NewNergy

Scientists at Newcastle University, UK have pioneered breakthrough technology in the fight to cut greenhouse gases.

The Newcastle University team, led by Professor Michael North, has developed a highly energy-efficient method of converting waste carbon dioxide (CO2) into chemical compounds known as cyclic carbonates. Cyclic carbonates are widely used in the manufacture of products including solvents, paint-strippers, biodegradable packaging, and in the manufacture of a new class of efficient petrol anti-knocking agents that increase fuel efficiency while reducing further CO2 emissions!

The Newcastle University team estimates that the technology has the potential to use up to 48 million tonnes of waste CO2 per year, reducing the UK's emissions by about four per cent.

The conversion technique relies upon the use of a catalyst to force a chemical reaction between CO2 and an epoxide, converting waste CO2 into this cyclic carbonate. While the reaction between CO2 and epoxides is not exactly new. But this reaction until now required a lot of energy. The process used until now also requires the use of ultra-pure CO2, a costly substance.

The Newcastle team has succeeded in developing an exceptionally active catalyst, derived from aluminium, which can drive the reaction necessary to turn waste carbon dioxide into cyclic carbonates at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, vastly reducing the energy input required.

To date, alternative solutions for converting CO2 emissions into a useful product has required a process so energy intensive that they generate more CO2 than they consume.

If the catayst developed by the Newcastle team is used at the source of high-concentration CO2 production (in the exhaust stream of a fossil-fuel power station or the exhaust of a car), it could take out the carbon dioxide, turn it into a commercially-valuable product and at the same time eliminate the need to store waste CO2!

If applied optimally, this technology could be able to cut down CO2 emissions significantly while satisfy the demand of about 50 million tonnes for cyclic carbonates and its derivatives. This will amount to about 4% of the total CO2 emissions in the UK.

Not a bad result at all for an invention that cuts down a pollutant while producing a useful product (anti-knocking agent) that conserves more energy while decreasing pollution even further.

Sources:
Wikipedia

Labels: efficiency, environment

CARS, the humorous abbreviation for a Carbon Algae Recycling System, is being developed by the Alberta Research Council and nine other research corporations.

In CARS, exhaust CO2 from power plants is diverted from the exhaust gases and pumped into the tailing ponds, where micro-algae eat it all up, along with the heavy metals and leftover hydrocarbons. Result? algae that are harvested and turned into biofuels. From the press release:

“In essence, the goal of CARS is to fast-track Mother Nature’s own process of using plants to soak up greenhouse gases that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere,” says John McDougall, vice-chairman for I-CAN from the Alberta Research Council. “Algae growth research isn’t new, but our goal is. Other algae projects are aimed at creating bio-fuels. The goal of CARS is to provide industry with a sustainable, affordable way to deal with their greenhouse gas emissions.”

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http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/05/micro-algae-will-save-world.php

Labels: biodiesel

The E-Zip 2008 Trailz is an electric bike by Currie Technologies. This electric bike is quite inexpensive -- compared with $700 up to $3000 for other bikes.

Using the electric motor on this bike is simple -- once you've started pedaling, you can turn the throttle, and the motor kicks in, giving you an immediate boost. The range of a fully-charged battery is about 10 miles -- and this could be made to something like 30-40 miles with some modifications or depending on the type of activity you use it for.

If you use this bike for a commute that is 20 miles or less, this could be an ideal alternative transport mechanism for you. It was easy to achieve speeds of 25 mph while pedaling lightly.

So while bike is heavy and lithium-ion batteries would be nice, it's certainly an inexpensive way to enter the world of electric biking.

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Labels: electric-cars, electricity

While the United States is using corn as the primary feedstock for ethanol and Brazil has been concentrating on sugar cane, the left-half of Canada is considering wheat. The Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association hopes that the creation of fuel from wheat will help Canada's wheat farming community make a bit more profit, as corn-based ethanol has done (for good or for bad) for other farmers. Many farmers in Canada only plan to use low-protein wheat or damaged crops which are not suitable as food for the fuel feedstock. Still, the food-or-fuel debate looms large. There are a few issues with using wheat, but nothing that is insurmountable, or at least so this post thinks.

Labels: biofuels

Although plants and bacteria get most of the biofuel research dollars and media column inches, fungus, a kingdom of organisms that excels at breaking down fibrous cellulose, could provide some innovation for cheap and easy cellulosic biofuel production. Researchers from Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute have sequenced the genetic code of Tricoderma reesei, a fungal strain...

Novozymes, the Danish biotech giant, which controls 47 percent of the global enzyme market, collaborated on this study. Novozymes’ director of research activities in second-generation biofuels, Joel Cherry, called this achievement “a major step towards using renewable feedstocks for the production of fuels and chemicals.”

T. ressei’s enzyme-producing genes are believed to be clustered together, which researchers think could account for the fungus’ efficiency at enzyme production.

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Labels: biofuels

Directory of videos of various types of wind turbine technologies & of wind energy in general

See this page @ Peswiki

Labels: wind

A collection of videos and video links regarding the turning of algae into oil, hydrogen, ethanol and other useful fuels

From this peswiki page here

Labels: biofuels, ethanol, hydrogen