Energy

This Time, Let's Spend Money On Battery Research Rather Than Subsidies

We love our modern gadgets, so we sometimes forget we still have an energy problem our Founding Fathers faced- and it impacts everything from the usability of solar power to the uptake of electric cars also. ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Jan 31 2013 - 2:23pm

Evolution Algorithm Inspires Organic Solar Cell Design

The sun has terrific energy potential but harnessing its electricity with silicon solar cells is too expensive; at times 10 times the price of coal energy it is fine for wealthier people but unrealistic in developing nations, where CO2 emissions are risin ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 27 2013 - 10:59am

Domesticating Switchgrass For Biofuels Has Its Downsides

In the ongoing quest to optimize alternative energy sources like biofuels, researchers are looking more to plants that grow in the wild, such as switchgrass. But domesticating wildgrowing plants has a downside- it could make them more susceptible to any n ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 15 2013 - 11:30am

Solar Sponge Made Of Smart Material Soaks Up CO2 Emissions

Scientists at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) have created a 'solar sponge' which captures and then releases carbon dioxide using the power of sunlight. The 'sponge' which is made from a new sma ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 19 2013 - 3:30pm

Boosting Efficiency Could Double Energy Productivity

Researchers with National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), one of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) labs, say that the United States can double its energy productivity by 2030 — and do so in ways that bolster the nation's economy. Unveili ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 24 2013 - 6:30pm

Rethinking Wind Power As The Latest, Greatest Thing

Activists love wind power the way they once loved ethanol and natural gas- it is good until scientists show them it is not.  Claims that there is no upper bound for wind power, that it is scalable because gusts and breezes don't seem likely to " ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 26 2013 - 11:36pm

Activists Cheer American Nuclear Power Exit- While They Ignore Climate Change

Though staunchly opposed to nuclear power in some respects, like the controversial decision to scuttle the Yucca Mountain project, the Obama administration said in 2012 that it was "jumpstarting" the nuclear industry. ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 4 2013 - 6:25pm

Calculating Grid-Scale Battery Carbon Footprints

If you've shaken your head at MTBE or ethanol, you know we do a poor job of projecting the real effect of energy sector alternatives accurately.  Advocates are happy to make up numbers but that doesn't work as well after four years of government ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 8 2013 - 11:54am

Cleaner Energy Without Natural Gas Touted For New York

New Yorkers are not happy about the boom in Pennsylvania due to increased natural gas in that state- but politicians have been against it. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he will soon decide whether to approve gas drilling but engineers writing in Energy ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 13 2013 - 10:37am

Better Clean Coal And Carbon CaptureTechnology Gets A Boost

An innovative new process releases the energy in coal without burning, while capturing carbon dioxide, the major greenhouse gas that is the target of emissions reduction goals. How close is it to commercial use?  It has passed an important milestone- a su ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 22 2013 - 11:35am