Archive for the ‘Energy’ tag
Self-sufficient lighting solution
An outdoor light that collects its own energy from the sun and wind by transforming its appearance throughout the day, has been developed by Philips.
When the sun shines, Philips’ Light Blossom device emulates nature – slowly opening the ‘petals’ of its ‘bud’. Much like a sunflower continues to face the sun while it moves from east to west during the day, Light Blossom’s petals, gradually and continuously re-orientating in the direction of the sun.
When the wind blows, the intelligent Light Blossom intuitively moves its petals to an upward half-open position, allowing them to catch the wind. The petals then progressively rotate, transferring the movement to the built-in rotor that instantly converts it into energy.
When the sun shines again, the Light Blossom adapts itself to the new weather. It progressively stops rotating, and opens up again to catch the sun rays.
Read more on: Design, Energy, Energy, light, light emitting device, solar energy, wind energyOffshore wind farm to be connected to British National Grid
Siemens Energy and consortium partner Prysmian Cables & Systems, are to connect the Thanet offshore wind farm to the British power grid as part of a contract worth 87 million euros.
Generating enough electricity to power over 167,000 homes, the wind farm with an installed capacity of 300 megawatts (MW) will be constructed in the North Sea, 11km off the coast of Kent, the wind farm will have its connection to the grid ready for operation in the summer of 2009.
Read more on: Civil, Energy, Energy, siemens, Wind turbineTrees provide the spark to prevent forest fires spreading
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are trying to establish if energy from trees could be used to power a network of sensors that would help prevent spreading forest fires.
What they learn could also raise the possibility of using trees as silent sentinels along the nation’s borders to detect potential threats such as smuggled radioactive materials.
The US Forest Service currently predicts and tracks fires using remote automated weather stations. But these stations are expensive and sparsely distributed. Additional sensors could save trees by providing better local climate data to be used in fire prediction models and earlier alerts. However, manually recharging or replacing batteries at often very hard-to-reach locations makes this impractical and costly.
The new sensor system seeks to avoid this problem by tapping into trees as a self-sustaining power supply. Each sensor is equipped with an off-the-shelf battery that can be slowly recharged using electricity generated by the tree.
Read more on: electricity, Energy, Energy, sensorsTechnology helps identify proteins from within
A technology that enables scientists to map the energy flow inside a protein for identification purposes has been developed.
The new research outlines how an imaging technique known as coherent two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy, 2DIR, has been used to successfully identify proteins in laboratory tests. The technique uses an ultra short pulse of infra-red laser light to cause a vibration in one part of the protein molecule. The researchers then track the movement of energy from this vibration as it moves through the protein, building up an energy flow map of the protein which enables them to identify what kind of protein it is.
Read more on: Bio Tech, DNA, Energy, Energy, genetic, molecules, proteinsSplitting water paves the way for clean, green fuel
A team of researchers has used chemicals found in plants to replicate a key process in photosynthesis, paving the way to a new approach that uses sunlight to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. This breakthrough could revolutionise the renewable energy industry by making hydrogen, touted as the clean, green fuel of the future – cheaper and easier to produce on a commercial scale.
Scientists from Monash University, the CSIRO and Princeton University, teamed up to develop system comprising a coating that can be impregnated with a form of manganese, a chemical essential to sustaining photosynthesis in plant life.
Read more on: carbon dioxide, chemicals, coating, Electronics, Energy, Energy, fuel, hydrogen, oxygen, sunlightTwo-in-one surgical tool meets FDA approval
The American Food and Drug Administration has granted Peak Surgical, approval to market its PEAK Surgery System for use in general surgery.
The PEAK Surgery System combines the PULSAR Generator, which supplies pulsed plasma radio frequency energy, with the PEAK PlasmaBlade 4.0, a low-temperature surgical cutting and coagulational tool.
Traditionally surgeons use scalpels to cut skin and delicate tissue, and electrosurgical devices for cutting and coagulating fat and other thicker, tougher tissues. While scalpels cut tissue precisely, they do not control bleeding. On the other hand, electrosurgical devices cut efficiently and control bleeding, but can cause extensive thermal damage to surrounding tissue. In cases where there is an unacceptable risk of collateral damage or scarring from electrosurgery, surgeons must use both a traditional scalpel for cutting, and an electrosurgical tool for coagulation.
The PlasmaBlade combines the precision of a scalpel with the bleeding control of an electrosurgical device.
Read more on: Bio Tech, Energy, plasmaLighting up Nigeria with plant waste
A Nigerian engineer has devised a method of generating 200kw of energy daily - enough to provide basic electricity for over 2,000 households, from the waste parts of the cassava plant.
Cassava, also known as yucca or tapioca, is the third largest source of carbohydrates in the human diet. The root of the cassava is a staple food throughout Africa, South America, and the Caribbean, but most of the plant ends up as a waste product. The gases released during the refining process are a major problem in Nigeria, causing water pollution, and emitting noxious greenhouse gases.
Using innovative biogas technology, Dr Joseph Adelegan, has developed zero emission bioreactors at specially constructed plants to treat the cassava waste. This creates biogas, which is used to drive microturbines, these in turn produce low-cost, safe and reliable off-grid efficient lighting to thousands of rural homes, where the occupants currently rely on kerosene lamps for lighting. These lamps bring their own pollution problems, releasing large amounts of noxious gases and pollutants in the air.
Read more on: biogas, Design, EnergyThe real windy state
Billions of dollars are to be spent building new transmission lines as part of America’s largest wind power project, taking pollution-free energy from windy west Texas, to urban areas.
The plan, which was approved by the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC), will eventually transmit a total of 18.456 megawatts of wind power.
The PUV expects the lines to be in service within four to five years.
Read more on: Design, Energy, wind power, Wind turbineA window of opportunity for solar energy
An innovative way of capturing energy from the sun could increase the amount of power generated by solar panels.
The concept devised by engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), centres on a ‘solar concentrator’. The solar concentrator evolved from a similar idea developed in the 70’s that involved impregnating dyes in plastic. The idea was abandoned because, among other things, not enough of the collected light could reach the edges of the concentrator. The MIT engineers decided to apply this technique to its solar concentrator.
The MIT solar concentrator comprises a mixture of two or more dyes in specific ratios, which is painted onto the surface of a pane of glass or plastic. The dyes work together to absorb light across a range of wavelengths, which is the re-emitted at a different wavelength and transported across the pane to waiting solar cells.
Read more on: Design, Electronics, Energy, glass, plastic, solar cells, solar panelsEco-friendly mainboard
Dubbed the ultimate energy-saving platform, the Wind Board, developed by Micro-Star International (MSI) is an ultra-low power platform designed for a mix of performance, low power usage, suitable for DIY users, mobile applications and those who leave their computers on 24-hours-a-day.
The Wind Board is based on the Intel Atom 230 processor, and has a 1.6GHz core clock, 512KB L2 cache, and supports hyper-threading technology.
Full speed operation of the Wind Board is 35W. Compared to the 200~25W power consumption of a general desktop computer, it can save up to 82 per cent electricity, even when the computer has been left on the 24-hours. The idle power consumption of the Wind Board is less than 10 per cent of a general desktop computer.
Read more on: computer, Design, Electronics, Energy, energy consumptionEnergy conversion is simply rubbish
Rubbish is being converted into energy by the US Army through the Tactical Garbage to Energy Refinery (TGER) at Camp Victory in Iraq.
Seeing an opportunity to use biotechnology to solve a real Army problem set Dr James Valdes, scientific advisor for biotechnology with the US Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, and his team on the path toward creating a machine that could provide the energy to power the generators and stoves that make up about half of the fuel consumption at most forward operating bases.
Valdes explained: “We’ve got a lot of garbage at various operating bases, and it’s got to go someplace. So our logic was that at a forward operating base, could we use the garbage to make fuel and thereby get rid of the garbage and help to keep the convoys off the streets? And that’s how TGER got started.”
TGER is small enough to fit into a CONEX container, but powerful enough to power a standard 60-kilowatt generator. TGER works by turning the solid rubbish into fuel pellets which are fed into a synthetic gas composed of simple hydrocarbons that resembles low-grade propane. TGER processes the liquid and food waste into a hydrous ethanol which is blended with the syngas to create useable energy.
Read more on: biotechnology, Energy, Military, US ArmyVirtually waterless washing
Researchers at the University of Leeds have developed a new way of cleaning clothes using less than two per cent of the water and energy of a conventional washing machine.
The ‘virtually waterless’ washing system is based on the use of plastic granules (or chips) which are tumbled with the clothes to remove stains. A range of tests, carried out according to industry protocols to prove the technology performs to the standards expected in the cleaning industry, show the process can remove virtually all types of everyday stains as effectively as existing processes, whilst leaving clothes as fresh as normal washing. In addition, the clothes emerge from the process almost dry, reducing the need for tumble-dryers.
Read more on: Design, Energy, plasticLily-pad discs harness solar power on a large scale
Glasgow could reduce it’s carbon footprint with the implementation of an award-winning solar power concept.
Glasgow-based developer, ZM Architecture, proposes to float large lily-shaped discs on the River Clyde to stimulate river activity, using the surface to harness solar power on a large scale.
The energy created would then be transformed and exported to the National Grid. The firm said the design of the lilypads was ‘inspired by nature’, and that they could be tethered to the river bed. Integrated motors would rotate the discs to follow the sun for maximum output.
Read more on: Civil, discs, Energy, motors, solar power