Tag: energy
-
Collaboration to Develop Smart Power Grid in Denmark
A collection of 32 partners — companies, not-for-profits, research institutes, and universities — have agreed to develop a new intelligent power grid in Denmark. Called the iPower platform, the new system aims to be ready in 2025, when Denmark is scheduled to generate half of its electricity from wind energy. The iPower platform’s full name…
-
Carbon Capture and Storage Offer New Green Industry for U.K.
The United Kingdom has the capacity to develop new green industries for capturing harmful carbon dioxide emissions from industry and storing them deep underground, but more investment is needed to further develop the relevant technologies and infrastructure. These conclusions are outlined in two recent briefing papers published by the Grantham Institute for Climate Change at…
-
GE Demonstrates Prototype Hybrid-Battery Bus
GE Global Research, the technology development arm of General Electric Company, says it demonstrated a prototype transit bus with a hybrid battery — “hybrid” in this case means two different battery technologies to optimize power and storage. The company says the new type of battery can help electrify other larger, heavy-duty vehicles such as delivery…
-
Laser Measurement Device Deployed for Europe Wind R&D
Denmark’s National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, known as Risø DTU, has developed a laser-based instrument package to measure conditions at wind power farms, and that device will now be used across Europe at European Energy Research Alliance research stations and commercial installations. Just one of the devices, called a WindScanner (pictured right) , can produce…
-
Ethanol Company to Open Demonstration Biofuels Refinery
Algenol Biofuels Inc. in Bonita Springs, Florida says it plans to build a pilot-scale biofuels refinery adjacent to its recently opened laboratories in Fort Myers, Florida. The 36-acre facility will demonstrate Algenol’s technology, which produces ethanol directly from carbon dioxide using blue-green algae. Algenol says the Lee Road facility in Fort Myers brings together the…
-
Fuels Developer Claims Large-Scale Hydrogen from Algae
OriginOil Inc. in Los Angeles, California, a developer of a technology to transform algae into renewable fuels, says it has used solar energy to produce hydrogen from algae at a level comparable to conventional photovoltaic solar panels. The company used its Hydrogen Harvester device to generate the hydrogen. The device, according to the company, achieved…
-
Math Model Developed for Biofuels Development
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) created a techno-economic model that can help accelerate development of biofuels to compete with gasoline. This online, wiki-based model is designed to help researchers pursue promising strategies for cost-efficient biorefinery operations The JBEI team at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab in California designed the model…
-
Oxford University Spins Off Tidal Turbine Company
A new enterprise, Kepler Energy Limited, has been formed in the U.K. to develop a tidal turbine, a result of research in Oxford University’s Department of Engineering Science. Professors Guy Houlsby, Martin Oldfield, and Malcolm McCulloch developed the turbine (pictured right), which they say has the potential to harness tidal energy more efficiently and cheaply…
-
Study: Hydraulic Fracturing Can Release Uranium from Shale
University at Buffalo (UB) researchers have found indications that the process called hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” to release natural gas from Marcellus shale deposits can cause naturally trapped uranium inside the shale to be released. The findings add to the environmental concerns about the process, particularly chemical contamination of the groundwater in populated regions in…
-
Life-Cycle Analysis Shows CFL Bulbs Most Enviro Friendly
Researchers from Empa, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research in Duebendorf, studied the full lifetime of four lighting technologies, and found compact fluorescent lighting (CFL) to inflict the least environmental damage. The analysis includes consideration of CFL’s mercury content, since exposure to elemental mercury when absorbed through the lungs can cause neurological…