Daily Popular
- Enhancer RNA (eRNA): More powerful than previously thought
- lincRNA: A recently discovered RNA organizes stem cell differentiation
- Histones: DNA packaging and much more
- Four-letter codons: A new synthetic biology playground
- Hoogsteen base pairs: An alternate structure in DNA
- New for epigenetics: Active pseudogenes and RNA as gene regulator
- Back to the Future: Cars with hub motors
- Stem cell injection improves aging cells in mice
- Can culture change the genome?
- Loricifera: Larger life without oxygen
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Tag Archives: alternative energy
Synthetic biology: Improve photosynthesis
Eighteen blue-ribbon scientists from all over the world agree: We need to improve on Mother Nature. Oh? Well, yes. Nature only extracts energy from the Sun in a couple of band gaps (otherwise known as colors), mostly green, some blue. We can do better than that. We can engineer plants to absorb photons from the [...]
Posted in News: Synthetic Biology Also tagged algae, band gap, biomass, color, photosynthesis, photovoltaic, solar energy, synthetic biology Leave a comment
New solar heat technology: Make electricity and hot water
Solar panels that directly capture energy from the sun and convert it into electrical energy are well known and recognized as a major source of alternative energy. Solar panels that make hot water are popular in some parts of the world (China, Europe, Brazil, India) and the technology is well known. Solar panels that use [...]
Posted in News: Alternative Energy Also tagged Chen, flat-panel, MIT, Seebeck, solar energy, solar panel, thermoelectric, water heater 5 Comments
Fuel cell technology: Fuel from an ‘artificial leaf’
Visions of catchy titles danced in my head: “Alternative energy turns over a new leaf,” for example. It sounds like a perfect story for a world growing ever more skittish about the future of energy. (As Fukushima continues to radiate danger and fuel prices head into economy busting territory.) The idea is to produce energy [...]
Posted in Impact: Alternative Energy Also tagged artificial leaf, catalysts, cobalt, fuel cell, hydrogen, nickel, Nocera, photosynthesis, Tata Leave a comment
Fukushima Meltdown
As I write this, daylight has overtaken Japan on Tuesday morning, there has been a third explosion at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant; this time in the second reactor. It appears that some kind of core containment breach has occurred, which will mean at minimum more released radioactivity. The staff has been evacuated, at least [...]
Posted in Impact: Alternative Energy Also tagged Chernobyl, core meltdown, earthquake, Fukushima, nuclear energy, Three Mile Island, tsunami 1 Comment
NEWS: Short List
Transcranial direct current stimulation: Stoking the brain with electricity – Brain Enhancement | While most likely the majority of neuroscientists conduct experiments to read the electrical activity in the brain, there are some interested in stimulating the brain with electricity. With modern techniques this stimulation has become more precise, and the monitoring of reactions (that’s [...]
Posted in News: Also tagged brain enhancement, nanotechnology, origin of life, photonics, synthetic biology Leave a comment
Potential windows: Transparent solar panel material
“Roll up the windows, honey. The battery needs charging.” Transparent solar cells could have many uses, which puts them on the alternative energy research agenda. One approach, described in the journal Chemistry of Materials [Structural dynamics and charge transfer via complexation with fullerene in large area conjugated polymer honeycomb thin films] developed by a research [...]
Posted in News: Alternative Energy Also tagged buckyball, fullerene, polymer, semiconductor, solar energy, solar panel, water deposition Leave a comment
Peak Oil: Forbes. Maxwell. Oil. Last-nail. Coffin.
Perhaps the title on this post is over the top (pun intended). The reality of peak oil is not a secret. However, that reality is generally among the media a pro-forma taboo. For media outlets where the cognoscenti need to know, it gets mentioned. For general consumption, the mass media, not so much. Save consumers [...]
Posted in Impact: Hydrocarbon Use Also tagged 2018, Forbes, hydrocarbon use, Maxwell, oil production, peak oil Leave a comment
Hygroelectricity – hokum or an alternative source of energy?
There’s a nugget of scientific newness in the presentation at the national meeting of the Amercian Chemical Society of findings by Fernando Galembeck and colleagues at the University of Campinas (Brazil). For decades it has been accepted theory that water vapor in clouds is electrically neutral, even when it comes into contact with charged particles [...]
Posted in News: Alternative Energy Also tagged atmospheric electricity, hygroelectricity, lightning Leave a comment
The PETE process: Solar heat + light = more electricity
Using the light from the Sun to generate electricity is commonplace. So is generating electricity through heat, as in steam turbines. Combining solar light and solar heat to generate energy is an obvious juxtaposition, but until now undemonstrated as a feasible technology. That’s why the proof of concept testing on a concept called PETE (photon [...]
Posted in News: Alternative Energy Also tagged cesium, gallium arsenide, PETE, silicon, solar energy, thermal energy Leave a comment
Tech idea: Gravel silos to store wind or solar energy
Obviously there are times when the sun don’t shine and the wind don’t blow. Such times are called ‘interruptions of service’ for solar and wind energy generation. It limits their effectiveness as alternative energy sources. The solution is to store energy when the wind blows and the sun shines and release it during the non-productive [...]
Posted in News: Energy Storage Also tagged argon gas, energy storage, gravel battery, solar power, wind power Leave a comment
Oil production from living bacteria
In the attempt to find alternative sources of energy, scientists are probing possibilities in almost the entire world of life. This includes plant life, of course, with trees, corn (maize), switch grass, and other crops in the list. It also includes smaller forms of plant life, in particular algae. Even smaller forms of life and [...]
Posted in News: Alternative Energy Also tagged bioengineering, cyanobacteria, DNA, fatty acid, genetic modification, lipid, thioesterase Leave a comment
New steps toward cellulosic ethanol
Scientists keep banging away at it – converting wood or woody fibers to ethanol (cellulosic ethanol) or other useful fuel. It’s difficult, plant materials that contain sugars are easy (for example, fermentation for alcohol) but woody fibers (cellulose) don’t have much of that kind of organic material. By nature, wood is tough stuff and doesn’t [...]
Posted in News: Alternative Energy Also tagged biofuel, biomass, cellulose, cellulosic ethanol, enzyme, ethanol Leave a comment
The Bloom Box fuel cell system
Normally this would be a simple news item: Bloom Energy, Inc. (California, USA) introduces a new electric power producing fuel cell device – the Bloom Box. There would be some description: The Bloom Box uses inputs of methane-type fuel (from natural gas to bio-fuels), burns them at about 1000C, and with proprietary catalytic converters produces [...]
Posted in Impact: Alternative Energy Also tagged Bloom Box, catalyst, ceramic, ethane, fuel cell, green energy, methane Leave a comment
Branson’s no virgin on peak oil
Celebrity endorsements can be a mixed blessing. How do you react when a celebrity such as Richard Branson (that’s SIR Richard Branson, if you please) says something like this: “The next five years will see us face another crunch – the oil crunch. This time, we do have the chance to prepare. The challenge is [...]
Posted in Spun Also tagged Branson, CO2, global warming, hydrocarbon use, oil, peak oil, petroleum 2 Comments
Also tracking: Science and tech disappointments
Turning the year to a new decade is bound to produce a wide variety of retrospectives. Lists are always popular. I came across an interesting list the other day at the Scientific American site: 10 Science Letdowns of the New Millennium by Katherine Harmon. The original is presented as a slide show. Why, I’m not [...]
Posted in Impact: General Also tagged anti-science, brain, cancer, cars, climate change, electric cars, evolution, exobiology, genetics, global warming, HIV, neurology, paleontology, power grid, science, space, technology 1 Comment
Microsolar: Potentially a small revolution
Even for sober science, the word revolutionary gets thrown around far too much. Solar energy gets its share of hyperbole. So the notion that microphotovolatic cells – tiny solar cells about the size of decorative glitter – could revolutionize the solar energy industry might be yet another hyperstretch. Then again, the option to use micro-cells [...]
Posted in News: Alternative Energy Also tagged MEMS, microphotovoltaic cells, silicon wafers, solar cells, solar energy Leave a comment
Go with the flow battery
Did you know that one kind of battery can be refilled with a charge in much the same way as a gas tank? It’s not a new idea. One of the most efficient incarnations of what is called a redox flow battery was developed in the 1980s at the University of New South Wales, Australia. [...]
Posted in News: Energy Storage Also tagged batteries, electricity, lithium-ion, redox flow Leave a comment
One voice: Paul Krugman, fracking and solar energy