New Chemical Process Produces Biofuel Strong Enough to Power Jets

Thanks to scientists harnessing the power of chemistry, you may one day soon fly in a plane fueled by plants. An article published in the journal Nature last week describes a new technique developed by researchers at UC Berkeley that can create biofuels powerful enough to be used as jet fuel. Created using bacterial fermentation and chemical catalysis, the amped up biofuel is ten times more powerful, and it can serve as a viable power source for large industrial vehicles and airplanes.

The researchers have created a two-step process that drastically increases the potency of biofuels. First, plant sugars are broken down through fermentation using the bacterium Clostridium acetobutylicum,
producing acetone ethanol. Then, the resulting product is run through chemical catalysis in order to increase the amount of carbon in each molecule.

This new process ratchets up the amount of carbon present in normal ethanol by ten times, making it as powerful as diesel and jet fuel made from petrochemicals. The next challenge for the researchers is to find a way to duplicate their new methods on an industrial scale.


View the original article here

Voltaic DIY Solar Charger Kits: Off-Grid Power Your Way

Voltaic Systems makes some of the highest quality solar charging accessories on the market today. We’ve featured many of their gadgets in the past, from solar charging backpacks to iPad cases. Now they’ve launched a new line of products aimed at the DIY enthusiast: a selection of solar charging kits which allow users to design their own portable power systems.

One size fits all is so 1990's. Today’s consumers, even the conscious kind, want customization. The market has responded, giving us the ability to have everything, from cars to hamburgers, “our way”. While it may seem a little self-absorbed, there is some wisdom in building customization into today’s product designs. When people can customize, there’s less waste, and we come away more confident that our unique needs will be met. Voltaic’s newest products are designed to make it easier for people to create their own solar chargers based on their own power, cost and form factor requirements.

The new solar charging kits build on the path forged by Voltaic’s Fuse, a 10 W solar panel that comes with a strap system so it can be attached to any type of backpack. Especially convenient if you love your current backpack and don’t want to shell out $200+ for one with the panels already embedded.

Each DIY solar charging kit includes waterproof solar panels, connectors, and a universal battery. Kits range in size from 2 Watts of solar power for basic smartphone and small device charging, to 16 Watts for laptop, tablet and digital camera charging. Single panel kits can be connected directly to a Voltaic battery for power storage. Those looking for more juice can build multi-panel kits need to use a circuit box (below) which includes two inputs for solar panels, an output for an LED wire (optional) and two power output cables.

“We’ve discovered that one size doesn’t fit all. Our customers charge hundreds of different devices in wildly different conditions all over the world.” said Shayne McQuade, CEO of Voltaic Systems. “We created these solar charger kits so our customers can build solar systems tailored to their specific power, weight cost, and form factor requirements.” Small kits start at $25.

Tidal Power Capacity Potential in the UK Estimated at 153 GW

There are 153 GW of potential tidal and wave power capacity in the UK, according to a new report from the Crown Estate. The new report was commissioned to help predict the future of the technology.

The report from the Crown Estate underlines the enormous energy potential in the UK’s marine environment. To harness this enormous 153 GW of tidal power capacity, there are three primary types of technology that will be needed — tidal stream devices, tidal range barrage schemes, and tidal range lagoon schemes.

“The report predicts tidal stream devices could produce 95 terawatt hours (TWh) a year from 32GW of installed capacity, tidal range barrage schemes could supply 96 TWh/year from 45GW of capacity, and tidal range lagoon schemes could produce 25TWh/year, drawing on 14GW of capacity.”

And there is also the potential for “27GW of wave energy capacity, which could produce 69TWh of electricity a year.”

The authors of the report say that the figures for the different technologies should be interpreted separately, and that all of the results remain theoretical for now.

According to Rob Hastings, the director of the Crown Estate energy and infrastructure portfolio, the report is intended to be a reference to help in the development of the industry and associated policies.
“While the science of wave and tidal resource assessment is still emerging, and future work will clarify the resources that are practically available, it is clear that wave and tidal energy could contribute substantially to the UK’s electricity needs,” he said.

“Improving understanding about the extent and locations of resources will help to accelerate development in a sustainable way.”

The UK’s Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Ed Davey, recently visited the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney and had this to say:

“[EMEC is a huge asset to the development of wave and tidal energy in the UK and has helped secure UK leadership in the global market.
“The UK has the largest wave and tidal resource in Europe, which could produce 20 per cent of current UK electricity demand and cut carbon emissions.”

Online Service Gives Us New Ways to Access Key U.S. Electric Power Data

Originally published on the U.S. Energy Information Administration website.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) today makes key electricity data more accessible than ever before with the release of a new online service. The agency’s first-ever Application Programming Interface (API) allows developers to design web and mobile apps that harness a wealth of information about the U.S. electricity sector.

The free API will give developers access to data on electricity generation, retail sales, and average prices, and the types of fuel that are used to generate electricity at the state and national levels. Electricity generation and fuel consumption data for individual power plants with more than 1 megawatt of capacity also are available. These data are structured into a hierarchical set of 39,000 categories, grouping related series and assisting in the exploration of EIA’s data.

“EIA’s API will enable independent developers to create innovative information technology applications that can be used to improve energy decision-making. The value of EIA’s data will be enhanced even further when it is combined with data beyond what the agency collects, such as market or environmental data,” said EIA Administrator Adam Sieminski.

Of particular interest to developers will be the geographical metadata provided with each series (for example, the longitude and latitude information of individual electricity plants). Standards-based country and state codes are provided, where applicable. These metadata will permit advanced mapping applications.
Planned additions to EIA’s API include petroleum and natural gas data, along with state energy estimates. As these data sets are added over the coming months, the total number of data series available through EIA’s API will grow.

APIs are an important element of a government-wide Digital Strategy to make information more transparent and customer-centered.

Restricting nuclear power has little effect on the cost of climate policies

ScienceDaily (Oct. 1, 2012) — By applying a global energy-economy computer simulation that fully captures the competition between alternative power supply technologies, a team of scientists analyzed trade-offs between nuclear and climate policies. Strong greenhouse-gas emissions reduction to mitigate global warming shows to have much larger impact on economics than nuclear policy, according to the study. Incremental costs due to policy options restricting the use of nuclear power do not significantly increase the cost of even stringent greenhouse-gas emissions reductions.

"Questions have been raised if restricting nuclear energy -- an option considered by some countries after the accident in Fukushima, Japan -- combined with climate policies might get extremely expensive. Our study is a first assessment of the consequences of a broad range of combinations of climate and nuclear policies," lead author Nico Bauer says. Restrictions on nuclear power could be political decisions, but also regulations imposed by safety authorities. Power generation capacities would have to be replaced, but fossil fuels would become costly due to a price on CO2 emissions, this in sum is the main concern.

"However, in case of restricted use of nuclear power, the flexibility of allocating a long-term carbon budget over time enables higher near-term emissions due to increased power generation of natural gas," Bauer says. Along with demand reductions and efficiency improvements, these provisions could help fill the gap on electricity. The price of natural gas is projected to decrease due to demand reductions, according to the study. Decommissioning existing plants will also avoid refurbishment costs for expanding lifetimes of old nuclear power plants.

As a result, early retirement of nuclear power plants would lead to cumulative global gross domestic product losses (GDP) that amount to about 10 percent of climate policy costs. If no new nuclear capacities are allowed, the costs would amount to 20 percent.

For their study, the scientists looked into different nuclear power policies. These cover a range of scenarios from "Renaissance," with a full utilization of existing power plants, a possible refurbishment for a lifetime expansion and investments in new nuclear power capacities, to "Full exit," with a decommissioning of existing power plants and no new investments. They contrasted each scenario with climate policies implemented via an inter-temporal global carbon budget which puts a price on carbon emissions. For the budget, the cumulative CO2 emissions from the global energy sector were limited to 300 gigatons of carbon from 2005 until the end of the century. This represents a climate mitigation policy consistent with the target of limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius.

"A surprising result of our study is the rather little difference between a 'Renaissance' or a 'Full exit' of nuclear power in combination with a carbon budget when it comes to GDP losses," Bauer says. While the 'no policy case' with a nuclear phase-out and no carbon budget has only negligible effect on global GDP, the imposition of a carbon budget with no restrictions on nuclear policy implies a reduction of GDP that reaches 2.1 percent in 2050. The additional phase-out of nuclear power increases this loss by about 0.2 percent in 2050 and hence has only little additional impact on the economy, because the contribution of nuclear power to the electricity generation can be substituted relatively easy by alternative technology options, including the earlier deployment of renewables.

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Meygen Marine Tidal Power Environmental Impact Assessment Moves Forward

 Sponsor and developer of the world’s largest marine tidal power project announced to date, Meygen’s contracted Norway’s Kongsberg Maritime (KM) to carry out underwater noise studies for its 400-MW project in Scotland’s Pentland Firth. KM will measure and monitor noise levels from prototype Meygen tidal turbines at a European Marine Energy Center (EMEC) site to assess their effect on marine life before they are approved for installation at the project site.

KM’s also helping MeyGen monitor progress of turbine suppliers’ trials at EMEC in Orkney. “The results of the underwater noise impact studies being carried out by Kongsberg Maritime at Emec will affect how the devices are positioned on the seabed [at the MeyGen project site] to deliver optimum power while having minimal impact on marine life,” Recharge News quoted KM’s general manager for offshore, David Shand.
“Crown Jewel” of Scotland’s Marine Tidal Resource Base

MeyGen is aiming to install marine tidal turbines at depths between 20-40 meters over a 3.5-square kilometer area of the Pentland Firth between Scotland’s northern coast and the island of Stroma, an area considered the “crown jewel” of Scotland’s rich marine tidal resource base. Currents there average 4 meters/second, according to Recharge News’ report.

A joint venture between investment bank Morgan Stanley, independent power company International Power and marine tidal technology provider Atlantis Resources, Meygen’s moving forward with plans to install a 20-MW pilot installation of marine tidal turbines from Atlantis Resources and Rolls-Royce-TGL (Tidal Generation Ltd.) at the Pentland Firth site. Overall project completion is slated for 2020.

The underwater noise studies are a big part of the Meygen project’s environmental impact assessment (EIA) and consenting processes. The project’s EIA will span the entire project development process, spanning the environmental impacts of the marine tidal power generation array to the substation connections to the UK national electricity grid.

MeyGen’s produced an EIA scoping document as per Scottish regulations for Phase I of the project. The EIA scoping document is meant to ensure Meygen’s EIA process is comprehensive and conforms with Scottish environmental protection regulations.

In it, Meygen states it will “conduct a preliminary review of the environmental baseline and risks which require more detailed assessment and provide a framework for consultation and identify the relevant regulatory bodies and statutory and non-statutory stakeholders.”

Nuclear Power Going Down — More Facts (& VIDEO)

Piggy-backing on the news that Japan has just shut down its second-to-last nuclear reactor and that France still subsidies nuclear power to get it down to the price of consumer electricity, here are some rather interesting nuclear versus renewable facts (shared by a reader):

“… between 2004 and 2011, more nuclear-power capacity was decommissioned worldwide than was installed. Last year alone, the world installed 50 percent more new wind-power capacity (41.2 gigawatts) than all new nuclear capacity installed from 2002 to 2011 (27.3 GW). In terms of electricity production, the wind-power industry has installed the equivalent of 1.3 nuclear reactors per month over the past three years.” (emphasis added)

The European Commission projects that only 3% of all new power capacity installed from 2011 to 2020 will be from nuclear power, while it projects 71% will be from renewable energy sources.
Here are some more staggering facts (emphasis added):

In October 2011, former UK Energy Secretary Chris Huhne said that two-thirds of the budget for the government’s Department of Energy and Climate Change, or €2.4bn a year, is spent on nuclear power. But that is a drop in the ocean compared to decommissioning costs. According to Huhne, “the provisions for nuclear decommissioning costs in total were £2m in 1970, £472m in 1980, £9.5bn in 1990, £22.5bn in 2000, and now, £53.7bn. When nuclear power was held up to the cold, hard light of the market, it proved to be uneconomic.”

Wind power has received a fraction of the financial support that nuclear energy has received – and yet wind can provide electricity at less than half the cost of new nuclear-power plants. According to the European Environment Agency, 80 percent of the total energy subsidies in the European Union is paid to fossil fuels and nuclear energy, while 19 percent goes to renewables.

Moreover, wind energy has zero fuel costs, minimal waste-disposal and decommissioning costs, and a tiny fraction of nuclear power’s risk to human health or the environment.

Will Apple Grow on Solar Power?

Apple’s image in terms of social responsibility and environmental friendliness is not as pristine as its reputation with geeks is because of reports on the conditions offered to factory workers in China and the company’s poor recycling record.

However, Venture Beat reports that the company’s new facilities report reveals its data center in Maiden, North Carolina will run on solar power.

The center was designed to be energy efficient, thanks to its white-cool roof, the use of outside air to cool the facility at night and power monitoring. Now it will receive a solar array to help the facility go partially off-grid. The solar panels will generate 42 million kWh of alternative energy per year, Apple said. The building has also been LEED Platinum certified.

Article by Antonio Pasolini, a Brazilian writer and video art curator based in London, UK. He holds a BA in journalism and an MA in film and television.

Electric power | the history of its discovery

The attempt to unravel what is electricity could be described as an adventure which, despite already having a long journey, far from completion.

The oldest records correspond to observations of the Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus (600 BC) with respect to property that presents the amber of attracting small objects to be rubbed. Amber is a vegetable resin fosilizada, from remains of conifers and other very old trees. It features generally yellowish tones, and the Greeks called her electron.

The first to use the term electric to nominate be rubbed in general varied materials that behave similarly to amber, was William Gilbert (1544-1603), physician to Queen Elizabeth I of England. His investigations were undertaken to separate the effects electric magnetic, which by then appeared
most useful for its application to navigation.

Both phenomena related, in appearance, and remained without explanation since ancient times. Traditionally, the movement of bodies as a partner to the vital impetus and the presence of a soul or Anima was interpreted.

In this context, it was thought that electrical phenomena and magnetic were able to grant this animation to inanimate objects through the communication of a sort of vital fluid. The attraction which aroused such phenomena, behind the illusion of understanding the phenomenon of life and eventually control nature, based on the knowledge of its laws.

To physics was organizing as a science and making progress in the definition of its methodology, its limits and possibilities, electricity has joined the theoretical body of fundamental concepts that allow interpreted the structure of matter and its changes.

The works of Gilbert are the first to attempt to tackle the understanding of a group of phenomena from a truly experimental methodology. Gilbert started by classifying materials into two groups: those that purchased electric State by rubbing, as amber, and those who did not.

He also advanced the determination that this effect was not, in principle, relationship with the increase in temperature, but with same rubbing.

At the beginning of the 18th century, two scientists, English Stephen Gray (1696-1736) and Jean Desaguliers (1683-1744), French found they could electrify a cork if they ran it through a metal wire to a previously rubbing glass tube. The phenomenon showed even if both Corps were separated.

They then performed other experiments that allowed them to raise that rubbing bodies appeared an "virtue" or "fluid" electric, it could be transmitted by some materials, which they called drivers.

A French scientist, François du Fay (1698-1739), discovered that two previously frotados glass repelían when approached them. To experiment with other materials, such as resin, was able to identify two types of electric States to those designated as vitreous fluid and resinous fluid, as provided to the load of glass or resin be rubbed with a silk cloth.

It was determined that two equal electric States repel, while individual States attract.

A few years later, Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) he performed similar experiments, but analyzed the results with special emphasis on that glass had acquired an electric State by its interaction with silk cloth.

He played the phenomenon such as the presence in the glass of an excess of what he called electric charge (q), which corresponds to a lack or defect of the same charge in silk. Then he called respectively positive and negative burden, names which are still used.

View the original article here

Nuclear Power Too Expensive, French Court Finds

The French Court of Auditors recently found that nuclear power, which France is a leader in, costs more than what electricity consumers in the country are charged.

Furthermore, the wind industry there has spoken up to point out that electricity from wind power is cheaper than from new nuclear.

Here’s more from Craig Morris of Renewables International:

The 446-page report, which is only available in French (PDF) and does not have an executive summary, was designed mainly to answer the question of whether “all costs are taken into account” in the pricing of nuclear power in France. The answer is no.

The study found that the cost of constructing a nuclear plant has risen from 1.07 million euros (adjusted for inflation as of 2010) per megawatt in 1978 at the Fessenheim plant on the border to Germany, which is the oldest nuclear reactor currently in operation in France, to 1.37 million euros per megawatt for the Civaux plant constructed in 2002, with the average cost of a megawatt of nuclear capacity for France’s current 58 reactors coming in at 1.25 million euros.

The nuclear industry must actually be looking back on 2002 nuclear costs with envy, though, as new costs due to new safety requirements enacted since the Fukushima disasters in Japan are bringing nuclear power costs to yet a higher level.

“The estimated costs for the second EPR plant currently under construction in Flamanville comes in at 3.7 million euros per megawatt; construction began in 2006 and was to be finished this year, but completion has been delayed until 2016, and costs have risen by more than 50 percent.” (emphasis added)

“Overall, the Court estimates that a megawatt-hour of nuclear power made in France costs around 49.5 euros. As French daily Figaro reported, the costs entailed for additional safety requirements in reaction to the disaster in Fukushima will probably increase that price by another 10 percent to around 54 euros. The paper also points out that the estimation of 49.5 euros is more than 10 euros greater than what the Champsaur Commission estimated a year before; based on that estimate, the price of power was set at 42 euros per megawatt-hour, roughly a sixth below the apparent actual cost estimated by the Court of Auditors.”

The European Wind Energy Association’s response? Using its cost calculator online, EWEA projects that nuclear will cost 102 euros per megawatt-hour by 2020, onshore wind only 58 euros, and offshore wind 75 euros. Perhaps France will one day find itself where Japan is, shutting down its last nuclear reactors.

Social Innovation: The Power of Sewage

There are so many smart new social innovation technologies coming out to create renewable fuels and power supplies. The latest discovery is that sewage plants are being used to not only treat waste but to also generate electricity.

This knowhow is devised by Prof Bruce Logan, an environmental engineer specializing in water systems at Pennsylvania State University in the U.S. and his team of researchers.

Professor Logan believes that by switching sewage plants from users to generators of electricity would be especially useful in developing countries.

Professor Logan has a vision. He recognizes that there are two billion people in the world who need sanitation, including a billion who need access to clean water. By helping these regions and giving them a waste treatment system, we also need to realize that these places also need the power and the resources to keep it going, which can be a drain on the community. However, by providing a waste treatment facility that can also generate electricity for lighting, or charging mobile phones well that’s a social innovation game-changer!

Sewage plants are where the treatment of domestic wastewater happens, where it goes through the process of removing contaminants from the wastewater and household sewage. It includes physical, chemical, and biological processes to remove physical, chemical and biological contaminants. The end result is to produce an environmentally-safe fluid waste stream and a solid waste suitable for disposal or reuse (usually as farm fertilizers). Using advanced technology, it is now possible to re-use sewage effluent for drinking water, although till now, Singapore is the only country to implement such technology on a big enough production scale.

So, this new social innovation technology by Professor Logan works through a device that combines a fuel cell with other technologies to convert waste water treatment stations into power plants and provide the power for entire water grids. By bringing the two technologies together, Professor Logan and his team produced 0.9 kilowatt-hours of electricity per kilogram of organic waste. In contrast, sewage treatment usually consumes 1.2kWh per kilogram. Professor Logan says, “We certainly could take care of the whole water system: the treating and pumping of water, which currently requires substantial amounts of power.” This device can also be used with other types of waste to generate power.

In fact, Britain’s largest water and sewerage company, Thames Water has begun producing for the first time in Britain ready-to-burn fuel from sewage sludge (the solids found in sewage) where the sludge is dried into flakes. The flakes are transported to a purpose-built machine where they are then burnt off to generate electricity. Thames Water estimates that 16% of its electricity needs will be covered by this new type of social innovation— “poo power”— which is enough to run about 40,000 average family homes.

Turning Nuclear Power into the Hydrogen Economy

The technology for a nuclear plant to also create hydrogen fuel has been around for decades, according to IAEA member Ibrahim Khamis, Ph.D., who spoke at the 243rd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS) on Sunday, and could help us into the long-heralded “hydrogen economy”.

The term “hydrogen economy” was first coined back in 1970 by former professor of Chemistry at Texas A&M University John Bockris during a talk he gave in 1970 at General Motors Technical Center. In short, it refers to an era where gasoline, diesel, and other fossil fuels are laid by the wayside and hydrogen powers our world.

Steam from Philippsburg nuclear power plant

Spin up to 2012, and according to Khamis, we have the technology to convert the steam created at nuclear power plants into hydrogen using a process termed electrolysis.

“There is rapidly growing interest around the world in hydrogen production using nuclear power plants as heat sources,” Khamis said. “Hydrogen production using nuclear energy could reduce dependence on oil for fueling motor vehicles and the use of coal for generating electricity. In doing so, hydrogen could have a beneficial impact on global warming, since burning hydrogen releases only water vapor and no carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas. There is a dramatic reduction in pollution.”

Khamis said scientists and economists at IAEA and elsewhere are working intensively to determine how current nuclear power reactors — 435 are operational worldwide — and future nuclear power reactors could be enlisted in hydrogen production.

Most current production of hydrogen comes from natural gas or coal and results in the production of carbon dioxide. However there are smaller scale electrolysis projects in use, a process which sends an electric current flowing through water, splitting the H2O molecules into hydrogen and oxygen, and is more efficient if the electric current is passed through steam.

Experts believe that existing nuclear power plants can be adapted using a low-temperature electrolysis which can take advantage of low electricity prices during the plant’s off-peak hours to produce hydrogen. For plants being designed and in construction, a more efficient, high-temperature electrolysis process can be coupled with thermochemical processes, and is currently under research and development.

“Nuclear hydrogen from electrolysis of water or steam is a reality now, yet the economics need to be improved,” said Khamis.

True, economically viable possibility down the road? Or pipe dream?

Keeping the Lights On: Why Concentrating Solar Power is Vital to Tomorrow’s Energy Mix

Picture a solar power station. You think of a bunch of solar panels, right? Photovoltaic (PV) solar power, which uses cells to turn the sun’s rays directly into electricity, accounts for, by far, the majority of solar power installed worldwide. FIGURE?

But it’s another kind of solar power, concentrating solar power (CSP), which might prove even more important. Look at a CSP power station and you’ll see not solar panels, but acres and acres of mirrors, all focusing the sun’s rays onto a single central tower, in which fluid is heated to very high temperatures by the focused sunlight. The super-heated fluid can then be used to generate power much like a steam engine.

CSP is a fairly recent development, but it’s growing fast. Over 7 GW of CSP are expected to be installed in the US in the next few years. But many people don’t understand the advantages CSP offers. Now, GreentechMedia has published a great new guide to why CSP has to be a vital part of our future energy supply.

Flexible beats baseload

You often hear advocates of fossil fuels talking about ‘baseload power.’ Coal and gas stations can supply a constant flow of power which, it’s argued, is needed to keep the lights on at night when PV doesn’t operate, and during times when there’s little wind so turbines don’t spin.

As a sun-powered technology, CSP can’t provide baseload power (which comes with its own problems). But it can provide something better — flexible power. Because CSP produces thermal energy (the heated fluid), its energy can be easily stored using simple thermal energy storage technology. As GreentechMedia‘s piece puts it, “PV doesn’t entirely answer the needs of the transmission system, while CSP with thermal energy storage (TES) can.”

This energy can then be converted into electricity as and when it’s required. “Dispatchable CSP can discharge from storage to serve high-price peak loads that occur outside the daylight hours, including the late afternoon and early evening,” Dr Udi Helman, a director at BrightSource Energy, told GreentechMedia.

This flexibility makes CSP every bit as useful as coal or gas power in terms of keeping the lights on and people’s kettles boiling — if not moreso.

PV cannot be dialed up or down, whereas by channeling more or less CSP output to storage, it can be ramped. Once in storage, it can also be released in varying amounts. This is the kind of flexibility conventional generators have which allows utilities, by altering the level of their output, to accommodate the forecast uncertainty and variability of non-dispatchable renewable generation. This provides grid operators with ramping reserves and regulation services.

It’s not a zero-sum game

By providing a highly flexible source of power that can make up for shortfalls in supply from other sources, CSP could actually enable the use of more PV and wind power.

CSP plants with TES have the flexibility of conventional thermal plants, according to Helman, and “offer higher ramp rates and ranges than large thermal plants.” This could not only replace some conventional generation but could “provide a more flexible generation mix” that would “result in greater use of non-dispatchable solar PV and wind.”

In short, CSP is just as important to a renewable future as PV or wind power. And it makes it possible to foresee a future energy supply which meets our needs without fossil fuels or nuclear.

Of course, in some countries, hydropower — which, like coal and gas, is relatively constant — can fill the role of providing baseload power without emissions or hazard. But in the US, CSP deserves to be a central part of the mix. And if the Desertec project gets its way, CSP installations in the Sahara will also be central to Europe’s energy supply in future.

Wireless power could revolutionize highway transportation

A Stanford University research team has designed a high-efficiency charging system that uses magnetic fields to wirelessly transmit large electric currents between metal coils placed several feet apart. The long-term goal of the research is to develop an all-electric highway that wirelessly charges cars and trucks as they cruise down the road.

The new technology has the potential to dramatically increase the driving range of electric vehicles and eventually transform highway travel, according to the researchers. Their results are published in the journal Applied Physics Letters (APL).

"Our vision is that you'll be able to drive onto any highway and charge your car," said Shanhui Fan, an associate professor of electrical engineering. "Large-scale deployment would involve revamping the entire highway system and could even have applications beyond transportation."

Driving range

A wireless charging system would address a major drawback of plug-in electric cars -- their limited driving range. The all-electric Nissan Leaf, for example, gets less than 100 miles on a single charge, and the battery takes several hours to fully recharge.

A charge-as-you-drive system would overcome these limitations. "What makes this concept exciting is that you could potentially drive for an unlimited amount of time without having to recharge," said APL studyco-author Richard Sassoon, the managing director of the Stanford Global Climate and Energy Project (GCEP), which funded the research. "You could actually have more energy stored in your battery at the end of your trip than you started with."

The wireless power transfer is based on a technology called magnetic resonance coupling. Two copper coils are tuned to resonate at the same natural frequency -- like two wine glasses that vibrate when a specific note is sung. The coils are placed a few feet apart. One coil is connected to an electric current, which generates a magnetic field that causes the second coil to resonate. This magnetic resonance results in the invisible transfer of electric energy through the air from the first coil to the receiving coil.

"Wireless power transfer will only occur if the two resonators are in tune," Fan noted. "Objects tuned at different frequencies will not be affected."

In 2007, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology used magnetic resonance to light a 60-watt bulb. The experiment demonstrated that power could be transferred between two stationary coils about six feet apart, even when humans and other obstacles are placed in between.

"In the MIT experiment, the magnetic field appeared to have no impact on people who stood between the coils," Fan said. "That's very important in terms of safety. "

Wireless charging

The MIT researchers have created a spinoff company that's developing a stationary charging system capable of wirelessly transferring about 3 kilowatts of electric power to a vehicle parked in a garage or on the street.

Fan and his colleagues wondered if the MIT system could be modified to transfer 10 kilowatts of electric power over a distance of 6.5 feet -- enough to charge a car moving at highway speeds. The car battery would provide an additional boost for acceleration or uphill driving.

Here's how the system would work: A series of coils connected to an electric current would be embedded in the highway. Receiving coils attached to the bottom of the car would resonate as the vehicle speeds along, creating magnetic fields that continuously transfer electricity to charge the battery.

To determine the most efficient way to transmit 10 kilowatts of power to a real car, the Stanford team created computer models of systems with metal plates added to the basic coil design.

"Asphalt in the road would probably have little effect, but metallic elements in the body of the car can drastically disturb electromagnetic fields," Fan explained. "That's why we did the APL study -- to figure out the optimum transfer scheme if large metal objects are present."

Using mathematical simulations, postdoctoral scholars Xiaofang Yu and Sunil Sandhu found the answer: A coil bent at a 90-degree angle and attached to a metal plate can transfer 10 kilowatts of electrical energy to an identical coil 6.5 feet away.

"That's fast enough to maintain a constant speed," Fan said. "To actually charge the car battery would require arrays of coils embedded in the road. This wireless transfer scheme has an efficiency of 97 percent."

Wireless future

Fan and his colleagues recently filed a patent application for their wireless system. The next step is to test it in the laboratory and eventually try it out in real driving conditions. "You can very reliably use these computer simulations to predict how a real device would behave," Fan said.

The researchers also want to make sure that the system won't affect drivers, passengers or the dozens of microcomputers that control steering, navigation, air conditioning and other vehicle operations.

"We need to determine very early on that no harm is done to people, animals, the electronics of the car or to credit cards in your wallet," said Sven Beiker, executive director of the Center for Automotive Research at Stanford (CARS). Although a power transfer efficiency of 97 percent is extremely high, Beiker and his colleagues want to be sure that the remaining 3 percent is lost as heat and not as potentially harmful radiation.

Some transportation experts envision an automated highway system where driverless electric vehicles are wirelessly charged by solar power or other renewable energy sources. The goal would be to reduce accidents and dramatically improve the flow of traffic while lowering greenhouse gas emissions.

Beiker, who co-authored the APL study, said that wireless technology might one day assist GPS navigation of driverless cars. "GPS has a basic accuracy of 30-40 feet," he said. "It tells you where you are on the planet, but for safety, you want to make sure that your car is in the center of the lane." In the proposed system, the magnetic fields could also be used to control steering, he explained. Since the coils would be in the center of the lane, they could provide very precise positioning at no extra cost.

The researchers also have begun discussions with Michael Lepech, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, to study the optimal layout of roadbed transmitters and determine if rebar and other metals in the pavement will reduce efficiency.

"We have the opportunity to rethink how electric power is delivered to our cars, homes and work," Fan said. "We're used to thinking about power delivery in terms of wires and plugging things into the wall. Imagine that instead of wires and plugs, you could transfer power through a vacuum. Our work is a step in that direction."

Use the power of the Sun as a source of alternative energy and save

Getting the world to shift away from fossil fuels to alternative energy sources whenever and wherever possible is the reason for this article because i really believe in a better tomorrow with a cleaner planet for everyone to enjoy.

Having crystal clear water to drink fresh from any source anywhere without having to clean it with chemicals and processes and fresh clean air to breath without any co2's or diesel fuel emission or any other chemicals in it which makes up the soup we breath today - should be our rights. With all the natural disasters like floods and hurricanes and the continually changing weather patterns should be enough to make everyone think seriously of using alternate green sources of energy to supply energy needs.

So, that being said i think everyone should try to convert totally or at least half of all their energy needs from gas / coal or electricity ( from electrical plants ) to alternative clean energy sources - be it wind power, solar power or zero point power which is made using magnets or even wave and tidal power. Lead by example and people will follow. I myself own an adult electric tricycle and i use it for all my intercity trips ( shopping / visiting ), it saves me on gas and works even in the winter. I get compliments all the time for how cool it is and let me say just about everybody wants one.

Solar Power Your Life

Did you know that harnessing and converting the energy coming from our Sun as a source is one of the coolest and most talked about ways for producing alternative energy these days? Using solar panels to gather the heat rays from the Sun and then convert them into electricity is just starting to catch on and you can learn to use it to power your lights in your home or instead of gas to heat your home. You can also convert your car to electricity and just plug it in to recharge it at your own house for next to nothing. Hey business owners you can power your business with solar power too. The best thing about converting your home and business to solar power is that it can and will be able to take care of all of everyone's energy needs far into the future at a fraction of the cost of purchasing from electrical retailers and will only create a fraction of the pollutants.

In researching which alternative energy source to use you will want to make sure that you seriously take solar power into consideration by learning all the advantages this alternative power source has to offer, it would well be worth your time and effort to do the research before starting any project.

Money Concerns Will Make You Take Solar Power Seriously

Pretty soon everyone will have to start taking solar power seriously anyway because purchasing electricity from retailers is going to start taking up more and more of peoples disposable incomes and soon will become to expensive for the average family and it's up to you to lead the way and convert your home to a clean alternate energy source and to make sure all of the others in your family get into thinking how to save energy and use it more wisely while they're still young and impressionable. Try making up games to play together for brainstorming ideas on how to save energy. Here's a couple of ideas to start off with - 1 - sell off a TV set so the family can gather in one room to watch TV together instead of separately on different sets, just doing this can save some money and bring your family back together as a loving family unit for a result and - 2 - convert you car to electricity and save on transportation costs and at the same time you will be helping to save the environment too.

Modern Times Call for Modern Thinking

It is the modern times and there are modern ways to approach things like electricity and transportation. You really should want to help the world to clean the atmosphere that we have been destroying for a hundred years by making sure the energy sources and any way we use them give off fewer pollutants and help preserve and possibly rejuvenate the Earth for future generations.

I'll bet that you and others you know use solar power and don't even know it. I'm sure someone you know owns a swimming pool, well,the blanket they put over it when nobody is using it is called a solar blanket which is a crude but is still an effective type of solar energy. The solar blanket helps harness the suns warmth and then transfers it to the water keeping the pool at a more palatable temperature. This way you don't need to use a direct heating source to keep your pool comfortably heated and this saves you money not having to use electricity to do this job for you. Surely this is not same way of collecting the Sun's power and converting it into easy to use electricity, however it is the idea that started the ball rolling on solar energy.

Solar - The Way To Go

The Sun has enough energy to power yours and everyone's lives on the planet with ease. Everybody needs to learn how to efficiently capture the Sun's energy by using solar panels, saving money and the planet as a spin-off benefit. Solar panels were designed for us to do just this.

The initial outlay for purchasing your own solar power generation system to power every aspect of your life can range anywhere from 10-25 thousand dollars depending on your lifestyle, however you can recuperate your costs within an average of 5-15 years through savings on electricity bills and if you enlarge your system so you make extra power you then sell to the electric suppliers break-even time will be shortened again.

Something you may not have thought of is that you can reduce your start-up and repair costs considerably by learning to do it all by yourself.

Nowadays it's easy to find solar panels at your local solar power retailer outlet but to save some money you should learn to build and install your own solar system. Adding enough panels to your project to totally convert your home to solar power and run all the appliances within is easily figured out and you may even add a couple extra panels to have a little left over energy to sell back to the power companies and pocket some profits. New and more efficient products are being developed every day to help you achieve this.

I must say this again - it is very important that you consider solar power and all that this technology can offer for the building or remodeling of a home or business so make sure to do the research and learn about it. Just imagine no more blackouts or problems with your outdoor lighting or security because the power is out. There is a never-ending list of uses for solar power and the sooner we convert the easier it will be for everyone to breathe easy again too.

Zero carbon emissions when using solar power

And when it comes to using solar power there are zero carbon emissions which today is what is ruining our environment, and with solar power there isn't any major pollution that you need to worry about. Only the batteries you use would fall into this category and if you just make sure to dispose of your used up batteries through a proper government-run disposal service you can be sure they know what they are doing and will dispose of it properly and in an environmentally friendly manner. All that you need to do is to be sure to extend the life of your batteries by keeping your batteries charged at all times and don't leave batteries under charged because this leads to lead sulfates accumulating and reducing the storage capacity of batteries.

Another thing is try to keep your battery cool and if at all possible try not placing it in a hot area like under the hood of your car. If you must do this place a heat shield over it to protect it from the heat that's under the hood of your car - excessive heat can reduce the life span of battery by 6-8 months. There are many different types of batteries and different little things you can do to extend their life. Like on a cell phone you can turn down the screen brightness to save on energy and recharging cycles (the less you need to recharge a battery the longer it will last). And when your batteries just don't perform as they should anymore another option you have is to recycle or recondition the batteries yourself. There are guides to teach you to do this and it's not as hard as you think.

Wind Power is Good But...

Don't get me wrong wind power will work fine but the maintenance of a wind turbine is a little costly because moving parts just seem to break more often and the windmill blades sometimes get bent in big storms leaving you scrambling to fix it, whereas solar panels require basically no maintenance but will incur replacement costs if one fails (try to keep a spare panel handy for just such an instance). But if you live in a place where light from the Sun is a little scarce then wind power generation is another way to go green and save, it's just a little more work.

An Inexhaustible Energy Source

The Sun is one energy source that we are going to be able to exploit for thousands of years to come. It is going to be there even when all other sources have become unavailable. You will find that there is a lot of solar-powered research being done today and it is the most promising future power source at the moment,who knows what the far future may bring.

However the future is happening now just look around and you will see all the solar-powered vehicles, lights, houses, offices and so much more. Actually go outside now and take a walk around your neighborhood and see all people who already use solar power these ways, just look for the solar panels outside a home or business or even the outside solar lights people use to light up their property and you know they are doing their part to save the environment, are you?

If you live in a hot and sunny climate you will find that solar panels are going to be the most efficient alternative power source for you, and the more sun your area receives the better it is for recharging you're system to full capacity everyday.

Read this article about a highly promising new solar panel technology -> http://goo.gl/EH9jf

Do It All Yourself

Don't forget there are guides you can purchase to teach you how to build and set up your own system. These guides will help you learn to do this and are a good way that you can learn something which will save you money and will even help you put some away for a rainy day if you want. If you construct your own solar panels and do all the system set up yourself you can save thousands over paying an installer to do the work for you and that money will now stay in your pocket and now you won't have to pay the big electricity retail giants anything for their power because you will be enjoying the pride and joy of being self-sufficient when your finished.

On a Personal Note

I feel using any of the alternative green sources of energy generation is our duty to help alleviate the stress on all the coal-fired power plants and to save some hard-earned cash. If enough people switch their home energy source to solar maybe we could shut down some of them coal-fired electrical generation plants and be able to breath easier.

It's also my opinion that governments should retrofit all existing houses with solar panels and / or wind turbines to meet everyone's personal needs. Making repairs tax exempt and / or tax-deductible would help people pay for their own repairs and as a result everyone would live better and most of all more self-sufficient.

Businesses should have to retrofit their own businesses but the same tax exempt and / or tax-deductible offer should be given for repairs.

Purchasing a clean alternative energy should not cost a pound of flesh either, especially in cold climates where energy is needed to keep you warm and ALIVE. Governments must be made to understand this and quit giving approval for insane energy rate hikes year in and year out.

Keep an open mind and you will see that the new ways of producing clean green power has enough benefits to convince you to convert your life and believe me - you won't be disappointed.

Wind Power Takes Center Stage At Brazilian Power Auction

A recent auction held by the Brazilian National Electric Energy Agency (ANEEL), resulted in 42 new electricity generation projects with a total installed capacity of 1,211.5 megawatts (MW), to meet the projected demand of distribution companies in 2016. Of this total, 39 projects were wind farms, totaling 976.5 MW, or 81 percent of the total power traded in the auction.

The average price per MWh was R$102.18 (approx. US$ 55 per MWh), which included an average discount of 8.77 percent. According to Brazil’s Energy Research Company (EPE), the auction fully met the demand of energy distribution companies.

New wind energy plants will be installed in different regions of the country: in the northeast (Bahia, Ceará, Maranhão and Rio Grande do Norte), in the heartland (Goiás), in the south (Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina) and southeast (São Paulo). The total projected investment is R$4.3 billion (approx. US$2.3 billion).

Apart from wind, the San Roque hydroelectric power plant (135 MW) was allocated to the state of Santa Catarina at the price per MWh of R$91.20 (approx. US$49.1 per MWh), which was a 25.85 percent discount to the original price, with expected investments of R$652 million (approx. US$351.1 million).

According to EPE, Brazil’s wind energy potential is estimated to be 143,000 MW, with the ability to reach 300,000 MW with the use of modern generators. Between 2009 and 2010, the country’s wind power generation increased by 50.5 percent; and currently accounts for 0.4 percent of the total electricity produced in Brazil.

Renewable energy accounts for 87.1 of Brazil’s electricity matrix, mainly from hydropower. But there’s pressure in the country for government to bring online wind and solar projects as the hydropower industry eyes the Amazon region for future projects, such as the controversial Belo Monte dam.

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Living Off The Grid With Solar Power Can Be Simple, Fun, & Challenging

My wife were desperate to get out of the city. It was 2007, we were having an extremely stressful year with work. I owned a small construction company that was just about to give me a heart attack.

She had a job she hated so much she would cry on the way to work sometimes. On top of all that, we lived in a duplex with noisy neighbors. And don’t even get me started on the constant, traffic, sirens, and aircraft noise of living in the city.

That’s when we decided: LETS GET OUT OF HERE – FOR GOOD! So we started looking for homes in the mountains. And, as luck would have it, we found our dream home after just one day of looking. Incredible views, astoundingly quiet, on a beautiful lake and surrounded by Aspen-draped mountains, we thought we had died and gone to heaven. There was just one thing: there was no grid power in this part of the world.

The home was powered with a solar power system and a backup generator. Heat would have to come from a wood-burning stove. It wasn’t exactly roughing it, but it was a drastic lifestyle change. And so, in the dead of winter, we moved our lives to the peace and quiet of Colorado Rockies. No more walking to sushi on Friday night.

No more rowdy concerts and raucous cab rides on Saturday night. We still do those things every once in a while but we don’t miss them as much as we thought we would. And we also don’t have to deal with car break-ins, dirty air, bad water, rude drivers, and traffic jams.

Living off the grid meant we had to make other adjustments too. The only lights on in the house at night are ones we are actively using. We started listening to our iPods with headphones instead of throwing on the stereo and cranking the music. Laundry waits until a sunny day. Everything is on a power strip and gets turned off at the end of the evening. We don’t own a toaster, microwave, clothes iron, or hair dryer.

We’ve become acutely aware of the patterns of the sun and weather. We open the blinds wide to let the sun pour in and heat the house in the winter. In the warm summer evenings we close them and crack windows strategically to allow the mountains breezes to cool the house. We’ve installed a wind generator and tuned into the patterns of our breezes too. Winter mornings might mean shoveling both the driveway and solar panels clear of snow.

Don’t misunderstand, we don’t live like hermits. We have a large flat screen TV, three computers, plenty of lighting, and tons of entertainment devices. We just use them strategically to conserve power, always keeping in mind that the sun is our friend. Up here we find that we need those things less anyway, with all the hiking, skiing, biking, and boating there is to do here.

We’ve learned a lot about solar power, living away from civilization, but mostly about ourselves here. And I can honestly say this is happiest I’ve ever been.

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Smart phones power consumption cut by more than 70 percent

ScienceDaily (Nov. 25, 2011) — Researchers at Aalto University in Finland have designed a network proxy that can cut the power consumption of 3G smart phones up to 74 percent. This device enhances performance and significantly reduces power usage by serving as a middleman for mobile devices to connect to the Internet and handling the majority of the data transfer for the smart phone. Historically, the high energy requirements of mobile phones have slowed the adoption of mobile Internet services in developing countries.

-- This new solution is particularly valuable in developing countries because it provides significantly more effective Internet access to a much larger number of people. At the moment, only a small percent can access the Internet from a wired connection, but 90 percent of the African population lives in areas with mobile phone network coverage. Mobile phone usage is increasing rapidly, however the use of mobile Internet services is hindered by users not having access to the power grid to recharge their phones," says Professor Jukka Manner from Aalto University.

The case study conducted at Aalto University examined Internet usage in three East African countries: Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya. Researchers developed energy-saving solutions for smart phones that could be easily deployed across a mobile network and in particular in areas without reliable sources of electricity. In addition to the new, optimized proxy solution, the researchers found that the power consumption of smart phones could also be significantly reduced by mobile optimized websites, HTTP compression and more efficient use of data caching.

The study was published at the scientific conference Africomm 2011. The research began in the Future Internet research program of TIVIT and funded by Tekes -- the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation. The work has been continued in the ECEWA project funded by Tekes, with partners from European Communications Engineering Ltd, Efore Plc, Ericsson, Aalto University and Tampere University of Technology.

 

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