New Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Seal Could Help Bring Efficient Energy Technology To Market May 25, 2009 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090521184437.htm Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) have great potential for stationary and mobile applications. Stationary use ranges from residential applications to power plants. Mobile applications include power for ships at sea and in space, as well as for autos. In addition to electricity, when SOFCs are operated in reverse mode as solid oxide electrolyzer cells, pure hydrogen can be generated by splitting water. . .
"Our interest is to work on the critical material problems to enable power generation and hydrogen production in large quantity and low cost," said (Peizhen) Lu, whose expertise includes material design and material synthesis and processing . . .
Scientists Work To Plug Microorganisms Into The Energy Grid May 19, 2009 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090518101906.htm
The answer to the looming fuel crisis in the 21st century may be found by thinking small, microscopic in fact. Microscopic organisms from bacteria and cyanobacteria, to fungi and microalgae, are biological factories that are proving to be efficient sources of inexpensive, environmentally friendly biofuels that can serve as alternatives to oil, according to research presented at the 109th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. . .
Researchers are looking at alternate biomasses as food for microorganisms to ferment into ethanol. The most attractive are known as lignocellulosic biomass and include wood residues (including sawmill and paper mill discards), municipal paper waste, agricultural residues (including sugarcane bagasse), dedicated energy crops (like switchgrass) or the non-edible parts of corn like cobs, stalks or stover. The problem is, unlike corn starch, the sugars necessary for fermentation are trapped inside the lignocellulose part of this plant biomass. The key to ending the food versus fuel debate is unlocking the sugars trapped in cellulosic biomass. . .
Beside ethanol and biodiesel, researchers are also looking at producing hydrogen from renewable resources. (Tim Donohue of the University of Wisconsin, Madison) lab is working with purple bacteria called Rhodobacter sphaeroides that use photosynthesis to produce hydrogen from a combination of cellulosic feedstocks and sunlight. The hydrogen can then be converted to electricity using fuel cells that his lab is also developing. They have completed laboratory scale prototype "microbial batteries" using the bacteria and the fuel cells in a single enclosed system that, when exposed to sunlight, produces enough electrical current to power a laptop. . .
Concentration Solar Power Module Integrates Into Side And Roof Of Buildings May 12, 2009 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090505202912.htm
A concentration solar power module that produces heat, cold and electricity and that can be integrated to façades or building roofs constitutes the new patent obtained by the University of Lleida (Spain) . . .
This thermal-photovoltaic modular system has a solar concentration of 10 suns, that is, it only needs a tenth part of a standard system’s active surface to produce the same energy, be it electricity, heat, or both simultaneously. Besides the reduction in the surface of used solar cells and the cost reduction this implies, this new technology can generate cold by connecting a heat pump to the system. . .
They can be directly installed in roofs, on the closure of concrete or brick blocks, forming a curtain wall in the façades or as a part of the railings in terraces, "as if they were a building’s second skin". They can also be used in residential buildings, companies or farms. . .
