Homely Scientist

 Yes I know that driving your car isn’t the best thing to do for the environment–or your wallet.  I was passed a link to a Sympatico article with 10 easy things to do to save both fuel and money.  This really easy stuff.  Air pressure in your tires, oil changes, not speeding, keeping a constant speed.  Easy.  I also like using cruise control as much as I can.  Cruise let the engine get into a good steady cruising mode, and by not changing speed you aren’t forcing the engine to rev up and down.
Read the tips and try putting at these …read more

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In case you weren’t aware, The Bay of Fundy has some of the largest tidal variations in the world.  The amount of energy that passes through there is absolutely tremendous.  Having seen the tidal bore–as standing wave of rising tide that is the only true “tidal wave”–first hand, well yeah, it’s freakin’ impressive.  A turbine is being planned for testing in a couple years:
According to local legend in Atlantic Canada, a giant whale in ancient times made such a splash with his mighty tail that the water in the Bay of Fundy sloshes back and forth to this day.
Getting power …read more

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 Hydrogen is often held up as the fuel of the future, but there are some problems with good old H-2.  First, it’s explosive.  Second, as the lightest element, Earth’s gravity isn’t even strong enough to keep it here.  Third, given one and two, rather hard to safely contain and if that isn’t enough, fourth … it isn’t that easy to generate.  Yes, I did the electrolysis experiment in school using a battery to split water into oxygen and hydrogen, but the reality is that the amount of energy required to get the hydrogen out, exceeds the amount of energy the …read more

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 You know what they say about the best laid plans…  Well a massive tide-power plan is already behind.  You know, from all the sources I’ve read it’s not really clear as to why.  I’m just going to guess it’s going to be the standard reasons.
Does this douse all similar projects?  Is tidal power like holding back the tide with a paper cup?  No, of course not.  Really this seems to be a pretty logical and feasible project.  For all those concerned, the props as seen on the right, spin too slowly to harm ocean life.
from Engadget
Technorati Tags: tidal power

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The key to many hybrid cars is the battery technology.  Seems that an attempt by Toyota to switch to LiON batteries has caused some problems:
Bob Kanode, the CEO of Valence Technology, which makes lithium-ion batteries for vehicles, recently said one of the big issues for the electric car world was going to be cobalt versus phosphate. And he may be right. Source: Has Toyota delayed new Priuses? Is cobalt to blame? | Tech news blog – CNET News.com
Right now the Prius uses the time-tested Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) batteries, laptops and other power-hungry devices use LiON (Lithium ion).  Of course …read more

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 Now this is what I’m talkin’ about!
Built on just 3 acres of land, (most single-story storage facilities need ten times that amount) Portland City Storage will be the largest solar facility in the Northwest. Excess power will be sold on to Portland General Electric, and there is a rainwater collection area on the roof. Source: Eco: Portland’s Solar-Powered, 22-Story Storage Facility – Gizmodo
Really what we have to do is build this kind of facility in order to satisfy our energy thirst.  Is it easy?  Of course not, but also fears that something like this has to be ugly…well just look …read more

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 Not only does our world run on electricity, it runs on batteries.  Batteries, while greatly improved even in my lifetime,  still have a way to go.  They are heavy (relatively), bulky, and toxic (like really freakin’ toxic).  What if a battery could be thin, light, and safer?  Soon that might be possible….
Companies have been trying to figure out how to use carbon nanotubes in electronics. Batteries may be the answer, say researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
The device is a piece of paper infused with carbon nanotubes and a salt, which serves as an electrolyte. Because it stores energy and conducts …read more

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The most pressing issue with alternative fuels like biodiesel is supply.  If you can’t make it in quantity not only does this prevent people from getting the fuel, it makes it more expensive than it really needs to be.  Looks like that’s about to change:
The Grays Harbor, Wash., biodiesel refinery being opened by Imperium Renewables. The 12-acre facility will be capable of churning out 100 million gallons of biodiesel by the end of the year, the company says.
Imperium wants to build three copycat plants over the next 18 months. When it comes to total diesel consumption, 100 million gallons is …read more

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 One of the problems with our dependence on petroleum is that it isn’t “renewable” (technically, it is … it just takes so long that it isn’t functionally), but what if we could “grow” gasoline?  Looks like that might not be such a pipe dream after all:
LS9, a company based in San Carlos, CA, and founded by geneticist George Church, of Harvard Medical School, and plant biologist Chris Somerville, of Stanford University, had previously said that it was working on what it calls “renewable petroleum.” But at a Society for Industrial Microbiology conference on Monday, the company began speaking more openly …read more

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 Think of all the small, free-standing structures you see in a given day.  Bus stops, small sheds, fixed awnings.  They are put there to keep sun (yes and rain, I know) off people.  What about the roofs of those structures?  Looks like there could be a product that will let us take advantage of a lot of small surfaces and use them as solar collectors:
Soliant’s primary customer is commercial building owners but the company’s product design is flexible enough that it has developed a specialized solar-power generator for car parks, or roofs that shade cars during the day.
“One thing we …read more

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