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Nuclear Power – environmental advantages

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:19:29 +0000

Renewable energy and nuclear power increasingly factor into the evolving American energy equation to replace polluting coal. Even some environmentalists acknowledge that nuclear is a viable emissions-free option to dirty coal while renewable-energy technologies continue to advance. Nuclear fission reactors generate electrical power by splitting the atomic nuclei of uranium. This process creates a massive amount of heat — thermal energy — and radiation. The resultant heat is in turn utilized to make steam from water that then moves turbine blades to drive generators to produce electricity.

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Nuclear Power – environmental advantages

DuPont and Suntech Sign Strategic Agreement

admin — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 10:41:14 +0000

To help increase the supply of photovoltaic materials and technologies for the growing global market for solar energy, the world’s largest producer of solar panels has signed a strategic agreement with DuPont. The agreement focuses on technology advancements, supply chain optimization cost reduction initiatives, and DuPont™ Tedlar® polyvinyl fluoride film supply.

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DuPont and Suntech Sign Strategic Agreement

The Super Green Bowl

admin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:55:54 +0000

For the past 18 years, the NFL has been working to decrease the environmental footprint of the largest annual sporting event in the U.S. – the Super Bowl. Two years ago, we wrote about several initiatives aimed at reducing the events’ impacts. Last year, we covered how Super Bowl XLV was slated to be the greenest NFL championship game in history. This year, the NFL is trying to outdo itself yet again by working with the Green Mountain Energy Company and the Indianapolis community to make Super Bowl XLVI the greenest yet. I talked with Jack Groh, Director of the NFL’s Environmental Program, to get the details on this year’s efforts.

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The Super Green Bowl

Nano Improved Transformer Oil

admin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:55:54 +0000

Rice University scientists have created a nano-infused oil that could greatly enhance the ability of devices as large as electrical transformers and as small as microelectronic components to shed excess heat. Research in the lab of Rice materials scientist Pulickel Ajayan, which appears in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Nano, could raise the efficiency of such transformer oils by as much as 80 percent in a way that is both cost-effective and environmentally friendly. The Rice team focused their efforts on transformers for energy systems. Transformers are filled with mineral oils that cool and insulate the windings inside, which must remain separated from each other to keep voltage from leaking or shorting.

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Nano Improved Transformer Oil

NASA Confirms Man’s role in Global Warming

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:30:26 +0000

A new NASA study confirms the fact that greenhouse gases generated by human activity – not changes in solar activity – are the primary force driving global warming. The study offers an updated calculation of the Earth’s energy imbalance, the difference between the amount of solar energy absorbed by Earth’s surface and the amount returned to space as heat. The researchers’ calculations show that, despite unusually low solar activity between 2005 and 2010, the planet continued to absorb more energy than it returned to space. James Hansen, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York City, led the research. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics recently published the study.

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NASA Confirms Man’s role in Global Warming

Dam About to Bust on Clean Hydrokinetic Energy

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 09:07:11 +0000

A company called Verdant Power has won the first ever commercial license for a hydrokinetic tidal power facility in the U.S., and that could be just the first drop in a torrent of more than 100 new hydrokinetic projects that are still in the initial stages of permitting around the country. Verdant’s project, called RITE for Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy, will tap the powerful currents of New York City’s East River to generate clean electricity.

Dam About to Bust on Clean Hydrokinetic Energy

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 09:07:10 +0000

Cooling Lagoons aim to reduce thermal discharges to marine ecosystems, improve efficiency

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:41:35 +0000

Gulf countries that lack freshwater resources rely deeply on seawater desalination to meet their daily needs and cool down thermal generation plants. According to Gulf News, the United Arab Emirates alone uses four trillion litres of Gulf seawater each year to cool down its power plants, foundries and desalination plants. The byproduct of these operations produces a hot briny fluid that is then pumped back into the Gulf, seriously compromising coral reefs and the overall marine ecosystem. But Crystal Lagoons – the same people who were behind the worlds largest artificial lagoon planned for the Red Sea, is marketing a new closed-loop cooling system that would ensure that no more water would have to be extracted from the Gulf to cool down industrial plants! Thermal power plants require water for cooling, but disposing of that water back into the Gulf is not only harmful to the marine ecosystem, according to Crystal Lagoons, it is also a waste of thermal energy.

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Cooling Lagoons aim to reduce thermal discharges to marine ecosystems, improve efficiency

The Solar Balance

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:41:33 +0000

The sun is the base energy source for the Earth. What it emits is either absorbed or reflected. Observations showed some “missing energy” in this balance. Two years ago, scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., released a study claiming that inconsistencies between satellite observations of Earth’s heat and measurements of ocean heating amounted to evidence of missing energy in the planet’s system. Where was it going? Or, they wondered, was something wrong with the way researchers tracked energy as it was absorbed from the sun and emitted back into space? Well it was found. An international team of atmospheric scientists and oceanographers, led by Norman Loeb of NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., and including Graeme Stephens of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., set out to investigate the mystery.

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The Solar Balance

X-Ray Laser Fires Most Powerful Beam Ever

admin — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:16:35 +0000

Lasers fire beams of light that can cut through steel or etch microchip patterns, depending on the power and wavelength. Now one team of scientists at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Menlo Park, Calif., led by Nina Rohringer, has created an X-ray laser that fires more energy, with a more precise wavelength, than any previous model. The results are being published in the journal Nature.

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X-Ray Laser Fires Most Powerful Beam Ever

X-Ray Laser Fires Most Powerful Beam Ever

admin — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:16:35 +0000

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X-Ray Laser Fires Most Powerful Beam Ever

The Green Side of the State of the Union

admin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:44:55 +0000

Listening to the State of the Union last night, I couldn’t help but notice that energy has become a hot issue – it was mentioned far more times than most other issues. I checked later on and saw I wasn’t wrong – energy was mentioned 23 times, setting a new record (at least for this century) and coming third after jobs/employment (35 times) and taxes (34 times). This is pretty impressive, but still, when I turned off the radio in my car by the end of the speech, trying to digest what I’ve just heard, I was left with mixed feelings. The reason was that while President Obama spoke about providing strong support for cleantech, he also includes support for dirtier energy resources like offshore oil and shale gas, as part of his vision of developing “every available source of American energy.” So he ended up providing both good news and bad news for those hoping he will lead America to a more sustainable future.

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The Green Side of the State of the Union

U.S. CO2 emissions to stay below 2005 levels

admin — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:02:20 +0000

U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions will be 7 percent lower than their 2005 level of nearly 6 billion metric tons in 2020 as coal’s share of electricity production continues a steady descent over the next two decades, according to new government data. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) released an early version of its annual energy outlook on Monday, which predicted a slowdown in growth of energy use over the next two decades amid economic recovery and improved energy efficiency. The report highlights the fact that carbon-intensive coal generation will see a major decline in the power sector in the coming decades, which will ensure energy-related CO2 emissions will not exceed 2005 levels at any point before 2035. The report also showed that emissions per capita would fall an average of 1 percent per year from 2005 to 2035 as the new federal standards, state renewable energy mandates and higher energy prices would temper the growth of demand for transportation fuels.

Is There a Future in Solar Boats?

admin — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 00:55:18 +0000

One of the highlights of this year’s World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi was a tour of Planet Solar’s incredible solar powered yacht – the Turanor. The largest solar powered boat ever to set sail, the Turanor is on the final leg of a round-the-world tour, the first time anyone has managed to sail around the world powered entirely by solar energy. The massive 8.5 ton boat comfortably carries a crew of a half dozen or so with plenty of room to host a dockside party for 100. It cruises comfortably at 5 knots but is capable of double that speed on particularly good days as it cuts through the waves with its knife-like design. Most impressive – the boat can can store as much as 3 days worth of sailing power in a huge rack of lithium ion batteries – thus allowing it to sail in the dark of night without a hitch.

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Is There a Future in Solar Boats?

China to Help Saudis With Novel Nuke Power

admin — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 03:23:06 +0000

In the wake of a 6-day trip by China’s Premier Win Jiabao to Saudi Arabia, China and Saudi Arabia have forged an alliance on developing nuclear power. Saudi Arabia has signed an agreement with China for assistance in the development of nuclear power, using the last of its oil wealth to invest in the most controversial form of a low carbon energy future for its energy hungry nation. In 2010, the Kingdom established the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KACARE) to develop low carbon sources of energy, prompting us to ask: Who’s Going Nuclear in the Middle East?

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China to Help Saudis With Novel Nuke Power

Obama administration rejects Keystone

admin — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:29:42 +0000

The Obama administration on Wednesday rejected the Keystone crude oil pipeline project, a decision welcomed by environmental groups but blasted by the domestic energy industry. U.S. President Barack Obama said TransCanada’s application for the 1,700-mile (2,740-km) pipeline was denied because the State Department did not have enough time to complete the review process. “This announcement is not a judgment on the merits of the pipeline, but the arbitrary nature of a deadline that prevented the State Department from gathering the information necessary to approve the project and protect the American people,” Obama said in a statement.

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Obama administration rejects Keystone

Better Grasses

admin — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 21:19:42 +0000

Grasses are usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the true grasses, as well as the sedges (Cyperaceae) and the rushes. The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns (turf) and grassland. Researchers from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) Sustainable Bioenergy Center (BSBEC) have discovered a family of genes that could help breed grasses with improved properties for dietary use and bioenergy uses. The genes are important in the development of the fibrous, woody parts of grasses, like rice and wheat. The team hopes that by understanding how these genes work, they might for example be able to breed varieties of cereals where the fibrous parts of the plants confer additional dietary benefits or crops whose straw requires less energy-intensive processing in order to produce biofuels.

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Better Grasses

Japan extends allowed operating life of nuclear reactors

admin — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 21:19:40 +0000

Japan will allow nuclear reactors to operate for up to 60 years in revised regulations on power plant operators even as it looks to shift gradually away from atomic power in the wake of the Fukushima disaster. The move on Wednesday, which marks the first time Japan will set a limit on a reactor’s maximum lifespan, comes while the country debates a new energy strategy that is expected to give a greater role to renewable, clean energy sources. The government said it aims to introduce the 60-year limit a year from now as part of a comprehensive revision of laws regulating nuclear plant operators in the wake of Fukushima, where reactor cooling systems were stopped by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, triggering meltdowns and radiation leaks that led to mass evacuations and widespread contamination.

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Japan extends allowed operating life of nuclear reactors

UN launches International Year of Sustainable Energy for All

admin — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 21:19:34 +0000

United Nations’ officials [this week] launched the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All with a call on governments, the private sector and civil society to help expand energy access, improve efficiency and increase the use of renewables. Globally, one person in five still lacks access to modern electricity and twice that number – three billion people – rely on wood, coal, charcoal, or animal waste for cooking and heating.

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UN launches International Year of Sustainable Energy for All

Building a Sustainable Hydrogen Economy

admin — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 21:52:23 +0000

The concept of the hydrogen economy (HE), in which hydrogen would replace the carbon-based fossil fuels of the twentieth century was first mooted in the 1970s. Today, HE is seen as a potential solution to the dual global crises of climate change and dwindling oil reserves. A research paper to be published in the International Journal of Sustainable Design suggests that HE is wrong and SHE has the answer in the sustainable hydrogen economy. John Andrews of the School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, at RMIT University, in Bundoora, Victoria, Australia, explains how rather than there being a straight choice between hydrogen fuel cells and battery electric vehicles, it is time to accept that horsepower is a matter of “horses for courses.” He adds that hydrogen can be produced using renewables — water as the material source and wind power or solar as the energy supply for conversion. It thus offers a zero-emissions approach to fuel production for power generation using fuel cells to convert the hydrogen into electricity for all modes of transport as an alternative to petroleum fuels. Hydrogen generated by via wind power can also act as an energy-storage medium for times when wind and sun are unable to fulfill power requirements.

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Building a Sustainable Hydrogen Economy