Alternative . Renewable . Energy

Power-generating clothes

This post is brought to you by  Curt Rosengren ~ Passion Catalyst TM   "Love your work. Change your world."

Out and about and need to charge up your iPod? Just plug it into your...shirt?

Could happen, if this new technology has anything to say about it.

Someday, your shirt might be able to power your iPod just by doing the normal stuff expected of a shirt.

Scientists have developed a way to generate electricity by jostling fabric with tiny wires woven inside, raising the prospect of textiles that produce power simply by being stretched, rustled or ruffled by a breeze.

The research, described in the new edition of the journal Nature, combines the precision of nanotechnology with the elegant principle known as the piezoelectric effect, in which electricity is generated when pressure is applied to certain materials.

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Renewable energy from chocolate waste

What do you get when you cross the waste from a chocolate factory with a dollop of e-coli and a dash of nitrogen? Believe it or not, you get hydrogen, according to new research out of the UK.

"Using E. coli bacteria, identified by the researchers as having the right sugar-consuming, hydrogen-generating properties, a fermenter is set up containing the bacteria along with the caramel-like waste product and a gas such as nitrogen. Under these conditions, the E. coli ferments the sugars, generating a range of organic acids. To alleviate this toxicity in their environment they convert formic acid to hydrogen. Hydrogen is one of the cleanest fuels available and when used to power a fuel cell, the only byproduct is water.

The hydrogen generates clean electricity via a fuel cell. Thus, food factories could use their own product waste to generate energy for the manufacturing process; they might even be able to fuel their own vehicles from the hydrogen generated in this way. And it's a technology that could be adapted for use with most forms of food waste, making it internationally applicable."

[via IfEnergy]

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MIT's alternative energy Manhattan Project

MIT is putting its formidable collection of brainpower to work in what it describes as a Manhattan Project for new energy sources, according to a recent article in Wired:

David Jhirad, a former deputy assistant secretary of energy and current VP for science and research at the World Resources Institute, said no other institution or government anywhere has taken on such an intensive, creative, broad-based, and wide-ranging energy research initiative.

"MIT is stepping into a vacuum, because there is no policy, vision or leadership at the top of our nation," he said. "It's uniquely matched. MIT has tremendous strengths across the board -- from science and engineering to management to architecture to the humanities. From that point of view, it's hugely significant."

[via Clean Break]

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Hamster power

OK, every once in a while I run across something that's just plain fun.

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Have an energy question? Google it here!

The demand for wood as fuel

For most of us reading this blog, the notion of using non-fossil fuel energy sources calls to mind visions of running cars on hydrogen or powering our homes with solar or wind power. For millions of people around the world though, it means one thing...burning wood.

The chief use of the world’s wood is not as building materials or paper, but as fuel.  It is a pattern both ancient and modern, and one that is not likely to change in the next several decades. Today, hundreds of millions of people remain completely reliant upon wood for energy and can’t anticipate any rapid transition to other energy sources.  In fact, woodfuels are the world’s most important form of nonfossil energy.

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Wave power

One technology we don't hear much about is wave power (at least not here in the US). EveWasRight writes about a recent study that points out the potential of harnessing the energy of the waves.

Wave energy systems place objects on the water’s surface that generate energy by rising and falling with the waves. The wave energy in turn moves a buoy or cylinder up and down, which turns a generator that sends the electricity through an undersea cable to a power station on the shore.

...The potential energy to be captured from ocean waves could surpass the other forms of renewable energy such as solar, wind, or hydropower, according to a recent study by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), a research group funded by hundreds of utilities.

According to a report released in January, 2005, the total wave power along the coastlines of the U.S. is approximately 2,100 terrawatt hours per year, nearly as much as all of the electricity produced by coal and roughly 10 times the total energy produced by all of the country’s hydroelectric plants.

The study's author says that wave power compares favorably with other energy sources.

Wave energy systems can capture the same amount of energy using smaller and less expensive equipment than wind or solar systems, according to Roger Bedard of EPRI, who authored the study.

Wave energy “is among the most environmentally benign technologies,” and is less visible than off shore wind farms, according to Bedard. He says wave energy conversion devices have a smaller footprint than offshore wind farms and interfere less with marine life movements.

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Alternative auto energy pros and cons

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Need a basic overview of the various possibilities for powering cars in the future? You're in luck. This article takes a look at the pros and cons of:

* Hydrogen fuel cell
* Compressed natural gas
* Solar power
* Biodeisel
* Liquified petroleum gas
* Electric

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Shift from coal to woody biomass

Coal burning power plants are an enormous source of pollution. One power plant in New Hampshire is beginning a shift toward burning woody biomass instead.

But something revolutionary is in the works: Schiller expects by December 2005 to become the first coal-fired power plant in the nation to fully convert one of its boilers to burn a renewable source of fuel known as "woody biomass" — typically wood chips, wood waste, and small trees.

Burning woody biomass has not always been considered a clean technology, since it often aggravates air pollution and exacerbates respiratory disease. But a combination of some new processes with wood's natural advantages over coal can turn wood into a low-emissions energy resource. Burning woody biomass instead of coal can reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide (the primary cause of acid rain) by more than 95 percent and reduce nitrous oxide (the primary component of smog) by more than 70 percent.

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Microbial fuel cells generate energy & clean water

[via The Science Blog] A microbial fuel cell developed by Penn State researchers does double duty, generating energy while cleaning domestic wastewater. Better yet, they just made it much cheaper and substantially better at producing energy.

Earlier this year, the team was the first to develop a microbial fuel cell (MFC) that can generate electricity while simultaneously cleaning domestic wastewater skimmed from the settling pond of a sewage treatment plant. Now, they've shown that by modifying their original MFC to make it cheaper, they can also boost electricity production from about 26 milliwatts per square meter to about 146 milliwatts per square meter.

For the more technically minded:

Microbial fuel cells produce current through the action of bacteria that can pass electrons to an anode, the negative electrode of a fuel cell. The electrons flow from the anode through a wire to a cathode, the positive electrode of a fuel cell, where they combine with hydrogen ions (protons) and oxygen to form water.

The naturally-occurring bacteria in wastewater drive power production via a reaction that allows them to transport electrons from their cell surface to the anode. In addition, a reaction (oxidation) that occurs in the interior of the bacterial cell lowers the biochemical oxygen demand, cleaning the water.

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Lunar helium

In the whodathunkit category, scientists are looking at lunar helium (yes, from the moon) as a possible fuel source. Here's an article in today's Seattle Times. Fascinating stuff.