Nokia has just unveiled a pretty cool way to charge your cell phone without hitting up the grid -- a bicycle charger kit.  All you dedicated cyclists out there may never have to plug your phone into a wall again.

The Bicycle Charger Kit mounts onto the handlebars of your bike and includes a holder for your cell phone.  The charger plugs into the phone and then your pedaling does the work.  The faster you pedal, the faster the phone charges.  At just shy of 4 mph, the charging starts and if you can up your speed to 8 mph, the phone will charge as fast as being plugged into a wall outlet.

This kit is only for Nokia phones, but I wouldn't be surprised if other companies adopt the technology soon as well.

So, whether you're looking for another reason to get on the bike or just searching for an off-grid charging solution, this gadget's for you.

via Gizmodo

It's becoming clear that China is on its way to total high-speed rail domination.  The country is building the world's largest network of high-speed rail and along with that ambitious plan, China has just debuted the world's fastest train.

The new 380A train, also called He Xie, can reach speeds up to 236 mph.  The train will start running in 2011 on a new Beijing to Shanghai track that is currently under construction.  When that line is completed, the 380A train will be able to make the trip in less than four hours.

China has agreed to purchase 100 of these super-fast trains from maker Changchun Railway Vehicles Co., meaning a good amount of their growing rail network (an impressive 16,000 miles of track will be added by 2020) will run the 380A.

via Earth and Industry

Ending use of petroleum will mean not only ending its use as a fuel, but also finding alternatives for the numerous materials that use petrochemicals in their production. Plastics are perhaps the most obvious item on the list, but even electronic circuit boards are candidates for production with biomaterials.

University of Delaware materials scientists have developed circuit boards made from chicken feathers and soybean oil, instead of glass and petrochemicals. "The biobased materials are derived from renewable plant and animal feedstock, which use carbon dioxide from the air and help minimize global warming, as compared to petroleum feedstock," according to Dr. Richard Wool, director of the Affordable Composites from Renewable Sources (ACRES) program at the University of Delaware.

In addition to reducing petroleum use, the circuit boards produced using chicken feather keratin have a lower dielectric potential to prevent "electron rubbernecking" and increase circuit speed. There is no indication of this being commercialized as yet. But feather based circuit boards would also help to deal with the waste disposal problem of nearly 3 billion pounds of chicken feathers annually in the US.

via: Transmaterial

Creating sustainable, long-lasting structures is at the core of environmentally-friendly architecture.  Many researchers have been working on a better cement, but what if all you need to make a durable structure is available for take-out?

Recent studies of Ming Dynasty-era structures in China found that the secret to their lasting strength and stability is the mixing of sticky rice into the mortar.

Chinese builders started adding starchy sticky rice soup to their lime mortar mixtures around 1,500 years ago.  The builders found that it added to the mortar's strength and they were right.  Scientists studying tombs, pagodas and city walls still standing from that time found that they all included this magic ingredient -- many even withstood earthquakes.

So, what makes sticky rice such a perfect addition to mortar?  Well, specifically it's the amylopectin, a polysaccharide found in starchy foods, that combines with the calcium carbonate in the lime and forms an ultra-strength mortar.  The scientists tested other mortar recipes and found that the sticky rice mixture was the best for restoring ancient structures.

While, it's unlikely that American builders will start stocking up on rice for their construction projects, this finding does clue us in on how organic materials can add to the strength of buildings and may hopefully lead to longer-lasting structures.

via Inhabitat

Here's a neat discovery that solves two problems at once:  scientists have identified classes of organic chemicals that can capture CO2 from the atmosphere and then be used to make safe (BPA-free) plastics.

BPA, a chemical with a growing list of health concerns, is commonly used in rigid polycarbonate plastics (about 2.7 million tons are made every year).  Researchers at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology in Singapore have found a way to make a BPA-free polycarbonate plastic through a process using chemicals called imidazoliums and N-heterocyclic carbenes that "grab" CO2 molecules and bond them with epoxide molecules.

The process removes CO2 from the atmosphere and makes a safe form of plastic for drinking bottles, CDs and other typical BPA-laced containers.  If that weren't enough, this process also gets rid of the need for petroleum in the manufacture of plastics, which would reduce the material's carbon footprint even further.

via Yale e360

Great news for Nissan and the electric car:  the company has received 19,000 preorders for the LEAF all-electric vehicle, making it sold out for this year.  The demand has exceeded expectations and the company may have to temporarily stop taking reservations.

Preorders for the LEAF began in April in the U.S. and Japan with the car not arriving at dealerships until the end of the year.  Nissan hopes to sell 500,000 EVs starting in 2013.

This enthusiastic response to the LEAF bodes well for other all-electrics that will make their debut within the next couple of years, though it's not clear whether this signals a good market for the Chevy Volt when it comes out later this year.

From this ecogeek's perspective, the LEAF has a winning combination of factors that will make it successful.  People are ready for an all-electric that meets their needs (it has a 100-mile range and can go up to 90 mph), is not super tiny (it's no smart car) and they can afford (it's about $25,000 after the federal tax credit and some states are taking even more off the top).

Because in a lot of ways this is the first truly consumer-ready EV, Nissan may get a lot of glory, but the company will also bear a lot of weight on their shoulders as a broader array of drivers get into EVs and go through the growing pains of this technology and the growing infrastructure to support it.  Here's hoping there's more glory than pain.

via NY Times

The Japan EV Club has broken their own record by converting an electric car to make the longest trip without recharging, covering a whopping 623.76 miles!

The Daihatsu Mira EV was outfitted with Sanyo batteries and converted from a gas car to an electric one.  The EV set the record on a track in Ibaraki, Japan, taking more than 22 hours to run out of juice and nearly doubling the club's previous record of 345 miles last year.

How did they do it?  Well, the 8,320 Sanyo #18650 batteries that the club installed probably had something to do with it.  The conversion likely cost upwards of $55,000 for the batteries alone, so don't expect this type of range to appear commercially until battery technology improves.

via Wired Autopia

 

It's an exciting time in wind energy these days.  The U.S. will be getting its first offshore wind farm thanks to Cape Wind's long-awaited approval, and now plans for the first freshwater offshore wind farm in the U.S. have been announced as well.  The Lake Erie Energy Development Corp has signed a deal with GE to purchase five offshore wind turbines destined for the Ohio waters of the lake.

The 4-MW turbines will be placed three to five miles offshore though their exact planned location isn't known.  This is expected to be the first order of many from the development corp that has made a goal of having 1 GW of freshwater-based wind energy online by 2020.

That's not a very long time to install that much energy capacity and this first order only takes care of 20 MW.  That means we'll be hearing a lot more about this project soon.

via Earth & Industry

Some of the world's most powerful supercomputers have been working on climate change research and solutions, but their time is split among many of the globe's major issues.  That is changing now that one supercomputer is dedicated solely to running algorithms and calculations in the name of climate change.

Computer-maker Cray has just been awarded $47 million from the DOE to build supercomputers that will be used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.  The first computer will be a Cray model XT6 called the Climate Modeling and Research System and will be in the lab's hands by the end of the year.

Cray will supply the lab with another, more powerful computer in 2011 called "Baker" and more high-performance computing gear in 2012.  With the budget assigned to this project, the computers will easily have a speed of a petraflop or greater.

via Earth2Tech

 

Toyota and Tesla Motors are embarking on a joint electric-car-building project, the companies announced yesterday.  The two automakers will form a specialist team that will concentrate on developing electric vehicles, parts, production systems and coordinate engineering support.

To really seal the deal, Toyota is purchasing $50 million of Tesla's common stock directly after the close of Tesla's planned IPO.  This partnership is obviously a boon to both companies.  Tesla is still a start-up company, so a large investment from an established automaker like Toyota will help them immensely.

Toyota will get the benefit of Tesla's electric car expertise and so-called "venture business spirit." With a commitment to have an all-electric vehicle on the market by 2012, this partnership could help Toyota do so with a splash.

Tesla is also taking over the NUMMI factory in Fremont, CA to build its Model S and other future vehicles.  Up until last month, the NUMMI factory was used by Toyota to build its Corolla and Tacoma models.

via Tesla Motors

Toyota and Tesla Motors are embarking on a joint electric-car-building project, the companies announced yesterday.  The two automakers will form a specialist team that will concentrate on developing electric vehicles, parts, production systems and coordinate engineering support.

To really seal the deal, Toyota is purchasing $50 million of Tesla's common stock directly after the close of Tesla's planned IPO.  This partnership is obviously a boon to both companies.  Tesla is still a start-up company, so a large investment from an established automaker like Toyota will help them immensely.

Toyota will get the benefit of Tesla's electric car expertise and so-called "venture business spirit." With a commitment to have an all-electric vehicle on the market by 2012, this partnership could help Toyota do so with a splash.

Tesla is also taking over the NUMMI factory in Fremont, CA to build its Model S and other future vehicles.  Up until last month, the NUMMI factory was used by Toyota to build its Corolla and Tacoma models.

via Tesla Motors

One of the most frequent objections to renewable energy systems is that their production is too variable. But technologies continue to be developed that will allow storage of power generated from wind, solar, and other intermittent renewable sources. The latest development comes from researchers at Isentropic in Cambridge, England who propose giant batteries filled with gravel and argon gas. These batteries would provide a number advantages over pumped hydro, which is presently used for almost all electricity storage today, as well as over underground compressed air storage.

The gravel battery system would use excess capacity generated by a renewable source to heat and pressurize the argon gas and then pump it through a gravel filled silo to store energy. Then, when demand calls for electricity, the system is simply operated in reverse to generate electricity. According to the company, the system's "round trip efficiency is over 72% - 80%." This is comparable to the efficiency of pumped storage hydro, which has an efficiency of 70 - 85%. But gravel batteries are much more compact, and can be more readily installed in relatively flat areas characteristic of many areas with good windpower potential, such as the American Great Plains. A gravel battery can use far less land (1/300th) than that required for a pumped hydro lake, as well.

Underground compressed air storage is another technology that has been suggested, but that requires the presence of underground caverns, which are not always present where you might want to put a power storage facility. In addition to being able to be located anywhere, gravel batteries could be relatively inexpensive because they do not need costly materials. Costs could be as low as $55/kWh, and $10/kWh at scale for large installations.

via: Worldchanging

Power generation from waves continues to develop as Aquamarine Power has unveiled its new, second-generation Oyster 2 wave power generator. According to the company, "The new 800kW device will measure 26 metres by 16 metres and will deliver 250 per cent more power than the original Oyster 1 which was successfully deployed at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney last summer." A test installation is planned for 2011 and will use three wave devices connected to a single power generation station to produce 2.4 megawatts of electricity.

Like the Pelamis wave generator (now, sadly, sitting on the shore for lack of maintenace funds), the Oyster rides on the surface to harness wave power. This means that Oyster cannot coexist with surface vessels, unlike other underwater systems. But, instead of housing the generator at sea, where conditions are harsh and maintenance and repair are costly, the Oyster system harnesses wave power to drive hydraulic systems and on-shore turbines to produce electricity.

The new Oyster incorporates many improvements over the original design, including simplified construction requiring less steel to produce and design to enable easier mass production.  Aquamarine Power expects to deploy Oyster in farms of 100MW generating capacity or more. An animated Oyster video shows more about how the system operates.

via: Inhabitat

One of the most frequent objections to renewable energy systems is that their production is too variable. But technologies continue to be developed that will allow storage of power generated from wind, solar, and other intermittent renewable sources. The latest development comes from researchers at Isentropic in Cambridge, England who propose giant batteries filled with gravel and argon gas. These batteries would provide a number advantages over pumped hydro, which is presently used for almost all electricity storage today, as well as over underground compressed air storage.

The gravel battery system would use excess capacity generated by a renewable source to heat and pressurize the argon gas and then pump it through a gravel filled silo to store energy. Then, when demand calls for electricity, the system is simply operated in reverse to generate electricity. According to the company, the system's "round trip efficiency is over 72% - 80%." This is comparable to the efficiency of pumped storage hydro, which has an efficiency of 70 - 85%. But gravel batteries are much more compact, and can be more readily installed in relatively flat areas characteristic of many areas with good windpower potential, such as the American Great Plains. A gravel battery can use far less land (1/300th) than that required for a pumped hydro lake, as well.

Underground compressed air storage is another technology that has been suggested, but that requires the presence of underground caverns, which are not always present where you might want to put a power storage facility. In addition to being able to be located anywhere, gravel batteries could be relatively inexpensive because they do not need costly materials. Costs could be as low as $55/kWh, and $10/kWh at scale for large installations.

via: Worldchanging

Power generation from waves continues to develop as Aquamarine Power has unveiled its new, second-generation Oyster 2 wave power generator. According to the company, "The new 800kW device will measure 26 metres by 16 metres and will deliver 250 per cent more power than the original Oyster 1 which was successfully deployed at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney last summer." A test installation is planned for 2011 and will use three wave devices connected to a single power generation station to produce 2.4 megawatts of electricity.

Like the Pelamis wave generator (now, sadly, sitting on the shore for lack of maintenace funds), the Oyster rides on the surface to harness wave power. This means that Oyster cannot coexist with surface vessels, unlike other underwater systems. But, instead of housing the generator at sea, where conditions are harsh and maintenance and repair are costly, the Oyster system harnesses wave power to drive hydraulic systems and on-shore turbines to produce electricity.

The new Oyster incorporates many improvements over the original design, including simplified construction requiring less steel to produce and design to enable easier mass production.  Aquamarine Power expects to deploy Oyster in farms of 100MW generating capacity or more. An animated Oyster video shows more about how the system operates.

via: Inhabitat

A new study published in the journal Science states that rising CO2 levels in the atmosphere aren't just affecting climate, but could affect the nutrition contained in the world's food crops too.  Scientists at the University of California, Davis found that increased CO2 could reduce the protein content of crop plants by as much as 20 percent.

This slash in nutritional value happens because higher concentrations of CO2 interfere with a plant's ability to convert nitrates into proteins, which leads to a less protein-rich food.

The scientists tested two common forms of soil nitrogen (nitrate and ammonium) with wheat plants that were exposed to elevated CO2 and the plants had reduced abilities to produce proteins.  This suggests new fertilizers will have to be developed to counteract this response, and soon, as the researchers see this 20 percent decline happening in the coming decades.

via Yale e360

 

A new study published in the journal Science states that rising CO2 levels in the atmosphere aren't just affecting climate, but could affect the nutrition contained in the world's food crops too.  Scientists at the University of California, Davis found that increased CO2 could reduce the protein content of crop plants by as much as 20 percent.

This slash in nutritional value happens because higher concentrations of CO2 interfere with a plant's ability to convert nitrates into proteins, which leads to a less protein-rich food.

The scientists tested two common forms of soil nitrogen (nitrate and ammonium) with wheat plants that were exposed to elevated CO2 and the plants had reduced abilities to produce proteins.  This suggests new fertilizers will have to be developed to counteract this response, and soon, as the researchers see this 20 percent decline happening in the coming decades.

via Yale e360

 

Google has been tinkering with the idea of a floating, wave-powered data center for a while, but it looks like a better solution could come from a more basic power source:  manure.  Hewlett Packard has released a research paper that states that tech companies like themselves, Google and Microsoft could benefit from a partnership with dairy farmers, using the cattle waste for fuel.

The research paper says that the dairy farmers could rent out land and power to the tech companies with a return on investment in waste-to-fuel systems in two years, making it a great arrangement for the farmers too.  Farmers want to build biogas plants where manure is processed and the methane produced is used in place of natural gas or diesel, but the cost of equipment is often too expensive for them to finance on their own.  This is where the tech companies come in.

As companies move their larger and larger data centers into rural areas with plenty of land, teaming up with local farms seems to be a natural fit -- farmers need a way to get rid of the vast amounts of waste and tech companies need an affordable, clean source of energy.

An average cow produces enough manure to power a 100-watt light bulb and 10,000 cows could potentially power a 1-MW data center, a small computing center.  But another possible link between the farms and companies is that the biogas systems require a lot of heat to make fuel and computing equipment in data centers produce a lot of waste heat, so a loop could be created where the biogas plant powers the data center and the waste heat from the data center helps power the biogas plant.

The paper sees California and Texas as being the testing grounds in the U.S. for this partnership, while China and India could also benefit from such an arrangement.

via NY Times

 

 

Google has been tinkering with the idea of a floating, wave-powered data center for a while, but it looks like a better solution could come from a more basic power source:  manure.  Hewlett Packard has released a research paper that states that tech companies like themselves, Google and Microsoft could benefit from a partnership with dairy farmers, using the cattle waste for fuel.

The research paper says that the dairy farmers could rent out land and power to the tech companies with a return on investment in waste-to-fuel systems in two years, making it a great arrangement for the farmers too.  Farmers want to build biogas plants where manure is processed and the methane produced is used in place of natural gas or diesel, but the cost of equipment is often too expensive for them to finance on their own.  This is where the tech companies come in.

As companies move their larger and larger data centers into rural areas with plenty of land, teaming up with local farms seems to be a natural fit -- farmers need a way to get rid of the vast amounts of waste and tech companies need an affordable, clean source of energy.

An average cow produces enough manure to power a 100-watt light bulb and 10,000 cows could potentially power a 1-MW data center, a small computing center.  But another possible link between the farms and companies is that the biogas systems require a lot of heat to make fuel and computing equipment in data centers produce a lot of waste heat, so a loop could be created where the biogas plant powers the data center and the waste heat from the data center helps power the biogas plant.

The paper sees California and Texas as being the testing grounds in the U.S. for this partnership, while China and India could also benefit from such an arrangement.

via NY Times

 

 

Major lighting companies are working tirelessly towards becoming the first to own the LED market.  The super-effiicient light source is the future of lighting, but so far, for most consumers the available LED bulbs have been too expensive and dimmer than the incandescent bulbs we're used to.

But that seems to be changing.  In the next few months, 60-watt equivalent bulbs in the $30 - $40 price range will be hitting the shelves.  In comparison, just two years ago, a 60-watt equivalent cost $90 and a 100-watt dimmable bulb went for $360.

Osram Sylvania is releasing an LED bulb in August that emits 810 lumens (similar to a 60-watt incandescent) that only consumes 12 watts and should last 12 times longer than an incandescent bulb.  That bulb should cost around $40.  The company is also releasing a 75-watt equivalent next year.

Lighting Science will soon start selling a 770 lumen, 9 watt LED bulb at Home Depot with a price in the low $30 range.  Other lighting companies like GE, Panasonic, Lemnis Lighting and Philips are all scrambling to hit a similar lumen-per-price ratio.

Why is $30 for a 60-watt equivalent an important milestone?  Well, first-off, the 60-watt bulb is the best-selling incandescent, so bringing an equivalent consumer LED bulb into an affordable price range is key.  Secondly, industry experts say that once LEDs hit $20, utilities could give them away to customers because the energy saved would cover the cost of the bulbs and would allow them to postpone bringing on new power plants.  So, getting the cost of these bulbs into the $30 range means that a $20 bulb is right around the corner.

via Greentech Media