Energy

Flexible Nanoantennas Put Us On The Road To Affordable Solar Power

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory say they have devised an inexpensive way to produce plastic sheets containing billions of nanoantennas that collect heat energy generated by the sun and other sources. They say t ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 10 2008 - 5:07pm

Nanoscale Catalysts Could Turn Garbage Into Cheap Source Of Ethanol

Biofuels are a bad word these days, due to the fact that everyone from Al Gore to George Bush thought ethanol was a good idea due to a lack of understanding actual science much less basic economics. But before grain ethanol and biodiesel there was 'ga ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 13 2008 - 6:37pm

PHEV And The Hybrid Plug-in Grid

One way to help save the world is to buy a Prius for $20,000 but the fact remains that it still uses gas. The next vehicle in line, which crosses the half-way point between gas and electric, is the PHEV. The vehicle has a bigger electrical engine meaning i ...

Article - Audrey Amara - Aug 15 2008 - 1:33am

Lithium-Polymer Accumulator Technology Means Better Energy Storage For Hybrid Cars

An automobile powered by petroleum on the freeway and by electricity in town uses considerably less energy. A hybrid propulsion system that switches over to generator operation when the brakes go on, producing electric current that is temporarily stored in ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 14 2008 - 9:47am

TGD4 Protein Discovery Could Mean Plants Optimized For Biofuels

Scientists at Michigan State University have identified a new protein necessary for chloroplast development that they say could ultimately lead to plant varieties tailored specifically for biofuel production. Chloroplasts, which are specialized compartment ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 15 2008 - 6:28pm

Replicating Hydrogen Creation The Photosynthesis Way

An international team of researchers led by Monash University has used chemicals found in plants to replicate a key process in photosynthesis paving the way to a new approach that uses sunlight to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The breakthrough coul ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 18 2008 - 11:02am

Corn Can Be Sustainable Biofuel, Says Study, But Using All The Corn Stover Is Not The Answer

With oil prices skyrocketing, the search is on for efficient and sustainable biofuels. Research published this month in Agronomy Journal examines one biofuel crop idea, the corn stover made up of the leaves and stalks of corn plants that are left in the fi ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 19 2008 - 12:42pm

Stopping Oil Leaks From Biocorrosion Leads To Hydrocarbon Discovery

A group of University of Oklahoma researchers studying the environmental fate of petroleum spills have in the process isolated a community of microorganisms capable of converting hydrocarbons into natural gas. The researchers found that the process known a ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 19 2008 - 7:15pm

Manganese Catalyst May Boost Efficient Hydrogen Production

Hydrogen will be one of the most important fuels of the future, if it can be obtained by efficiently splitting water. Today the electrolysis of water is a very energy intensive process, making it both expensive and unsustainable if the electricity necessar ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 26 2008 - 9:30am

Energy- TM242 Compost Heap Bacteria Could Meet 10 Percent Of UK Needs, Says Researcher

Bacteria found in compost heaps able to convert waste plant fibre into ethanol could eventually provide up 10% of the UK's transport fuel needs, scientists heard at the Society for General Microbiology's Autumn meeting. Researchers from Guildford ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 8 2008 - 11:31pm