Cleantech & Nano Blog Timely insight on emerging legal and business development

Monthly Archives: April 2009

Sun + Water = Fuel

Posted by Bruce Wu on Posted in Cleantech

Solar power has a unique potential to generate vast amounts of clean energy that doesn’t contribute to global warming. But without a cheap means to store this energy, solar power can’t replace fossil fuels on a large scale.

With catalysts created by Dr. Daniel Nocera, an MIT chemist, sunlight can turn water into hydrogen. If the process can scale up, it could make solar power a dominant source of energy.  With Dr. Novera’s invention, sunlight would split water to produce versatile, easy-to-store hydrogen fuel that could later be burned in an internal-combustion generator or recombined with oxygen in a fuel cell. Even more ambitious, the reaction could be used to split seawater; in that case, running the hydrogen through a fuel cell would yield fresh water as well as electricity.

Who says solar power can only be used for batteries? The article can be found here.

Green Energy Leaders

Posted by Barry S. Wilson on Posted in Cleantech

Free advertising never hurts, and free advertising in the form of a ranking system may even fuel a little bit of competition.  To this end, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recently released its annual assessment of leading utility green power programs in the form of several Top 10 lists, ranking various utilities across the country. 

Under these voluntary programs, consumers can choose to help support additional electricity production from renewable resources such as wind and solar. Some of the highlights from the report include:

  • In 2008, total utility green power sales exceeded five billion kilowatt-hours (kWh), about a 20 percent increase over 2007. 
  • More than 850 utilities across the United States now offer green power programs
  • Green power sales represent five percent of total electricity sales for some of the most popular programs
  • More than 600,000 customers are participating in utility programs nationwide

The Top 10 lists include rankings for Green power sales as percentage of total retail electricity sales (Edmond Electric of Oklahoma Power Authority ranks first),  Green pricing program renewable energy sales (Austin Energy comes in at first with 723,824,901 kWh/year).

Read the rest of the rankings here.  Also of interest, "Utility Green Pricing Programs: What Defines Success?" an online report available here.

Biofuel or Biofool?

Posted by Bruce Wu on Posted in Cleantech

Is biofuel per se green and a perfect solution to the global warming problem?  Not quite.  According to a recent report in The Economist, the production of biofuel, including the growing of the plants of which some parts can be used to extract fuel, can actually creates more adverse effects than benefits. 

The article can be found here.

President Obama Met With the Presidents of MIT

Posted by Bruce Wu on Posted in Cleantech; General; Nano Biotechnology

At the end of March, MIT President Susan Hockfield met with President Obama at the White House to discuss funding for clean-energy technologies.

This news came just a few weeks after MIT researchers reported that they had developed technology that could enable lithium-ion batteries to charge in seconds instead of hours. They’re hoping the advance could lead to smaller, faster-charging batteries that could be used in cell phones and other devices. Another MIT research team, led by Dr. Angela Belcher also reported that they’ have combined nanotechnology with genetically engineered viruses to build batteries that could power hybrid cars and cell phones. 

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A Nano You Can Drive

Posted by Bruce Wu on Posted in Cleantech

A recent issue of The Economist and one of TIME respectively reported the debut of Taita’s Nano in India.  With a price tag of about $2,500, Taita’s Nano is by far the cheapest car in the world.  At only slightly over 10 feet, a car of the size of Nano is particularly attractive in a highly populous country like India.  What makes it "green," you ask?  Well, Nano has a fuel efficiency of over 65 mph, which is even higher than most of the hybrid cars on the street.

Another alternative to drive smartly, perhaps?