NewNergy

Biofuels Manufacturers of Illinois planted 25 acres of pennycress at their project site in Mapleton. Pennycress is a winter plant that produces large amounts of seeds. The seeds contain oil that researchers say makes and excellent energy crop. They believe that large-scale production for commercial biodiesal manufacturing will begin with crops planted in 2010, which could give farmers a boost in income.

Dr. Peter Johnson with Inovacom Partners, says, "The seed contains about 36% oil, so it's a great crop for making biofuels. Then it also leaves you time to plant soybean in spring so you can double crop. This represents a whole new income stream to farmers."

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The world's first commercial aviation flight powered by a sustainable second-generation biofuel moved a step closer this week.

The jatropha-based fuel to power one of four engines on the Air New Zealand Boeing 747-400, has arrived at the Rolls-Royce facility in Derby, UK, for testing prior to the flight.

Preliminary data shows the fuel meets all required specifications for use in commercial aviation and a technical team led by Rolls Royce is now putting the fuel through a rigorous testing process to further validate its specifications.

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Labels: airlines, biofuels, jatropha

Many scientists around the world are investigating methods of liberating the energy held within lignocellulose.

Lignocellulose comes from woody plant biomass; it is the most widespread source of carbon in nature. However, current lignocellulose-to-bio-ethanol processes are not deemed economical.

Lignocellulosic material comprises cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. Cellulose and hemicellulose are polymers of fermentable sugars. They are put through a process of hydrolysis to convert them into sugars, which can ultimately be refined into bioethanol. They can also be treated thermochemically through gasification, combustion or pyrolysis to create high-value energy or chemical products.

Some research teams are developing yeast strains that can produce a combination of cellulase and hemicellulase enzymes (enzymes that catalyze the hydrolysis of cellulose and hemicellulose), required for lignocellulosic hydrolysis. Its aim is to develop the yeast strains to be able to directly convert pretreated lignocellulose into ethanol and other fermentation products in a single-step process called consolidated bioprocessing.

With a view to provide a solution to the problems caused by sudden dips in voltage in from wind energy, Jesús López Taberna, an industrial engineer and member of the INGEPER Research Team (Spain) has put forward in his PhD two protection techniques so that wind generators continue to be operative despite breaks in electricity supply.

Jesús López Taberna specifically proposed in his PhD thesis two effective protection systems. Both have been patented. The first, only requiring changing the control of the machine converter, has been transferred to a manufacturer for its introduction into wind farms worldwide; the other requires changing elements inside the machine, so it is still in study with the idea to apply it in the next generation of wind turbines.

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Labels: research, technology, wind

The company, Indesmedia (IDM) EOL, based in Cantabria (Northern Spain) is ready to introduce its new type of wind turbine with vertical axis horizontal blades in the market. The company says an important factor considered in designing this new type of wind turbine is to reduce the risk for bats and birds. They rotate at low speeds (under 10 rpm) and the towers are no more than 13 yards high. Other main objectives in developing the turbine are minimizing the visual impact and noise of the wind turbines, simplifying their manufacturing process and installation and finding new spaces where to take advantage from wind energy, such as urban spaces, ships and marine platforms.

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Labels: design, technology, wind

Rajaram Bojji, a product of the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, has discovered a power, Gravity Power which he says would potentially save the world 70 percent of fossil fuels required for the purpose every year.

Rajaram, says that it is "an evolutionary initiative that can possibly free the world of its dependence on fossil fuels, underlying much of the volatile price rise".

Rajaram, former managing director, Konkan Railway, said his technology, unlike other sources of renewable or alternative energy like sunlight or biofuels, would not require heavy investment or land and can work with existing infrastructure even in developing countries.

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Labels: alternative-energy, fossil-fuels, inventions

Researchers at Ohio State University have accidentally discovered a new solar cell material capable of absorbing all of the sun's visible light energy. The material is comprised of a hybrid of plastics, molybdenum and titanium. The team discovered it not only fluoresces (as most solar cells do), but also phosphoresces. Electrons in a phosphorescent state remain at a place where they can be "siphoned off" as electricity over 7 million times longer than those generated in a fluorescent state. This combination of materials also utilizes the entire visible spectrum of light energy, translating into a theoretical potential of almost 100% efficiency. Commercial products are still years away, but this foundational work may well pave the way for a truly renewable form of clean, global energy.

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Labels: solar, technology

Scientists from the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and North Carolina State University are in process of identifying hydrogen producing bacterial strains. The hydrogen gas produced from these strains can be used in fuel cell technology to create electricity. The electricity produced from fuel cells are used in automobiles as a clean alternative to gasoline.

Source:http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/energy-hydrogen-producing-bacteria/

Labels: agriculture, autos, electricity, fuel-cells

In the line of solar power plants, hydro power plans, wind power plants now comes the artificial tree power plants. The idea behind this is maximum utilization of solar energy as trees and plants do in such a way that all leaves one way or another gets its share of sunshine. The branches and the leaves grow in a strategic manner to create enough space between them.

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Labels: alternative-energy, inventions

In renewable energy, storing the electricity generated is vital for ensuring a continuity of electricity supply.

As a solution, Engineers and Scientists at The University of Texas at Austin have achieved a breakthrough in the use of a one-atom thick structure called "graphene" as a new carbon-based material for storing electrical charge in ultracapacitor devices, perhaps paving the way for the massive installation of renewable energies such as wind and solar power.

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Labels: research, technology