tetw:
by Jeanne Marie Laskas
On a $500 million man-made island in the frozen Arctic Ocean, in temperatures that hover around forty-five degrees below zero, in perpetual darkness, a tight-knit band of roughnecks spends twelve hours a day, seven days a week, drilling down, down into the earth and pulling up precious crude. If you want to know how badly we need oil, here is your answer.
Reblogged from futurescope|105 notes |# Comments
Chemical reaction eats up CO2 to produce energy
While there are plenty of ways to make carbon-based products from CO2, these methods usually require a lot of energy because the CO2 molecules are so stable. If the energy comes from the burning of fossil fuels, then the net result will be more CO2 entering the atmosphere. Now a material scientist at Michigan Technological University has discovered a chemical reaction that not only soaks up CO2, but also produces useful chemicals along with significant amounts of energy.
Professor Yun Hang Hu and his research team developed a heat-releasing reaction between CO2 and lithium nitride (Li3N) - a compound that is the only stable alkali metal nitride and is made by reacting lithium with nitrogen at room temperature. Reacting lithium nitride with carbon dioxide resulted in amorphous carbon nitride (C3N4), a semiconductor, and lithium cyanamide (Li2CN2), a precursor to fertilizers. […]
Reblogged from thenextweb|142 notes |# Comments
‘Beams’ from space that could power cities: First tests on solar satellites offer hope of green energy
Researchers at Stratchclyde University have already tested equipment in space, a first step for solar panels to collect energy and transfer it back to earth through microwaves or lasers.
The researchers aim to produce a ‘swarm’ of satellites that could one day power whole cities.
Full Story: Mailonline
Reblogged from smarterplanet|26 notes |# Comments
Hertz and IBM Launch Smart Microgrid for Electric Car-Sharing | TPM Idea Lab
IBM’s Ehningen Innovation Center campus in Germany is about to become ground zero for the development of an advanced personal transportation system that combines Hertz’s car sharing know-how with distributed renewable energy, electric vehicles and smart microgrid technology.
The new system, announced earlier this week, will piggyback on an existing car sharing agreement between the Ehningen campus and nearby Stuttgart Airport, through Hertz’s online self-service renting portal.
The new field test illustrates IBM’s accelerating embrace of renewable energy and electric vehicle technology. Last month, Idea Lab reported that IBM has been developing an advanced lithium-air battery that could be instrumental in lowering the retail price of electric vehicles.
The Ehningen test dovetails with IBM’s EV battery research and with its participation in the EDISON research consortium, which the company joined in 2009. EDISON is a Denmark-based project (it stands for Electric Vehicles in a Distributed and Integrated Market using Sustainable Energy and Open Networks) designed to build a pathway to mass market use of electric vehicles.
Sent me a mesage:
“hi, I’m curious why you think that things will be fine with the tarsands. Thanks”
I do not think that things will be fine with tar sands. I think there are lots of problems with the way oil is extracted from them. I am not sure how we gave an impression that we are ok with tar sands. We did reblog the post on Tar Sands that my Tumblr friend Michael Cote at Climate Adaptation put up:
This article was highly critical of tar sands and new pipelines being built. That aligns with my view.
Having said that we do not necessarily agree with everything that we post here. We just put up stuff that we think it is interesting and that people should think about.
Paul Higgins
Reblogged from smarterplanet|86 notes |# Comments
Researchers Using Bio-Engineered Viruses to Power Nano Electronics
The researchers looked to viruses as a new material to work with because they reproduce rapidly and align far better than other materials, making them good candidates to accumulate a charge on one end of the virus.
The researchers then genetically engineered the virus with proteins that enhance the buildup of charge on the ends of the rod-shaped viruses. The viruses only attack other bacteria so are considered benign. The viruses are stacked onto thin films and then several thin films are layered to build up as much voltage as possible.
The Lawrence Berkeley Lab group isn’t the first to pursue viruses as a means for building up electric charge. Researchers at MIT in 2009 said they were able to wire a charge-building virus to a lithium ion battery. The Lawrence Berkeley Lab’s prototype was only able to generate about a quarter of the voltage of a triple A battery, but they believe that their approach to “viral electronics” can scale up.
(via Step on it: Virus could lead to motion-powered gadgets | Cutting Edge - CNET News)
Reblogged from climateadaptation|62 notes |# Comments
NASA’s James Hansen: tar sands is the “dirtiest of fuels” and “game over for the climate”
James Hansen, Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, made another appeal this week to end our reliance on tar sands oil or it will be “game over” for the climate. If we continue to approve pipelines bringing in the dirtiest of fuels like tar sands he said, “there is no hope of keeping carbon concentrations below 500 p.p.m. — a level that would, as earth’s history shows, leave our children a climate system that is out of their control.” The production of tar sands oil has three times the global warming emissions as conventional oil production. Hansen rightly cautions that turning to these “dirtiest of fuels” for our gas tanks derails efforts to reduce our dependency on climate-changing fossil fuels. Read more.Meh. Things will be fine.
Reblogged from futuramb|188 notes |# Comments
Secrets of the First Practical Artificial Leaf
A detailed description of development of the first practical artificial leaf — a milestone in the drive for sustainable energy that mimics the process, photosynthesis, that green plants use to convert water and sunlight into energy — appears in the ACS journal Accounts of Chemical Research. The article notes that unlike earlier devices, which used costly ingredients, the new device is made from inexpensive materials and employs low-cost engineering and manufacturing processes.
[read more] [paper] [via reddit] [photo credit: ACS]
Reblogged from smarterplanet|33 notes |# Comments
For algae to power our cars and planes, production needs to be low carbon and cost effective, which means working with natural processes, not against them, say scientists.
Algae could become an important source of sustainable biofuel, as production doesn’t compete with food crops for…
![futurescope:
Chemical reaction eats up CO2 to produce energy
While there are plenty of ways to make carbon-based products from CO2, these methods usually require a lot of energy because the CO2 molecules are so stable. If the energy comes from the burning of fossil fuels, then the net result will be more CO2 entering the atmosphere. Now a material scientist at Michigan Technological University has discovered a chemical reaction that not only soaks up CO2, but also produces useful chemicals along with significant amounts of energy.
Professor Yun Hang Hu and his research team developed a heat-releasing reaction between CO2 and lithium nitride (Li3N) - a compound that is the only stable alkali metal nitride and is made by reacting lithium with nitrogen at room temperature. Reacting lithium nitride with carbon dioxide resulted in amorphous carbon nitride (C3N4), a semiconductor, and lithium cyanamide (Li2CN2), a precursor to fertilizers. […]
[via gizmag] [paper]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4f2a8FiFr1r08k60o1_500.jpg)
![smarterplanet:
Secrets of the First Practical Artificial Leaf
A detailed description of development of the first practical artificial leaf — a milestone in the drive for sustainable energy that mimics the process, photosynthesis, that green plants use to convert water and sunlight into energy — appears in the ACS journal Accounts of Chemical Research. The article notes that unlike earlier devices, which used costly ingredients, the new device is made from inexpensive materials and employs low-cost engineering and manufacturing processes.
[read more] [paper] [via reddit] [photo credit: ACS]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3t0hj0MBS1r08k60o1_500.jpg)
Reblogged from tetw|11 notes |# Comments