Green Building & Manufacturing Articles
Ultralife Awarded $2.4 Million by NYSERDA for Advanced Energy Storage System.
Ultralife Corporation has been awarded approximately $2.4 million by The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) for the design, development, prototyping, scale-up and installation of a 1 megawatt-hour lithium ion energy storage system on Ultralife's Newark, New York corporate campus. The system will integrate lithium ion batteries, ultracapacitors and renewable-energy generation sources, including wind and solar. Integrated with the Smart Grid, the Ultralife system will intelligently manage energy for consumption or storage.
Ultralife's system will initially integrate two distinct power storage technologies, including a battery and ultracapacitor, on a distributed "off-grid" level, and then expand the system's capability for on-grid integration. The system will allow both grid operators and renewable energy generators to optimize energy management through an advanced computerized monitoring and control system, which will enable these customers to control the storage and flow of power generated. The energy, environmental and economic benefits to New York State include a New York manufactured product, which will facilitate the creation of additional distributed renewable energy capability.
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GE Focuses on Thin Film Solar Technology.
GE has announced that it is focusing its research and development efforts on thin film photovoltaic (PV) technology in conjunction with PrimeStar Solar Inc., the startup firm in which GE is a majority investor. Working closely with PrimeStar technology experts, the company is bringing to bear the full scale of its four Global Research operations to address each of the challenges required to bring a new product to market.
"After having completed an exhaustive survey of the PV landscape, we determined that thin films were the optimum path for GE," said Danielle Merfeld, GE's solar R&D leader. "Specifically, the CdTe technology from PrimeStar has great potential.
The GE/PrimeStar product is being developed at PrimeStar's headquarters in Arvada, Colo. A team of PrimeStar technologists with more than 100 years of combined thin film deposition expertise is working closely with GE researchers, who are focused on several key areas in order to achieve best-in-class technology. These include device efficiency, reliability, production and installation costs and manufacturability. Hundreds of technologists in Germany, China, India and the United States are working on GE solar technologies today-addressing these challenges in the following ways:
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Rail transport picks up speed
Last year, Obama laid out a sweeping vision for high-speed rail jump started by $8 billion in the stimulus bill (see "Make no little plans"). These rail corridors will decrease our dependence on foreign oil and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as explained in this CAP repost.
The United States uses 25 percent of the entire world's oil supply despite having only 5 percent of the world's population, and sprawling communities force people to drive even short distances. We need alternate modes of transportation to kick this oil dependence, and one alternative is high-speed rail, which offers tantalizing environmental and economic benefits. President Barack Obama, Vice President Joseph Biden, and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced a strategic plan for high-speed rail last year that includes $8 billion in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and $1 billion a year for five years in the federal budget. Their goal is to jumpstart a potential world-class rail system in the United States.
These economic incentives for a mass U.S. network of high-speed rail trains, or HSR, along existing transportation corridors could create much-needed jobs, decrease our dependence on foreign oil and fossil fuels, and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The national implementation of HSR would create jobs in the planning, design, and construction of track and station infrastructure as well as the management, design, and manufacturing of high-speed trains. A study by the California High-Speed Rail Authority found that building their proposed HSR system-which would run from Los Angeles to San Francisco and voters OK'd in 2008-will create 150,000 construction jobs and 450,000 permanent jobs.
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World's Smallest Superconductor Developed: Sheet of Four Pairs of Molecules Less Than One Nanometer Wide
ScienceDaily (Mar. 30, 2010) - Scientists have discovered the world's smallest superconductor, a sheet of four pairs of molecules less than one nanometer wide. The Ohio University-led study, published March 29 as an advance online publication in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, provides the first evidence that nanoscale molecular superconducting wires can be fabricated, which could be used for nanoscale electronic devices and energy applications.
"Researchers have said that it's almost impossible to make nanoscale interconnects using metallic conductors because the resistance increases as the size of wire becomes smaller. The nanowires become so hot that they can melt and destruct. That issue, Joule heating, has been a major barrier for making nanoscale devices a reality," said lead author Saw-Wai Hla, an associate professor of physics and astronomy with Ohio University's Nanoscale and Quantum Phenomena Institute.
Superconducting materials have an electrical resistance of zero, and so can carry large electrical currents without power dissipation or heat generation. Superconductivity was first discovered in 1911, and until recently, was considered a macroscopic phenomenon. The current finding suggests, however, that it exists at the molecular scale, which opens up a novel route for studying this phenomenon, Hla said. Superconductors currently are used in applications ranging from supercomputers to brain imaging devices.
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E20 Fuel Reduces Carbon Monoxide and Hydrocarbon Emissions in Automobiles
ScienceDaily (Mar. 29, 2010) - A new study by the Center for Integrated Manufacturing Studies at Rochester Institute of Technology indicates that the use of E20 fuel, which blends 20 percent ethanol with gasoline, reduces the tail pipe emissions of hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide, compared with traditional gasoline or E10 blends. In addition, the research team found no measurable impact to vehicle drivability or maintenance in conventional internal combustion engines.
The data illustrates the potential benefits of E20 as a tool in reducing overall vehicle emissions at a time when many states and the U.S. Department of Transportation are considering policies that would increase the ethanol percentage in standard gasoline.
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Highly-Insulating (R-5) Windows and Low-e Storm Windows Volume Purchase Program
The U.S. Department of Energy's Building Technologies Program (BTP) is coordinating a volume purchase of R-5 windows, and low-e storm windows, to expand the market of these high efficiency products.
Price is the principal barrier to more widespread market commercialization. The aim of this volume purchase initiative is to work with industry and potential buyers to make highly insulated windows more affordable.
A considerable effort has been made by the Volume Purchase Team to educate a variety of groups on the benefits of highly-efficient R-5 windows; groups within academia, local government, non-profits, weatherization and others. Whether through meetings, webinars or conference calls, various potential buyers, marketers and end-users have learned more about this program, and are excited about the opportunity within it. Below are examples of different audiences the program has been working with, as well as letters from groups such as the Consortium for Energy Efficiency (CEE) (PDF 163 KB) expressing interest in participating in this R-5 Windows Volume Purchase Program, if proper volumes and price points are met.
Both home owners and buyers can take advantage of the energy savings from windows available in the volume purchase program. R-5 windows can reduce the average heat loss through windows by 40% over common ENERGY STAR® windows with an R-3 value, and low-e storm windows have the potential to double the energy savings over storm windows without a low-e coating.
Windows in the U.S. account for 30% loss of building heating and cooling energy, representing an annual impact of 4.1 quadrillion Btu (quads) of primary energy. Windows have an even larger impact on peak energy demand and on occupant comfort.
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Europe's electricity could be all renewables by 2050
Europe could meet all its electricity needs from renewable sources by mid-century, according to a report released Monday by services giant PricewaterhouseCoopers.
A "super-smart" grid powered by solar farms in North Africa, wind farms in northern Europe and the North Sea, hydro-electric from Scandinavia and the Alps and a complement of biomass and marine energy could render carbon-based fuels obsolete for electricity by 2050, said the report.
The goal is achievable even without the use of nuclear energy, the mainstay of electricity in France, it said.
Over all, about 50 percent of Europe's energy demand is met with imported fuels.
Under so-called business-as-usual scenarios, that share could increase to 70 percent in coming decades, according to several projections.
The switch to renewables is more than a matter of energy security, said the report, backed by research from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and the European Climate Forum, both based in Potsdam, Germany.
"Substantial and fairly rapid decarbonisation... will have to take place if the world is to have any chance of staying within the 2.0 degree Celsius (3.6 degree Fahrenheit) goal for limiting the effects of global warming," the report said.
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Awash in Awareness: Knowing a Product's "Water Footprint" May Help Consumers Conserve H2O
Environmentalists think food products should be labeled according to how much water is used to produce them
If you think your morning cup of joe only has 12 ounces (35 centiliters) of water in it, you're sorely mistaken-it has closer to 40 gallons (150 liters).
Conservation scientists say it's time consumers become aware of the quantity and source of water that goes into growing, manufacturing and shipping food.
Concerns over greenhouse gas emissions have vaulted the term "carbon footprint" into mainstream vernacular. Now, by promoting the concept of a "water footprint" with the goal of including it on product labels, researchers are hoping to draw similar attention to how drastically we're draining our most precious resource.
As the use of a footprint to gauge water use gains popularity, however, researchers are struggling to reach a consensus on how best to measure that footprint so the public understands its full impact.
As currently defined, a product's water footprint is an inventory of the total amount of water that goes into its manufacture. For that cup of coffee, for instance, most of the 40 gallons flow either into watering coffee plants or cooling the roasters during processing.
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How EV-Ready is America?
The success of electric vehicles depends on a number of variables, including a robust charging infrastructure, consumer education and government support. Rocky Mountain Institute's Project Get Ready is preparing cities throughout North America by convening regional stakeholders to make their cities EV-friendly.
PGR partner cities start with "the menu," a list of 15 mandatory and 10 optional actions a city can take to become EV-ready, such as committing to procuring a certain number of vehicles, installing smart grid meters and ensuring a quick permit turnaround time for charging station installation.
Progress is gauged on a scale of 0 to 5: (0) planning has not begun, (1) planning has begun but is not complete, (2) planning is complete, (3) plans are beginning to be implemented, (4) planned activities have been acted upon but are not complete, and (5) planned activities are complete
Averaging a city's progress in the mandatory actions gives an overall estimation of EV readiness. More importantly, the ratings help RMI understand where a city could use help. For example, if Houston is a "4" and Rhode Island is a "1" in the same category, then PGR can connect the two cities to help bring Rhode Island up to speed.
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Ford Expands Efficiency Efforts to its Dealers' Lots
ORLANDO, FL - When you think of an auto dealership, green is not usually the first description that might come to mind. A vast sea of brightly lit concrete, surrounding an even brighter showroom floor, most dealerships seem to be the essence of inefficiency.
But a new program announced by Ford Motor Company this weekend aims to change that, one dealership at a time.
At the National Automobile Dealers Association convention this weekend in Orlando, Ford unveiled a pilot project currently underway aimed at greening its 3,500 dealerships nationwide.
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Assessing the Electric Productivity Gap and the U.S. Efficiency Opportunity
It is commonly known that energy efficiency implementation has not achieved its technical or economically feasible potential in the United States, and many have attempted to quantify how much electricity the U.S. can save in the future. However, few have compared states to each other to determine why some states have been much more effective at using efficiency as a resource. This paper explores one aspect of the energy efficiency solution: how effectively has the United States used its electricity? RMI conducted this analysis on state-level electric productivity (measured in dollars of gross domestic product divided by kilowatt-hours consumed, or $GDP/kWh) to determine which states are the most productive with their electricity.
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Building Fact Sheet
Because the Building Sector is key to addressing climate change, the success of the climate bill hinges on setting realistic targets for achieving dramatic energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions in the Building Sector. Set correctly, these targets can provide a reasonable and beneficial pace for change that will achieve the reductions necessary within the timeline called for by the scientific community. The following facts make clear what these targets need to be and show conclusively that they are achievable:
1. The Building Sector is responsible for:
• 50.1% of total annual U.S. energy consumption [1],
• 49.1% of total annual U.S. GHG emissions [1],
• 74.5% of total annual U.S. electricity consumption [2], and
• most of the projected 7.34 QBtu increase in U.S. electricity consumption by 2030 [3].
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WIND POWER SOARED PAST 150,000 MEGAWATTS IN 2009
Even in the face of a worldwide economic downturn, the global wind industry posted another record year in 2009 as cumulative installed wind power capacity grew to 158,000 megawatts. With this 31 percent jump, the global wind fleet is now large enough to satisfy the residential electricity needs of 250 million people. Wind provides electricity in over 70 countries, 17 of which now have at least 1,000 megawatts installed.
World Cumulative Installed Wind Power Capacity, 1980-2009
China led the way in 2009 with an astonishing 13,000 megawatts of new wind capacity, the first time any country has built more than 10,000 megawatts in a single year. With 25,000 megawatts overall, China has doubled its total installed wind capacity in each of the last five years, bringing it into third place behind the United States and Germany. And considering the ambitious projects already in its development pipeline, it is not likely to stay in third place for long.
China's unprecedented Wind Base program helps explain why. Six wind-rich provinces across the country's northern half-from northwestern Xinjiang to eastern Jiangsu-have been selected to host seven wind mega-complexes of between 10,000 and 37,000 megawatts each. When complete, these "wind bases" will boast close to 130,000 megawatts of generating capacity, which is more than the entire world had at the end of 2008. Amendments to China's landmark Renewable Energy Law of 2006, due to take effect in April 2010, aim to support this ambitious wind growth. Government agencies have been directed to determine and enforce the share of total electricity generation that must come from renewable sources, not unlike the renewable portfolio standards adopted by 29 U.S. states. The amendments will also provide for badly needed transmission lines and grid upgrades.
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BIM for Home Builders
In an Proponents of building information modeling software, like Warren Buffett, say now is the time for home builders to adopt the technology.
A new home has risen in a fancy new development, but it contains a flaw that is embarrassing and aggravating for the home builder's project manager. A window intersects with a roof line - a formula for leaks into a second-story bedroom. It's the type of mistake that is all too common in the industry. The window must be moved, a costly fix.
During a period when profit margins are tighter than ever, this kind of error eats away at the bottom line. Builders have longed for a system that can prevent such profit-stealing construction flaws, and in recent years have heard that building information modeling (BIM) is the answer. According to the sales pitch, BIM will not only drastically reduce design flaws and change orders, but will also enable home builders to increase productivity in design and drafting, reduce overbuying of materials and estimate costs more precisely - all of which will significantly boost profit margins.
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Facility Management Benefits From BIM
Gone are the days of dusting off documents or sifting through file cabinets to access building operations data. With the rise of digital documentation in the AEC (architecture, engineering, and construction) industry, owners and operators now have electronic records of vital information such as exact room dimensions.
Today, BIM (building information modeling) is taking construction technology to the next level, and its effects are far-reaching. Beyond BIM's ability to revolutionize the concept, design, and construction phases of a project, it can also play an unprecedented role in the operational functions of facility management.
Owners can benefit from BIM post-construction by using 3D (three dimensional) drawings to visualize a space, review layout changes, and approve remodels or redesigns. BIM also opens the door for analyzing operations data such as energy use, allocating and managing assets, and facilitating maintenance.
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Bringing IPD to the Public Sector
Stakeholders in the construction industry are interested in extending the benefits of Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) to the public sector. James L. Salmon, of Counsel with Beatty Bangle Strama, p.c. of Austin and President of Collaborative Construction Resources, LLC has been named to an IPD Initiative Committee formed by the Institute for Leadership in Capital Projects. The IPD Initiative Committee has been tasked with investigating options for obtaining approval of IPD as a delivery model under Texas law. It is believed that private IPD processes can be adapted for use by public entities if approved by the Texas Legislature.
In the private sector Integrated Teams are formed early in the planning phase and, at a minimum, include the owner, contractor and the Architect of Record. There is no reason public entities cannot adopt and deploy effective IPD processes if the Texas Legislature will approve the use of these innovative new business tools. Private IPD Owners are utilizing IPD to increase the efficiency with which planning, design, construction and maintenance services are delivered and taxpayers deserve access to those innovative tools which are reducing project costs and work schedules by 15 to 25 percent or more.
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Fuel rules spur hybrids, auto engine efficiency
(Reuters) - Industry will build cleaner-burning diesel cars, plug-in hybrids and more efficient gasoline engines to achieve the 42 percent increase in fuel efficiency mandated by the U.S. government for 2016.
The initiative mandated by Congress and toughened by the Obama administration over the past year represents the first meaningful increase in fuel mileage targets since their introduction in the 1970s. It also will be the first federal effort to regulate tailpipe emissions.
New standards drafted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Transportation Department to be unveiled in Washington on Thursday will be phased in starting with the 2012 model year.
They will raise fuel economy gradually each year to a fleet average 35.5 miles per gallon for 2016 models. That is up 42 percent from the current 25 mpg.
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Must-read Krugman piece: Building a Green Economy
"We know how to limit greenhouse-gas emissions. We have a good sense of the costs - and they're manageable. All we need now is the political will."
Nobelist Paul Krugman has a long piece in the upcoming Sunday NY Times Magazine, basically climate economics 101.
It is nearly 8000 words, so while you should read the whole thing, I'll post some of the highlights below. I'll also throw some links to the scientific and economic literature that the NYT, in its infinite wisdom/stupidity, refuses to include.
The essay isn't primarily about the science, but this is what Krugman has to say on that, starting with the opening paragraph:
If you listen to climate scientists - and despite the relentless campaign to discredit their work, you should - it is long past time to do something about emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. If we continue with business as usual, they say, we are facing a rise in global temperatures that will be little short of apocalyptic. And to avoid that apocalypse, we have to wean our economy from the use of fossil fuels, coal above all….
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A legacy of Katrina: Green homes
In this city on the mend, hundreds of state-of-the-art sustainable, energy-efficient homes are being built in lower-income neighborhoods, a trend that's outpacing most of the rest of the country.
More than 500 homes are being built with features such as solar panels, rain-catching cisterns and eco-friendly materials in neighborhoods that received the brunt of the damage from the 2005 floods following Hurricane Katrina. Hundreds of other homes are being given green upgrades.
"New Orleans is certainly a leader in that regard," says Suzanne Watson of the Washington-based American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. "The scale at which they're doing it is remarkable."
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Explosive Silicon Gas Casts Shadow on Solar Power Industry
Silane gas has killed and injured workers at cell-making plants. Can the photovoltaic industry live without it?
In 2007, outside Bangalore, India, an explosion decapitated an industrial worker, hurling his body through a brick wall. In 2005 a routine procedure at a manufacturing plant in Taiwan caused a spontaneous explosion that killed a worker and ignited a blaze that ripped through the factory, shutting down production for three months. Both incidents shared a common cause-silane, a gas made up of silicon and hydrogen that explodes on contact with air. And both incidents occurred in the same industry-solar power.
Among other environmental black marks, the process of manufacturing photovoltaic (PV) cells from silicon relies on this dangerous pyrophoric gas. As the industry gears up to meet growing demand-6.4 gigawatts of new photovoltaic installations were built worldwide in 2009 according to the European Photovoltaic Industry Association, the bulk of it silicon solar cells-what are the human health and environmental concerns related to solar power?
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Second radioactive substance found at Vermont Yankee
Five days after announcing they had found and stopped the source of radioactive tritium leaks at Entergy Corp.'s Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, state health officials confirmed yesterday they have detected a second, more persistent type of radioactive material in soil near the facility.
Levels of cesium-137, a material that takes more than twice as long as tritium to lose its radioactivity, were between three and 12 times higher than would be expected. For that reason, health officials said in a statement it "appears likely the Cs-137 comes from Vermont Yankee reactor related sources."
Though cesium-137 is not found in nature, small amounts of it can be found around the globe due to atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons and the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl reactor in the former Soviet Union. Exposure to both cesium and tritium are linked to a higher risk of cancer.
Vermont Yankee spokesman Larry Smith said the new finding did not surprise plant executives, adding that the radioactive cesium will be removed along with the tritium when soil is removed from around the plant's buildings. Smith agreed with a recent statement by William Irwin, radiological health chief at the state health department, who said the cesium likely came from leaking fuel rods that posed a problem decades ago at many nuclear plants.
Meanwhile, Vermont legislators have started drafting legislation that would force Vermont Yankee to set more money aside for the decommissioning of the plant after it stops operating. Though Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas (R) has previously vetoed two similar bills, the circumstances have changed, now that the state Senate has rejected a proposal to allow the plant to keep running beyond 2012.
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Radical Green
Towering 88 m above frigid waters, scarcely 5 m from the seawall south of the industrial area of Avedore Holme, near Copenhagen, stand two prototypes of the largest and latest generation of offshore wind turbines. With blades stretching 59 m, nearly 10% longer than those of some of the biggest turbines now running, these two white giants have the capacity to generate 7.2 MW of electricity - equal to the annual power consumption of about 4,900 Danish homes. Constructed and operated by Dong Energy A/S, Denmark's biggest utility, the turbines are being tested for use in an offshore wind farm that the company plans to build in the Irish Sea.
Back on terra firma in Kalundborg, northwest of Copenhagen, stands Dong's gleaming Inbicon demonstration plant. Built for the large-scale production and commercialization of second-generation bioethanol, Inbicon is Dong's bid to prove that cleaner, renewable energy made from agricultural waste is viable for investors and consumers. Among the spate of fossil-fuel alternatives the plant produces: straw-based ethanol, biopellets (a coal substitute) and feed booster for biogas production made from C5 molasses.
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Automakers facing carbon tax in 2011 under tough new standards.
OTTAWA - Automobile manufacturers could face a carbon tax on new vehicles in the 2011 model year if they fail to meet new standards to reduce tailpipe emissions that were announced on Thursday by Environment Minister Jim Prentice.
The declaration confirms that the government still plans to move ahead with a draft plan unveiled in December to impose tougher tailpipe standards on cars, matching new proposed regulations in the United States.
``Since last May, we've been working with the United States to put in place tough North American standards for regulating greenhouse gas emissions from new vehicles,'' Prentice said at an Ottawa car dealership. ``We are pleased to be taking this step to further harmonize our climate change action with the Obama administration - a step that will protect our environment and ensure a level playing field for the automotive industry.'
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Dispelling the Myths of Solar Electricity: Energy Payback
You may have heard it said that it takes more energy to make a PV system than you get out of it over its lifetime. Fortunately, that's not even close to being accurate.
While it takes energy to make solar cells, modules and the rest of the components of a PV system, the energy payback is actually amazingly short - only 1 to 2 years. Research conducted by CrystalClear, a private company, has shown that it takes two years for a PV system with monocrystalline solar cells to make as much energy as was required to manufacture the entire PV system. Researchers also calculated the energy payback for polycrystalline cells and polycrystalline solar cells manufactured by the ribbon technique. The calculations estimated that it took 1.7 years for a polycrystalline system to reach this point and 1.5 years for modules made from ribbon polycrystalline PVs. A previous study showed that thin film modules, which require even less energy to produce, achieved energy payback in one year.
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New Path to Solar Energy Via Solid-State Photovoltaics
ScienceDaily (Apr. 1, 2010) - A newly discovered path for the conversion of sunlight to electricity could brighten the future for photovoltaic technology. Researchers with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have found a new mechanism by which the photovoltaic effect can take place in semiconductor thin-films. This new route to energy production overcomes the bandgap voltage limitation that continues to plague conventional solid-state solar cells.
Working with bismuth ferrite, a ceramic made from bismuth, iron and oxygen that is multiferroic -- meaning it simultaneously displays both ferroelectric and ferromagnetic properties -- the researchers discovered that the photovoltaic effect can spontaneously arise at the nanoscale as a result of the ceramic's rhombohedrally distorted crystal structure. Furthermore, they demonstrated that the application of an electric field makes it possible to manipulate this crystal structure and thereby control photovoltaic properties.
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Computer Model Predicts Shifts in Carbon Absorption by Forest Canopies
ScienceDaily (Apr. 1, 2010) - An Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientist participated in a project to fine-tune computer models that can indicate when forest "carbon sinks" become net carbon generators instead. The results will help pinpoint the effectiveness of trees in offsetting carbon releases that contribute to higher atmospheric temperatures and global climate change.
ARS plant physiologist Erik Hamerlynck teamed up with Rutgers University biologist Karina Schafer and U.S. Forest Service colleagues Kenneth Clark and Nicholas Skowronski to calibrate the Canopy Conductance Constrained Carbon Assimilation (4C-A) model, a computer program that generates carbon balance estimates for tree canopies. Hamerlynck works at the ARS Southwest Watershed Research Center in Tucson, Ariz.
In the summer of 2006, the team measured tree sap flow and leaf-level photosynthetic gas exchange at different canopy levels in a stand of oaks and pines in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. These data were used to calibrate the 4C-A model to simulate the amount of carbon the tree canopy absorbs and releases into the atmosphere via photosynthesis and respiration.
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Fracking not a cleaner alternative: Cornell prof
(Reuters) - Natural gas obtained by the controversial technique of hydraulic fracturing may contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions and so should not be considered as a cleaner alternative to coal or oil, according to a Cornell University researcher.
Although natural gas, when burned, produces only about half of the carbon dioxide emissions of coal, that calculation omits greenhouse gas emissions from the well-drilling, water-trucking, pipeline-laying, and forest-felling that are part of the production of hydraulically fractured natural gas, Ecology Professor Robert Howarth argues in a new paper.
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Portable Toilets Help Provide Safe Water and Food
It's hard to believe, but an estimated 2.6 billion people in the developing world - nearly a third of the global population - still lack access to basic sanitation services. This presents a significant hygiene risk, especially in densely populated urban areas and slums where contaminated drinking water can spread disease rapidly. Every year, some 1.5 million children die from diarrhea caused by poor sanitation and hygiene.
It is in these crowded cities, too, that food security is weakened by the lack of clean, nutrient-rich soil as well as growing space available for local families.
But there is an inexpensive solution to both problems. A recent innovation, called the Peepoo, is a disposable bag that can be used once as a toilet and then buried in the ground. Urea crystals in the bag kill off disease-producing pathogens and break down the waste into fertilizer, simultaneously eliminating the sanitation risk and providing a benefit for urban gardens. After successful test runs in Kenya and India, the bags will be mass produced this summer and sold for U.S. 2-3 cents each, making them more accessible to those who will benefit from them the most.
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