All Articles Tagged As: energy

Researchers Identify Photosynthetic Dimmer Switch (5/12/2008)

In a study of the molecular mechanisms by which plants protect themselves from oxidation damage should they absorb too much sunlight during photosynthesis, a team of researchers has discovered a molecular "dimmer switch" that helps control the flow of solar energy moving through the system of light harvesting proteins. This discovery holds important implications for the future design of artificial photosynthesis systems that could provide the world with a sustainable and secure source of energy. ...> Full Article

Researcher devises fuel that are more efficient cells, thanks to a new catalyst (5/6/2008)

Researcher has developed new materials that enable the manufacture of cheaper and more efficient methanol fuel cells ...> Full Article

Chemical Engineer Discovers Way of Increasing Battery Life with Environmentally Friendly Fuel Cells (4/23/2008)

Chemical engineering professor is exploring a way to increase battery life with an environmentally friendly alternative ...> Full Article

Biogas production is all in the mixing (4/20/2008)

Engineers using an impressive array of imaging and tracking technologies, have determined the importance of mixing in anaerobic digesters for bioenergy production and animal and farm waste treatment. Anaerobic digesters employ reactors that use bacteria to break down organic matter in the absence of oxygen. ...> Full Article

Money Doesn't Grow on Trees, But Gasoline Might (4/12/2008)

Researchers make breakthrough in creating gasoline from plant matter, with almost no carbon footprint ...> Full Article

Fire without smoke (4/3/2008)

Flameless turbo power ...> Full Article

Algae could one day be major hydrogen fuel source (4/2/2008)

As gas prices continue to soar to record highs, motorists are crying out for an alternative that won't cramp their pocketbooks. ...> Full Article

Researchers discover key for converting waste to electricity (3/4/2008)

Researchers studying bacteria capable of generating electricity have discovered that riboflavin (commonly known as vitamin B-2) is responsible for much of the energy produced by these organisms. ...> Full Article

Researchers developing equipment to get double duty out of biofuels (2/15/2008)

Researchers are developing equipment that would allow farmers to have their biofuels and let their animals eat it, too. A project led by Paul Aakre, assistant professor in agriculture, examines opportunities for individual farmers or farm groups to produce their own biodiesel from crops like canola and sunflowers and use the byproduct of that biodiesel production to feed their animals. ...> Full Article

Study of Energy Crops Finds Miscanthus More Productive than Switchgrass (2/4/2008)

At the annual meeting of the American Society of Plant Biologists in Chicago (July 7-11, 2007), scientists presented findings on how to economically and efficiently produce plant crops suitable for sustainable bioenergy. Improving the production of such biomass is important because it should significantly ease and eventually replace dependence on petroleum-based fuels. Biomass is plant material, vegetation or agricultural waste used as fuel. ...> Full Article

Scientist researches ways to squeeze two fuels from one kernel of corn (1/19/2008)

Getting ethanol from a corn kernel has changed the way the country looks at a corn field. ...> Full Article

A breakthrough in advancing coal gasification technology (1/3/2008)

Researchers have successfully carried out a 1.0MPa, long period (up to 72 hours) high pressure testing on a semi-industrial platform of pressurized ash agglomerating fluidized bed (AFB) coal gasification, which was jointly developed by the CAS Institute of Coal Chemistry (ICC) and Jincheng Anthracite Mining Group, both being in north China's Shanxi Province. ...> Full Article

Researchers Investigate Supercritical Method of Converting Chicken Fat and Tall Oil into Biodiesel (12/22/2007)

Chemical engineering researchers have investigated supercritical methanol as a method of converting chicken fat into biodiesel fuel. The new study also successfully converted tall oil fatty acid, a major by-product of the wood-pulping process, into biodiesel at a yield of greater than 90 percent, significantly advancing efforts to develop commercially viable fuel out of plentiful, accessible and low-cost feedstocks and other agricultural by-products. ...> Full Article

Promising material for hydrogen storage (12/13/2007)

A Swedish research team led by Professor Rajeev Ahuja has reported a highest hydrogen capacity for the hydrogen storage material called metal-organic framework-5 (MOF-5) . These findings are being published in this week's Net edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS). ...> Full Article

Microbial fuel cells turn on the juice (12/5/2007)

The combination of beer, wastewater, microbes, fuel cells, high school students and teachers sounds like a witches' brew for an old-fashioned, illicit '60s beach party. ...> Full Article

Researchers fuelling the 'hydrogen economy' (11/27/2007)

Scientists are turning low-grade sludge into high-value gas in a process which could make eco-friendly biodiesel even greener and more economical to produce. ...> Full Article

Researcher making biofuel from rotten peaches (11/21/2007)

What's brewing in Caye Drapcho's bioreactor may well be a fuel of the future. Drapcho, a biosystems engineer at Clemson University, is investigating a bacterium that produces hydrogen. The microbe is called Thermotoga neapolitana. And it has a taste for peaches, especially rotten ones. ...> Full Article

Fuel Cells Gearing Up To Power Auto Industry (11/1/2007)

The average price for all types of gasoline is holding steady around $2.95 per gallon nationwide, but the pain at the pump might be short-lived as research may eliminate one of the biggest hurdles to the wide-scale production of fuel cell-powered vehicles. ...> Full Article

Persistence pays off (10/26/2007)

Chemists have come remarkably close to mimicking a type of protein previously thought impossible to imitate. The long-term application of this work could be in the development of new types of glucose sensors for diabetics, or in the production of new biofuels. ...> Full Article

Unmasking the methane eaters (10/17/2007)

Soil bacteria that consume the powerful greenhouse gas methane could be important in fighting climate change. A team of European scientists is beginning to understand how communities of them work together in real soils. ...> Full Article

Aluminum Alloys for Hydrogen Generation (10/12/2007)

Research group has successfully developed aluminum alloy which generates hydrogen when in contact with poured room-temperature water. ...> Full Article

Switchgrass: Bridging Bioenergy And Conservation (10/9/2007)

An important part of the answer to the country's energy woes could be blowing in the prairie wind, according to Agricultural Research Service (ARS) plant geneticist Michael Casler. He has spent the past 10 years breeding switchgrass, an eight-foot-plus native plant that was an integral part of the tall grass prairies that once dominated America's Midwest. ...> Full Article

Learning What Makes a Simple Circadian Clock Tick (10/6/2007)

Researchers have figured out how a bacterial circadian clock ticks away using only three interacting proteins. They have shown that the cellular equivalent of this clock's pendulum and timing gear is so rugged that it can keep precise time for weeks even after its components have been isolated from bacteria and placed in a test tube. ...> Full Article

From Fats to Fuel (10/4/2007)

Researchers have developed a way to convert vegetable oil and other oils from animal fat - even cooking grease and algae - into jet fuel to power airplanes. ...> Full Article