The Green Optimistic

Today, the auto field is dominated by vehicles running on electricity or other alternative sources of energy but there is a team from the BBC1 science program “Bang Goes the Theory” who believe that coffee too is a good fuel. They have converted a 1998 Volkswagen Scirocco to run coffee granules, reaching a top speed of 60mph.

A group of scientists at the Yale University have created a new type of magnetic, lead-free solder that could be used to manufacture electronics more efficiently and cheaply.

China is planning to reduce its carbon footprint by 40-45% from the 2005 level and until 2020 to generate 15% of its electricity from low-carbon technologies. According to Zhang Guobao, head of the National Energy Administration, a national program consisting of billions of dollars of investments in solar, wind and nuclear energy would be launched very soon.

MIT chemist Dan Nocera claims that with just one bottle of drinking water and four hours of sunlight, he can generate 30 KWh of electric energy, being enough to power an entire home. This process consist in a a cobalt-based catalyst that uses solar energy to split water and produce hydrogen.

While giant auto manufacturers spend millions to build electric vehicles, a Japanese family decided to open a family-run business in their garage-workshop and to build eco-friendly electric cars by hand.

This tax would produce an annual revenue of around $600 million. According to the National Clean Energy Fund, Mukherjee, the coal is the “mainstay of India’s energy sector”, being 75% of the country’s power generation.

ComEd, a Chicago-based utility company has come up with a new solar energy pilot that will outfit about 100 Chicago-area homes with solar panels and “at least 50 of those with battery backup, ’smart’ meters, net metering and a grid-tied status that enables them to send unused electric energy from their solar energy systems back to the grid.”

The world’s largest photovoltaic solar power plant will be built by the French energy giant EDF. The company hopes to open the plant by 2012, being located at an abandoned NATO air base (415 hectare site in Toul-Rosieres, near the eastern city of Metz).

The Bourne Energy company, located in California, has developed a human-portable hydroelectric generator that produces up to 500W of renewable energy and weighs about 30 pounds. The Backpack Power Plant (BPP) can generate clean energy from any stream deeper than 4 feet.

The analysis, which assessed all forms of renewable energy, found that while 13 of the 27 European Union (EU) countries are going to meet their targets for renewable energy capacity, 8 are set to exceed it and the remaining 6 are expected to fall short.

The world’s biggest vessel powered entirely by solar energy has been unveiled in Germany. Measuring about 31m in length, the new catamaran called PlanetSolar is able to achieve a top speed of about 25 km/h (15 knots) and can carry 50 people.

Until now, scientists haven’t been able to provide the reasons of just how bacteria generate electric networks that serve as long distance communication systems. They have known just that it can produce electric energy when mixed with seawater and mud, leading to the development of microbial fuel cells.

A team of scientists at the University of Pennsylvania have developed the world’s first circuit powered by solar energy that can power itself, as long as it’s left in a beam of sunshine. It could eventually power a new line of consumer devices or even model the human brain.

A group of students at the Harvard University have come up with an ingenious idea that could change the lives of African people. They have developed an energy harvesting soccer ball called sOccket that is able to produce electric energy when being kicked around.

Takara Tomy is a Japanese toy maker that recently developed a radio-controlled toy car called “Ene Pocket”. The thing is equipped with a Sony bio-battery fueled by sugars like those in sodas and fruit drinks.

The partnership that took place a few days ago between United States Air Force and Fotowatio Renewable Ventures of San Francisco could lead to the construction of United State’s largest solar project that will be able to produce 500MW of green electricity.

A group of scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have developed a way to produce artificial photovoltaic and photochemical cells by infecting the tobacco plants with a genetically engineered virus. Unlike traditional methods of making solar cells, this new technique is more environmentally friendly (because the cells are biodegradable) and cheap.

Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco) and Samsung C&T have signed a contract to build a new $6 billion renewable power plant complex in a small village near Toronto in southern Ontario.

Toshiba Corp aims that by the end of 2010 will build a next-generation electric power system in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. According to the company, the system will come with storage batteries to stabilize the supply electric energy by solar panels, wind turbines, etc.

A team of students led by Harus Laksana Guntur, an engineering lecturer at the Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS) in East Java capital Surabaya have developed a mobile kinetic energy charger that can charge your cellphone every time you move. Unlike a battery or solar charger, this new cellphone charger uses the user’s energy to reload mobile phones.