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Aug 19 2013

10 Real futuristic Technologies!

http://io9.com/10-real-technologies-that-look-insanely-futuristic-1156180204.

I quoted this directly from the post but I think it says what the futuristic technologies are all about very well:

Why wait for the future when many of today’s technologies look as though they got here in a time machine? Here are 10 real-life technologies that come from the future.

A couple of clarification points before we get started. By real-world, I mean any kind of technology that actually, physically exists (no vapourware, no conceptual designs, etc.). It needs to be functional, whether it be a fully fledged product, or a working prototype in the lab. And second, we’re strictly going for form over function, here. A futuristic appearance in this case means everything.

Okay, let’s take a trip to the next century and beyond.

Aug 8 2013

Bridge Or Gangplank?

Natural gas is “a bridge to a world with high CO2 Levels,” climatologist Ken Caldeira told me last year.

A major new study in Geophysical Research Letters by 19 researchers — primarily from NOAA and the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) — suggests natural gas may be more of gangplank than a bridge.

Scientists used a research aircraft to measure leakage and found:

The measurements show that on one February day in the Uintah Basin, the natural gas field leaked 6 to 12 percent of the methane produced, on average, on February days.

The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) called the emissions rates “alarmingly high.” While the researchers conducted 12 flights, “they selected just one as their data source for this paper,” ClimateWire reports. Researchers actually measured higher emissions on other flights, but atmospheric conditions during those flights “gave the data more uncertainty.”

The Uinta Basin is of particular interest because it “produces about 1 percent of total U.S. natural gas” and fracking has increased there over the past decade.

This study confirms earlier findings of high rates of methane leakage from natural gas fields. If these findings continue to be replicated elsewhere, they would utterly vitiate the direct climate benefit of natural gas, even when it is used only to switch off coal.

How much methane leaks during the entire lifecycle of unconventional gas has emerged as a key question in the fracking debate. Natural gas is mostly methane (CH4).  And methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas than (CO2), which is released when any hydrocarbon, like natural gas, is burned — 25 times more potent over a century and 80 to 100 times more potent over a 20-year period.

Even without a high-leakage rate for shale gas, we know that “Absent a Serious Price for Global Warming Pollution, Natural Gas Is A Bridge To Nowhere.” That was first demonstrated by the International Energy Agency in its big June 2011 report on gas — see IEA’s “Golden Age of Gas Scenario” Leads to More Than 6°F Warming and Out-of-Control Climate Change.  That study — which had both coal and oil consumption peaking in 2020 — made abundantly clear that if we want to avoid catastrophic warming, we need to start getting off of all fossil fuels.

Still, the leakage rate does matter.  A major 2011 study by Tom Wigley of the Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) concluded:

The most important result, however, in accord with the above authors, is that, unless leakage rates for new methane can be kept below 2%, substituting gas for coal is not an effective means for reducing the magnitude of future climate change.

Wigley, it should be noted, was looking at the combined warming impact from three factors — from the methane leakage, from the gas plant CO2 emissions, and from the drop in sulfate aerosols caused by switching out coal for gas. In a country like the United States, which strongly regulates sulfate aerosols, that third factor is probably much smaller. Of course, in countries like China and India, it would be a big deal.

An April 2012 study found that a big switch from coal to gas would only reduce “technology warming potentials” by about 25% over the first three decades — far different than the typical statement that you get a 50% drop in CO2 emissions from the switch. And that assumed a total methane leakage of 2.4%. The study found that if the total leakage exceeds 3.2% “gas becomes worse for the climate than coal for at least some period of time.”

Leakage of 4%, let alone 9%, would call into question the value of unconventional gas as any sort of bridge fuel. Colm Sweeney, the head of the aircraft program at NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory, who led the study’s aerial component, told the journal Nature:

“We were expecting to see high methane levels, but I don’t think anybody really comprehended the true magnitude of what we would see.”

The industry has tended kept most of the data secret while downplaying the leakage issue. EDF is working with the industry to develop credible leakage numbers in a variety of locations.

 

Jul 29 2013

A 3D-printed Jumbo Jet?

Bastian Schaefer is the Cabin and Cargo Innovation Manager at Airbus Operations — and leads a group of far-thinking engineers who are building out a concept plane. Previously at Airbus, he worked on the development of A380 stairs and components for in-flight entertainment. Between 2006 and 2011 Bastian worked at Bertrand Ingenieurbüro GmbH working on projects with C&D Zodiac Development A350XWB Lavatories, AT Kearney and EADS Technology Watch Consulting. He considers himself a mechanical engineer and has a special interest in cars.

http://www.ted.com/talks/bastian_schaefer_a_3d_printed_jumbo_jet.html

Jul 22 2013

Thinnest Solar Cell Yet!

THINNEST LIGHT ABSORBER PUSHES SOLAR ENERGY LIMITS
Researchers at Stanford have developed the thinnest, most efficient solar cell yet. The wafer is dotted with trillions of round particles of gold, nanodots about 14 nanometers thick. A nanometer is a billionth of a meter.
More info >> http://tinyurl.com/mp7xe84“Achieving complete absorption of visible light with a minimal amount of material is highly desirable for many applications, including solar energy conversion to fuel and electricity. Our results show that it is possible for an extremely thin layer of material to absorb almost 100 percent of incident light of a specific wavelength.””�
— Stacey Bent, a professor of chemical engineering at Stanford and co-author of the study
More info >> http://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/july/thinnest-light-absorber-071813.html

Image credit: EARTH-The Operators’ Manual
_____________________________________________
“The important thing is to not stop questioning.”
— Albert Einstein

[M]

THINNEST LIGHT ABSORBER PUSHES SOLAR ENERGY LIMITS<br /> Researchers at Stanford have developed the thinnest, most efficient solar cell yet. The wafer is dotted with trillions of round particles of gold, nanodots about 14 nanometers thick. A nanometer is a billionth of a meter.<br /> More info >> http://tinyurl.com/mp7xe84</p> <p>“Achieving complete absorption of visible light with a minimal amount of material is highly desirable for many applications, including solar energy conversion to fuel and electricity. Our results show that it is possible for an extremely thin layer of material to absorb almost 100 percent of incident light of a specific wavelength."”<br /> -- Stacey Bent, a professor of chemical engineering at Stanford and co-author of the study<br /> More info >> http://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/july/thinnest-light-absorber-071813.html</p> <p>Image credit: EARTH-The Operators' Manual<br /> _____________________________________________<br /> "The important thing is to not stop questioning."<br /> -- Albert Einstein</p> <p>[M]
Jul 19 2013

Clean Energy

Down On The Farm, Clean Energy Requirements Are Opportunities, Not Burdens

By Katie Valentine on Jul 18, 2013 at 3:23 pm

 

(Credit: AP/Ajit Solanki)

American farmers aren’t usually seen as champions of climate causes — in fact, they’re often known for their climate change skepticism. But farmers across the country have begun standing up for clean energy mandates in their states because they see them as an opportunity for profit in an increasingly uncertain industry. 

This year, at least 14 of the 29 states with renewable energy mandates, which require utility companies to purchase a certain amount of their energy from renewable sources, have considered bills to weaken or repeal the requirements, none of which have passed. That’s due in part to farmers, who have teamed up with environmentalists and other pro-green energy groups to push legislators to keep the mandates. Their voices, along with the voices of some local businesses and the prospect of new clean energy jobs, have made it difficult for local lawmakers to repeal the standards.

“It’s hard to be conservative when it affects your district,” Rep. Mike Hager, the majority whip in the North Carolina House, told the Wall Street Journal.

Farmers’ reasons for supporting the mandates are profit-based: some want to ensure they still have a healthy market for leasing their land to solar and wind companies, and others want to continue to harvest their animals’ waste as fuel. With the help of anaerobic digesters, hog farmers can capture the methane from pig waste and turn it into fuel, which they can use to power their equipment or sell to utility companies. North Carolina’s Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard requires utilities in the state to purchase .2 percent of their fuel from hog waste by 2018 and 900,000 MWh from poultry waste by 2015 — requirements chicken and hog farmers don’t want to lose.

But regardless of their reasons, supporting renewable energy mandates, and thus ensuring that states uphold that portion of climate mitigation, makes sense for farmers, who are increasingly threatened by the effects of climate change. The 2012 U.S. drought hit the farming industry hard, with ranchers forced to sell their cattle herds and corn, wheat and soybean farmers suffering serious crop losses. Many farmers aren’t doing much better this summer: in the Midwest, the drought that began last year has ended with torrential rains, which, according to the New York Times, have “drowned corn and soybean plants, stunted their growth or prevented them from being planted at all.” Extreme drought and wildfires in New Mexico have helped cut the state’s cattle herd by more than half since 2008, and nowthreaten traditional, small-scale ranching most of all.

The farmers’ choice to take sides with the renewable energy industry is also another example of the surprising alliances being formed in the fight for clean energy. Earlier this month, members of the Atlanta Tea Party worked with clean energy advocates to help pass a solar requirement for Georgia Power, the state’s utility provider. The Tea Partiers — which have historically been dismissive of climate change — saw the requirement not as an example of undue government regulation but as an expansion of consumer choice. The Georgia Public Service Commission passed the solar requirement last week.