Feb
17
A Light to Electricity Molecule
February 17, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Professor Dawn Bonnell the director of the Nano/Bio Interface Center at the University of Pennsylvania and her colleagues have demonstrated the transduction of optical radiation to electrical current in a molecular circuit. The system uses an array of nano-sized molecules of gold that respond to electromagnetic waves by creating surface plasmons to induce and project [...]
Feb
15
Solar Powered Hydrogen Production
February 15, 2010 | 11 Comments
The need for free hydrogen in industry and fuels is huge and the potential when a low cost method arrives, staggering. Methane is nothing more than a carbon atom and 4 hydrogen atoms, so any production that comes up with hydrogen at low cost is going to be a breakthrough. Professor Thomas Nann and colleagues [...]
Dec
10
Space Based Solar Energy Deal Gets The Regulatory OK
December 10, 2009 | 6 Comments
Late last week after a 6 ½ month wait, the California Public Utilities Commission approved Pacific Gas & Electric’s power purchase agreement with Solaren. If Solaren successfully deploys its space-based solar collectors, the deal would be the first of its kind and the first commercial space based energy production at commercial scale.
PG&E has contracted to [...]
Dec
9
Sandia Might Have a Part of the Carbon Back to Fuel Process
December 9, 2009 | 2 Comments
Using concentrated solar energy for power, a research team from Sandia National Laboratories is building a prototype device intended to chemically “reenergize” carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide using concentrated solar power. Carbon monoxide could then be used to serve as a building block to synthesize a liquid combustible fuel, such as methanol or even gasoline, [...]
Nov
11
Sunlight and Water to Hydrogen and Electricity
November 11, 2009 | 2 Comments
Chemist Daniel Nocera of MIT made news by trying to mimic photosynthesis, and improve on it. The idea seems simple: split water into hydrogen and oxygen with sunlight, and then recombine them which releases the energy in a fuel cell when the power is needed. The goal is to do both these things cheaply. Nocera [...]
Jul
9
Xenotech Research, headed by Sir Charles Shults III, has several projects under way. The most interesting is the move to New Mexico close to the Spaceport America site that broke ground for construction just a couple weeks back. Sir Charles has recently been negotiating with Gene Meyers and Terry Martin of Space Island Group about [...]
Jun
25
Competition Grows For Orbital Solar Power
June 25, 2009 | 4 Comments
PowerSat Corp. has filed a provisional patent for two technologies called BrightStar and Solar Power Orbital Transfer, that are expected make the transmission of space solar power more cost-effective by reducing the price for launch and operation of systems as large as 2,500 megawatts by about $1 billion.
This follows Solaren’s recently signed deal for the [...]
Jun
18
Ready to Catch Some High Winds?
June 18, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Several technologies have been proposed that hope to harnessing wind power from high altitudes. Two basic approaches have been proposed. The mechanical energy can be transmitted from high altitude to the Earth’s surface, where generators would produce the electricity at the ground or electricity could be generated aloft and transmitted to the surface using the [...]
Jun
10
Much Better Solar Photovoltaics On the Way
June 10, 2009 | 5 Comments
Startup Enphase Energy of Petaluma, CA, is now making its first micro-inverters. The small inverters can be bolted to the racking under each of an installation’s solar panel to convert DC power into AC for each panel individually. The company claims that the devices will increase a PV system’s efficiency by 5 to 25 percent [...]
Apr
15
Space Based Solar Power Gets the First OK!
April 15, 2009 | 2 Comments
Pacific Gas and Electric the southern California utility asked California Public Utilities Commission last Friday for permission to buy 200 megawatts of electricity from Solaren’s orbiting power plant when and if it’s built, projected for 2016, a mere 7 years out.
PG&E spokesman Jonathan Marshall said, “We’re convinced it’s a very serious possibility that they can [...]
