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Posts

April 26, 2013

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1:23 PM | Biomass Powered Fuel Cell That Can Be Charged From a Campfire Developed
How do you charge a cell phone if you don’t have access to electricity? This question is especially relevant in developing countries where a large portion of the population may live without electricity or toilets or running water but yet they own cell phones. A new technology developed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will allow people to get enough electricity to charge a cell phone or to power a lightbulb form a simple campfire. Read more »
The Daily Fusion
Environment | Energy
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12:08 PM | When Trees Attack, Orca Vs. Sperm Whale (in Pictures), the Quiet Car Gets Rowdy ... and No One Says Shush
By The Editors You got your flood in my drought: Man, the Midwest cannot catch a break. First it was too little rain, now it’s too much. Either way, farmers’ fields and commercial traffic on the mighty Mississippi are not having a good time of it these days. New York Times Banned in Britain, A-OK in the USA: That Corexit stuff that BP dumped into the Gulf of Mexico to disperse oil after the Deepwater Horizon disaster? Yeah, pretty much everyone agrees […]
OnEarth
Energy | Environment

April 25, 2013

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5:35 PM | New Fatigue Model Leads to Energy-Efficient Ships
Heikki Remes at the Aalto University School of Engineering, Department of Applied Mechanics, has developed a model that makes it possible to find out how exactly fatigue sets in with various welded steel materials. The model allows for the development of lighter structures, and as a consequence, more energy-efficient ships. Read more »

Remes, H. (2013). Strain-based approach to fatigue crack initiation and propagation in welded steel joints with arbitrary notch shape, International Journal of Fatigue, 52 114-123. DOI:

The Daily Fusion
Environment | Energy
Citation
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3:25 PM | Researchers Receive a Grant to Test High Temperature Water Splitting
Hydrogen fuel is a zero-emission fuel that can potentially be mass-produced and commercialized for passenger vehicles and aircraft. However since pure hydrogen does not occur naturally, it takes energy to manufacture it. Most currently available hydrogen production processes are either costly or too complex or negatively affect the environment. Scientists from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology are studying a new way to produce hydrogen on a large scale. Read more »
The Daily Fusion
Environment | Energy
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2:52 PM | Hot Shot, Cold Critters
By Gail Henry I want you to try something: close your eyes, think back over your media diet for the day, and identify six photographs that you clearly remember seeing.It's harder than you would have thought, isn't it? Photographs are everywhere: in our newspapers, on our computer and tablet screens, at our bus stops, on our food packaging. Advertisers and editors spend a lot of time and money trying to ensure that you won't forget all those sexy images at […]
OnEarth
Energy | Environment
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2:05 PM | NYC's Plastic "Oh No!" Ban Lifted, Whiskey Gives You Energy, Happy World Penguin Day
By The Editors Just one word, Benjamin: In a major and long-awaited policy shift, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced yesterday that New York City will begin accepting hard plastics as part of its curbside recycling program, including all manner of things previously banned from the list: shampoo bottles, clothes hangers, yogurt containers, toys, and iced-coffee cups (assuming Hizzoner hasn't yet outlawed iced coffee). "Starting today, if it’s a rigid […]
OnEarth
Energy | Environment
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1:10 PM | Quantum Dynamics Observed in Photosynthesis Gives New Ideas for Solar Cells
University of Chicago researchers have created a synthetic compound that mimics the design principles that support persistent electronic coherence in biological light harvesting systems (or, to put it simply, in the leaves of the plants). This may give scientists new ideas for solar energy technologies. According to the authors of the study published in the Science Express, engineering quantum effects into synthetic light-harvesting devices is not only possible, but also easier than anyone […]

Hayes, D., Griffin, G. & Engel, G. (2013). Engineering Coherence Among Excited States in Synthetic Heterodimer Systems, Science, DOI:

The Daily Fusion
Environment | Energy
Citation
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1:00 PM | Well-tie workflow
We've had a couple of emails recently about well ties. Ever since my days as a Landmark workflow consultant, I've thought the process of calibrating seismic data to well data was one of the rockiest parts of the interpretation workflow—and not just because of SynTool. One might almost call the variety of approaches an unsolved problem. Tying wells usually involves forward modeling a synthetic seismogram from sonic and density logs, then matching that synthetic to the seismic reflection […]
Agile*
Energy | Geosciences

April 24, 2013

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9:51 PM | 10 years ago 10 New Countries Joined the European Fusion Program
The Treaty of Accession, signed on April 16, 2003, led to ten new countries joining the European Union, and therefore joining EFDA, via the EURATOM treaty. The addition of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia constituted the largest single addition of territory and population to the European Union. The addition of so many former Eastern Bloc countries, along with Bulgaria and Romania who joined three years later, has had a major […]
The Daily Fusion
Environment | Energy
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7:24 PM | Rivers Carry Away Waste Heat Form Power Plants at a Cost to the Environment
Two computer models developed by the scientists from the University of New Hampshire show a detailed picture of how thermal power stations interact with climate, hydrology, and aquatic ecosystems. For example, models suggest that while rivers serve as “horizontal cooling towers” that provide an important service to the regional electricity sector, this comes at a cost to the environment. Read more »

Stewart, R., Wollheim, W., Miara, A., Vörösmarty, C., Fekete, B., Lammers, R. & Rosenzweig, B. (2013). Horizontal cooling towers: riverine ecosystem services and the fate of thermoelectric heat in the contemporary Northeast US, Environmental Research Letters, 8 (2) 25010. DOI:

The Daily Fusion
Environment | Energy
Citation
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5:41 PM | Scientists Develop Faster and More Durable Fault Current Limiter to Mitigate Blackouts
A local power failure in Ohio ten years ago caused a series of cascading power failures that resulted in a massive blackout that affected 50 million people and caused billions of dollars in damage and lost revenue. Power failures are particularly critical at sites where the environment and public safety are at risk. A new piece of equipment developed by engineering researchers at the University of Arkansas can prevent power failures by regulating or limiting the amount of excess current that […]
The Daily Fusion
Environment | Energy
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4:08 PM | Mechanism Behind LED Efficiency Loss at High Currents Identified
Scientists from the University of California, Santa Barbara together with colleagues from the École Polytechnique in France, have conclusively identified Auger recombination to be the mechanism that causes light emitting diodes (LEDs) to be less efficient at high drive currents. This explains the phenomenon known as LED “droop”—a mysterious drop in the light produced when a higher current is applied. The cost per lumen of LEDs has held the technology back as a viable replacement for […]

Justin Iveland, Lucio Martinelli, Jacques Peretti, James S. Speck & Claude Weisbuch (2013). Direct Measurement of Auger Electrons Emitted from a Semiconductor Light-Emitting Diode under Electrical Injection: Identification of the Dominant Mechanism for Efficiency Droop, Physical Review Letters, arXiv:

The Daily Fusion
Environment | Energy
Citation
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1:22 PM | Department of Energy Invests in Drop-In Biofuel for Military Applications
The U.S. Department of Energy has announced nearly $18 million in four innovative pilot-scale biorefineries in California, Iowa and Washington that will test renewable biofuels as a domestic alternative to power our cars, trucks, and planes that meet military specifications for jet fuel and shipboard diesel. Read more »
The Daily Fusion
Environment | Energy
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4:34 AM | Fertilizer Folly, Pipeline Politics, China -- Where Watching TV Is Healthier than Playing Outside
By The Editors Foul playtime: After-school play dates are the latest victim of China’s pollution problem. As scientific research pours in linking autism, anxiety, depression, and lung damage to prenatal and childhood exposure to air pollution, strong measures are being taken in Beijing -- where pollutants can reach up to 40 times the recommended exposure limit -- to keep kids safe. "Parents are confining sons and daughters to their homes, even if it means […]
OnEarth
Energy | Environment

April 23, 2013

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9:22 PM | A Method That Uses Bacteria to Produce Pure Diesel Developed
A group of scientists from the University of Exeter, with support from Shell, has developed a new technique which makes use of bacteria to produce diesel fuel. While this new method still faces a number of problems on its way to commercialization, the diesel, produced by special strains of E. coli bacteria, is almost identical to conventional diesel fuel. Read more »

Howard, T., Middelhaufe, S., Moore, K., Edner, C., Kolak, D., Taylor, G., Parker, D., Lee, R., Smirnoff, N., Aves, S. & Love, J. (2013). Synthesis of customized petroleum-replica fuel molecules by targeted modification of free fatty acid pools in Escherichia coli, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, DOI:

The Daily Fusion
Environment | Energy
1
Citation
Editor's Pick
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8:18 PM | 300th Post: Animated GIF of Shewanella extracellular electron transfer: periplasm edition
I can’t think of a better post to serve as my 300th. After a month and a half of teaching myself Autodesk Maya, I present my best animation yet, although it must’ve been by accident. I have two versions (two different file formats). But first, some background. Many bacteria have developed strategies to grow and [...]
Taking Science to the People
Microbiology | Energy
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8:05 PM | LEAF Electric Taxi Pilot Program Launched in New York
Nissan Motor Company and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg have launched a new electric taxi pilot program with the world’s best-selling electric car (over 50,000 units sold globally), Nissan Leaf. This pilot program, which puts six Leaf taxis into service beginning this spring, will help Nissan, the city, the taxi industry and the public understand how zero emission vehicles can be integrated into future taxi fleets. Read more »
The Daily Fusion
Environment | Energy
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6:23 PM | Last Year Europe Invested $2.35 billion in Smart Grid Projects
The Joint Research Centre (JRC), a Directorate-General of the European Commission that provides independent scientific and technical advice to the European Commission to support a wide range of EU policies has published an update of the 2011 report “Smart Grid projects in Europe: lessons learned and current developments,” which is the most comprehensive inventory of smart grid and smart metering initiatives across the European Union, Croatia, Switzerland and Norway. Read more »
The Daily Fusion
Environment | Energy
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4:03 PM | New ‘High Concentration Photovoltaic Thermal’ System Will Collect 80% of Solar Energy
Scientists have announced yesterday that a collaboration consisting of ETH Zurich, IBM Research, the Interstate University of Applied Sciences Buchs and Airlight Energy is to develop an affordable photovoltaic system capable of concentrating solar radiation 2,000 times and converting 80 percent of the incoming radiation into useful energy. The system can also provide desalinated water and cool air in sunny, remote locations where they are often in short supply. Read more »
The Daily Fusion
Environment | Energy
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1:29 PM | Africa’s Largest Photovoltaic Plant Opens
The largest solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant on the African continent was launched last week by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania and Masdar, the renewable energy company from Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates). Read more »
The Daily Fusion
Environment | Energy
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1:07 PM | What is an unsession?
Yesterday I invited you (yes, you) to our Unsolved Problems Unsession on 7 May in Calgary. What exactly will be involved? We think we can accomplish two things: Brainstorm the top 10, or 20, or 50 most pressing problems in exploration geoscience today. Not limited to but focusing on those problems that affect how well we interface — with each other, with engineers, with financial people, with the public even. Integration problems. Select one or two of those problems and solve them! […]
Agile*
Energy | Geosciences
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1:46 AM | Hear the Coral Sing, Beefy Issues, the Other Earth Days
By The Editors Fed fight!: The State Department is in charge of deciding whether a Canadian energy company should be allowed to build the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which would transport tar sands oil 1,700 miles from Alberta to refineries on the Gulf Coast. But the Environmental Protection Agency gets a say in the project, too -- and it's saying the State Department did a pretty poor job with its review of the pipeline plan. The department underplayed […]
OnEarth
Energy | Environment

April 22, 2013

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9:01 PM | What We Talk About When We Talk About Trash
By Elizabeth Royte Hint: It’s probably the wrong things -- because focusing on recycling risks missing the bigger picture. As an eager consumer, and sometime producer, of garbage-related writing, I was thrilled to be invited to provide a blurb for Robin Nagle’s recently released Picking Up: On the Streets and Behind the Trucks with the Sanitation Workers of New York City. Plunging into the book with the zeal of a dumpster diver, I emerged utterly […]
OnEarth
Energy | Environment
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5:30 PM | GE Launched ‘LNG in a BOX’ Natural Gas Fueling Solution
GE Oil & Gas introduced last week a new small-scale, plug-and-play, re-deployable liquefied natural gas (LNG) fueling system that could accelerate the transition from diesel to cleaner liquefied natural gas fuel. The world’s first commercial application of the LNG In A Box system will be for LNG fueling stations in Europe to be delivered by Luxembourg-based LNG firm Gasfin. Read more »
The Daily Fusion
Environment | Energy
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5:19 PM | Are We Ignoring the Most Important Science About the Gulf Spill?
By Rachel Nuwer After the Exxon Valdez dumped 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska’s Prince William Sound in 1989, a pod of orcas there stopped having babies. The whales have yet to birth a single calf in more than 20 years, and scientists now consider those orcas to be functionally extinct. (See “The Woman Who Loves Orcas,” Spring 2013.) The oil would certainly seem to have something to do with it, but we don’t know for sure. Why? Because […]
OnEarth
Energy | Environment
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3:54 PM | What I do: Parents edition with special animated GIF for Mom and Dad
One of my goals is to help the masses understand scientific discovery. More precisely, why should we care (i.e. spend money) about bacteria and/or plants. Visiting the parents this weekend, my mom and dad talked about some of my posts that I have on Facebook. Something dad said has stuck with me, I paraphrase: he [...]
Taking Science to the People
Microbiology | Energy
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3:15 PM | Online Tools Provide Information on Hydraulic Fracturing in the U.S.
Two data collection tools specifically developed for tracking oil, gas, injection well, and source water protection activities are available to regulatory agencies and the public. The primary purpose of this tools is to provide factual information concerning hydraulic fracturing and groundwater protection. Read more »
The Daily Fusion
Environment | Energy
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1:50 PM | Earth Day Edition: Park Therapy, 'Big Men' Villains, Peep Shows on the Prairie
By The Editors Beyond the pipe: Some curmudgeons under the big tent of environmentalism like to knock the anti-Keystone XL campaign for being too narrow in scope, for taking on the wrong target, or for using the wrong tactics. But what they don’t get is that the campaign isn’t -- and never was -- just about the pipeline. It's about changing the face of the environmental movement. And it’s working. SlateWorking environment: What might be the greenest […]
OnEarth
Energy | Environment
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1:38 PM | An invitation to a brainstorm
Who of us would not be glad to lift the veil behind which the future lies hidden; to cast a glance at the next advances of our science and at the secrets of its development during future centuries? What particular goals will there be toward which the leading [geoscientific] spirits of coming generations will strive? What new methods and new facts in the wide and rich field of [geoscientific] thought will the new centuries disclose? — Adapted from David Hilbert (1902). Mathematical […]
Agile*
Energy | Geosciences

April 20, 2013

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5:28 PM | Independent Report Finds ‘Lack of Confidence’ in Concentrated Solar Power
An independent report investigating the potential to accelerate the deployment of small-scale concentrated solar power (CSP) in various developing countries was undertaken by the Carbon Trust for the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change. According to the report, the critical barriers to deployment of CSP in industrial applications are low awareness, lack of confidence, and unattractive payback periods. Read more »
The Daily Fusion
Environment | Energy
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