Renewable ENERGY

As the world continues its quest to use less fossil fuels, the latest possible solution comes from the tobacco plant. This latest news comes from the “California University”, Berkeley. It will be nice to see tobacco used for something other than lung cancer. This new discovery is based on the possibility of literally programming the cells of the plants to get solar cells from the tobacco plants. The science behind it is actually pretty simple and pretty amazing. By using a genetically engineered virus, scientists were able to literally transform the cells of the plants to create synthetic solar cells.

Instead of creating some new form of tobacco plant, they are actually applying their chemistry to full grown tobacco plants. Their custom-made virus is sprayed on the plants and then it is time to sit back and let it work its magic. The virus infects a cell which then enables the virus to spread just as any other virus would. As the infected cells form, they are creating artificial chromophores that make high powered electrons out of light.

Of course, the plants themselves are not used for direct solar energy as they still have to be harvested. Once harvested, the structures are extracted and put into a liquid solution to dissolve. This solution is then applied to plastics or glass and poof, solar cells from tobacco plants is a reality. While whole process may seem a little off the wall, if this process can be refined and work in mass form. It totally changes solar energy as we know.

While this technology exciting, the effect that could have on an economy that seems to continue to go backwards is even more incredible. One of the hardest hit industries during the last decade has been the farming industry. Farmers have been grappleing with their crops and tight times have not made things easier. An flow into the tobacco industry to create solar cells from tobacco plants could be a nice boost in the arm as farmers who are waiting for the bank to come and take their land will now have a viable way out.

These cells would not be expected to last as long as typical solar cells, but they would probably be much less expensive. That being the case, solar cells from tobacco leaves could provide both an organic way to produce solar cells and the economic boost that the farming industry needs.

It’s an expert estimation that the total energy stored in wind is 100 times higher than actually needed by humans on this earth. The catch is that we have to learn and devise ways to trap this wind power blowing across the planet earth. Experts tell us one more thing that most of the wind energy is available at high altitude and we can’t manufacture turbines of that height.

Kite ENERGY

So we have to think of new ways to trap that wind power blowing at a significant height. Some experts estimate that the total energy contained in wind is 100 times the amount needed by everyone on the planet. However, most of this energy is at high altitudes, far beyond the reach of any wind turbine.

Now researchers want to create something like a kite that can float at a higher altitude to trap the wind energy.

The swirling kites prompt KiteGens core in motion, and the rotation activates large alternators producing a current. They also have a control system on autopilot.

The cost of the technology is US$750,000 and it won’t takes acres and acres of space like a wind farm. You can install the whole machinery within a diameter of just 100 meters. KiteGen claim that they can produce half a GW of energy, and produce it at a cost of US$2.5 per GW. Its creators, Sequoia Automation, say a 2,000 meter-version would generate 5GW of power.

Could we one day be driving cars fueled by watermelons? Researchers say that watermelon juice can be a valuable source of biofuel, as it can be efficiently fermented into ethanol. But have no fear, using watermelons for biofuel wouldn”t cut into the amount of watermelons available for the public to eat. This research evaluated the biofuel potential of juice from ””cull”” watermelons – those not sold due to cosmetic imperfections, and currently ploughed back into the field. Wayne Fish from the US Department of Agriculture said, “approximately 20% of each annual watermelon crop is left in the field because of surface blemishes or because they are misshapen. We”ve shown that the juice of these melons is a source of readily fermentable sugars, representing a heretofore untapped feedstock for ethanol biofuel production.”

The researchers conclude that a production ratio of ~0.5 g ethanol/g sugar, as measured in this study, approximately 220 L/ha of ethanol would be produced from cull watermelons.

As well as using the juice for ethanol production, either directly or as a diluent for other biofuel crops, Fish suggests that it can be a source of lycopene and L-citrulline, two ””nutraeuticals”” for which enough demand currently exists to make extraction economically worthwhile. After these compounds have been removed from the ”cull” juice, it can still be fermented into ethanol.

A few states are already dabbling in roadside energy production. Last year, Oregon began a solar highway demonstration project with a 104-kilowatt ground-mounted solar array situated at the interchange of Interstates 5 and 205. The array powers about a third of the lights on the interchange. Massachusetts recently announced a plan to install a utility-scale wind turbine – big enough to power 400 households – on land adjacent to the Massachusetts Turnpike’s Blandford Rest Area.

Researchers and designers are also toying with ways to generate power along roads, including use of piezoelectric materials, energy producing speed bumps, integrating wind turbines into road barriers.

A state-by-state auction of their intellectual property portfolio will take place this Friday, with minimum reserve bids that range from $125,000 for South Dakota to $1.5 million for California.

According to Mr. Fein, the technologies allow for the creation of a utility-scale system that can plug into the existing grid infrastructure, potentially over hundreds of miles. The power generated could be used for homes, businesses and electric-vehicle charging stations.

Auction documents suggest that each 10-mile stretch of the Green Roadway system could generate enough energy to power up to 2,000 homes. The installed cost would be about $2.6 million for the solar components and $4.2 million for wind, but up to 65 percent could be knocked off if federal, state and local subsidies and tax credits are factored in, the documents suggest.

They also say that the solar and wind power generated, given the available incentives, would be cost-competitive with natural gas-fueled power generation.

Such technologies hold promise as a means not only of improving the nation energy independence, said Cathy St. Denis, a spokeswoman for the agency.

The Arizona Corporation Commission’s Line Siting Committee voted unanimously, 10 – 0, to recommend approval of a Certificate of Environmental Compatibility for the 340 MW Hualapai Valley Solar project after two days of intense hearings. Mohave Sun Power is proposing to build a parabolic trough facility in the Mohave Desert in Arizona, just south of Las Vegas. The expected cost of the project is over $2 billion.

Executive Director, Mitchell Dong, said after the approval, “We are very pleased that the Line Siting Committee recognizes the value of solar power of Arizona and specifically in Mohave County. We are especially appreciative of the committee’s support of the project using wet cooling given its primary water source from the City of Kingman’s wastewater treatment plant. This innovative combination of solar power and the use of reclaimed water will set a model for future solar thermal plants in Arizona, the Southwest and in the deserts of the world.”

Solar Energy Parabolic

The Committee also conditioned its approval on the preferential hiring of local residents given the very high unemployment in Mohave County. The project is expected to employ over 1500 workers during construction and over 100 during operations.

The project is currently negotiating a power purchase agreement (PPA) with a major utility in the Southwest for a long term offtake contract. Negotiations are also underway for an engineering, procurement and construction contract with a global contractor to construct the facility. The sponsors are in the process of arranging financing for the facility, which is expected to close before the end of 2010 in order to qualify for the US Treasury cash grant in lieu of solar investment tax credit. It is anticipated that part of the financing will come from the US Department of Energy (DOE) loan guarantee program.

While the argument over wind farms, ruined vistas and dead birds rages, U.S. inventor Scott Brusaw is quietly doing his own thing with the solar roadway model. The plan is to replace all that asphalt with solar panels laid under a high-strength plastic layer.

The panels may also feature LED road warnings and built-in heating elements that could prevent roads from freezing. Each Solar Road slab can develop around 7.6 kwh of power each day. Right now, the tech costs about $7,000 for a 12’ x 12’ slab, so replacing America’s highways will be a costly process. That being said, replacing the 25,000 square miles of roadways across the lower 48 with solar panels would create more energy than the U.S. consumes. If widely adopted, they could realistically wean the US off fossil fuels: a mile-long stretch of four-lane highway could take 500 homes off the grid. If the entire US Interstate system made use of the panels, energy would no longer be a concern for the country.

In addition, every Solar Road panel has its own microprocessor and energy management system, so if one gives out, the rest are not borked. Materials-wise, the top layer is described as translucent and high-strength. Inhabitat says it is glass, which seems odd, especially since Solar Roadways claims the surface provides excellent traction. The base layer under the solar panel routes the power, as well as data utilities (TV, phone, Internet) to homes and power companies.

Overviev, when multiple Solar Road Panels™ are interconnected, the intelligent Solar Roadway™ is formed. These panels replace current driveways, parking lots, and all road systems, be they interstate highways, state routes, downtown streets, residential streets, or even plain dirt or gravel country roads. Panels can also be used in amusement parks, raceways, bike paths, parking garage rooftops, remote military locations, etc. Any home or business connected to the Solar Roadway™ (via a Solar Road Panel™ driveway or parking lot) receives the power and data signals that the Solar Roadway™ provides. The Solar Roadway™ becomes an intelligent, self-healing, decentralized (secure) power grid.

The Department of Energy gave $100,000 to upstart company Solar Roadways, to develop 12’ x 12’-foot slabs, dubbed “Solar Roads,” that can be embedded into roads, pumping power into the grid.

solar roads

The engineering challenges are immense, adds materials scientist Richard Brow of the Missouri University of Science and Technology, another glass expert. But glass can be strengthened by compressing its surface using special heating techniques or, at a molecular level, swapping ions in the glass itself. Such enhanced glass is 10 times stronger than the conventional variety and is used, for example, in smart phones to withstand the pressures of texting.

Brow says: “Can you go from a teenager”s thumb to a truck? That”s a pretty big leap, but 10 years ago we didn”t think you could make a 15-micron piece of glass for what”s relatively rough handling in a PDA,”

Glass has been used to build footbridges, such as the Chihuly Bridge of Glass in Tacoma, Wash. And new glass ceramic composites with increased toughness have been developed for the photovoltaics industry, Brow adds—but that might boost the price of the resulting panel.

In the meantime, Brusaw is spending $40,000 of the DoT”s money to build a prototype from chemically hardened glass panels that can be purchased today. He will experiment with various types of solar cells, from thin-film to traditional monocrystalline silicon photovoltaics, and he will try to strike the right balance between transparency—so the panel works to deliver at least several thousand kilowatt-hours of electricity each day—and road-gripping texture, which will block some of the light. “If you have perfectly clear glass, you get perfect PV efficiency. But [with] perfectly smooth glass, everybody slips off the road,” he notes. “Glass manufacturers can cut grooves into the glass in a hatch-type pattern. We”ll try various methods and see what holds up.”

The solar roadway will also offer embedded LEDs to illuminate the road and display information, whether the actual traffic directions, such as lane markers, or messages such as “SLOW DOWN.” And, should electric cars become popular, powered pavement could also offer recharging stations wherever such panels are installed.

The first test of Brusaw”s crystalline vision will be when the prototype is delivered to the DoT on February 12, 2010. And the DoT”s challenges will be followed by some durability testing by the inventor with a pickax, sledgehammer and, depending on the prototype”s fortitude, guns. Then it”s on to parking lots and perhaps fast food restaurants. “Parking lots are much better than going right out onto the highway.You have slow-moving, lightweight vehicles. We can learn all the lessons there before moving into the fast lane.” Brusaw says.

Cranbury, NJ (October 20, 2008)—BlackLight Power (BLP) Inc. today announced the successful independent replication and validation of its 1,000W and 50,000W reactors based on its proprietary new clean energy technology. BLP’s 50,000W reactor generated over 1 million joules of energy in a precise measurement made by Rowan University engineers, led by Dr. Peter Jansson. The independent study included full characterization of a proprietary solid fuel to generate the energy before and after the reaction.

Professor of engineering at Rowan University, Dr. Jansson says: “Our experiments on the BlackLight technology have demonstrated that within the range of measurement errors the significant energy generated, which is hundred times the energy that could be attributed to measurement error, cannot be explained by other known sources like combustion or nuclear energy. The ability to generate such tremendous power in this controlled process demonstrates that the claim by BlackLight Power that it is able to demonstrate repeatable heat experiments based on their technology can be replicated by independent scientists.”

The BLP process continues to be replicated and validated by independent scientists and has received interest from financial institutions and power utility plant operators around the world. BLP plans on licensing its technologies.

Randell Mills, Chairman, CEO, and President of BlackLight Power Inc. says: “This is the result that the world has been waiting for to engage this technology and provides validation that the energy generated using the BlackLight technology is no longer an academic argument. The BlackLight Process generates more than two hundred times the energy of burning hydrogen that can be harnessed to replace the thermal power in coal, oil, gas and nuclear power plants. These experimental results prove that the new power source discovered in our labs has the possibility to make a profound impact in our current energy-strapped economy.”

Dr. Jansson’s team conducted 55 tests of the prototypes, including controls and calibrations, during a nine-month study. Test results indicated that energy generation was proportional to the total amount of solid fuel, and only one percent of the one million joules of the energy released could be accounted for previously known chemistry. These results matched earlier tests conducted at BlackLight’s “R&D” center, in Cranbury New Jersey.

A former CEO of Westinghouse and current board member of BlackLight Power Michael Jordan says: “The offsite replication and independent testing announced by Dr. Peter Jansson and his team of scientists underscore the business viability and impact of BlackLight’s new energy source as the opportune replacement of coal-based fuels and will go down as one of the most important advances in the field of energy in the last fifty years.”