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Web tool successfully measures farms' water footprint

A new University of Florida web-based tool worked well during its trial run to measure water consumption at farms in four Southern states, according to a study published this month.

Mar 20th, 2014

Recovering valuable substances from wastewater

Phosphorus can be found in fertilizers, drinks and detergents. It accumulates in waterways and pollutes them. For this reason the German Phosphorus Platform has the goal to recover this valuable, but at the same time, harmful element from water.

Mar 20th, 2014

Renewable energies: Smartly controlled infrastructures neutralize fluctuating availability

More and more frequently, companies are generating part of their electricity themselves in order to cut costs. As far as possible, the energy is supposed to come from renewable sources? whether from a biomass-fired power plant, a solar complex or a wind turbine. Unfortunately, they are not always available. Researchers now have developed a novel, dynamic management system that compensates for their volatility.

Mar 20th, 2014

Algae may be a potential source of biofuels and biochemicals even in cool climate

Algae are organisms useful in many ways in the transition towards a bio-economy. Even in a cool climate as in Finland, algae might be used to produce biochemicals and biofuels, besides use in capture of industrial carbon dioxide emissions.

Mar 20th, 2014

Consortium aims to accelerate the rollout of an infrastructure for hydrogen-powered vehicles in the U.S.

H2USA aims to further fuel cell vehicles and related technologies.

Mar 19th, 2014

EU could afford to lead international climate action

Despite the fragmented state of global climate policy, such front runner action could reduce future global warming by more than 1 degree if it induced others to join by 2030. This is shown by a study now published by an international team of scientists.

Mar 19th, 2014

The science of creating catalysts for energy storage

In Inorganic Chemistry, Dr. Dan DuBois at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory shares three fundamental discoveries made to build catalysts that drive the storage of electrical energy inside chemical bonds.

Mar 18th, 2014

A better water wing to harvest tidal energy

Researchers are developing a hydrofoil - a water wing - as a means to harvest tidal energy. And unlike other tidal energy technologies, the wing is a shallow water specialist.

Mar 18th, 2014

A new algorithm improves the efficiency of small wind turbines

Researchers have developed an adaptative algorithm. The improvements that are applied to the control of these turbines will in fact contribute towards making them more efficient.

Mar 18th, 2014

Australian soil carbon map sets a baseline for future gains

A new map of Australia's stored soil carbon provides an important benchmark against which Australia can track future changes in soil carbon storage or carbon sequestration.

Mar 18th, 2014

Berlin can be climate-neutral until 2050: Feasibility Study

On behalf of the Berlin Senate Department for Urban Development and the Environment, a consortium led by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) analyzed scenarios and developed recommendations how to achieve climate-neutrality.

Mar 17th, 2014

A battery that 'breathes' could power next-gen electric vehicles

The main difference between lithium-ion and lithium-air batteries is that the latter replaces the traditional cathode - a key battery component involved in the flow of electric current - with air. That makes the rechargeable metal-air battery lighter with the potential to pack in more energy than its commercial counterpart.

Mar 16th, 2014

Automatic self-optimization of wind turbines

The turbines are learning to use sensor data on parameters such as wind speed to make changes to their settings. These changes ensure the turbines can optimally exploit the prevailing conditions.

Mar 12th, 2014

Long-distance transport of green power: First successful testing of a 20 kA superconducting cable

The Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) together with CERN (European European Organization for Nuclear Research) reached an important milestone on February 20th with the successful testing of a prototype superconducting cable able to carry 20 kA of current.

Mar 11th, 2014

MIT spinout XL Hybrids fits gas-guzzlers with electric powertrains, cutting gas consumption

MIT spinout XL Hybrids is upfitting (and retrofitting) gas and diesel commercial vans and trucks with fuel-saving 'add-on' electric powertrains whose batteries are charged through energy generated by braking.

Mar 10th, 2014

European collaboration to develop highly efficient organic solar cells

The European FP7 project ArtESun aims to develop highly efficient organic solar cells with an increased lifetime and a decreased production cost. The ultimate goal of the ArtESun project is to bring organic photovoltaic technologies (OPV) towards introduction into the competitive thin-film PV market.

Mar 10th, 2014

Promising news from the front on efforts to produce fuels through artificial photosynthesis

A new study shows that nearly 90-percent of the electrons generated by a hybrid material designed to store solar energy in hydrogen are being stored in the target hydrogen molecules.

Mar 7th, 2014

Testing components for solar power plants in Morocco and South Africa

The German Aerospace Center is testing the performance and durability of reflectors and receivers for solar power plants in Ouarzazate, Morocco and in Bokpoort, South Africa. These quality controls are the first to permit an assessment of solar power plant component quality and longevity.

Mar 6th, 2014