deliver the benefits they promise. Who buys them—the rich, the idealistic, the penny pinching or the guilty?

Perhaps energy saving cars, light-bulbs, computer monitors and building materials appeal to those who value their future environmental benefits. But evidence suggests that, despite tangible financial rewards, most people do not make even small environmentally sound changes at home, such as installing energy-efficient light bulbs or not leaving the television on standby.

By and large, then, these green products are aimed at the environmentally concerned. Matthew Kahn and Ryan Vaughn, economists at the University of California at Los Angeles, wrote a paper analysing the patterns of green consumerism in California. They noticed that Berkeley, California, just a few hours up the coast, has lots of Priuses, organic food, solar panels and public transit—and no Hummers.

Messrs Kahn and Vaughn built a database of every certified green building, sorted by zip codes. They looked at where hybrid vehicles were registered, and constructed a measure of each zip code’s politics based on analysis of party registration and voting records on two binding statewide environmental initiatives.

Source: http://www.economist.com/daily/columns/greenview/displayStory.cfm?story_id=11562081

Solar System Powers Donggwang Green Village

Donggwang is on the western half of Jeju-do, the largest of South Korea’s semi-tropical southern islands. Near the village, Halla Mountain, a volcano and the tallest mountain in South Korea, rises from the island’s center amidst a patchwork of small farms.

Donggwang has achieved what even the most powerful countries in the world are still struggling to accomplish: total energy independence with clean technology.

On the roof of each of the 40 houses in Donggwang lies a large beds of solar panels. Even the small, local elementary school runs on free electric energy from the sun. The photovoltaic panels produce enough energy to power the entire area. Amidst cattle and fields, Donggwang is a state-of-the-art renewable energy village.

Source:
http://ecoworldly.com/2008/05/09/south-korean-solar-system-community-on-jeju-island-a-brilliant-idea/

See also: http://www.metaefficient.com/renewable-power/korean-village-runs-on-100-solar-power.html

Solar village by Rolf Disch

TreeHugger wants to live in Freiburg, which has solar flair and green, car free communities. We like Rolf Disch and his Heliotrop house, too. Now we can get it all in one package at the Solarsiedlung or solar village. It is built to Passivhaus standards and is Plus Energy (produces more energy than it needs)

According to jonarisen in Greenlineblog, The layout of the project is based on solar orientation. Energy for the project is provided mostly by the sun, though in the case of electricity no onsite storage is provided so energy is fed into the grid and extracted as needed. Heat energy is generated by a local network of solar hot water evacuated-tubes located on the Sonnenschiff. The hot water is then used for heating water and the spaces.

Electricity is generated by “solar energy plants” or pv panels mounted on the housing units. The electricity produced is fed into the public grid and a profit is made because of the higher rates paid to solar energy producers. Any additional energy required in the winter months is provided by a wood-chip fuelled power station.

Source: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/01/solar_village_b.php

See also: http://www.clipmarks.com/clipmark/EE4EE6D6-3F94-4471-8388-4D631848A4B7/

Cold-fusion demonstration in Osaka, Japan

On 23 March 1989 Martin Fleischmann of the University of Southampton, UK, and Stanley Pons of the University of Utah, US, announced that they had observed controlled nuclear fusion in a glass jar at room temperature, and — for around a month — the world was under the impression that the world’s energy woes had been remedied. But, even as other groups claimed to repeat the pair’s results, sceptical reports began trickle in. An editorial in Nature predicted cold fusion to be unfounded. And a US Department of Energy report judged that the experiments did “not provide convincing evidence that useful sources of energy will result from cold fusion.”

This hasn’t prevented a handful of scientists persevering with cold-fusion research. They stand on the sidelines, diligently getting on with their experiments and, every so often, they wave their arms frantically when they think have made some progress.

There is a reasonable chance that the naysayers are (to some extent) right and that cold fusion experiments in their current form will not amount to anything. But it’s too easy to be drawn in by the crowd and overlook a genuine breakthrough, which is why I’d like to let you know that one of the handful of diligent cold-fusion practitioners has started waving his arms again. His name is Yoshiaki Arata, a retired (now emeritus) physics professor at Osaka University, Japan. Yesterday, Arata performed a demonstration at Osaka of one his cold-fusion experiments.

Although I couldn’t attend the demonstration (it was in Japanese, anyway), I know that it was based on reports published here and here. Essentially Arata, together with his co-researcher Yue-Chang Zhang, uses pressure to force deuterium (D) gas into an evacuated cell containing a sample of palladium dispersed in zirconium oxide (ZrO2–Pd). He claims the deuterium is absorbed by the sample in large amounts — producing what he calls dense or “pynco” deuterium — so that the deuterium nuclei become close enough together to fuse.

So, did this method work yesterday? Here’s an email I received from Akito Takahashi, a colleague of Arata’s, this morning:

“Arata’s demonstration…was successfully done. There came about 60 people from universities and companies in Japan and few foreign people. Six major newspapers and two TV [stations] (Asahi, Nikkei, Mainichi, NHK, et al.) were there…Demonstrated live data looked just similar to the data they reported in [the] papers…This showed the method highly reproducible. Arata’s lecture and Q&A were also attractive and active.”

I also received a detailed account from Jed Rothwell, who is editor of the US site LENR (Low Energy Nuclear Reactions) and who has long thought that cold-fusion research shows promise. He said that, after Arata had started the injection of gas, the temperature rose to about 70 °C, which according to Arata was due to both chemical and nuclear reactions. When the gas was shut off, the temperature in the centre of the cell remained significantly warmer than the cell wall for 50 hours. This, according to Arata, was due solely to nuclear fusion.

Source: http://physicsworld.com/blog/2008/05/coldfusion_demonstration_a_suc_1.html

See also:
(a) http://www.lenr-canr.org/acrobat/ArataYanewenergya.pdf
(b) http://www.lenr-canr.org/acrobat/ArataYdevelopmena.pdf
(c) http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message554300/pg1

1 Megawatt Fuel Cell Power Plant

This is a video of a 1 megawatt Fuel Cell Power Plant at California State University, Northridge, in Los Angeles, CA. The power plant has a reformer that separates hydrogen from natural gas and then feeds the hydrogen into a fuel cell, generating electricity. The plant also recovers the heat generated and uses it for domestic heating on campus. In the future, some of the carbon emitted will be sequestered in a sub-tropical rainforest that is under construction.

Source: http://upge.wn.com/?query=1%20Megawatt%20Fuel%20Cell%20Power%20Plant&version=1&template=cheetah-photo-search/index.txt&language_id=1&original_query=landfill

Asola to Triple Plant Capacity for Solar Modules in Germany

IRVINE, Calif., May 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide, Inc. (Nasdaq: QTWW) today announced that its German solar partner, Asola Advanced and Automotive Solar Systems GmbH, is expanding its annual solar module manufacturing capacity to 45 MW (megawatts peak power), in response to increasing demand for photovoltaic power systems in Europe.

Source: http://article.wn.com/view/2008/05/20/Quantum_and_Asola_to_Triple_Plant_Capacity_for_Solar_Modules/?section=TopStories&template=cheetah-photo-search%2Findex.txt

Odyne Develops Plug-In Hybrid Electric Refuse Vehicle for Fresno City

The world’s first compressed natural gas refuse vehicle equipped with Odyne’s PHEV technology was unveiled at a press conference in the City of Fresno, California recently.

Source: http://www.tmcnet.com/altpowermag/listAll.aspx

Hydrogen-powered cars could end pollution

The Times

Britain’s first hydrogen fuel station will open tomorrow in the first stage of a technology revolution offering drivers the prospect of pollution-free motoring. Another three hydrogen stations are planned for London and there will be at least twelve stations countrywide by 2010, paving the way for the commercial production of cars powered by fuel cells.

Source: http://www.wn.com/Hydrogen

See also: http://osdir.com/ml/technology.fuel-cell.discuss/2006-10/msg00000.html

CERN library has included our new books

Dear Colleagues:

Fyi, CERN library has included our new books (Hadron models and Related new Energy, 2008; and also ‘Quantization in Astrophysics, Brownian motion, and Supersymmetry’):

http://cdsweb.cern.ch/search?f=author&p=Smarandache%2C%20F&ln=en

Best wishes,

admin@sciprint.org

MIT creates new material for fuel cells

MIT engineers have improved the power output of one type of fuel cell by more than 50 percent through technology that could help these environmentally friendly energy storage devices find a much broader market, particularly in portable electronics.

The new material key to the work is also considerably less expensive than its conventional industrial counterpart, among other advantages.

“Our goal is to replace traditional fuel-cell membranes with these cost-effective, highly tunable and better-performing materials,” said Paula T. Hammond, Bayer Professor of Chemical Engineering and leader of the research team. She noted that the new material also has potential for use in other electrochemical systems such as batteries.

Like a battery, a fuel cell has three principal parts: two electrodes (a cathode and anode) separated by an electrolyte. Chemical reactions at the electrodes produce an electronic current that can be made to flow through an appliance connected to the battery or fuel cell. The principal difference between the two? Fuel cells get their energy from an external source of hydrogen fuel, while conventional batteries draw from a finite source in a contained system.

The MIT team focused on direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs), in which the methanol is directly used as the fuel and reforming of alcohol down to hydrogen is not required. Such a fuel cell is attractive because the only waste products are water and carbon dioxide (the latter produced in small quantities). Also, because methanol is a liquid, it is easier to store and transport than hydrogen gas, and is safer (it won’t explode). Methanol also has a high energy density-a little goes a long way, making it especially interesting for portable devices.

The DMFCs currently on the market, however, have limitations. For example, the material currently used for the electrolyte sandwiched between the electrodes is expensive. Even more important: that material, known as Nafion, is permeable to methanol, allowing some of the fuel to seep across the center of the fuel cell. Among other disadvantages, this wastes fuel-and lowers the efficiency of the cell- because the fuel isn’t available for the reactions that generate electricity.

Source: http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/energie_elektrotechnik/bericht-110177.html

See also: http://www.lockergnome.com/news/2008/05/15/mit-creates-new-material-for-fuel-cells/

Toward Practical Fusion, sonofusion in UCLA

LOS ANGELES — Brian Kappus, a physics graduate student at U.C.L.A., tipped the clear cylinder to trap some air bubbles in the clear liquid inside. He clamped the cylinder, upright, on a small turntable and set it spinning. With the flip of another switch, powerful up-and-down vibrations, 50 a second, started shaking the cylinder.

A bubble floating in the liquid — phosphoric acid — started to shine, brightening into an intense ball of light like a miniature star.

The shining bubble did not produce any significant energy, but perhaps someday it might, just like a star. A few small companies and maverick university laboratories, including this one at U.C.L.A. run by Seth Putterman, a professor of physics, are pursuing quixotic solutions for future energy, trying to tap the power of the Sun — hot nuclear fusion — in devices that fit on a tabletop.

Dr. Putterman’s approach is to use sound waves, called sonofusion or bubble fusion, to expand and collapse tiny bubbles, generating ultrahot temperatures. At temperatures hot enough, atoms can literally fuse and release even more energy than when they split in nuclear fission, now used in nuclear power plants and weapons. Furthermore, fusion is clean in that it does not produce long-lived nuclear waste.

The appeals of fusion are many: no planet- warming gases, no radioactive-waste headache, plentiful fuel. Even though only 1 out of 6,000 hydrogen atoms in sea water molecules is the heavier deuterium, that is enough to last billions of years.

“One bucket of water out of the ocean or a lake or a river has 200 gallons of gasoline worth of energy in it,” Mr. Tessien said. “It’s the holy grail of energy technologies, and everybody has the fuel for free.”

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/27/science/27fusion.html?_r=4&ref=science&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Further reading:
(a) http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/03/high_school_stu.html
(b) http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/20/20585/1.html

Updates on hyperion/hydride reactor and Bussard fusion

Power output of the device: Approximately 70 megawatts (MW) of heat (thermal energy) and 25 megawatts (MW) of electrical power via steam turbine.

Often referred to as a “cartridge” reactor or “nuclear battery,” the Hyperion hydride reactor is self- regulating with no moving parts to break down or corrode.

Initial design efforts for Hyperion indicate that the sealed chamber dimensions of the power modules can be limited in size — approximately the size of a typical backyard hot tub. [A Uranium Hydride device that was 56 inches in diameter and 66 inches long weighed 7400lb. Jacuzzi hot tubs tend to be 78 inches in diameter and 60 inches tall. So the Hyperion reactor chamber would probably be about 8 tons in weight.]

HPG has already had several meetings with the NRC and will continue to pursue the necessary design approvals and license to manufacture and operate Hyperion power modules.

Source: http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/04/updates-on-uranium-hydride-reactor-and.htm

Bubble Fusion takes next hurdle

The potential for cavitation to induce nuclear fusion lets physicists think in new directions of energy production. In 2002 the journal “Science” caused a heated debate among scientists, when it was claimed that thermonuclear fusion was indeed possible in a simple table-top experiment. Until then only nuclear fusion in experimental reactors as big as houses were scientifically accepted.

A second publication by the same team in “Physical Review E” (2004) convinced more scientists that there was something to cavitation-induced fusion. Now a confirmation of Bubble Fusion by a second group has been published. The discussion of a potential energy source now takes a new round.

When acetone – better known as nail polish remover – is ultrasonically resonated and irradiated by neutrons, nuclear fusion will occur. That is the claim of the two young physicists Dr. Yiban Xu and Adam Butt from the American Purdue University.

“Cavitation is the phenomenon in which liquid is fractured and a void is formed to form cavities composed of gas and/or vapour”, explains Xu. If the acetone is put into resonance using a piezo-crystal, gas bubbles are formed which subsequently store potential energy in the acoustic field. To ensure that the bubbles get larger than a critical value, the acetone must additionally be bombarded by energetic neutrons. “Once the bubbles implode, that potential energy will convert into kinetic energy, compressing the gas inside the bubble”, says Xu.

source: http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/20/20542/1.html

Hydrogen plasma electrolysis Reactor CFR

Watch this video showing plasma electrolysis method CFR.

Source:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLUeGX3hNpU

see also: http://prismwebcastnews.com/2007/10/21/from-cold-fusion-to-condensed-matter-nuclear-science

LDX: MIT tests unique approach to fusion power

An MIT and Columbia University team has successfully tested a novel reactor that could chart a new path toward nuclear fusion, which could become a safe, reliable and nearly limitless source of energy.

Begun in 1998, the Levitated Dipole Experiment, or LDX, uses a unique configuration where its main magnet is suspended, or levitated, by another magnet above. The system began testing in 2004 in a “supported mode” of operation, where the magnet was held in place by a support structure, which causes significant losses to the plasma–a hot, electrically charged gas where the fusion takes place.

LDX achieved fully levitated operation for the first time last November. A second test run was performed on March 21-22 of this year.

The advantage of the levitating system is that it requires no internal supporting structure, which would interfere with the magnetic field lines surrounding the donut-shaped magnet, explains Jay Kesner of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, joint director of LDX with Michael Mauel of Columbia. That allows the plasma inside the reactor to flow along those magnetic field lines without bumping into any obstacles that would disrupt it (and the fusion process).

To produce a sustained fusion reaction the right kinds of materials must be confined under enormous, pressure, temperature and density. The “fuel” is typically a mix of deuterium and tritium (known as a D-T cycle), which are two isotopes of hydrogen, the simplest atom. A normal hydrogen atom contains just one proton and one electron, but deuterium adds one neutron, and tritium has two neutrons. So far, numerous experimental reactors using different methods have managed to produce some fusion reactions, but none has yet achieved the elusive goal of “breakeven,” in which a reactor produces as much energy as it consumes. To be a practical power source, of course, will require it to put out more than it consumes.

source: http://www.physorg.com/news125929881.html

PhotoVoltaic Fab Database

An exclusive tool for equipment & material suppliers to develop their business worldwide with the key players of the PV value chain

- More than 400 fabs; this database cover the photovoltaic industry value chain from polysilicon to module manufacturers

- The database provides key business & technical contacts for boosting your development.

More than a list of fabs, this tool will also provide you with an accurate estimation of the global production capacity by PV technology & by country. You will have the possibility to implement the database with new information and use it daily to structure your own analysis.

Source:http://www.yole.fr/pagesAn/products/pvd.asp?gclid=CPjt9tGzm5MCFRAYewode0IWqQ

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Energy efficiency
May 9th, 2008

LESS INTENSE
May 8th 2008

IN WONKISH circles, energy efficiency used to be known as “the fifth
fuel”. Now, most blueprints for tackling climate change assume that
saving energy has a big part to play. A recent report by the McKinsey
Global Institute suggests that energy efficiency alone could get the
world halfway to a greenhouse-gas concentration goal recommended by
many scientists. Even though overall energy use is rising as the global
economy grows, the world is using less energy to generate output;
intensity is falling by 1.5% a year. Price is a big factor. In
countries with higher fuel prices, there is more incentive for
manufacturers and consumers alike to be more energy efficient.
America’s energy intensity was falling by a 0.4% until the oil shock of
1973. It is now falling by 2% a year.

Source: http://www.yole.fr/pagesAn/products/pvd.asp?gclid=CPjt9tGzm5MCFRAYewode0IWqQ

Energy efficiency

LESS INTENSE
May 8th 2008

IN WONKISH circles, energy efficiency used to be known as “the fifth
fuel”. Now, most blueprints for tackling climate change assume that
saving energy has a big part to play. A recent report by the McKinsey
Global Institute suggests that energy efficiency alone could get the
world halfway to a greenhouse-gas concentration goal recommended by
many scientists. Even though overall energy use is rising as the global
economy grows, the world is using less energy to generate output;
intensity is falling by 1.5% a year. Price is a big factor. In
countries with higher fuel prices, there is more incentive for
manufacturers and consumers alike to be more energy efficient.
America’s energy intensity was falling by a 0.4% until the oil shock of
1973. It is now falling by 2% a year.

Source:http://www.economist.com/daily/chartgallery/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11332762