technology
-
Discover Brilliant: Smart grid R&D
Next up, a discussion of trends in energy industry R&D. Starring: Gridwise Council, Alison Silverstein (Moderator) PIER and California Energy Commission, Merwin Brown, Director of Transmission Research Modern Grid Initiative, NETL, Steve Pullins Bonnevile Power Authority, Terry Oliver, Chief Technology Innovation Officer Oliver: Electric utilities invest tiny amounts of money in R&D — "less than […]
-
Discover Brilliant: Renewables and buildings
Now it’s "Moving the Technology Frontier," about technologies that are going to create "tectonic shifts" in the cleantech space, with Stan Bull, head of R&D at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and Steve Selkowtiz, Building Technologies Program Leader at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Bull is first up. Says NREL’s budget is $200-$250 million. That seems […]
-
Ultracapacitor company claims it will revolutionize electric cars
The AlwaysOn Network has selected its GoingGreen 100 — the 100 top companies in greentech, based on "innovation, market potential, commercialization, stakeholder value creation, and media attention or ‘buzz.’" Here’s the category I’m watching: Energy Storage A123 Systems Bloom Energy Cobasys Deeya Energy EEStor GridPoint Jadoo Power Lilliputian Systems ZPower (Gridpoint was the top company […]
-
A guest essay from Jan Lundberg
This is a guest essay from Jan Lundberg, who is, at press time, on the Climate Emergency Fast promoted by Mike Tidwell’s organization. It is a response to Tidwell’s recent piece in Grist, "Consider Using the N-Word Less." Jan publishes Culturechange.org and participates in campaigns to have cities ban plastic bags and water bottles. His […]
-
The real deal on hybrid bike technology
Got an email yesterday from fellow hybrid bike enthusiast, Larry Blakely. He built a front-wheel drive version of my bike -- and just for kicks, a solar charger to go with it:
-
Miltary tech goes eco
Earth2Tech brings us seven ways the military is using green technology. And don’t forget how they’re tackling overpopulation!
-
Interesting hydrogen-generating technology from Purdue
I hesitate to post this for a number of reasons, not least of which is that I think our fixation with maintaining automobility is going to be our undoing.
But there's no denying that if this works out as advertised*, this is a real step toward a noncarbon future that includes more energy, rather than less.
* Caveats:
- The presser doesn't discuss the energy balance for reformulating the catalytic materials; aluminum is sometimes known as "congealed electricity" because of the energy cost of refining the virgin bauxite.
- I have no idea how much gallium there is, although the presser suggests it's recyclable.
- You would need to work out the energy cost of the whole process train, including the cost involved in building the windmills or PV panels needed to power the recycling process -- it's quite possible that this would turn out to be just another way to burn coal to make hydrogen, when all inputs and outputs are considered. We don't need ways to use coal to make hydrogen; we need ways to be entirely coal-free.
-
Not any more
Nope. This is actually pretty nifty, if you’re a solar geek. This company, G24i, has been working for a long while to come up with solar cells covered in a dye that, when struck by light, discharges an electron, which is immediately captured by a neighboring crystal of titanium oxide. It’s unlikely it will scale […]
