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Carbon Capture and Storage safety investigated

A significant step has been made for potential Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) deployment, with the publication of the results from the world's first experiment into the realistic simulation of potential environmental impact of a submarine CO2 leakage.

Jul 1st, 2015

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Fuel and chemicals from steel plant exhaust gases

Carbon monoxide-rich exhaust gases from steel plants are only being reclaimed to a minor extent as power or heat. Researchers have developed a new recycling process for this materially unused carbon resource: They successfully produced fuel and specialty chemicals from these exhaust gases on a laboratory scale.

Jul 1st, 2015

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Europe: 50% renewable energies by 2030 possible with greater integration

By 2030 around half of all electricity in Europe should come from renewable energies in order to reach EU climate targets. This applies to Germany, France, the Benelux countries, Austria and Switzerland. Varying volumes of national wind and solar supply can be balanced out through the cross-border integration of power systems.

Jun 25th, 2015

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Distributed technique for power 'scheduling' advances smart grid concept

Researchers have developed a new technique for 'scheduling' energy in electric grids that moves away from centralized management by tapping into the distributed computing power of energy devices. The approach advances the smart grid concept by coordinating the energy being produced and stored by both conventional and renewable sources.

Jun 24th, 2015

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Solar fuels: how planes and cars could be powered by the sun

Research in solar-derived liquid fuels, or solar fuels, aims to make a range of products that are compatible with our energy infrastructure today, such as gasoline, jet fuel and hydrogen. The goal is to store sunlight in liquid form, conveniently overcoming the transient nature of sunlight.

Jun 23rd, 2015

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New research simplifies recycling of rare-earth magnets

Researchers have now pioneered a process that could enable the efficient recycling of two rare-earth metals, neodymium and dysprosium. These elements comprise the small, powerful magnets that are found in many high-tech devices. In contrast to the massive and energy-intensive industrial process currently used to separate rare earths, the method works nearly instantaneously at room temperature and uses standard laboratory equipment.

Jun 18th, 2015

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Better switchgrass, better biofuel

Switchgrass is an excellent candidate for biofuel production. However, growing and processing switchgrass is barely profitable. It lacks qualities, such as high biomass yield, needed to maximize biofuel production. To breed switchgrass that has the optimal combination of traits, the researchers tried evaluating plants using the Smith-Hazel Selection Index.

Jun 18th, 2015

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Mould unlocks new route to biofuels

Scientists have made an important discovery that forms the basis for the development of new applications in biofuels and the sustainable manufacturing of chemicals.

Jun 18th, 2015

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Using solar energy to melt aluminium

Researchers and industry are cooperating within the SOLAM (solar melting of aluminium in a directly radiated rotary kiln) project to develop a method by which aluminium foundries could use solar energy to melt this metal. The method would allow the companies to reduce their electricity consumption to a great extent and substantially lower their carbon dioxide emissions.

Jun 17th, 2015

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