Saudi warning on alternatives - The National Newspaper. Clean Energy 2030: Google's plan to save the planet. The twin pressures of climate change and the reliance on imported oil from politically unstable regions of the globe both point to a need to transform the way that the US sources, generates, and uses power. To that end, the search engine giant Google (which is developing itself some impressive green credentials) has issued a plan, Clean Energy 2030, that lays out a possible future for the energy and transportation sectors that promises to cut CO2 emissions, reduce dependence on foreign fuel imports, and save the economy billions over the next 22 years. The Google plan is nothing if not ambitious.
To begin with, Google proposes a massive push toward energy efficiency, which will reduce electricity demand to 2008 levels (accounting for around 1,000 terawatt hours/year. It also calls for a complete cessation of oil and coal for power generation (currently, coal provides around half of the electricity used in the US). Google's plan to transform US power generation by 2030. New Trend in Biofuels Has New Risks. Science/Nature | Nuclear's CO2 cost 'will c. The case for nuclear power as a low carbon energy source to replace fossil fuels has been challenged in a new report by Australian academics. It suggests greenhouse emissions from the mining of uranium - on which nuclear power relies - are on the rise. Availability of high-grade uranium ore is set to decline with time, it says, making the fuel less environmentally friendly and more costly to extract. The findings appear in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.
A significant proportion of greenhouse emissions from nuclear power stem from the fuel supply stage, which includes uranium mining, milling, enrichment and fuel manufacturing. Others sources of carbon include construction of the plant - including the manufacturing of steel and concrete materials - and decomissioning. The authors based their analysis on historical records, contemporary financial and technical reports, and analyses of CO2 emissions. Nuclear impact New technology Paul.Rincon-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk. Future of Green Gasoline - Hydrocarbons Replace Ethanol? - Fuel. Hydrogen, ethanol and even compressed air all have the shrink-wrapped sheen of the bright, green future. But gasoline? At $1 per gallon? Researchers at UMass Amherst recently published a new method of refining hydrocarbons from cellulose, paving the way to turn wood scraps into gasoline, diesel fuel, Tupperware--anything, essentially, that's normally refined from petroleum.
Many scientists have been working on ways to turn everything from corn stalks to tires into ethanol, sidestepping some of the problems inherent to making fuel from corn and other food products. But ethanol has a number of liabilities, regardless of the source. For instance, it requires automotive engines to be modified and contains less energy than gasoline, driving down fuel economy. Turning cellulose into gasoline is tricky. Huber and his colleagues aren't the first to derive hydrocarbons from renewable sources.
"We already have the infrastructure in place to distribute liquid fuels," Huber says. UK | First biofuel flight touches down. The first flight by a commercial airline to be powered partly by biofuel has taken place. A Virgin Atlantic jumbo jet has flown between London's Heathrow and Amsterdam using fuel derived from a mixture of Brazilian babassu nuts and coconuts. Environmentalists have branded the flight a publicity stunt and claim biofuel cultivation is not sustainable. Earlier this month, Airbus tested another alternative fuel - a synthetic mix of gas-to-liquid. Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson said the flight marked a "vital breakthrough" for the entire airline industry. "This pioneering flight will enable those of us who are serious about reducing our carbon emissions to go on developing the fuels of the future," he said.
But he said fully commercial biofuel flights were likely to use feedstocks such as algae rather than the mix used on the passenger-less flight. Virgin's Boeing 747 had one of its four engines connected to an independent biofuel tank that it said could provide 20% of the engine's power. Invention: Green power special - tech - 10 December 2007 - New S. Cookies on the New Scientist website close Our website uses cookies, which are small text files that are widely used in order to make websites work more effectively. To continue using our website and consent to the use of cookies, click away from this box or click 'Close' Find out about our cookies and how to change them Log in Your login is case sensitive I have forgotten my password close My New Scientist Look for Science Jobs Online army helps map Guinea's Ebola outbreak Digitising cave art will prevent it being lost forever Bioengineered vaginas transplanted in women Pharma to fork: How we'll swallow synthetic biology Exclusive: My lab-grown vagina and hopes for a family INTERVIEW: 18:04 11 April 2014 A woman who underwent a pioneering vagina operation when she was 18 speaks exclusively to New Scientist Grand Canyon struggles to repel invading beefalo TODAY: 17:54 11 April 2014 Today on New Scientist DAILY ROUND-UP: 17:30 11 April 2014 Why a hacker got paid for finding the Heartbleed bug More articles.
Rapeseed biofuel ‘produces more greenhouse gas than oil or petro. Science/Nature | EU biofuel policy is a 'mistake. The EU target of ensuring 10% of petrol and diesel comes from renewable sources by 2020 is not an effective way to curb carbon emissions, researchers say. A team of UK-based scientists suggested that reforestation and habitat protection was a better option. Writing in Science, they said forests could absorb up to nine times more CO2 than the production of biofuels could achieve on the same area of land. The growth of biofuels was also leading to more deforestation, they added. "The prime reason for the renewables obligation was to mitigate carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions," said Renton Righelato, one of the study's co-authors.
"In our view this is a mistaken policy because it is less effective than reforesting," he told BBC News. Dr Righelato, chairman of the World Land Trust, added that the policy could actually lead to more deforestation as nations turned to countries outside of the EU to meet the growing demand for biofuels. Carbon counting Second chance. Will algae beat its competitors to become the king source of bio. PC World - Sony runs Walkman off sugar-based bio battery. A year ago it seemed Sony couldn't even get a laptop battery right.
A massive recall of lithium-ion cells tainted its image and had the company scrambling, but on Thursday it reported a sweet breakthrough in bio battery technology. Sony, one of the world's largest battery makers, said it had succeeded in creating a battery that produces electricity by breaking down sugar. The bio cell, which measures 39 millimeters cubed, delivers 50mW (milliWatts) -- a world record for such a cell, according to the company. A video provided by Sony shows four of the cells connected in series delivering enough energy to power a Walkman music player. As in other cells, power is produced through a flow of electrons between a cathode and anode. In the bio cell sugar-digesting enzymes at the anode extract electrons and hydrogen ions from the glucose. Sugar is naturally occurring so the technology could be the basis for an ecologically-friendly energy source.
Science - Fungi Make Biodiesel Efficiently at Room Temperature. Scientists at the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology have found a much better way to make biodiesel. Their new method could lower the cost and increase the energy efficiency of fuel production. Instead of mixing the ingredients and heating them for hours, the chemical engineers pass sunflower oil and methanol through a bed of pellets made from fungal spores. An enzyme produced by the fungus does the work — making biodiesel with impressive efficiency. Last Monday, Ravichandra Potumarthi showed off his work during a poster session at the International Conference on Bioengineering and Nanotechnology. After returning to his lab in Hyderabad, he was able to send out some pictures of his experimental reactor (shown on right) and the fungal pellets. Typically, biodiesel is made by mixing methanol with lye and vegetable oil and then heating the brew for several hours.
Potumarthi has a simple solution.