Going live with a smarter electric grid
Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project begins two-year data collection period
Nov 6th, 2012
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Cleantech and Environmental News – Latest Headlines
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Fuel economy in the U.S. at all-time high
Fuel economy of all new vehicles sold in the United States is at its highest level ever, according to UMTRI researchers.
Nov 6th, 2012
Read moreHigh-tech tools tackle wind farm performance
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are learning how to better understand these issues and are working toward effective solutions for the wind industry. Their goal is to maximize turbine performance and minimize structural loads, which will ultimately result in lower-cost wind energy. Toward that goal, NREL researchers are leveraging the lab's supercomputing resources and have developed high-tech modeling and simulation capabilities.
Nov 6th, 2012
Read moreThe limitations of climate models
How accurate is the latest generation of climate models? Climate physicist Reto Knutti from ETH Zurich has compared them with old models and draws a differentiated conclusion: while climate modelling has made substantial progress in recent years, we also need to be aware of its limitations.
Nov 5th, 2012
Read moreCarbon buried in the soil rises again
A research team that includes a University of California, Davis, plant scientist has identified a source of carbon emissions that could play a role in understanding past and future global change.
Nov 5th, 2012
Read moreUniversity of British Columbia files patent on battery type solar/light conversion cell
The University of British Columbia (UBC) announces the international patent filing for a Battery type Solar/Light conversion cell. This unique generator and storage approach allows both solar power generation and storage within a single cell. Based on photosynthesis, it can be implemented using abundant and readily replenished and renewable biomaterials.
Nov 2nd, 2012
Read moreFrom rocket fuel to clean cars
Austrian manufacturer MagnaSteyr has adapted technology developed for the Ariane rocket to build clean-burning cars that can use hydrogen instead of petrol for fuel.
Nov 2nd, 2012
Read moreScientists harness the power of photosynthesis
A team of researchers at UMass Lowell are now able to replicate photosynthesis in the laboratory, with the goal of someday storing solar energy on a commercial scale.
Nov 1st, 2012
Read moreBulletin: German nuclear exit delivers economic, environmental benefits
A special issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, published by SAGE, ?The German Nuclear Exit,? shows that the nuclear shutdown and an accompanying move toward renewable energy are already yielding measurable economic and environmental benefits, with one top expert calling the German phase-out a probable game-changer for the nuclear industry worldwide.
Nov 1st, 2012
Read moreResearchers propose new building guidelines to clean up city air
The huge energy needs of skyscrapers mean that these towers are not only office buildings, they're polluters with smokestacks billowing out toxins from the rooftop. Our cities are dirtier than we think. New research from Concordia University just might clean them up.
Nov 1st, 2012
Read moreBiofuels from algae hold potential, but not ready for prime time
Scaling up the production of biofuels made from algae to meet at least 5 percent ? about 10 billion gallons ? of U.S. transportation fuel needs would place unsustainable demands on energy, water and nutrients, says a new report from the National Research Council.
Nov 1st, 2012
Read moreWind energy yields major environmental and public health benefits for Colorado
Wind energy in Colorado each year saves a billion gallons of water while avoiding emissions of air pollutants equivalent to that produced by half a million cars. Between 2000 and 2011, production of electricity from wind energy in Colorado grew from zero to 4.7 million megawatt-hours (MWh), and is now producing nearly 10 percent of the state's electricity.
Nov 1st, 2012
Read moreEnvironmentally-friendly, quality products from rubber residues
Rubber residues can be downcycled to floor coverings and safety crashpads, and for the first time, also processed into high-quality plastics. A new kind of material makes it possible: the environmentally-friendly material mix is called EPMT.
Oct 31st, 2012
Read moreThe energy of stunt kites
It may seem as though the German plains are all but tapped out when it comes to wind energy production. To refute this theory researchers are sending stunt kites into the skies to harness the wind and convert the kinetic energy generated into electricity.
Oct 31st, 2012
Read moreNew study to examine ecological tipping points in hopes of preventing them
A new project of scientists at UCSB's National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) and partners aims to synthesize existing research on tipping points in marine ecosystems and conduct case studies to devise a set of early warning indicators and management tools that may help to predict, even prevent, threatened systems from falling off the precipice.
Oct 30th, 2012
Read moreNew enzyme 'produces more fuel from less corn,' Danish company says
Danish industrial enzymes maker Novozymes on Tuesday launched an enzyme that it said produces more ethanol from corn, addressing concern that growth in biofuels has come at the expense of food production.
Oct 30th, 2012
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