Alternative Fuels & Energy
Tiny invention may harness big energy from small spores
January 30, 2013 11:05 am | News | Comments
At Columbia University, Ozgur Sahin is using an atomic force microscope to analyze bacterial spores called Bacillus. Curious about the accordion-like wrinkles that disappear when the spores collect moisture from the air, Sahin noticed the forceful response these unfolding spores create against the microscope’s cantilever arm. His laboratory is now attempting to harness this energy, which he describes as something akin to a muscle.
The fluorescent future of solar cells
May 7, 2013 7:45 am | News | Comments
For some solar cells, the future may be fluorescent. Scientists at Yale University have improved...
Composite thermoelectric outperforms constituent materials
May 6, 2013 1:05 pm | News | Comments
A team led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Materials Sciences Division’s Jeffrey Urban...
New battery design could help solar and wind power the grid
April 24, 2013 3:58 pm | News | Comments
Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator...
Artificial forest for solar water-splitting
May 16, 2013 2:34 pm | News | CommentsIn the wake of the sobering news that atmospheric carbon dioxide is now at its highest level in at least three million years, an important advance in the race to develop carbon-neutral renewable energy sources has been achieved. Scientists with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have reported the first fully integrated nanosystem for artificial photosynthesis.
Livermore Lab, Cool Earth Solar partner on renewable energy demonstration project
May 14, 2013 2:53 pm | News | CommentsThe California Energy Commission has awarded $1.7 million to a partnership between Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Cool Earth Solar Inc. to conduct a community-scale renewable energy integration demonstration project at the Livermore Valley Open Campus.
New advance in biofuel production
May 9, 2013 11:48 am | News | CommentsU.S. Department of Energy Joint BioEnergy Institute researchers have developed an enzyme-free ionic liquid pretreatment of cellulosic biomass that makes it easier to recover fermentable sugars for biofuels and to recycle the ionic liquid.
Cleaner energy, warmer climate?
May 7, 2013 7:17 am | by Vicki Ekstrom, Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change | News | CommentsThe growing global demand for energy, combined with a need to reduce emissions and lessen the effects of climate change, has increased focus on cleaner energy sources. But what unintended consequences could these cleaner sources have on the changing climate? Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology now have some answers to that question, using biofuels as a test case.
New technology propels 'old energy' boom
May 4, 2013 11:52 am | by JONATHAN FAHEY - AP Energy Writer - Associated Press | News | CommentsTechnology created an energy revolution over the past decade—just not the one we expected. By now, cars were supposed to be running on fuel made from plant waste or algae—or powered by hydrogen. Electricity would be generated with solar panels and wind turbines. Fossil fuels? They were going to be expensive and scarce. But in the race to conquer energy technology, Old Energy is winning.
Oil drilling technology leaps, clean energy lags
May 2, 2013 1:52 pm | by JONATHAN FAHEY - AP Energy Writer - Associated Press | News | CommentsTechnology created an energy revolution over the past decade—just not the one we expected. By now, cars were supposed to be running on fuel made from plant waste or algae—or powered by hydrogen or cheap batteries that burned nothing at all. Electricity would be generated with solar panels and wind turbines. When the sun didn't shine or the wind didn't blow, power would flow out of batteries the size of tractor-trailers.
A Close Eye on Nanotechnology
April 24, 2013 12:30 pm | by Lindsay Hock | Articles | CommentsNanotechnology typically describes any material, device, or technology where feature sizes are smaller than 100 nanometers in dimension. However, this new and uncharted direction in research provides a large spark for new product and drug delivery development. To achieve these discoveries, scientists must rely on specialized instruments and materials to drive their experiments and analysis.
Alaska, DOE agree to study unconventional energy
April 16, 2013 8:50 pm | by DAN JOLING - Associated Press - Associated Press | News | CommentsThe U.S. Department of Energy and the state of Alaska will collaborate on future research of unconventional energy resources in the Arctic, including abundant reservoirs of methane hydrate. The DOE's acting assistant secretary for fossil energy, Christopher Smith, and Alaska Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Dan Sullivan announced the agreement Tuesday.
Black nanoparticles could play key role in clean energy photocatalysis
April 15, 2013 8:32 am | News | CommentsA unique atomic-scale engineering technique for turning low-efficiency photocatalytic “white” nanoparticles of titanium dioxide into high-efficiency “black” nanoparticles could be the key to clean energy technologies based on hydrogen. Samuel Mao leads the development of a technique for engineering disorder into the nanocrystalline structure of the semiconductor titanium dioxide.
New emissions standards would fuel shift from coal to natural gas
April 5, 2013 12:00 pm | News | CommentsTougher EPA air-quality standards could spur an increased shift away from coal and toward natural gas for electricity generation, according to a new Duke University study. Complying with stricter regulations on sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, nitrogen oxide, and mercury may make nearly two-thirds of the nation's coal-fired power plants as expensive to run as plants powered by natural gas. The regulations would make 65% of U.S. coal plants as expensive as natural gas, even if gas prices rise significantly.
Breakthrough in hydrogen fuel production
April 5, 2013 10:20 am | News | CommentsA team of Virginia Tech researchers has discovered a way to extract large quantities of hydrogen from any plant, a breakthrough that has the potential to bring a low-cost, environmentally friendly fuel source to the world.
NC renewable energy law diminished in House bill
April 4, 2013 9:24 am | by GARY D. ROBERTSON - Associated Press - Associated Press | News | CommentsA House panel on Wednesday narrowly approved an effort to scale back and ultimately repeal a 2007 law requiring North Carolina electric utilities to generate a percentage of their power through alternative sources and locate energy savings. The House commerce subcommittee voted 11-10 in favor of the bill that would cap renewable energy and efficiency requirements by power companies, electric cooperatives, and city-owned electric utilities at roughly half the level the law ultimately demands.
Fully renewable electricity could be competitive
April 3, 2013 9:21 am | News | CommentsA carbon price of between $50 and $100 per ton of carbon dioxide would make coal-fired and gas-fired power less economical than renewable electricity, a University of New South Wales study shows. The study shows that fossil-fueled power stations in Australia’s National Electricity Market could be phased out and replaced economically and reliably with commercially available renewable energy technologies by increasing the carbon price to this “medium” level.
Global solar photovoltaic industry is likely now a net energy producer
April 3, 2013 8:12 am | News | CommentsThe construction of the photovoltaic power industry since 2000 has required an enormous amount of energy, mostly from fossil fuels. The good news is that the clean electricity from all the installed solar panels has likely just surpassed the energy going into the industry's continued growth, Stanford University researchers find.
Japan moves to revamp troubled power industry
April 2, 2013 4:35 am | by ELAINE KURTENBACH - Associated Press - Associated Press | News | CommentsJapan's Cabinet has approved a proposal to revamp its troubled electricity industry and foster more competition by obliging utilities to split power generation and distribution into separate businesses. The plan is meant to encourage more innovation and modernization of the power grid as the country grapples with its energy policy following the shut-downs of almost all its nuclear power plants after the March 2011 tsunami disaster at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant.
Models will enable safer deepwater oil production
April 1, 2013 11:08 am | News | CommentsRice University researchers are developing a comprehensive model that will predict how brine, oil, and gas drawn from ultradeep wells react to everything encountered on the way up to the surface and to suggest strategies to maintain the flow.
Catalyst in a teacup: New approach to chemical reduction
March 25, 2013 10:26 am | News | CommentsTaking their inspiration from Nature, scientists at the University of New South Wales have developed a new method for carrying out chemical reduction—an industrial process used to produce fuels and chemicals that are vital for modern society. Their catalyst-based approach has the big advantages that it uses cheap, replenishable reagents and it works well at room temperature and in air—so much so, it can even be carried out safely in a teacup.
Focal zooming breakthrough to benefit nuclear fusion
March 21, 2013 8:36 am | News | CommentsResearchers at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory have successfully demonstrated pulse tailoring, producing a time varying focal spot size known as “focal zooming” on the Nike laser, the world's largest operating krypton fluoride gas laser. The use of focal zooming in inertial fusion energy system is expected to reduce the required laser size, boosting efficiency and lowering costs
Research shows chemical reaction in real time
March 15, 2013 7:57 am | News | CommentsThe ultrafast, ultrabright X-ray pulses of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) have enabled unprecedented views of a catalyst in action, an important step in the effort to develop cleaner and more efficient energy sources. Scientists at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory used LCLS, together with computerized simulations, to reveal surprising details of a short-lived early state in a chemical reaction occurring at the surface of a catalyst sample.
Researchers map out an alternative energy future for New York
March 12, 2013 2:39 pm | by Rob Jordan, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment | News | CommentsHydraulic fracturing may soon be approved for the state of New York. However, a new study finds that it is technically and economically feasible to convert New York's all-purpose energy infrastructure to one powered by wind, water, and sunlight. The authors say that overall switch would reduce New York's end-use power demand by about 37% and stabilize energy prices.
Nanotubes generate huge electric currents from osmotic flow
March 4, 2013 7:44 am | by Thorsten Naeser, Max-Planck-Institute of Quantum Optics | News | CommentsThe salinity difference between freshwater and saltwater could be a source of renewable energy. However, power yields from existing techniques are not high enough to make them viable. A team led by physicists in France has discovered a new means of harnessing this energy. Their method of osmotic flow through boron nitride nanotubes generates electric currents with 1,000 times the efficiency of any previous system.
Shell suspends drilling for Arctic Ocean in 2013
February 27, 2013 2:10 pm | by DAN JOLING - Associated Press - Associated Press | News | CommentsRoyal Dutch Shell PLC announced Wednesday it will not drill for petroleum in the Arctic Ocean in 2013. Shell Oil Co. President Marvin Odum said in an announcement that the company will "pause" its exploration drilling in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas. The company made progress in Alaska, but...
Rethinking wind power
February 25, 2013 11:32 am | News | CommentsThe latest Harvard University research in mesoscale atmospheric modeling suggest that the generating capacity of large-scale wind farms has been overestimated. The research shows that the generating capacity of very large wind power installations (larger than 100 square kilometers) may peak at between 0.5 and 1 Watts per square meter. Previous estimates, which ignored the turbines' slowing effect on the wind, had put that figure at between 2 and 7 Watts per square meter.
Report: Potential benefits of inertial fusion energy justify continued R&D
February 20, 2013 12:02 pm | News | CommentsAccording to a new report from the National Research Council, although ignition of fusion fuel has not yet been achieved, the potential benefits of inertial fusion energy justify investment in fusion energy research and development. Scientific and technological progress in inertial confinement fusion over the past decade has been substantial, but continued progress will require a large and concerted effort.
Engineering cells for more efficient biofuel production
February 19, 2013 7:47 am | by Anne Trafton, MIT News Office | News | CommentsIn the search for renewable alternatives to gasoline, heavy alcohols such as isobutanol are promising candidates. Not only do they contain more energy than ethanol, but they are also more compatible with existing gasoline-based infrastructure. For isobutanol to become practical, however, scientists need a way to reliably produce huge quantities of it from renewable sources. Massachusetts Institute of Technology chemical engineers and biologists have now devised a way to dramatically boost isobutanol production in yeast, which naturally make it in small amounts.
