Tag: energy
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University Designs Small-Scale Low-Impact Hydro Plant
Researchers at Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) in Germany have developed a small-scale hydroelectric power plant that solves some of the problems often encountered when building these facilities: high cost, environmental degradation, and impact on fish. The developers believe this design can make hydroelectric power more feasible in more places. Hydroelectric power, while consuming no fossil…
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Report: Loose Governance in Oil Company/University Agreements
The Center for American Progress (CAP), a progressive issues analysis organization in Washington, DC, reviewed 10 agreements between universities in the U.S. and oil companies where the companies offer to fund energy research, particularly in alternative fuels. The report finds several areas where the agreements have the potential to compromise academic freedom and limit the…
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Biofuels Developer to Build North Carolina Refinery
Maverick Biofuels in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, said today it plans to build a pilot scale biorefinery to produce mixed-alcohol biofuels from biomass and municipal solid waste. The pilot scale biorefinery, says the company, is the next step towards design and construction of a large-scale commercial facility. Maverick says it is raising its first round…
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More Research Urged on Marcellus Drilling Impact
The Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is calling for a comprehensive research plan that provides guidelines and an assessment tool for regulators and managers in order to minimize the environmental impact of Marcellus Shale gas drilling. Marcellus Shale is a deep geological formation along the east coast of the United States with an…
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Chemists Streamline Cooking Oil Conversion to Biodiesel
As the U.S. seeks to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels, the country continues to discard large quantities of waste vegetable oil — consider the quantity of oil used to cook one order of french fries, for example — that could be converted into bio-based fuels. But this process presents problems, notably the time and…
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Bacteria Monitors Can Measure State of Oil Fields
A doctoral dissertation published at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands suggests that monitoring bacteria levels in an oil field can provide useful indicators on the state of that oil field. Geert van der Kraan, who conducted the research, received his doctorate degree this week. For his dissertation research, van der Kraan investigated…
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Algae Biofuels Technology to Capture CO2 from Coal Plants
OriginOil Inc. in Los Angeles, California, a developer of technology to convert algae into fuel, said today it agreed to a partnership with MBD Energy Limited, its first customer and a player in the field of CO2 capture using algae. MBD Energy as a company is experienced in the use of captured flue-gases as feedstock…
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Energy Department to Fund Nanolubricant Plant
The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) has awarded NanoMech Inc. of Springdale, Arkansas a grant for $1 million to develop and test a pilot-scale production facility for manufacturing of NanoGlide, the company’s lubricant additives engineered at nano scale. The DoE grant is a Phase 2 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award that follows an earlier…
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First Wave Energy Device Connected to Power Grid
Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) in Pennington, New Jersey, says it has completed the first-ever grid connection of a wave energy device in the United States at Marine Corps Base Hawaii on Oahu. The grid connection uses OPT’s PowerBuoy systems to produce what the company calls utility-grade, renewable energy that can be delivered compliant with national…
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Flywheel Developer Awarded ARPA-E Contract
Beacon Power Corporation, a developer of energy storage systems and services in Tyngsboro, Massachusetts, signed a contract with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) to develop components of a more advanced flywheel energy storage system over a two-year period. Beacon Power says the contract is valued at $2.8 million.…