Self Healing Skin

An article in Technology Review tells of a new plastic surface that can heal itself multiple times with out external intervention. The potential of this creates an efficiency of materials and energy use, thus creatting a smarter more efficient ecology of energy.

"Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) have made a polymer material that can heal itself repeatedly when it cracks. It's a significant advance toward self-healing medical implants and self-repairing materials for use in airplanes and spacecraft. It could also be used for cooling microprocessors and electronic circuits, and it could pave the way toward plastic coatings that regenerate themselves. "

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By Prachi Patel

Read More @ http://www.technologyreview.com/Nanotech/18841/?a=f

Inkjet Printer Churns Out Cheap Plastic Solar Ribbons

We've already discussed Nanosolar's reel-to-reel solar press in some detail, but they're not the only ones working on solar printing. Indeed, Konarka has taken the process to a whole new level of simplicity by actually using an inkjet printer.

Using the existing technology like this allows for a significant reduction in costs, because the company doesn't have to invest in developing a whole new system. Of course, it's also bound to be slightly less perfect than if a printer were designed specifically for the cells. Nonetheless, these sheets of plastic film are flexible and inexpensive to produce.

Konarka expects to see uses for them in the same arena where they've already been successful -- mostly powering indoor sensors. But they also hope to use the new low-cost process to broaden their applications. They're already in talks with the people who run the LEED efficiency rating system about full panels for using in buildings.

Because the film is cheap, can convert non-direct light, and is flexible, applications are varied. Konarka's CEO told Popular Mechanics that they "constantly receive calls from innovators who have read about the cells and propose unique—sometimes wild and crazy—concepts for the technology."

We should see these printed plastic panels showing up in panels on rooftops in 2009, and by 2010, they may be available for purchase off the shelf at Home Depot.

Provided by ecogeek.org

Solar-Collecting Roads Heat Buildings in The Netherlands

Solar is a highly efficient way to heat water. Combine it with underground storage, and a year-round system can be created where the system can cover heating requirements in the winter and cooling in the summer. The Dutch company Ooms Avenhorn Holding BV has taken this concept and moved it a step forward with the Road Energy System® (RES).

Rather than putting tubes on a rooftop, RES lays the collection system within concrete -- think the black asphalt of a road or runway. The piping connects to undeground storage areas. Remember the last time you walked on black asphalt on a sunny August day and you understand the heat being transferred into the water in the pipes. This water is then transferred into the storage area. On demand, in cold weather, the hot water is used to heat buildings and to keep the road above freezing. After cooling, the water is moved into cold storage to provide air conditioning for summer months. A year round solar/geothermal heating/cooling system for both the road and buildings. The renewable combo greatly reduces electricity requirements (and thus pollution) and the cooling/heating of the road reduces maintenance requirements (and lowers/eliminates deicing and plowing requirements in winter).

And it is deployed. "Solar Energy collected from a 200-yard stretch of road and a small parking lot helps heat a 70-unit four-story apartment building in the northern village of Avenhorn. An industrial park of some 160,000 square feet in the nearby city of Hoorn is kept warm in winter with the help of heat stored during the summer from 36,000 square feet of pavement. The runways of a Dutch air force base in the south supply heat for its hangar."

Provided by ecogeek.org

Flying "SuperTurbines" Could Capture Far More Wind Power

Two technologies that we are unabashedly in love with here at EcoGeek are wind power and lighter-than-air craft. So a system that combines blimps and wind turbines is certain to draw our attention.

{digg}http://digg.com/environment/Flying_SuperTurbines_To_Capture_More_Wind_Power_PICS{/digg}With wind turbines, most schemes to increase power have focused on increasing the swept area of the blades and improving their aerodynamic performance. But that's not the only way to do it. The Selsam SuperTurbine is a concept for a multiblade wind turbine for either land-based or off-shore installations. With the smaller swept area of each individual rotor, this turbine promises to be less visually obtrusive than other types of off-shore turbines. A design featuring a simple stalk with multiple sets of rotors all turning a shared axle allows this turbine design to produce more power despite the smaller swept area.

In off-shore installations, the Selsam turbine can also be lowered, or even submerged, in violent storm conditions in order to protect the turbine from damage. This ability also makes maintenance and repair work easier, rather than needing to have workers scaling multiple-hundreds of feet to access them. For larger scale generation (over 1 megawatt), the blimp-lofted design would have dozens of rotor sets along the axle in order to turn the generator, and the weight of the axle would be supported by a blimp to lift the far end.

Obviously, a lot of work will have to be done to determine whether this system truly could increase the financial viability of wind power. But for pure inspiration and beauty we have to give Selsam our most enthusiastic thumbs up.

Provided by ecogeek.org

Spinning Blimp Wind Turbines Take Test Flight!

Magenn Power Inc. has moved forward and begun testing a prototype of their MARS (Magenn Air Rotor System) inside an old US Navy airship hangar before beginning outdoor trials at a customer's site in a few weeks. The MARS is a lighter-than-air turbine which is tethered to the ground between 300 and 1000 feet (roughly 90 to 300 meters) with conducting cables that transmit electricity to the ground. It is basically a blimp with its body configured with blades to catch the wind in order to generate power.



The MARS can be quickly deployed without extensive site-preparation or construction, and can reach higher into the atmosphere than traditional turbines, making it better suited for use on sites where the land is not flat. It is also better suited for providing power to remote, off-grid locations. Because the equipment is lightweight and readily transportable, it could make access to power for remote villages easier to supply. And, with its much higher reach, it provides an opportunity to use wind power in locations where a tower mounted turbine would not get enough wind to be useful.



Magenn plans to begin installing their turbines starting next year. According to the company, four units are expected to be installed next year. The first MARS turbines are going to be roughly 25 x 65 feet (7.6 x 19.8 meters) and will produce up to 10 kW. Apparently plans for a smaller-sized MARS turbine have been put aside for now. However, future versions of the MARS could reach much larger sizes and be capable of generating up to 2000 kW. The company says the price for a 10-25 kW MARS unit is yet to be determined, but is expected to be in the range of $3 to $5 per watt. Comparabl with current wind technology.

Provided by ecogeek.org

Hairy" Solar Could Radically Boost Solar Cell Efficiency

Two research teams have independently developed methods to produce nanowires that could lead to a dramatic improvement in solar photovoltaic cell efficiency. In both cases, the basic concept is the same, to use nanowires for more efficient conduction of electrons from the collection surface of a solar cell to an electrode.

The first technique, developed by researchers at UC San Diego, creates ‘hairy’ solar cells, only visible at a microscopic level. In fact, the hairs are nanowires, tiny metallic or silicon structures used to complete very small circuits. Researchers were able to grow nanowires directly onto a cheap conductive surface made of indium tin oxide. Nanowires were then coated with an organic polymer.

The second team, a consortium between three German universities (Jena, Gottingen and Bremen) and Harvard, has developed a technique to bond nanowires with spun glass. The approach is based on a kind of high-tech ‘sandwich,’ whereby nanowires are placed between a highly conductive bottom layer and a metallic top one, with spun-on glass forming a ‘spacer layer’ to prevent the circuit from shorting. This means that current can run smoothly along the nanowires and could lead to a completely new class of efficient integrated circuits.

There are still a few teething problems with the San Diego approach, the chief one being that the polymer layer currently degrades when exposed to air. However, if either approach can be made to work on a commercial scale, it could lead to smaller, cheaper and easier to install panels. Perhaps we’ve just moved one small step closer to a solar future.

Provided by ecogeek.org

Waste Heat Engine Runs On Low Temps

Cyclone Power Technologies has developed a new Waste Heat Engine (the WHE, or, as I like to say, WHEeeeeeeee!), capable of running on waste heat from any source, even those with lower temperatures. Sources can include the sun, a running engine, or exhaust among many others. The 12 cylinder engine is on the large size, taking up 155 cubic inches, and it gets about 20 horsepower. While somewhat clunky, it’s much smaller than other waste heat-based power generators we’ve seen, and can be used on much smaller scales.

Cyclone Power Technologies says the WHE can be used to boost power in gas- and diesel-powered generators, helping to increase power and decrease fuel consumption. They also say it can be connected to solar panels on residential homes to provide a source of power like a back-up generator, costing about 20% of the installation costs of standard photovoltaic systems.

With the ability to run on practically any waste heat source, the versatility of the WHE is promising. Catch a video of the product and see it in action.
Provided by ecogeek.org

New Miracle Concrete A Carbon Storage Solution?

Researchers are constantly on the look-out for new materials that can store or use up CO2, or new methods to sequester it. Carbon Sense Solutions has created an accelerated curing process for the creation of precast concrete, which it claims will suck up as much as 1% of all CO2 emissions in the atmosphere annually.

Concrete carbonation – the sucking up of CO2 by concrete as it cures – occurs naturally, but Carbon Sense Solutions says its faster curing method gets concrete to suck up more CO2 in a way that uses off-the-shelf technology that can be slapped on to their existing equipment. The process also uses 30% to 40% less energy to manufacture. The lower amount of energy used and the avoidance of expensive new equipment makes the wonder-concrete cheaper, and more profitable. Additional positive byproducts of the method are that the concrete is more durable, and more resistant to shrinking, cracking and water absorption.

While it sounds miracle cure-ish, it isn’t, necessarily. The company says that a plant could have a line of concrete not suitable for this carbonation process, and so the CO2 emitted to create it can be pumped into their CO2 sequestering concrete line, potentially becoming a net-zero CO2 emitter. The numbers for that don’t seem to easily line up, though it’s a nice dream. Concrete production creates about 5% of global CO2 emissions. This new process only soaks up about 1% percent of that. So, it’s really more of an off-set process than a carbon storage solution. Even so, off-setting 1% of global CO2 emissions annually – or looking at it another way, sequestering 20% of the CO2 created by the concrete production industry – while still creating a material that is the most abundant human-made material on earth is pretty great.

The process is still unproven, but holds a lot of potential for making an impact on CO2 emissions. A pilot plant is planned to go up in Nova Scotia this summer, and we should hear by the end of the year preliminary results.

Provided by ecogeek.org

Giant Kites Could Power 100,000 Homes

While pondering how to capture wind energy, scientists from the Netherlands went out and flew a giant kite. The 10-sq-meter kite was tethered to a generator and managed to produce 10 kW. With the success of this kite, they’re planning to test a 50 kW version of the kite, dubbed Laddermill, and if that succeeds, they’re proposing a multi-kite version that could get as much as 100 MW - enough for 100,000 homes.



The kite generates energy by pulling on its string on the way up. When it gets to the end of the string, it’s pulled back down and then sent back up for another flight. The amount of energy captured is maximized by flying the kite in figure eights, and bringing it down in a fall like a glider plane.



If you’re thinking, “Now, this I gotta see,” then you can watch this video. It really is pretty cool. And considering how easily the kite takes off in the strong wind – no running, jumping, or Peter-Pan-wishful-thinking involved – I can imagine that a whole lot of power could be generated. Google thinks so too, having invested $10 million in a US kite project last year. Actually, we know of a lot of people are working on generating wind power from kites – or like-flying objects – even on a commercial scale.


Wind higher than about a kilometer above the ground carries about 100 times more energy than wind at tower level, so finding a cheap way to harness it – like kite flying – could be a big breakthrough for wind power. Countries like the UK, Netherlands, and Denmark are perfect for this type of wind power generation, being located next to the high-speed jet stream.



The Netherlands scientists believe they could generate power comparable to the price of coal, and 50% cheaper than wind turbines. Now, like most all renewable energy endeavors, all these various researchers simply need the funding to back the projects. Hopefully investors will look at Google and pull a monkey-see-monkey-do.

Provided by ecogeek.org

Paving for Air Purification

Here’s something that, if it works, would be great to use to line the streets of smoggy cities. The University of Twente has possibly figured out a way to get paving stones to scrub the air, turning nitrogen oxide into a harmless nitrate that can wash away with rain.

The secret is in the sauce, so to speak – titanium dioxide is mixed with the concrete which catalyzes chemical reactions with light exposure. So when sun hits the bricks, the nitrogen oxide (mainly from car exhaust) is turned into nitrates. And then when the rain comes down, the nitrates are washed away with the dust. The university claims the nitrates are harmless, so we wouldn’t run the risk of having just another form of toxin like we do with nitrates from heavy fertilization.

Testing will be going on this year with some preliminary results by next year that will show the effectiveness of the paving stones. Should the stones pull the trick, this could be a pretty cool breakthrough in green construction materials. Especially if cleaner methods of concrete manufacturing is used, since concrete is pretty CO2 intensive to create. Perhaps we’ll even see them in more green housing communities.

Provided by ecogeek.org

WPI Turning Roads into Solar Collectors

Researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute have just done a batch of research that they hope will help turn the world's roads into cheap collectors of solar power.

They started with the assumption that asphalt gets frakking hot when the sun shines on it, and then started making some serious leaps.

First, they decided to figure out what part of the asphalt gets hottest, which turns out to be about two centimeters below the surface. Then they tried to figure out how to make it even hotter. The painted an anti-reflective coating to their test blocks, and then added highly thermally conductive quartzite to the mix.

The result is blacktop that gets even hotter and stays hotter for longer than regular asphalt. Of course, this left them with the problem of how to get the energy out of the road. By laying down a series of flexible and highly conductive copper pipes before pouring the asphalt they were able to pump water through the asphalt, picking up the heat, for use in power generation.

However, project leaders hoped to replace the copper pipes with a "highly efficient heat exchanger." Whether or not that would be water based, or exchange heat some other way, we don't know.

The system has several large advantages over traditional photovoltaic power.

1. It's really cheap


2. They don't need to find extra land


3. It's invisible to the average person


4. Blacktop stays hot, and could produce power for hours after the sun goes down


5. There are roads and parking lots everywhere power is needed.

There are already a examples of similar technology in use around the world, but modifying the chemistry of the asphalt specifically to make it a good solar collector is a new move.

Provided by ecogeek.org

SkySails 5X More Efficient Traditional Sails

Wind powered maritime travel isn't exactly a new idea. Actually it's a really freakin' old idea. So it's easy to make fun of the "breakthrough innovation" of SkySails.

SkySails has been adding giant kites to the front of barges in order to reduce their fuel consumption by as much as 20%. The systems pay for themselves quickly, and could potentially save massive amounts of fuel...but are they better than regular sails?

Turns out they are. Per square meter of sail, they produce five times more energy than traditional sails. Depending on wind conditions the 160 square meter kite can generate about as much force as an Airbus A318 jet engine. That's pretty awesome.

Of course, the more sail you use, the more energy you get, but getting the sail up and away from the turbulence caused by the body of the ship is certainly worth the effort. Of course, now we're just waiting for them to get the systems installed on a significant percentage of shipping vessels. And, well, we might be waiting a while.

Provided by ecogeek.org

Hot Asphalt as Better Energy Collector than Solar Panels?

Researchers in Massachusetts are working on a technique to turn heat gathered by asphalt into useable energy via water pipes. Their paper, released this week at the International Symposium on Asphalt Pavements and Environment in Zurich, posits that asphalt roads could be better than solar panels in gathering energy.

They say that all the parking lots and roads that sit there baking in the sun all day are basically already solar energy collectors, and that the sheer amount of useable asphalt offsets the lower efficiency factor. We just need a way to transfer that heat into energy on a large scale. The researchers point out how asphalt stays hot even after the sun goes down, which anyone in the Southwest can attest to, and so could continue to generate energy when solar panels can’t. A system of heat exchangers could become part of road construction projects and improvements, and the system could help out the issue of heat islands.

While my mind instantly goes to a slew of issues that could exist for places with cold winters, the Netherlands, an unarguably arguably cold place in winter, has already done something like this on a very small scale and it has been a success. The idea sounds viable, but I have a hard time thinking that it would surpass solar panels as energy collectors; however, I’d love to see it tried out in a place like Phoenix, where the heat gathered could be used to run homes’ AC units. How’s that for a loop?

Five Weird-Ass Wind Turbines

We're starting to get used to wind turbines...not just the idea of getting a significant portion of our energy from the breeze, but also to their form on the horizon. But while the traditional tri-blade has its advantages, there are those who would see it replaced.

Though we've entered the realm of rapid growth, the innovation phase is far from over, so here are a few of the more radical designs for wind-capturing devices out there. The huge, the odd, and the ingenious.

The MagTurbine is the largest concept for a wind turbine that has ever come across our editorial desk. By using permanent magnets to eliminate all friction, the MagTurbine can theoretically be as huge as it needs to be. In fact, the optimal size, apparently, has a base of roughly 100 acres. Yes, it's a wind turbine the size of a small town...but it could conceivably produce enough power (1 GW) to light a medium-sized city.

Significantly less huge, but still huge (and a lot more feasible) is the Grimshaw Aerogenerator. Aside from needing someone with a degree in fluid dynamics to figure out how exactly this gigantic TV antenna is supposed to capture wind power, it's pretty exciting. The idea is to keep the number of installations down by creating larger turbines. This design by Grimshaw Architecture might be rated as high as 9 megawatts, about two times the power output of today's largest turbines.

Getting smaller, but staying just as weird, we have the Flo-Design, shrouded turbine. Resembling a jet engine, Flo-Design says that their turbine creates far less turbulence than traditional turbines, can capture significantly more of the wind, be spaced closer together in wind farms, and can be deconstructed to fit on one truck. The biggest disadvantage is that no one has ever seen a working prototype outside of this awesome 3D animation.

We've seen our fair share of building-integrated wind turbines, but this one takes the cake. By filling in a space between each level with a scoop that will capture the wind, the designers of this rotating tower (currently under construction in Dubai) say that the tower will actually be able to power itself. EcoGeek remains skeptical about the claims, but it's certainly one of the weirdest turbines I've yet seen.

Last on the list for today is the Magenn Blimp Turbine. We've seen our fair share of tether based kite turbines, and while Magenn's blimp might not be the weirdest, it's certainly the closest to actual implementation, with a test blimp currently in operation and plans to start gathering power from a blimp farm next year. Each blimp is lighter than air and conducts the generated electricity to the ground via an electrical cable that also tether's the blimp to the ground. They flight at between 90 m and 200 m, allowing them to get at higher winds without the need for all that excess steel and carbon fiber.

To be honest, when we were going through our archives, I was stunned at how many weird-ass wind turbines I found, so I think this is likely going to be just the first part of a two, possibly three part series. So if you want to see some more weird ass wind turbines, keep your eyes on EcoGeek or sign up for our RSS feed.

Provided by ecogeek.org

Everything you Ever Wanted to Know about EEStor

The Oil Drum (one of my favorite clean-tech resources) has a post up from JoulesBurn that contains pretty much everything you need to know about EEStor.

Now, if you're wondering why you need to know anything at all about EEStor, here's a quick explanation. The company says that they can make "power storage devices" (not technically batteries, more like peculiar capacitors) that can hold 10x more power than advanced lithium ion cells. These "electrical energy storage units" will be lighter than the most advanced batteries in the world, can charge in minutes and will last forever.

It sounds too good to be true, but so many credible sources have been won over after viewing their technology, and they have had so many investors and clients interested in the technology, that there's actually a chance that it's real. If it is real, electric vehicles will be much more practical, less expensive and more convenient than we ever expected them to be.

So it's worth reading this article that will get your brain ready to hear more about this possibly miraculous technology.

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/5557

Provided by Ecogeek.org and theoildrum.org

Shrunken Cells New Kind of Thin Film PV

When it comes to solar cells, it helps to be flexible – literally. Thin, flexible cells exist although they usually fall short in terms of how efficient they are, how much they cost, etc. Researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, however, have recently developed a cell that is both flexible and powerful.

John Rogers, a materials science professor who led the multi-discipline research, has come up with a process of slicing conventional silicon into thin pieces that can be imprinted onto a flexible surface. The result: efficient silicon-based solar cells flexible enough to wrap around a pencil and so transparent it can be used to tint building or car windows. The silicon cells are just one-tenth the thickness of conventional cells and, according to Technology Review, they have about an efficiency of 12% - not too shabby considering that the best cells on the market get 20% efficiency. The findings were reported in the journal Nature Materials this week.

“We can make it thin enough that we can put it on plastic to make a rollable system,” said Professor Rogers in an interview with Reuters. “It opens up spaces on the fronts of buildings as opportunities for solar energy.” Other applications for the thin, rollable solar cells include powering the AC or GPS in a car.

Essentially, Professor Rogers’ cells use the same technology found in standard large, bulky PV units; it is the small size that accounts for their improved properties. They can therefore be manufactured using the same monocrystalline silicon available for their macro-sized cousins. Professor Rogers’ research has been licensed to a Durham, North Carolina company called Semprius Inc.

Provided by ecogeek.org

Using Eel Cells to Create Electricity

The biggest eels can produce charges up to 600 watts of electricity, enough to power your computer, monitor, printer and office lighting simultaneously...at least for a moment. Knowing that some of the best ideas come from nature, researchers at Yale University working with counterparts at the National Institute of Standards and Technology are applying what eels do naturally to artificial cells.

Jian Xu, a postdoctoral associate in Yale's Department of Chemical Engineering, said the electric eel is very efficient at generating electricity. “It can generate more electricity than a lot of electrical devices.” The goal is to replicate electric eel cells in an artificial version to act as a power source for medical implants. Electric eels have specialized cells called electrocytes to channel the output of electricity the same way that nerve cells fire up.

The researchers from Yale had previously created a blueprint of an artificial cell that turned out to be even more efficient than eels at producing electricity.

One of the designs for the artificial cell generates more than 40 per cent more energy in a single pulse than a natural electrocyte. Another could produce peak power outputs over 28 percent higher.

The researchers hope to eventually use the artificial cells for bio-batteries and are ideal, if they work, for medical implants because they release no toxins.

Provided by ecogeek.org

Buckypaper Could Replace Steel

Scientists at Florida State University are dreaming up exciting uses for buckypaper, a material that is 10 times lighter than steel, but potentially 500 times stronger when sheets are pressed together to form a composite.

The material is made of carbon nanotubes that have been disbursed in a liquid suspension and filtered through fine mesh to make a thin film. Its building blocks were first discovered in 1985 (winning those researchers the Nobel Prize), but scientists have recently made great discoveries improving the strength and bonding that they think will lead to consumer applications very soon, possibly within a year.

Buckypaper, which excels at conducting electricity and dispersing heat, may soon be used in electromagnetic shielding and lightning-strike protection on aircraft, electrodes for fuel cells, super capacitors, batteries and a more efficient replacement for graphite sheets to dissipate heat in laptops.

In the future, the material’s greatest potential could be in building light-weight, energy-efficient planes and cars, as well as military armor and stealth technology.


Provided by ecogeek.org

Miniature Solar Cells Could Be Sprayed Onto Surfaces

Researchers at the University of South Florida have developed solar cells that are one-fourth the size of a grain of rice. When 20 of them are grouped together in an array, they can generate about 7.8 volts of electricity.

While 7.8 volts doesn't sound like much, the potential applications for these tiny cells are pretty cool. The cells are made of an organic polymer that can be dissolved or applied to flexible materials instead of the usual brittle silicon wafers. This flexibility plus their small size would allow them to be sprayed or painted onto surfaces like houses, cars, clothing or anything that is exposed to sunlight.

Head researcher Xiaomei Jiang is working towards one use in particular for these tiny arrays: powering microscopic chemical sensors for soldiers in the field. Batteries are heavy for soldiers to carry and they also cost the military about $57,000 per soldier per year. Having a small, renewable source of power for these types of devices would be in the military and the soldiers' interests.

Jiang is currently working to double the electricity output of these cells, hopefully enough to power the chemical sensors. He believes this is possible within months.

Provided by ecogeek.org

Bringing Back DC Electricity

AC power has long been the only game in town, ever since it became the standard over a hundred years ago. Supporters of DC, however, are pushing for a comeback on the grounds of sustainability and efficiency. Solar panels and fuel cells produce DC electricity; the inverters which turn it into grid-worthy AC inevitably lose some of that electricity in the process. Besides, many of the energy consuming devices we use - such as computers and LEDs – run on DC, too. That’s why you have a big box in between your laptop and the wall outlet. A DC power source would obviate the need for the box, and all the waste heat that it generates.

One group pushing for DC is called the EMerge Alliance. Their goal is to create standards that will give building designers the chance to put low voltage, DC power supplies in their buildings. They like the idea of designing buildings with, say, rooftop solar panels generating DC electricity that can be used directly to power the building’s LED lighting or its system of energy monitors. That kind of setup saves money on the solar installation (because it doesn’t require inverters and connects more smoothly to the grid), eases the installation of the lighting systems themselves, and makes the overall power consumption more efficient.

Provided by ecogeek.org

Material Turns Sound Waves Into Electricity

Just when you thought that engineers have run out of ideas for harvesting power from mundane human activity, a scientist from Texas A&M invents a piezoelectric material that can turn sound waves into electricity. His idea? Stick it in a cell phone.

Piezoelectric materials generate an electric voltage when subjected to some sort of mechanical stress. When you read about harvesting energy from footsteps or dancing, for example, piezoelectrics are involved. What’s novel about this application is that it exploits nanoscale piezoelectric properties. When such a material is precisely between 20 and 23 nanometers thick, it can capture 100% more energy.

Such a size makes this material perfect to stick into a cell phone. The sound waves emitted by the phone (as well as, presumably, those emitted by its owner) exert stress on the material, which in turn generates electricity. Obviously, energy can’t be generated from nowhere. But if it can simply be absorbed from the environment, you could have – for all intents and purposes – a self-charging device.

Provided by ecogeek.org

Cylinders Could Harness Energy from Slow-Moving Waters

Water, water, everywhere, but hardly a drop moving fast enough to produce electricity?

Existing technologies that harness energy from water can only operate if the current is moving at five or six knots, but most of the world's currents are slower than three knots. Good news! A new cylinder device is able to produce power from a current flowing at less than one knot.

University of Michigan scientists were inspired by the way fish swim to create the cylinder system called Vivace. Water flows around the cylinders creating vortices, which push and pull the cylinders up and down. This energy is then converted into electricity.

The scientists believe that groups of cylinders could be placed in river or sea beds or suspended in the ocean. A field of cylinders covering an area 1km by 1.5km with a current of three knots could power 100,000 homes. Scientists say the technology requires 50 percent less ocean acreage than wave power.

The researchers also say that because the parts move slowly, they are less likely to harm aquatic life than dams or turbines, and their position underwater will keep them from interfering with shipping or being an eyesore.

A prototype is currently being tested in the Detroit River, which has a current of less than two knots. If this technology is successful, it could open up most of the world's water to power generation, which could result in huge gains towards powering the world on renewable energy.

Provided by ecogeek.org

South Korea Testing Out Ultracapacitors

In my mind, ultracapacitors and hydrogen play similar roles. They are both advanced, proposed forms of energy storage that always seem just over the horizon… no matter how far along we travel. With hydrogen, the problem is not the power generating technology itself – fuel cells exist, and they work great. The problem is that we have poor means of storing and distributing the fuel. Ultracapacitors have the opposite problem. The infrastructure for transmitting and generating electricity is all in place; what we lack are the actual ultracapacitors themselves.

Granted, scientists are hard at work trying to build these ultracapacitors, and with the nanotechnology available to material scientists today, there is good reason to believe it is within our reach. But I’m not such a patient guy, and I still want to see real live examples of ultracapacitors in action.

Looks like I'll have to go to South Korea, because that's where ultracapacitors from Maxwell Technologies (of San Diego) were shipped earlier this year, and are now being tested. The South Korean government has hooked them up to a Korean subway system, where they will capture electricity from regenerative braking. A full demonstration of the technology isn't scheduled to happen until mid 2009, but for now Maxwell claims that tests are going well. They say that they could reduce grid consumption by 20%!

More importantly, if we see real, working, prototypes from Maxwell, that means that car-sized ultracapacitors might not be that far off. An ultracapacitor-powered electric vehicle is better than a lithium-ion powered one, because it can charge in minutes, rather than hours.

Maxwell! Bring some of those ultracapacitors to New York! We've got plenty of subways here, let me tell you. In fact, I think I wouldn't mind the ear-splitting screetch of the 1 Train if I knew that all that braking was going to a good purpose. Well, not as much anyway.

Provided by ecogeek

EEStor Gets Patent on Breakthough Mystery Device

Personally, I'm very excited that lithium ion batteries are finally getting advanced enough to find homes in automobiles. But a small company called EEStor is promising "Electronic Storage Units" that will be ten times lighter, hold ten times more power, and cost half as much as lithium ion batteries.

What's more, they'll be able hold enough power to drive a car for 300 miles, charge in less than five minutes (at charging stations, not at home outlets) and will be able to charge and recharge an infinite number of times.

If true, this isn't just great news for the auto industry...it's great news for consumer electronics and the power industry as well. The question is...is it true?

Well, one obstacle was overcome today, when EEStor was finally awarded a patent (PDF) on its technology. But a patent can be awarded for technology that doesn't work or isn't viable...they do it all the time. But now, at least, EEStor will be able to control the device if it turns out to be feasible.

It also opens up the window for all of us to look in on their mysterious chemistry a bit. According to the patent the device is a sort of capacitor that actually contains 31,353 separate capacitors in parallel. These nano-capacitors are basically a ceramic powder suspended in a plastic solution, and we're not going to pretend we understand why they can soak up so many electrons.

Provided by ecogeek.org

Stealthy Startup EEStor Working on Soldier Supersuit

We knew that super-secretive, somewhat-sketchy start-up EEStor was working with Lockheed Martin on SOMETHING. And, yes, that was exciting, since Lockheed doesn't generally work with companies who's technology doesn't work. But now we actually know what they're working on (thanks to the sleuthing of the folks at bariumtitanate.blogspot.com.) And all of this comes just days after EEStor secured the first patent for its technology.

EEStor, which promises a new kind of energy storage device ten times lighter than lithium-ion batteries looks to be talking to Lockheed about developing a power source for a wearable computer / body armor for U.S. soldiers. The EEStor unit will actually be a thin layer that surrounds the entire garment, with a thickness between 0.5 and 2 centimeters. Frankly, I really hope these go on sale at the GAP in the next couple years.

While the patent refers to a lithium polymer battery and a fuel cell, it also specifically mentions EEStor and refers to the power storage unit using EEStor's nomenclature the "electrical energy storage unit."

It isn't really 100% environmental technology in this current application, of course. But if it works in a soldier's body armor, then it'll work in electric vehicles too. Let's hope, for the G.I. Joes and the EcoGeeks, that it does work.

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Your Prius Can Power Your Home In a Snowstorm

The recent snow and ice storms in the northeast left hundreds of thousands of residents without power. In Harvard, Massachusetts, however, one Prius owner found a way to keep the lights and electricity going by using his hybrid as a backup generator.

John Sweeney ran his fridge, freezer, wood stove fan and even his television and lights using his Prius for three days while the power was out in his town. By using an inverter to convert the car's DC power supply into household AC, Sweeney was able to generate 120 volts

The New York Times wrote about this a year ago. The battery in the Prius is able to provide an uninterrupted power supply as long as the engine turns on and off periodically to recharge it. Any car battery can be used this way, but only hybrids start automatically when they need to recharge their battery. As long as the Prius has enough fuel, it can produce three kilowatts of continuous power. That's enough to maintain the basic household electrical needs.

After three days, Mr. Sweeney's Prius used up a mere five gallons of gas to power the electricity in the Sweeney household - a bargain and a real smart grid solution.

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Breakthrough Coating: Solar Absorption "Near Perfect"

If you've bought a solar panel, you want every photon that lands on it to work towards generating electricity. The more photons you absorb, the more electricity you generate. But, at present, a typical silicon solar cell only absorbs about two-thirds of the sunlight that strikes it, while the remaining third is reflected.

Shawn-Yu Lin, a professor of physics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has developed an anti-reflective coating (actually seven layers of coating) that raise the absorption of a solar panel to almost 100 percent. A typical silicon solar cell with this anti-reflective coating will absorb 96.21 percent of the sunlight that strikes it, and less than 4% of the light is reflected.

Typical antireflective coatings are engineered to transmit light of one particular wavelength. Lin’s new coating stacks seven of these layers, one on top of the other, in such a way that each layer enhances the antireflective properties of the layer below it. These additional layers also help to “bend” the flow of sunlight to an angle that augments the coating’s antireflective properties. This means that each layer not only transmits sunlight, it also helps to capture any light that may have otherwise been reflected off of the layers below it.
Not only does this coating significantly improve the overall efficiency of the panel, but it also offsets the need for panel orientation and tracking hardware. Reflection tends to increase as the angle of the sun moves farther from perpendicular to the panel, which is one of the reasons many solar panels are mounted on tracking equipment. But this coating is effective regardless of the angle of the light striking it.

This means that a stationary solar panel treated with the coating would absorb 96.21 percent of sunlight no matter the position of the sun in the sky. So along with significantly better absorption of sunlight, Lin’s discovery could also enable a new generation of stationary, more cost-efficient solar arrays.
This means that many smaller fixed installations of solar panels would be more efficient, and without as much need for additional (and costly) tracking hardware. (Tracking hardware still keeps a wider area of light falling on the solar panel, so its usefulness is not completely undone by this development.)

The remaining questions are how expensive it will be to commercialize this process, and how expensive the panels themselves will be, compared to ordinary, uncoated panels. Simpler, fixed solar collectors will be less expensive to buy and easier to maintain than installations that need tracking hardware. Homeowners, especially, whose roofs may not be ideally oriented for solar collection, should be interested in panels with this coating, since it will provide the greatest benefit in more marginal installation locations.

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Urine Powered Battery – Too Good To Be True?

A number of tech blogs are reporting a humorous and green-sounding new battery technology: the NoPoPo Japanese battery that can be recharged by filling it up with… urine. Sounds great, right? Free electricity! The ultimate recyclable resource! Not only that, but this battery can run on any liquid – beer, tea, juice, coffee… even water!

That’s where I stopped to think. Water? Really? How does a battery “run” on water? Every now and then a video goes around showing some garage inventor who has managed to generate energy from water, or salt water, or something like that. Every time it’s proven to be a hoax. Because you just can’t create energy out of nowhere; to quote the Simpsons, we follow the laws of thermodynamics in this household.

So then how do these batteries work? Nearly all of the posts refer to the fact that “the liquid reacts with a mix of carbon and magnesium”. They also mention the fact that the battery can only be recharged a limited number of times. But if the liquid were the fuel, why would it be limited like that?

The best explanation I found was in a comment by “retired Chemistry Professor” on the blog Hexus. He pointed out that when the liquid is introduced it allows the magnesium to oxidize, thereby generating a current. As soon as the magnesium runs out, the battery is dead. In lieu of an official explanation of the technology from the NoPoPo people, this sounds the most plausible to me.

So is there value to this battery? Maybe a little. It claims to be made of environmentally benign materials. Also, whereas a regular battery slowly dissipates its charge no matter what, maybe this one would be able to “hibernate” in between liquid injections, thereby giving you the full potential of the magnesium inside. But the battery is only rated to give you 500 mAh (milliamp hours) – as opposed to 1700-3000 mAh in a normal alkaline battery – and it’s only powerful enough to run a small device like a clock or a radio (when’s the last time you even used a portable radio?).

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Solar Cells Will be Printed Like Money

One of the benefits to solar cells compared to other renewable energy technologies is that they're small and flexible and researchers have been able to come up with lots of different ways to manufacture and use them. From cells so small they could be sprayed onto surfaces to cells built into the slats of blinds, scientists and designers have used their creativity, but what if you could get sheets of solar cells with a hit of the print button? That's just what researchers in Australia think is possible.

CSIRO's Future Manufacturing Flagship in Australia is researching ways to print plastic solar cells reel-to-reel with the help of banknote printing company Securency International.

Flexible, organic solar cells will be printed on polymer in large sheets, just like money. Once printed, the sheets could be used to cover large areas like rooftops or conformed to fit smaller surfaces. The researchers think this project could change the solar industry because it would allow solar cells to be manufactured cheaply and quickly and in large quantities.

The $12 million AUD, three-year project has already hit the halfway point with printing trials already beginning. While this innovation is very promising, I'd really like to see more information on the efficiency of the solar cells being made and what the costs would be compared to other forms of solar technology, even if those numbers are just estimates at this point.

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Cool Idea – Charge Your EV From Underneath

“Awesome Mobility” is a name so kooky-yet-at-the-same-time-kind-of-catchy, that it could only have been conceived by our European friends (in this case a team from the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands). Same goes for the voice-over on the video below. But the idea itself is pretty cool. Seriously.

In a WIRED magazine article about Better Place, the author recalls a scene in which Shai Agassi and his gang scratch their heads over the question: where should the recharge cable be placed so that it won’t inconvenience the driver? It’s a pretty important issue when you think about it. Will it be on the side of the car? Will the driver have to squeeze through other parked cars to get to the recharge cable? If it isn’t easy, people won’t use it!

“Awesome Mobility” offers an answer. Park your car over a circle on the road; it doesn’t have to be a perfect park. A plug will pop up out of the ground, align with your car, hook up, and start pumping electricity. When you’re all filled up, it retracts back into the ground, and you drive off into the sunset.

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MIT Prof Presents Liquid Battery As Solar Storage Solution

MIT is definitely a hot spot on the map of green innovation. Besides making a major breakthrough in hydrolysis catalysis this past summer, MIT has delivered many good technology concepts lately, such as power-generating shock absorbers, solar race cars and even self-propelling fish farms, just to name a few. The latest MIT idea comes from its materials chemistry department, where a professor has demonstrated a new kind of battery.

A conventional battery consists of two solid metal electrodes immersed in an electrolyte that is touching them both. As they react over time, electrons travel through the electrolyte as well as through the load. This battery uses liquid electrodes instead. Three liquids are poured into a vessel – molten magnesium, molten antimony and an electrolyte. Due to their different densities, the three liquids naturally separate; the antimony settles to the bottom, the electrolyte rests in between and the magnesium sits on top.

As the battery discharges, the molten metals react and slowly ionize, dissolving into the electrolyte solution. Thus, when discharged, the battery is mostly electrolyte, with only thin layers of metal remaining. When it is recharged, the magnesium ions are reduced and the antimony ions are oxidized – which, in this case, causes both the magnesium and antimony to go from ionic to metallic form. Thus, the recharged battery once again has thick liquid metal layers and a thin electrolyte layer.

This might not be more than an interesting chemistry experiment, were it not for the fact that such a liquid battery offers numerous advantages over conventional ones. The liquid metals and molten salt (used as the electrolyte) can absorb very high electrical currents – ten times higher than the best batteries we have today, according to the MIT professor heading the project. And the design of the battery allows it to be built quickly and cheaply (the team only used magnesium and antimony for the prototype - they have found better, cheaper materials to use for real-world versions, but are keeping the details quiet).

In other words, these batteries could be ideal for solar power storage. If so, they would be welcomed with open arms – solar proponents know that the biggest thing standing in the way of large, utility-scale solar power is the question of how it can be effectively stored. We don’t yet have any really promising answers to that question. Solar power can drive hydrolysis and generate hydrogen gas to be used as fuel, but it can be inefficient. Some have proposed to pump water up hills so that it can power turbines on the way down, but if you’re short on water, that isn’t the best option. And ultracapcitors are still a little way off.

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Storing power on the future electric grid

On Monday, we took a look at a report from the US Department of Energy, produced by its Electricity Advisory Committee. That report paints a grim picture of the future of the grid that exists today, but it was accompanied by two additional analyses that focused on the technologies that may significantly alter both the grid and its future. One of those focused on the potential role that energy storage can play as the grid evolves, and evaluates a number of technologies that are either on or near the market.

Most of the presentation of stored power has focused on its role in smoothing over the variability in renewable power sources like solar and wind. But storage can also solve a variety of problems in the existing grid. The rise in demand that comes during peak hours (and due to interruption of existing supplies) generally requires plants that can ramp up very quickly, which basically means natural gas turbines. Using storage could act as a bridge to allow other types of generating capacity that take longer to ramp up to step in.

Storage can also play a role in frequency regulation, which helps smooth over minor fluctuations and keep the grid's alternating current following an even curve. Beacon Power, which initially pitched its flywheel technology as a storage medium, is now selling it for this sort of frequency smoothing. A reasonably distributed storage capacity could also help work around grid congestion. So, even if you're not interested in renewable power sources, there are plenty reasons to be interested in power storage.

Moving beyond water
Given that, it's no surprise that grid-level storage actually dates back to 1929 in the US, when the first pumped-water plant opened. These facilities combine a standard hydroelectric facility with a pump that runs when electric supply exceeds demand. The excess power pumps water uphill into a reservoir, where it can be harnessed when power supplies drop. All told, pumped hydro now has the capacity to supply about three percent of a typical day on the US grid. So, grid-level storage isn't a possibility; it's a reality.

Expanding that capacity, however, is a different matter. Appropriate reservoir sites are getting fewer and further between, as is the supply of fresh water. There are some interesting alternatives. The Netherlands is apparently considering a scheme in which a hollow artificial island will be placed in the ocean; water is pumped out when power supplies are high, and let back in via turbines when they drop. Still, the number of potential sites is likely to limit the ultimate capacity here.

Beyond that, the only other technology that's been demonstrated on the market is compressed air storage, which we looked at in detail recently. These plants, however, require a fair bit of planning, and the only other one that's in the works is in Iowa. This is not something that's going to be a major force in the very near future.


But the report argues that battery power already represents an enormous storage resource; it's just not currently on the grid. There are roughly $3 billion lead batteries sold a year, and that market is growing by eight percent annually. Lithium is catching up fast, though; it's already at $1 billion, but growing somewhere above 50 percent a year. Powering rechargeable batteries for things like data center backup power supplies and electric vehicles is estimated to already account for 1.5 percent of the total utility power consumption in the US.

All of that capacity has been put in place without resorting to the more elaborate technologies, such as chemical flow and molten sodium-sulfur batteries, that are being tested for large-scale facilities. These batteries use less-toxic components and don't have a much longer usable lifetime than consumer-grade tech. Facilities relying on them are in the works: because of congestion in the transmission lines between the Texas wind power sources and its population centers, American Electric Power is deploying a five megawatt sodium-sulfur battery facility, and plans on building a terawatt of storage capacity in the next decade.

Aligning interests
One of the key themes of the Electricity Advisory Committee's reports is that regulatory and financial interests are really difficult to line up when it comes to electric power. These issues appear to be even more problematic when it comes to storage, at least in part because the regulatory framework doesn't exist at all. Clearly, the report calls for some decisions to be made on the national level about precisely how power storage fits in with the larger issues in the national grid.

Financially, storage is a challenge because it's a bit of a mix of transmission and generation resources. Exactly who pays for using its capacity, and under which circumstances, isn't clear. There are also some serious challenges involved in the economics, as there are a number of mismatched incentives. On the most basic level, not all utilities currently charge their customers different rates for peak and off-peak power. Without a price differential of this sort, the use of storage to lower the peak requirements only exists at the utility level, as they're the ones who activate their most expensive generating equipment during that time. Until that changes, there's no incentives for the actual owners of most of the distributed battery capacity to get involved.

Even if they are on board, figuring out precisely what makes the most economic sense can be challenging. For example, a data center obviously has an incentive to keep its battery capacity fully charged at all time. The utility, in contrast, would love to skim a tiny fraction off that instead of activating an otherwise idle generating plant. In return, they could offer the data center slightly lower rates for their power use at this time. Good luck trying to figure out how to price that.

The impending arrival of plugin hybrids
A lot of people are counting on the impending arrival of plugin hybrids to be a real game-changer when it comes to distributed power storage. The first generation of these vehicles, like the Chevy Volt are expected to be on the market within the next two years, and numbers should rise gradually from there. But the report suggests that their arrival is probably going to be gradual, with significant numbers only being in place a decade from now.

There are also a number of reasons that they won't necessarily revolutionize the storage game overnight. The report mentions one simple issue: although there are 250 million cars on the road, there are less than 50 million garages for them, so many are unlikely to be available on the grid at any given moment. Charging them will obviously put new strains on the already fragile grid (although utilities are already considering how to compensate for that), and managing their capacity will require a far smarter grid than the one we currently possess. Finally, there's a basic timing issue involved: the cars are going to be needed for a commute home, which typically happens at the tail end of peak usage hours. That means a lot of the battery capacity provided by these vehicles is going to be off-limits when it's needed.

Getting ready to store
Obviously, the report's authors recommend that the regulatory framework be put in place that will allow storage to start taking a larger role in the grid. It also suggests that the economic issues may need some unusual models for things to make sense. For example, it considers that third-party ownership of a plug-in hybrid's batteries may be needed to have their storage capacity make economic sense, a model that resembles the one being promoted by some electric car initiatives.

But they also recognize that those sorts of things may take years, and utilities will be needing to deploy storage sooner than that (indeed, they already are). So it argues that the Department of Energy is going to need the budgetary resources to fund pilot projects to determine how the different technologies and management systems work in the field. That way, by the time the regulatory issues are sorted out, the utilities will know which of the options it makes sense to deploy.


http://arstechnica.com

A Lighter, Faster-Charging Battery Could Be on Its Way

Lithium-ion batteries (specifically LiFePO4) are currently the great hope of electric cars, laptop computers and cell phones, but they have their drawbacks. They recharge and release energy slowly, and in order to store a lot of energy, they're heavy. Researchers at MIT think they have found the underlying problem with these batteries and how to fix it - possibly bringing a lighter, faster battery in the next couple of years.

Up until now, scientists have believed that charged lithium atoms were to blame for the battery performance - they moved slowly through the battery material on their way to deliver their charge. But now, researchers say the atoms themselves aren't to blame, but rather how the ions get into the nano-scale tunnels that deliver them to their destination.

They've come up with a lithium phosphate coating that pushes the ions into the tunnels, where they then quickly make their way to the battery terminal. With this modification, a cell phone battery can charge in just 10 seconds. They imagine with this same boost, plug-in hybrids could fully charge in just five minutes.

Also, this new battery material wouldn't degrade as much through constant recharging, allowing smaller and lighter batteries to take the place of heavier ones. If this theory can be proved, the next step would be to come up with an amped up power supply that could deliver the electricity needed for the quick charging.

Two companies have already licensed the invention and because the material involved isn't new, this upgraded battery could be commercially available within two to three years


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Microbes Eat CO2, Make Fuel

When electricity flows at a trickle pace, it’s not very useful for a lot of our high-power applications. That’s why, as we all know, finding a way to store that energy so that it can build up slowly over time is critically important.

One way to store that trickle is to run a chemical reaction that will leave us with some combustible fuel. For example, scientists are working on catalysts that will make it easier to split water into O2 and H2 – the latter being combustible hydrogen - using electricity derived from photovoltaic power.

In the same vein, scientists recently developed a process called electromethanogensis. If you break down the name, you see that the process involves generating methane (natural gas) from electricity. How does this happen? The answer lies in a species of bacteria known as Methanobacterium palustre (see the word “methane” in there?), which is able to chemically reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) into methane (CH4).

The bacteria is used as part of an electrolytic cell. An electrolytic cell is the opposite of a battery – a battery takes two compounds that want to react with each other and taps that potential in the form of electricity. In an electrolytic cell, the electrons are pumped in and they drive the reaction uphill, so to speak. In this case that uphill reaction is CO2 turning into CH4 (the opposite of the downhill version, which happens when we burn CH4, or any other fossil fuel). The bacteria’s job is to catalyze the process, which means that you get a lot more natural gas for the same amount of electricity fed in.

What’s interesting is that the scientist primarily involved, Dr. Bruce Logan of Penn State University, has also used bacteria for the opposite process – microbial fuel cells (in fact he wrote a book on the subject). In that process, bacteria are harnessed to eat nasty molecules from sources such as municipal waste pools, break them down and release electric energy as a byproduct.

This is the kind of thing that makes biological-based energy sources so intriguing. In reality, bio-energy makes up a tiny fraction of all renewable energy out there, and some suggest that it will always be that way. But in principle, bio-energy holds so much potential that it’s hard to say where the technology will be in 10 years from now. We’ve been tweaking microbes to make drugs and natural products for a while, but we’ve only begun thinking about incorporating them into the energy infrastructure, be it in methane synthesis such as this, bio-diesel production or algae fuel.

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MIT Made a Virus Make a Battery

Those crazy lab rats at MIT are attempting to radically diminish the cost of producing sophisticated nanotech cathodes and anodes by enlisting viruses to do the hard work for them.

New lithium ion batteries are being designed with increasingly sophisticated cathodes and anodes that allow fast charge, controlled discharge, longer lifetimes and higher power densities. The problem is, as these components become more advanced, so too do the batteries. Which is why practical electric vehicles (now that they're feasible at all) seem to be generally out of my price range.

The team at MIT genetically engineered viruses to excrete certain proteins. Those proteins then react with chemicals introduced to the environment to create complicated structures. Proteins are very good at directing compounds to create complicated structures...like life forms.

The viruses, in effect, pull the needed compounds (gold and cobalt for the anode and iron phosphate and carbon for the cathode) into nanowires. Both the cathode and the anode for the battery were constructed by viruses, though the battery created is only big enough to power a calculator, the same technique could be used to make batteries for cars.

The best thing is, all you need is the viruses (which are easy enough to multiply exponentially in a lab) and the raw materials to create these sophisticated components. So the cost of advanced battery production could drop like a rock.

Unfortunately, the batteries being produced are not up to the standards of traditionally designed nanotech batteries. They can only go through about 100 cycles (vs. more than 1000 for today's batteries) before starting to lose their charge. Of course, the team is confident that they can direct the viruses more effectively and increase that number significantly.

This technique could also mean a more cost-effective way to build and test new battery chemistries. The team is already experimenting with slightly different cathodes and anodes to attempt to increase power density.

And so maybe soon viruses will be doing all our work for us.

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Paris Using Ultracapacitors in Buses

Much has been made of the potential of ultracapacitors in electric cars. Many start-up companies are hoping to make the big breakthrough that changes the future of EVs by creating lighter, cheaper and better energy storage, but so far we haven't seen the results.

German company MAN has decided to look beyond small electric vehicles and has outfitted a hybrid bus with an ultracapacitor. Paris's public transport system RATP is currently testing a few of these models called Lion's City Hybrids in the city without passengers to see if they're worth permanently adding to their transportation fleet.

The bus is being tested on four different bus routes to gauge its performance under various demands like longer distances or more frequent stops. The ultracapacitor allows the bus to start without turning on the engine. Once the bus is moving, the diesel engine starts running.

MAN claims that the hybrid bus reduces fuel use by 20 to 25 percent compared to the currently-used models. If these test go well, this could be the beginning of ultracapacitors finally making their way onto the road instead of just being an exciting prospect.

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AT&T and SmartSynch Get Their First Customer

Last month, we told you about the partnership between AT&T and SmartSynch to bring smart grid technology to residential customers. Today, they announced that they've signed on their first big utility. Texas-New Mexico Power has made a deal with the duo to roll out 10,000 SmartMeters using AT&T's wireless network.

The partnership had pilot programs set up in Texas over the past 14 months and once they were deemed successful, the utility signed on. The 10,000 homes selected to receive SmartMeters will have their energy usage monitored in 15-minute intervals. The SmartMeters will allow energy management on the part of the residents and immediately alert the utility to any power outages and customer service requests. The meters also allow the utility to remotely connect and disconnect power when residents move in or out of a home. The remote capabiliites mean less trucks going out on the road and a smaller carbon footprint for the utility.

Verizon is also looking to capitalize on smart grid technology by offering up its wireless network for smartmetering and I'm sure all the other communications companies will quickly follow suit. The potential for business growth in this area is huge, but some utilities are looking for ways around major wireless carriers. PG&E ended up going with an unlicensed wireless mesh network to save money.

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Inventing EV charging

With the oncoming numbers of plug-in hybrids, extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs), and all-electric vehicles, drivers are going to be looking for places to charge their vehicles.

At present, there is no standard for an electrical connector on a car needing an electric charge. The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) J1772 Task Force is working to set a common specification and configuration for the vehicle charging connection for all cars.

This is the connector for the car-side (not a new wall-socket connection) that is being proposed; there was some misunderstanding about the intent of this in the post on GM's FastLane Blog. The connection to the residential electrical service (for North America, at least) would be with a standard 120v wall outlet.

With SAE J1772, we’re defining what a common electric vehicle conductive charging system architecture will look like for all major automakers in North America, but more importantly, we’re working to resolve general physical, electrical and performance requirements so these systems can be manufactured for safe public use.
Gas stations and fuel fillers on cars have evolved a common infrastructure. Those old enough to remember may recall the changeover when unleaded gas was introduced, and new pump nozzles and fuel fillers were mandated to keep drivers from accidentally putting old, regular gas into cars designed for unleaded. Without such a standard in place for electric vehicles,it would be as though you had to carry your own hose in your car, so that you could fill it with your brand of connector. A common standard will make it easier for public charging locations to have a single connector that can be used for any vehicle, making it faster and easier for electric vehicles to be more widely useable.

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Norway to ban new gas cars by 2015

The Finance Minister of Norway has proposed a ban on all gas only vehicles by 2015. This would not be a complete ban on gas powered cars, it would just require that they are at least capable of using an alternative fuel as well. Older Vehicles that run on gas would not be affected.

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