Archive for the 'Energy' Category
MIT: Textured Surface Could Reduce Thickness of Silicon Used in Solar Cells by More Than 90 Percent
June 18th, 2012Via: MIT News: Highly purified silicon represents up to 40 percent of the overall costs of conventional solar-cell arrays — so researchers have long sought to maximize power output while minimizing silicon usage. Now, a team at MIT has found a new approach that could reduce the thickness of the silicon used by more than […]
Japan Restarting Two Nuclear Power Plants
June 18th, 2012Via: ABC News: Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda ordered the restart of two idle nuclear reactors Saturday amid widespread public opposition, more than a year after a powerful earthquake and tsunami triggered three nuclear meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Power Plant, and halted all 50 reactors in Japan. The decision to reactivate the Ohi reactors […]
MIT Researchers Create Glucose Powered Fuel Cell for Medical Implants
June 14th, 2012Via: MIT: MIT engineers have developed a fuel cell that runs on the same sugar that powers human cells: glucose. This glucose fuel cell could be used to drive highly efficient brain implants of the future, which could help paralyzed patients move their arms and legs again.
Saab Auto Sold to China-Japan Group In Electric-Car Push
June 13th, 2012Via: Bloomberg: A Chinese-Japanese investment group agreed to buy Saab Automobile and convert the bankrupt Swedish manufacturer into a maker of electric cars. The first vehicle under the plan will be based on Saab’s 9-3 car and will go on sale early in 2014, with China as the main market, purchaser National Electric Vehicle Sweden […]
Michigan: Nuclear Power Plant Shut Down After Leak
June 13th, 2012I’ve been following the Michigan/Indiana radiation spike meme for days, but I haven’t seen anything to convince me that anything weird was actually happening there. And now… Via: Reuters: Entergy Corp shut its 793-megawatt Palisades nuclear power plant in Michigan on Tuesday due to leakage from a refueling water tank, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission […]
Water Grab in Kansas Oil Boom
June 12th, 2012Via: CNN: In the farm country of southern Kansas, water is a precious commodity. And not just for farming — for fracking. In hydraulic fracturing, water is injected into the ground at a high pressure to help crack shale rock and bring oil to the surface. The industry says it takes as much as 2 […]
Meet The Oil Shale Eighty Times Bigger Than The Bakken
June 6th, 2012Via: Forbes: But as great as the Bakken is, I learned last week about another oil shale play that dwarfs it. It’s called The Bazhenov. It’s in Western Siberia, in Russia. And while the Bakken is big, the Bazhenov — according to a report last week by Sanford Bernstein’s lead international oil analyst Oswald Clint […]
U.S. Army Increases Lithium Battery Power Density by 30%
June 6th, 2012“The primacy of new killing technologies and technologies of political control go hand in hand with the clean energy systems.” —Forget the Green Technology – The Hot Money Is in Guns Via: U.S. Army: Army scientists are squeezing more power from batteries by developing new methods and materials with incredible results. “Our battery group has […]
Japan: Millions of Tons of Radioactive Rubble
June 5th, 2012Via: The Atlantic: Disposing the more than 20 million tons of rubble caused by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami is proving to be a difficult problem for Japan, not least because much of the rubble has been irradiated by the Fukushima nuclear disaster. The government’s plan — to destroy 4 million tons of potentially […]
New Hydrogen Powered Drone Can Fly for Four Days
June 5th, 2012Via: Los Angeles Times: A massive experimental drone designed by Boeing Co. engineers to fly for up to four days at a time completed its first test flight above the Mojave Desert at Edwards Air Force Base. The drone, called Phantom Eye, and its hydrogen-fueled propulsion system have the potential to vastly expand the reach […]
