Algae and photosynthetic bacteria could also be exploited to generate electricity, besides jellyfish. University of Cambridge researchers let by Adrian Fisher and Paolo Bombelli study how they could use the two fore-mentioned to actually generate usable energy.
Recently, Zackary Chiragwandi at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden, and his colleagues have developed a solar cell based on a green fluorescent protein (GFP) from the jellyfish Aequorea victoria.
E.coli is often associated with food poisoning and sickness. An associate professor of computer science at Rutgers University in Camden, Desmond Lun, is trying to perform a computer simulation of how E.coli could be genetically modified to produce more fatty acids, and hence biodiesel.
Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy found out a way to chemically enclose methane in cage-like ice crystals. This technology is much safer than current liquefied natural gas (LNG), which is transported at very low temperatures and high pressures.
In Europe, hybrid cars are not sold very well, compared to diesels. Toyota officials said that by the end of 2020, the company plans to add the hybrid option across its entire lineup.
The first organic solar cell has come from Switzerland. It seems somehow normal that the first practical application and the first organic solar cell manufacturer to come from Germany - doesn't it?
Sharp has worked closely with the University of Tokyo, and aims breaking the record again with 45% by 2015 and even to reach 50% by 2025. The company says that at 45% the cost of solar will finally reach that of nuclear and thermal power plants.
Metropolitan cities around the world build more and more underground subway systems in order to minimize the number of vehicles on the roads. The industrial designers also though to help city authorities by redesigning the current systems, making them more efficient.
The Obama Administration wants to help the biofuel industry develop. The government is thus investing $8.9 million to award nine companies in seven states for improving their genetic breeding programs for creating plants better suited for biofuel.
The Vehicular Technology Conference, hosted in Ottawa, Canada, next week, will be the place where Zafer Sahinoglu at the Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and his colleagues will present an innovation aimed to patch the issues electric cars and their limited battery range have: the mobile battery charger.
