One of the world’s leading developers of low-emission vehicles has agreed to produce tens of thousands of vehicles a year starting in 2011, marking one of the most significant developments so far in green transport. In collaboration with the French car maker Renault, Better Place has plans to initially sell the cars in Denmark and Israel, with scope for expansion.
Green cars up to now have tended to be somewhat cramped in terms of space, so Renault’s promise to develop a saloon and a van along with the compact city car will be music to the ears of people seeking to convince customers to adopt the green cars.
(source: picture by TEDizen from Flickr’s creative commons)
In order to have access to the lithium batteries, drivers will need to sign up for a contract with Better Place, broadly similar to a current cell phone contract. Although this may not initially be cheap, the expansion of production is expected to bring the cost down significantly. Batteries can be recharged at home (ideally overnight, as the process takes some hours to fully charge a battery) or swapped at a dedicated swap station in under five minutes. The plans are to make nearly a hundred swap stations available around Denmark, making “refuelling” as easy as filling your petrol tank. Recharging spots will also be available at car parks and on streets, allowing drivers to top up as and when necessary.
The development is currently of major importance to Denmark, which is due to host the UN’s Climate Change summit in December. As the world’s leaders seek to broker a meaningful deal to reduce the level of carbon emissions, the host nation and particularly its capital Copenhagen will be looking to set an example as the world’s eyes are trained on it. As part of the recently agreed deal with Better Place, electric cars will be made available during the conference for drivers to try them out. An existing Danish law makes parking free for drivers of electric cars, so it is to be expected that people will be keen to try out the new cars for themselves. Should the Copenhagen initiative work out, the likelihood of the initiative being expanded further is high.
Researchers in Sweden have found the day after we set our clocks back we reduce our risk of death or hospitalization from a hear attack by 5%. A description of the study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine by Dr. Imre Janszky of the Karolinska Institute and Dr. Rickard Ljung of Sweden’s National Board of Health and Welfare.
The study, based on 20 years of records, also found that moving clocks forward in spring causes the opposite. There are more heart attacks the week after the start of daylight saving time.
Dr. Janszky describes the idea for studying this stemming from his own problems adjusting to the spring time change. “I was on the bus, quite sleepy, and I thought of this,” said Janszky. Mondays are the worst days for heart attacks. Changing the time to increase a person’s sleep likely reduces stress at the start of the workweek. The first three days of the week had the most noticeable changes in the study
For more information you can visit the New England Journal: www.nejm.com
On Oct 7, 2008, Solyndra Inc, after three years of silence, just announced landing $1.2 billion in contracts on their new thin-film solar power modules. According to their press release, “Solyndra’s photovoltaic (PV) system is designed to generate significantly more solar electricity on an annual basis from typical low-slope commercial rooftops with lower installation costs than conventional PV flat panel technologies.” Solyndra has claimed significan advances in solar technology: their technology uses rows of cylindrical cells, which absorb more light, have less wind resistance, and are much easier to install than conventional systems.
Headquartered in Fremont, California, Solyndra has been extremely well funded with over $600 million dollars from investors that include Virgin Green Fund, Madrone Capital Partners, Rockport Capital Partners, U.S. Venture Partners, CMEA Ventures and Redpoint Ventures. The two largest clients are Solar Power Inc. of Arizona (with a deal over $300 million) and Phoenix Solar AG out of Germany (with a deal over $680 million). Solynda’s facilities are state-of-the-art with over 300,000 square feet and a fully-automated manufacturing floor with heavy use of robotics.
Manfred Bachler, Chief Technical Officer at Phoenix Solar AG comments, “By eliminating the need for roof-penetrating mounts and wind ballasts, PV arrays with Solyndra panels can be installed with one-third the labor, in one-third of the time, at one-half the cost.” Learn more at www.solyndra.com.
Written by TheJemReport Staff
Apr 22, 2010 at 01:36 PM
With a history of conducting dedicated research into aeronautical energy conversion devices, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has long been considered a leader in the development and application of renewable energy products and systems. One of the most recent energy conversion systems developed by NASA is a bioreactor which has become known as the OMEGA system, due to it being an offshore membrane enclosure for growing Algae. The OMEGA system has shown the capability to produce energy efficient and environmentally sustainable aeronautical quality oil through the use of algae. The development by NASA is set to assist the bio fuels industry in taking renewable energy to a new level and also assist in the process of water recycling and purification.
By using recyclable plastic bags, The OMEGA system relies upon forward-osmosis membranes which use waste water to harvest algae through a process of photosynthesis. The sun’s energy then allows the developing algae to extract carbon dioxide which is derived through atmospheric conditions and the nutrients that are found in the waste water. Through this process the algae grows and develops biomass and oxygen which is then able to be processed into a renewable energy source for use in the aeronautical industry. The process also has other benefits for the environment as the forward-osmosis actions cleanses the waste water and generates fresh water which can then be used in both commercial and individual arenas.
In recent years there has been much green activity in the use of algae for the development of renewable energy sources. The breakthrough by NASA has provided a device which not only assists with renewable energy but also provides a safe process for water to be recycled and placed back into the community. The groundbreaking green technology developed at NASA’s Ames Research Centre in California is also going to have benefits for the non government sector with NASA recently partnering with Algae Systems in Nevada so that the technology is not restricted for governmental use. The ability of green technologies to incorporate naturally formed algae into the renewable energy field is sure to see a continued refinement which will carry on assisting in reducing carbon emissions in a number of industries. The OMEGA system has shown itself to be one of the greatest green technology innovations developed through NASA which has multiple uses for both industry and the general community.
Metropolis Magazine recently announced the winner of their 2009 Next Generation Design Competition where the entrants were challenged to “fix our energy addiction.” A team of French designers have won the prize with an innovative, practical way to create renewable energy wind farms.
Their Wind Turbine Towers, called Wind-it, install wind turbines in out-of-use electrical transmission towers. The idea is simple and elegant. Because the turbines are installed into the old electric transmission towers, it is easy to get the power into the power grid.
This innovation helps propel the European Union towards its goal of using renewable energy sources to produce 20 percent of the energy needed by 2020. The French designers who came up with the idea are Nicola Delon, Julien Choppin and Raphael Menard. They claim 5 % of Frances energy needs could come from installing these wind farms in one-third of the transmission towers.
What is a major benefit of the idea is that the towers are already constructed and would not result in additional structures which many view as unattractive.
Dr. J. Craig Venter and the team of scientists at his institute are at the forefront of synthetic biology. They are working on, among other things, the creation of a bacterium that will both pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and create natural gas. You might think this sounds like a far off dream, but they are optimistic they can get this done sooner rather than latter.
Dr. Venter’s track record makes the claim more noteworthy. Here’s a list of thing’s Dr. Venter has accomplished already:
1) He worked at the National Institutes of Health we a team to develop expressed sequence tags (ESTs), a new technique to rapidly discover genes. (1991) 2) He started a not for profit research institute on genomic research in the early 90s- The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR). 3) His team became the first to sequence a free living organism, Haemophilus influenzae (accomplished in 1995) 4) He was part of one the first groups to sequence the human genome. (2001 – Celera Genomics) 5) He went on a two-year ocean voyage and collect different genomes from all sorts of sea life. The global ocean sampling expedition found more than six million new genes and thousands of new protein families. 6) He has created an the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) by merging several leaders in genomic research and amassed a group of more than 400 scientists and staff, more than 250,000 square feet of laboratory space, and locations in Rockville, Maryland and San Diego, California. (the merger included The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) , The Center for the Advancement of Genomics (TCAG), The J. Craig Venter Science Foundation, The Joint Technology Center, and the Institute for Biological Energy Alternatives (IBEA)) 7) His team successfully transformed one species of bacteria into another, which is a major milestone in synthetic biology. His institute patented the foundation genome they created, M. genitalium JCVI-1.0
The finished “to do list” Dr Venter and his colleagues have accomplished is far more impressive than my list, which normally involves picking up groceries and dry cleaning.
So now JCVI is using their collection of genomes, army of scientists, and knowledge of synthetic biology to create the natural-gas-creating-carbon-dioxide-eating bacterium. It sounds a lot more plausible given the list of accomplishments to date. Oh, and by the way, they are on a “quest to create a synthetic chromosome and organism”, which is even more stuff of science fiction. Go to the J. Craig Venter Institute web site and look at it’s history, (www.jcvi.org). You will find they “seek to make a worldwide impact with our science”. Clearly, they are serious and have the track record to make it happen.
When discussing synthetic biology it’s hard not to bring up the ethical issues involved in creating new life forms. If you are interested in reading more on this, there is an excellent article on the topic called “Synthetic biology, ethics and the hacker culture” at:
In a trial by AT&T, consumers in Atlanta can get a “netbook” for $50 when you sign up for their internet service. The netbook differs from a regular PC because the new breed of PCs are built to connect to and run applications on the network. The netbooks are much thinner and smaller and are configured with less features than a regular PC. The also won’t run out of battery nearly as fast.
Is this a game changer? DisplaySearch, a unit of the NPD Group comments, “With the economic crisis on everyone’s minds, many buyers are adjusting their discretionary spending and purchasing mini-notes as lower-priced alternatives to notebook PCs.” The San Jose Mercury News is reporting that the market for netbooks will be growing by 65 percent this year compared to 3 percent for regular PCs. The New York Times suggests that the netbook could control 10 percent of the PC market by the end of 2009.
This new trend is troubling for Microsoft because the netbooks are typically based on a operating system called Linux and the inside of the netbook looks more like a cell phone than a Microsoft Windows operating system. Microsoft is working on a version of their operation system to work with the traditionally lower cost netbooks.
It is not out of the question that very soon some cellular phone company will offer a netbook for free if you sign up for their internet and data service. That is a game changer and most of the industry is taking notice. Writer Michael Horowitz commented on netbooks, “I think that Netbooks will be the first computer for a whole generation of children, starting, perhaps, as early as the upcoming holiday season (said in late 2008). Netbooks will help and benefit from the transition away from plastic DVDs as a movie medium to electronic media.”
Not everyone is is singing the netbook’s praises. Michael Arrington, comments in and article on TechCrunch called Three Reasons why Netbooks Just Aren’t Good Enough, “I find Netbooks unusable for three reasons: they’re underpowered as PCs, the screen is too small for web surfing, and the keyboard is so small that effective typing is impossible. The basic problem as I see it: Netbooks are designed to appeal to two very different markets – the price sensitive and the size sensitive. The two are really mutually exclusive.”
For more information:
Norway has proven itself to be a consistent player in the development of green fuel technologies and has once again taken the spotlight with its latest green technology innovation, the Tofte Osmotic Power Plant. The Tofte Osmotic Power Plant which utilizes a process that extracts the chemical energy which is produced by a groundbreaking osmosis procedure when salt and freshwater collides. Initial testing showed that the Osmotic Power Plant was capable of producing ten kilowatts of energy continually, although it has been speculated that with continued refinement the Osmotic Power Plant will be capable of producing a continual twenty five megawatts of energy.
Osmosis has generally been used in the purification of water by establishing a membrane which blocks unwanted particles within the water. Researchers in Norway have however, reversed the osmosis process by using the membrane to drag in fresh water so that it combines with salt water. The pressure of the reverse osmosis procedure was found to generate significant energy and research then focused on delivery of sufficient energy to engage electricity turbines. By drawing the energy into a pressure exchanger researchers uncovered that the salt water flow diverted by the membrane into the fresh water output there was sufficient energy to drive electricity turbines. During the design of the osmotic power plant it was found that without the pressure exchanger there was insufficient energy to drive electrical turbines. The developments by researchers from Norway have shown that in locations where freshwater meets saltwater there is an alternative and sustainable energy source available to the community.
The osmosis power plant system has raised interest throughout many coastal cities throughout the world as the system provides an energy efficient process which has also proven itself to be sustainable and cost effective. The actual process developed by the research team was not initially intended to relate to renewable energy as they were engaged in developing water purification treatments. However, researchers quickly realized that the osmosis process had the ability to be applied within the energy field and diverted their attention to working on the energy potential of osmosis. With the Tofte Osmotic Power Plant showing its ongoing energy performance in Norway this green technology has proven itself to be one of the major players in the reduction of carbon emissions produced by energy industries. Further research is currently being undertaken to identify other green technologies which can be produced through osmosis and it is expected there will be further groundbreaking discoveries in the near future.
Wayne Campbell and Ashton Partridge of Massey University in New Zealand have made efficient solar cells made from organic dyes. The dyes used in the solar cells are efficient, made at low cost, and can even generate electricity on a cloudy day. What is more exciting is that the dye Cambell and Partridge developed ( made from a biological pigment called porphyrin, a component of chlorophyll) makes a dye-sensitized solar cells far more practical to produce. There has been a lot of research in this area since the early 90s when Micheal Graetzel at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology first created such a device using dyes that contained the metal ruthenium. The issue with Graetzel’s device is that ruthenium is not plentiful enough to practically mass product.
So what is the catch?
Solar cells based on dyes have an issue with stability: they tend to break down quickly. This is an area of major research right now, and, if this issue can be overcome, we may see this new technology on the market as early as a year from now.
This type of solar cell can be incorporated into windows, walls, and even clothing.
Several developments in healthcare research during 2008 promise to have exiting possibilities as we look toward the future. Some of them may take years to move into a phase where their results are commercially available, but, nevertheless, the innovations will make a difference. Here are five such developments.
1) Refurbished hearts
More than 22 million people have heart failure. Even with the major advances in treatment for heat failure, over 50 percent of these people die within five years or learning of the condition.
Dr. Doris Taylor, the Medtronic-Bakken Chair in Cardiac Repair and the Director of the Center for Cardiovascular Repair at the University of Minnesota , is researching another alternative. She researches using stem cells, genes, and devices to create new cardiac and vascular technologies. What Dr. Taylor and her team have been able to do is to strip a rat’s heart of all cells and then to put the living cells from a healthy rat back into it. The new cells divide and can create the tissues needed to reform the heart and, miraculously, the new heart starts beating. More Information.
2) Adult cells to insulin
Ou August 27,2008 Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers posted the results of a startling new experiment: using mice, they converted adult pancreatic cells into insulin-producing beta cells. Although early in the process, this experiment opens the door for new cures for a variety of illnesses. A diabetic, for example, could have their own cells transformed to help them produce insulin. The study was published on the online journal, Nature.
Douglas A. Melton, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator at Harvard University and co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and postdoctoral fellow Qiao “Joe” Zhou were involved in this study. Mr Melton comments, “What this shows is that you can go directly from one type of adult cell to another, without going back to the beginning.” More Information.
3) Cocaine cravings
Scientists have puzzled over the fact that cravings can intensify the longer a drug user has stopped taking cocaine. A new finding has new hope in developing treatments for cocaine addiction that can reduce the risk of relapse.
The study published in the May 25 issue of the journal Nature, “reveals a novel mechanism for why cocaine craving intensifies after cessation of drug use and suggests a new target for the development of medications to decrease the risk of relapse in abstinent cocaine abusers,” says National Institute on Drug Abuse Director Dr. Nora Volkow. More Information.
4) Early detection of Alzheimers
Amyloid plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients have been a subject of scientific discussion for years. Scientists have thought that either (1) the plaques have caused Alzheimer’s disease or (2) these plaques were generated as the disease progresses. Ganesh M. Shankar, Ph.D., and Dennis J. Selkoe, M.D., of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, in collaboration with several universities and hospitals have shown beta-amyloid protein fragments may damage brain cells. This finding would suggest that beta-amyloid protein fragments play a key role in the start of this irreversible disorder. This studing is published online in Nature Medicine, June 22,2008. More Information.
Researchers at the California Institute of Technology have developed a “microscope on a chip” that is small and can be produced very inexpensively. The Science daily, July 29, 2008 claims that it can be mass-produced at around $10.
Because this device is small, has no lens to break, and can be produced at low cost the potential applications for this new microscope are exciting. You could, for instance, develop a microscope that could fit in a cell phone sized devide. Such a device would, amoung other things, help field workers in undeveloped countries to check for malaria or for hikers to check for microbes. More Information.
His institute patented the foundation genome they created, M. genitalium JCVI-1.0