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Yearly Archives: 2009
CALMAC Stores Surplus Wind Energy in Ice Banks
While some green projects store the excess energy in a kinetic form, such as the fore-mentioned flywheels, others are inventing ways to use frozen water to collect surpluses from wind farms, which are more productive at night, when winds are stronger.
World's First Osmotic Power Plant Goes Online in Norway
The process, called osmotic power, is a harvesting the energy that appears when salt water and fresh water meet through an osmotic filter. For the moment, the project is small-scale but could prove the great potential of osmotic energy.
Biofuel Seeds Increase Pesticide Usage and Chemical Residues in Our Food
An article published last week by a group of health and environmental protection organizations stated that since 1996 till today, the U.S. farmers have increased dramatically the use of genetically engineered corn, soybeans and cotton.
200 Flywheels Will Back Up New York's Energy Grid Starting 2011
Beacon Power's flywheels will spin at up to 16,000 rpm, and will be powered by the excess energy produced at night or at times when power consumption is not so big. The numbers are also impressive: the entire array will be able to store about 10% (20 MW) of New York's energy needs.
Daniel Nocera's Sun Catalytix Receives $7.1 Million for Developing Photosynthesis System
Daniel G. Nocera of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is the inventor of the most important solar energy system of the century. His 2007 designed system is able to create cheap solar energy based on the photosynthesis process.
Amazing Experiment Creates 3D Self-Folding Solar Cell Around Water Droplet
University of Illinois researchers discovered a method to manufacture three-dimensional, single-crystalline silicon solar cells from thin films. They used photolithography and a process driven by capillary interaction that made the micron-thick film to bend around itself.
Proof-of-Concept Piezoelectric Generators Used to Recover Energy from Wind
City College of New York researchers, led by professor Yiannis Andreopoulos, are studying how to incorporate piezoelectric electricity generators into cars and planes, so they can convert the kinetic energy of motion into electricity.
Solar Heat Powered Machine Turns CO2 Back Into Fuel
This is the simple description, of course - the machine, made of a metal cylinder, is called the CR5 (Counter Rotating Ring Receiver Reactor Recuperator) is working on the principle that heat triggers a thermo-chemical reaction in an iron-rich composite material.
Korean Scientists Find Quick and Easy Way to Produce Bio-Plastics
Petroleum stands at the base of every plastic we usually find on today's market. Polymers are everywhere, and if petroleum resources are about to go scarce with time, it's a good idea to replace it with other renewable and biodegradable material that we could use just as well as we use petroleum today.
Researchers Use Wind Turbine Technique to Build Efficient Wave Powered Generators
Mankind has been adopting the working principles of natural phenomenons and animals since ages. Now, when it's time to learn from fish to develop wave-powered generators, it's also time to learn what others have learned from birds - and use them in the seas, to gather energy which they would later turn into electricity.
