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Energy supply and demand to June 2013

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Underwater batteries are making a splash for energy storage. Hydroelectricity generation exploits the tremendous height differential that occurs naturally at waterfalls or artificially at dams as water flows through the system.

Underwater batteries are making a splash for energy storage

Now, efforts are underway to harness a differential of another sort for both energy storage and generation: the pressure under the sea. Energy generating colored glass opens up new opportunities. Colorful glass panels capable of generating electricity have taken a step closer to becoming fully commercialized.

Energy generating colored glass opens up new opportunities

Oxford Photovoltaics, a spin-off clean tech company from Oxford University, has announced a £2 million investment from MTI Partners that will enable it to develop its technology, which enables transparent solar cells to be printed directly onto glass in a range of colors suitable for building facades. This latest investment will allow the firm to build on its experienced technical and commercial teams and construct its own product development and test facilities at the Begbroke Science Park near Oxford. Safe Nuclear Power Plant For Use in Space Designed by Teenager. Do nuclear power plants need a redesign?

Safe Nuclear Power Plant For Use in Space Designed by Teenager

Critics of nuclear energy seem to think so, and so does nuclear energy advocate, Taylor Wilson. A physics wunderkind, Wilson became the youngest person to ever create fusion at age 14. And since graduating from high school last year, he's devoted himself to finding innovative solutions to the world's biggest problems. Oil demand in developing nations overtakes industrialised world. Developing countries have overtaken the industrialised world for the first time in their thirst for oil, according to the world's leading energy authority.

Oil demand in developing nations overtakes industrialised world

This transformation in the demand for oil has come as production of the fuel has boomed in the US, "sending ripples through the global markets", the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday. Shale oil – the technique of blasting apart dense rocks under high pressure to release fossil fuels trapped within – has rapidly boosted oil production in the US, presaging a revolution in oil to mirror that in gas production. The US pioneered shale gas production in the past decade, resulting in a gas glut in the country that has sent gas prices plunging and led to a massive switch from coal to gas for electricity generation.

At the same time, developing countries are massively increasing their capacity to refine crude oil, which is changing the pattern of trade and is part of "a broad restructuring of global refining capacity". Berkeley Lab Scientists Generate Electricity From Viruses. News Release Imagine charging your phone as you walk, thanks to a paper-thin generator embedded in the sole of your shoe.

Berkeley Lab Scientists Generate Electricity From Viruses

This futuristic scenario is now a little closer to reality. Scientists from the U.S. An Actual Use For Spent Nuclear Fuel: Keeping Us Healthy. Nuclear fuel waste is a contentious political issue.

An Actual Use For Spent Nuclear Fuel: Keeping Us Healthy

No one wants a repository in the backyard. So the 104 nuclear reactors in the United States have increasing stockpiles of the stuff, sitting in clear pools. But Russell Goff, a masters student in the Department of Nuclear Engineering at Oregon State, thinks he has a use for it: sterilization of things like medical supplies and food. That might sound strange because you wouldn’t want any form of radiation near your food. But Goff is talking about isolating just the gamma rays, which are already used quite safely. Breakthrough for long-distance power transmission. A new circuit breaker design for high-voltage direct current means supergrids connecting resources on a global scale will be more efficient and reliable.

Breakthrough for long-distance power transmission

Supergrids connecting electricity networks and renewable energy resources on a global scale will be more efficient and reliable, thanks to a new circuit breaker design for high-voltage direct current [HVDC] power lines, recently unveiled by the Swiss technology corporation ABB. The breaker means power flow equivalent to the electrical output of a large power station can be interrupted in just five milliseconds – 30 times faster than the blink of an eye – protecting against overloads which cause damage and cuts. “A circuit breaker is the key to building HVDC networks, as they need an elegant mechanism to force the current to zero”, says Kang Li, a professor at Queen’s University Belfast’s School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

New Skyscraper-Deconstruction Technique Harvests Energy from Demolition Process. Demolishing tall buildings is typically a loud and messy process that produces a lot of dust and not a lot of building materials that can be salvaged.

New Skyscraper-Deconstruction Technique Harvests Energy from Demolition Process

But Japan’s Taisei Corporation is pioneering a new technique that preserves building materials and actually generates energy from the demolition process. The process, known as Ecological Reproduction System (Tecorep), uses huge jacks and an energy-generating crane to dismantle high-rises from the inside. Hit the jump to watch a time-lapse video of Tokyo’s Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka slowly recede from the skyline. Some of the most common demolition techniques used around the world include the use of wrecking balls, explosives and jackhammers—all of which are very noisy and disruptive, not to mention wasteful. But this new technique employed in Tokyo is much more environmentally-friendly.

First, everything in the building that can be removed is taken out. Via PopSci and Wired Lead image by Flickr user Joe Jones. Soundscraper Transforms Vibrations from City Noise Pollution into Green Energy. The Soundscraper is a futuristic structure designed to transform auditory vibrations from bustling cities into a source of clean energy.

Soundscraper Transforms Vibrations from City Noise Pollution into Green Energy

Designed by Julien Bourgeois, Olivier Colliez, Savinien de Pizzol, Cedric Dounval and Romain Grouselle, the Soundscraper is covered with noise-sensitive cilia that harvest kinetic energy while soaking up urban noise pollution. An entry in the 2013 eVolo Skyscraper Competition, the Soundscrapers would be constructed near major motorways and railroad junctions, prime locations for capturing ambient vibrations. A sound-sucking material would cover the exterior of the tower with a double-skin layer, held away from the façade on a metallic frame. For each Soundscraper, 84,000 electro-active lashes would cover the metal frame and pick up noise from cars, trains, pedestrians and passing planes. Each of the lashes is armed with sound sensors called Parametric Frequency Increased Generators. . + eVolo 2013 Skyscraper Competition.

Apple's Largest Data Center is Powered by 100% Renewable Energy. Apple has announced that its newest—and largest—data center is powered entirely by renewable energy.

Apple's Largest Data Center is Powered by 100% Renewable Energy

Solar panels and fuel cells incorporated within the Maiden, North Carolina facility generate enough on–site energy to power up to 17,600 homes for an entire year. The project is part a larger push by Apple to switch to renewable energy sources, an effort which has resulted in 75% of Apple’s offices worldwide being powered by clean energy. Like other technology companies such as Amazon and Microsoft, Apple has large data centers—Internet storage facilities—which consume vast amounts of energy. Its newest data center located in Maiden, North Carolina, is the largest of its kind to be powered completely through renewable energy generation.

A large solar array surrounds the data center and has an annual production capacity of 42 million kWh of low-carbon renewable energy, enough to power 17,600 homes for one year. Via Reuters.