conantd – Writing Science News

CO2 Into Fuel?

Dan Conant

Scientists from the University of Bath will be working on capturing CO2 and recycling it into usable materials such as fuel thanks to funding provided by the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). This is a massive undertaking of a project, but if all goes well then these scientists may end up helping to reduce the world’s leading greenhouse gas. This project has only begun, but the scientists already have a good idea of how they might go about capturing this CO2.

The scientsits are going to try to develop a porus material that would be in the chimneys of factories to help capture CO2. Porus materials are ideal because they absorb gas from the air easily. Once captured, the scientists will be experimenting with solar power to convert the CO2 into fuels and other products. Dr. David Fermin from Bristol College (a collaborator in this endeavor) helped to provide the science behind this project’s vision;“Currently, there are no large-scale technologies available for capturing and processing CO2 from air. The facts are that CO2 is rather diluted in the atmosphere and its chemical reactivity is very low. By combining clever material design with heterogeneous catalysis, electrocatalysis and biocatalysis, we aim at developing an effective carbon neutral technology.”

This project has a lot of potential for helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as it could be applied to factories and other large scale CO2 emission contributors. There is even hope that eventually this technology might be able to be applied to automobiles, but that is in the distant future.

Information was collected from here.

Blood + Guts + Feathers = Biodiesel?

Dan Conant

As environmentalists continue to follow the model of ‘reduce, reuse, and recycle’ scientists continue to find ways of recycling waste products. One of the newest developments in the recycling aspect of the slogan involves turning chicken feather meal into biodiesel fuel. It is estimated that there is 11 billion pounds of poultry waste that is produced annually and just accumulates. This is because chicken feathers are not able to be stuffed into pillows, so the feathers as well as the other waste products (the innards and blood) are turned into a low-grade animal feed.

Chickens — The potential fuel source pre-dinner

Scientists in Nevada paid attention to the fact that chicken meal has a fat content of 12%. To remove the fat from the chicken meal the meal is put in boiling water and then the fat is processed into biodiesel fuel. This process is advantageous for the obvious environmental reason of providing another source of alternative fuel, but by removing the fat from the chicken meal it actually makes the animal feed remains a higher grade and it also turns the chicken meal into being a better fertilizer.

Based on the scientists production methods and the annual amount of chicken meal produced on a yearly basis it is estimated that within the U.S. 153 million gallons of biodiesel fuel could be made. On a global scale there would be potential for creating 593 million gallons of biodiesel. Although this is an outstanding number, it is relatively small compared to the amount of fuel consumed on a yearly basis which stands around 4 billion gallons. Nonetheless, it is important for developments to continue in areas of recycling waste products. If more developments are made, the millions of gallons will slowly add up and present themselves as a viable fuel alternative.

http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/fuel-from-chicken-feathers/

A Human Powered Future? Maybe.

Dan Conant

Picture of Chip — What the chip would look like

With all sorts of alternative energy sources vying to prove themselves the cheapest and cleanest of them all, human generated energy has recently made a big stride due to a new piece of technology from Princeton. However, before you begin to think of something similar to the Matrix with humans being plugged into a power grid, it is important to note that humans will not generate mass quantities of energy. This is because the energy generated is by our muscles movement, not by the small but frequent electrical impulses that trigger muscle movement.

Princeton University engineers created a chip composed of ceramic and rubber nanoribbons. This allows the chip to be able to flex. The idea behind the chip is that when a muscle moves, this chip attached to it will also flex and by doing so, create a small amount of energy. The chip is also fairly efficient in terms of energy conversion, turning mechanical energy into electrical energy at an efficiency rate of 80%.

This chip is very important to the many fields of medicine. There are currently a number of medical devices such as implants that require a source of energy. Currently batteries fill this role, but when they begin to run out of energy, the patient has to undergo another surgery to have another battery put in. With this chip implanted, repeated operations would never have to happen again unless the chip became damaged or the pacemaker was having issues. For someone with a pacemaker, this chip would be implanted near the lungs due to its proximity to the heart as well as the constant movement of a person’s lungs due to breathing would provide a consistent a steady source of energy for the pacemaker.

This is not the first human powered energy converter to have been conceived, but it is arguably one of the best ones. Due to the materials in the chip, the body should also accept the chip with no issues. Furthermore, due to the simplicity of the chip and the materials not costing too much, chips like these should become affordable soon after their debut and mass production; certainly a relief for the many people out there with heart problems and wallet problems.

Information for this article was gathered from this link.

Wyoming Might Be The First State To Tax Wind Energy

Dan Conant

Quite contrary to nation wide trends of states supporting alternative energy growth and competition for development, Wyoming might become the first state in the nation to tax wind energy. Supporters of this tax reference that the energy resource rich state (natural gas, coal, and uranium) already has taxes in all other areas of energy and that wind power should not be any different special. If this bill passes, it will be interesting to see if other states follow suit, and how this might affect wind power growth nation wide.

Like many states in these economic times, Wyoming is looking to find more income to battle deficits and to avoid debt. Nationwide, many states are broadening their tax bases while re-budgeting for this upcoming year. However, alternative energy sources are usually not pursued by states while imposing new taxes. Because alternative energy is such a booming industry right now states often offer incentives to attract alternative energy investors because of the money, cleanliness, and other benefits associated with ‘green’ energy.

The proposed tax would be 3$ per megawatt hour excise tax on commercial wind energy generation, which comes out to be about a five percent tax on the wind energy generated. It is estimated that this tax would generate about 11.5 million dollars per year in income for the state and the counties that the wind turbines/farms would be in. This bill is very important for Wyoming because it has the 12th highest potential for wind power generation in the nation. Even some supporters of this bill are wary of how it should end up, because they understand that wind development could become non-existent in Wyoming if the state becomes too greedy with its proposed tax. This is because wind turbines are very expensive, at roughly two million dollars a piece, the cost of creating a wind farm is pricey. Because of the initial high start-up cost as well as the sales tax and property tax for the turbines and the land they would be located on, developers and investors could very easily be scared away from Wyoming as a whole. This bill is certainly being watched carefully by various groups and organizations across the country, because the passing of a bill like this could produce big changes nationwide for alternative energy developments.

Information for this posting was gathered from this news article.

Livin’ Breezy

Dan Conant

With many countries setting goals for reductions in fossil fuel consumption after the recent Copenhagen climate conferences; countries are trying to even produce 25% of their energy from clean or renewable sources. But what about 100%? For most 100% seems ludicrous; but on an island in Denmark it is very feasible and has been proven to be possible. Located right off the North Sea, the wind never stops howling across this island, and the islanders are willing to everything on the line to be provided with clean power. Also, the islanders are very motivated as they have large stakes and own many shares in the turbines.

Turbines off of Samso — Turbines Off Of Samso. Photographer Unknown

Samso island is home to roughly four-thousand people who are excited to move forward with their wind turbine expansion. One main reason for the islanders willingness to put up these turbines is that typically people living on islands pay from two to four times as much for electricity compared to people on the mainland. Although the turbines do make some noise as their blades whiz through the air and they take away from the serene look on the island; free power is more than enough to convince them to keep pushing forth with turbine expansion. Not to mention that once the turbine building is complete, the people of Samso will have the potential to sell electricity back to the grid, helping them pay back their investments sooner and eventually making a profit.

Many in the environmental fields are pushing Samso island as an example of how populations can be freed from fossil fuels and almost eliminate their carbon footprint, but there are still many skeptics. Samso island is lucky enough to have a great location to be able to utilize the abundant winds off the north sea, and has plenty of space to erect turbines. In comparison, Samso island is significantly larger than Manhattan, NY. Additionally, the funding for such projects is very costly, but due to an enthusiastic local population the turbine expansion is becoming possible. Furthermore Samso may not be able to be comparable to major cities due to population density and other factors, but it is an important representation of how a green-motivated economy can be successful in achieving its goals for renewable energy.

Information for this article was gathered from this link.