Feature Channels: Energy

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Sandia National Laboratories researchers are moving into the demonstration phase of a novel gas turbine system for power generation, with the promise that thermal-to-electric conversion efficiency will be increased to as much as 50 percent — an improvement of 50 percent for nuclear power stations equipped with steam turbines, or a 40 percent improvement for simple gas turbines. The system is also very compact, meaning that capital costs would be relatively low.

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A team of chemical engineers at the University of Arkansas has developed a method for converting common algae into butanol, a renewable fuel that can be used in existing combustible engines. The green technology benefits from and adds greater value to a process being used now to clean and oxygenate U.S. waterways by removing excess nitrogen and phosphorous from fertilizer in runoff.

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A visionary plan for a “Desert Development Corridor” in Egypt, researched and created by Boston University geologist Dr. Farouk El-Baz, has been adopted by the country’s interim government as its flagship program. According to El-Baz, the plan – which includes the construction, along 1,200 kilometers, of a new eight-lane superhighway, a railway, a water pipeline, and a power line – would open new land for urban development, commerce, agriculture, tourism and related jobs.

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A record number of electric snowmobiles have registered for the 2011 SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge, set for March 7-12 at Michigan Technological University’s Keweenaw Research Center. This year, they will be greener than ever.

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Gaining new insight into how efficiently the microbes in large bioreactors produce methane from brewery waste, Cornell scientists hope to use their new knowledge to shape these microbial communities to produce liquid biofuels and other useful products.

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The University of Delaware's Institute of Energy Conversion (IEC) -- a U.S. Department of Energy University Center of Excellence for Photovoltaic Research and Education -- is working with LG Innotek on pioneering research on wide band-gap solar cells, which absorb less sunlight, but produce a higher voltage than solar cells currently on the market.

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Stony Brook University today announced that a technical collaboration agreement has been established with Subsea Oil Technologies, Inc. (“Subsea”) of Houston, Texas, for research and development in, but not limited to, subsea oil and/or gas spill (blowout) containment methods and apparatus configurations.

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Flash forward 20 years... What if our best efforts to lower carbon emissions, wean off fossil fuels, and plan for a soaring population weren’t enough? June 5 to 9, 2011 in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, the Waterloo Global Science Initiative presents the Equinox Summit: Energy 2030 – a global conversation on how science and technology can help solve our current energy crisis.

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Bioethanol from new lines of native perennial prairie grass could become less costly because of plant engineering by The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation and fermentation research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

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Florida Gov. Rick Scott today announced that Bing Energy Inc. (http://bingenergyinc.com/) of Chino, Calif., has selected Tallahassee as the new site of the company’s world headquarters. The company, in collaboration with Professor Jim P. Zheng (http://www.eng.fsu.edu/ece/directory/jim_zheng/) of The Florida State University, is planning to turn revolutionary nanotechnology pioneered at FSU into a better, faster, more economical and commercially viable fuel cell. The move is expected to create at least 244 jobs paying an average wage of $41,655 in Florida.

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Graduate students pursuing careers in energy, policy, science and environmental matters are being encouraged to submit applications for Technology and Policy Tools for Energy in an Uncertain World, a week-long summer institute at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, Calif. The program will take place Aug. 7–12 and is open to U.S. citizens and foreign nationals.

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The University of Chicago has received a $50,000 grant to help fund a green roof atop the new Chicago Theological Seminary building, now under construction at 1407 E. 60th St.

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Brightly-lit Cowboys Stadium during Sunday’s Super Bowl XLV may symbolize one of the hottest new pieces of scientific intelligence about air pollution: Researchers have discovered — in a classic case of scientific serendipity — that the bright light from sports stadiums and urban street lights may boost daytime levels of ozone, a key air pollutant in many heavily populated areas.

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A BMI Corp. SmartTruck technology that could save 1.5 billion gallons of diesel fuel and $5 billion in fuel costs per year has hit the road in record time in part because of simulations performed on the nation’s most powerful supercomputer at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

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Proposals to install hydrokinetic turbines – like underwater windmills – in rivers across the U.S. are prompting questions about the environmental impacts of this new hydropower energy source.

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An engineering professor has developed a process for converting amorphous silicon into large-grain poly-crystalline silicon, which will decrease the cost of solar electricity to compete with fossil fuels.

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Second phase of a study commissioned by the DOE Industrial Technologies Program (ITP), funded through Oak Ridge National Laboratory and convened by TMS will be used to formulate a core MSE development portfolio focused on meeting current and future energy challenges, while also opening opportunities for job creation and economic growth.

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Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a biohybrid photoconversion system -- based on the interaction of photosynthetic plant proteins with synthetic polymers -- that can convert visible light into hydrogen fuel.

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R. Richard Geddes, associate professor of policy analysis and management at Cornell University and author of “The Road to Renewal: Private Investment in U.S. Transportation Infrastructure,” raises doubts about President Obama’s call for the development of an intercity high-speed rail network in the United States.

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Scientists analyzed five classical long term experiments using a process-based carbon balance model. They simulated experiments to predict the potential of no tillage management to maintain soil organic carbon.

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Aerospace engineering expert Michael “Miki” Amitay, associate professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, this week received a $250,000 grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to continue his work on smarter blades for wind turbines.

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The first rough draft of a “genetic road map” of the biomass crop, prairie cordgrass, is giving scientists an inside look at the genes of one of the crops that may help produce the next generation of biofuels.

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Intelligent GenerationTM (IG) will celebrate the launch of its new test site at Illinois Institute of Technology's University Technology Park on January 27, 2011.

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The U.S. Green Building Council has granted LEED Platinum certification — the highest possible standard — to the Peggy Ryan Williams Center at Ithaca College.

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Pine's fresh scent has helped scientists find missing sources of organic molecules in the air -- which, it might turn out, aren't missing after all. In work appearing in this week's PNAS Online, researchers found that particles containing compounds such as those given off by pine trees evaporate more than 100 times slower than expected by current air-quality models.

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Policy makers, industry, researchers and the public have a new way to gain and share information about biofuels with the Bioenergy Knowledge Discovery Framework, or KDF, developed by a team at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and sponsored by the Department of Energy.

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A strain of bacteria found in soil is being studied for its ability to convert waste from a promising alternative fuel into several useful materials, including another alternative fuel.

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Natural resource policy is an emerging academic field that focuses on the people part of science. It straddles the social and environmental sciences. "People cause social problems; people are affected by them; people care about them; and it's people who have to fix them," says Michigan Tech Professor Kathy Halvorsen.

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For more efficient power generation, operators of large wind farms should space their turbines farther apart.

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Tulane University has created a new graduate degree program for those planning to pursue careers in the energy industry.

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TM-DOE report shows material science advances could improve performance and lower costs of electrical energy storage devices for the future electrical grid.

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A new Australian company has been established to produce commercial quantities of clean, "green" fuels from algae.

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A straightforward new way to calculate, compile, and graphically present solar radiation measurements in a format that is accessible to decision makers and the general public has been developed by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and is described in the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy.

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High energy costs are one drawback of making clean water from waste effluents. According to an article in the journal Biomicrofluidics, a new system that combines two different technologies proposes to break down contaminants using the cheapest possible energy source, sunlight.

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Hui Hu, an Iowa State University associate professor of aerospace engineering, is working with engineers from the Goodrich Corp. to test and characterize the next generation of fuel nozzles.

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The South could pay less for its electricity in 20 years than is currently projected if strong public policies are enacted to spur renewable energy production and use, according to a report released today by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Duke University.

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An effort to increase biofuel production has led scientists to discover genes in yeast that improve their tolerance to ethanol, allowing the production of more ethanol from the same amount of nutrients. This study shows how genetically altered yeast cells survive higher ethanol concentrations, addressing a bottleneck in the production of ethanol from cellulosic material (nonfood plant sources) in quantities that could compete economically with fossil fuels.

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CSB Board Will Hear Testimony on how Offshore Drilling is Managed and Regulated in Other Countries

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The cyanobacteria are famous for releasing the oxygen that made Earth the hospitable planet we know today, but some strains also have hidden talent for producing hydrogen gas. Washington University in St. Louis currently holds the gas-producing record for these versatile microbes.

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Cornell University researchers have joined other scientists and a biofuel research company on a mission to develop a commercial-scale algae-to-fuel facility by 2015. The effort is backed by a $9 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy.

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A $3.9 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy will allow electrical engineering researchers at the University of Arkansas to continue contributing to the development of a compact and highly efficient silicon-carbide charger for hybrid electric vehicles. The benefits of the project extend beyond vehicles into other areas, such as wind and solar power, and could lead to reduced energy consumption in the United States.

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South Dakota State University has a major role in a $10 million project to deliver alternative power technologies to help the U.S. military supply power to units in the field. The three-year project began in May 2009.

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A USC Marshall MBA research team finds that global investment is being restricted by a range of factors, from policy to affordability.

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Realtime view of single nanowire anode offers information to improve lithium batteries.

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As the U.S. policy makers renew emphasis on the use of nuclear energy in their efforts to reduce the country’s oil dependence, other factors come into play. One concern of paramount importance is the seismic hazard at the site where nuclear reactors are located.

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Mirroring an approach that Indiana has taken to the life sciences industry, the state's economic development efforts could capitalize on existing clusters of wind energy and automotive-related companies to foster a more sustainable and profitable business environment. That's the lead finding by a panel of second-year MBA students at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business, who were asked to participate in a competitive project for the INdiana Sustainability Alliance (INSA).

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Scientists and engineers from two of the nation’s largest industries – medicine and energy – came together this week to explore the synergies in moving oil and pumping blood.

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A University of Arkansas researcher and his colleagues have created the first methane-producing microorganism that can metabolize complex carbon structures, which could lead to microbial recycling of waste products and their transformation into natural gas.

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Construction of a fuel cell with enough capacity to power 2,800 homes has begun on the UC San Diego campus as part of a renewable-energy project with the City of San Diego and BioFuels Energy to turn waste methane gas from the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant directly into electricity without combustion.

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Researchers from Iowa State University and the Ames Laboratory have developed a process for fabricating more efficient polymer solar cells. The result is a polymer solar cell that captures more light and produces more power.