Smallest superconductor promises cool electronics - tech - 30 March 2010 - New Scientist

Smallest superconductor promises cool electronics - tech - 30 March 2010 - New Scientist: "Engineers trying to maintain the exponential growth in the power of electronics have two preoccupations: making components smaller and making them produce less waste heat. The creation of a one-molecule-wide wire that can conduct electricity without any heat loss suggests a new type of electrical connection could tackle both problems at once."

Solar Thermal: The Next Generation : Greentech Media

Solar Thermal: The Next Generation : Greentech Media: "Last year we wrote an article comparing the four main solar thermal technologies: towers, troughs, Stirling dishes and flat plate reflectors.

Those four concepts still lead the industry and it has evolved pretty much as most have predicted. Companies with towers and heliostats such as BrightSource Energy and eSolar lined up a number of deals in the past year although they've had to face questions about environmental impact and financing."

Oceanology: The offshore engineering adventure - environment - 29 March 2010 - New Scientist

Oceanology: The offshore engineering adventure - environment - 29 March 2010 - New Scientist: "THE race towards a low-carbon economy is about to speed up - a lot. By 2020, if all goes to plan, more than a quarter of the UK's electricity supply will come from offshore generators exploiting wind, wave and tidal power. Vast investment in new ideas and technologies will be needed if these machines are to perform in sites that are farther offshore, in deeper water or in more ferocious currents than ever before."

Cheap and green: Spin-off to revolutionize sustainable energy

Cheap and green: Spin-off to revolutionize sustainable energy: "Science Daily (Mar. 28, 2010) — Zero-carbon, renewable energy which is cost-competitive with fossil fuel generated sources is surely the Holy Grail of the engineering world."

Nanowire advances promise improved light-emitting diodes and solar-energy generation

Nanowire advances promise improved light-emitting diodes and solar-energy generation: "Science Daily (Mar. 23, 2010) — A recent advance by Arizona State University researchers in developing nanowires could lead to more efficient photovoltaic cells for generating energy from sunlight, and to better light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that could replace less energy-efficient incandescent light"

CultureLab: Power to the people: In praise of batteries

CultureLab: Power to the people: In praise of batteries: "BATTERIES get a bad press. They are always flat when you need them, or too heavy and cumbersome. Rarely does anyone appreciates just how wondrous an invention the battery is: the miracle of electricity in a handy package."

Algae's solar electrons hijacked to steal power - tech - 17 March 2010 - New Scientist

Algae's solar electrons hijacked to steal power - tech - 17 March 2010 - New Scientist: "May lead to a more efficient exploitation of photosynthesis to power machines: with biofuels we are already converting solar power into a form that engines can use, but almost three-quarters of the sunlight energy absorbed by the organisms is lost before it can be turned into the sugars or starches used to make biofuels."

Observations: Storing megawatts: Liquid-metal batteries and electricity

Observations: Storing megawatts: Liquid-metal batteries and electricity: "Making aluminum requires a lot of electricity. That's because the metal bonds tightly to oxygen and it takes a lot of energy to break that bond. In essence, the process of making aluminum is a giant battery with the silvery metal being reduced to purity at the cathode while oxygen bonds with the carbon anode to make, you guessed it, CO2. It takes roughly 15 kilowatt-hours of electricity to make just one kilogram of aluminum via electrolysis."

Will Agribusiness Be A Growth Market for Solar? : Greentech Media

Will Agribusiness Be A Growth Market for Solar? : Greentech Media: "Produce and solar, it turns out, have a lot in common.

Agribusiness has a number of characteristics that could make it a prime sub-market in the solar business, according to Mike Miskovsky, General Manager of Canadian Solar's U.S. operations."

Nanotube cuff is 'solar cell' for exhaust pipes - tech - 09 March 2010 - New Scientist

Nanotube cuff is 'solar cell' for exhaust pipes - tech - 09 March 2010 - New Scientist: "The hot gases passing through a vehicle's exhaust could be tapped to generate power, using 'cuffs' made from a new carbon-nanotube-based material. The 'thermocell' produces electricity at a similar cost per watt as commercial solar cells."

New process yields high-energy-density, plant-based transportation fuel

New process yields high-energy-density, plant-based transportation fuel: "ScienceDaily (Feb. 28, 2010) — A team of University of Wisconsin-Madison engineers has developed a highly efficient, environmentally friendly process that selectively converts gamma-valerolactone, a biomass derivative, into the chemical equivalent of jet fuel."

India Announces Coal Tax To Fund Renewable Energy Projects: Scientific American

India Announces Coal Tax To Fund Renewable Energy Projects: Scientific American: "In a landmark announcement the Indian Finance Minister, in his annual Budget speech, put forward the proposal of setting of National Clean Energy Fund which would be constituted through tax lieved on coal usage in the country."

Where Will the U.S. Get Its Electricity in 2034?: Scientific American

Where Will the U.S. Get Its Electricity in 2034?: Scientific American: "Cleaner coal, nuclear, solar, wind: these are some of the options for power generation to feed the U.S.'s electric power requirements. That need is expected to grow by 30 percent during the next 25 years, according to the Energy Information Administration, even with a slew of energy-efficiency measures and improvements to the grid infrastructure that delivers the electricity. But the primary source of electricity in 2034, according to a new projection from consulting firm Black & Veatch, will be natural gas. It is the fossil fuel with the least greenhouse gas impact on the atmosphere—burning it releases 43 percent less CO2 than burning coal—and looks set to increase its share of the electricity market, even with looming regulations to restrain climate-changing emissions. And there's this boost, too: new, vast reserves of natural gas found in places like the Marcellus Shale Formation, which stretches from West Virginia to New York State."