Industrial Revolution 2

Bloom Energy Promises Cheap, Emissions-Free Power From a Small Box

Google, eBay, FedEx have already started using Bloom Boxes
By Jeremy HsuPosted
02.22.2010 at 11:58 am24

Bloom Box Can these boxes do away with traditional power plants and the power grid? CBSA boxy power plant that could one day produce efficient, inexpensive, clean energy in every home might sound like a pipe dream, but its the very real product of a Silicon Valley startup called Bloom Energy. Twenty large corporations that include Google, FedEx, Walmart and eBay have already purchased and begun testing the Bloom Boxes. 60 Minutes recently got a sneak peek at this possibly game-changing energy device.

See the rest of the article here: Bloom Energy Promises Cheap, Emissions-Free Power From a Small Box | Popular Science.

Note from IR2: Worth a look….

Boing Boing

Rethinking NIMBY: Why Wind Power Could Lead To New Ways of Defining (and Dealing With) Public Naysaying

True story: A small college in the Midwest wanted to put up a wind turbine on their campus. The school, being on top of a hill in the middle of the prairie, had enough wind to produce upwards of 3/4 of their needed electricity, so the project made good sense. But when it came time to talk to the people living nearby, the school ran into some opposition. In particular, from a farmer who thought the noise and appearance of the wind turbine would lower property values.

The punchline: He was a pig farmer.*

Here’s the article…

Technorati Tags:
Green Policy, Wind Power

Sandia scientists successfully test a machine that creates fuel from carbon dioxide.

Note from IR2: A closed system that addresses multiple issues! Creating energy and decreasing CO2. I’d love more people thinking this way.

By Tyler Hamilton
Technology Review

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009

Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have successfully demonstrated a prototype machine that uses the sun’s energy to convert water and carbon dioxide into the molecular building blocks that make up transportation fuels. The “Sunshine to Petrol” system could ultimately prove a practical way to recycle CO? from power and industrial plants into gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel, assuming the process can become at least twice as efficient as natural photosynthesis.

Here’s the article…

Technorati Tags:
Climate Change, CO2, Solar Energy

Technology Review

Note: Looking forward to this technology!

Cool Energy, a startup based in Boulder, CO, is developing a system that produces heat and electricity from the sun. It could help make solar energy competitive with conventional sources of energy in relatively dark and cold climates, such as the northern half of the United States and countries such as Canada and Germany

Here’s the article…

Technorati Tags:
Solar Power

Technology Review

Florida startup Algenol Biofuels says that it can efficiently produce commercial quantities of ethanol directly from algae without the need for fresh water or agricultural lands–a novel approach that has captured the interest and backing of Dow Chemical, the chemical giant based in Midland, MI.

Here’s the article…

Technorati Tags:
Bio Fuels

Technology Review: Nanopillar Solar Cells

MONDAY, JULY 06, 2009

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have made a new kind of solar cell by growing an array of upright nanoscale pillars on aluminum foil. They make bendable solar cells by encapsulating the entire cell inside a transparent, rubbery polymer. The design, the researchers suggest, could lead to solar cells that cost less than conventional silicon photovoltaics.

The nanopillars allow the researchers to use cheaper, lower-quality materials than those used in conventional silicon and thin-film technologies.

Here’s the article…

Technorati Tags:
Solar Panels, Solar Energy