Three studies by a University of California, Davis, air-quality research group are adding to the growing body of data suggesting that very fine and ultra-fine airborne metal particles are closely linked to serious human-health problems, including heart disease.
Output from the 10-megawatt AC project on 80 hectares of cleared land 50km southeast of Geraldton will contribute to offsetting the energy requirements of the Southern Seawater Desalination Plant.
In an attempt to mimic the photosynthetic systems found in plants and some bacteria, scientists have taken a step toward developing an artificial light-harvesting system (LHS) that meets one of the crucial requirements for such systems: an approximately 100 percent energy transfer efficiency.
Efforts to build larger wind turbines able to capture more energy from the air are stymied by the weight of blades. A Case Western Reserve University researcher has built a prototype blade that is substantially lighter and eight times tougher and more durable than currently used blade materials.
Here’s one way that old-fashioned newsprint beats the Internet: Tulane University scientists have discovered a novel bacterial strain, dubbed “TU-103,” that can use paper to produce butanol, a biofuel that can serve as a substitute for gasoline.
Panda poop contains bacteria with potent effects in breaking down plant material in the way needed to tap biomass as a major new source of “biofuels” produced not from corn and other food sources, but from grass, wood chips and crop wastes, scientists reported.
Scientists from the University of Kentucky (UK) and the University of Louisville (UofL) have determined that an inexpensive semiconductor material can be "tweaked" to generate hydrogen from water using sunlight.
Many energy researchers and environmental advocates are excited about the prospect of gaining more efficient large-scale biofuel production by using large grasses like miscanthus or switchgrass rather than corn. They have investigated yields, land use, economics and more, but one key factor of agriculture has been overlooked: water.
New Department of Energy efficiency standards will cut the energy use of most new refrigerators by 25 percent and help save consumers money, create jobs, reduce pollution and spur innovation and investment.
A new study published in the current issue of Science rebuts earlier claims that drought has induced a decline in global plant productivity during the past decade and poses a threat to global food security.
In July, at the Association for Computing Machinery’s MobiSys conference, researchers from MIT and Princeton University took the best-paper award for a system that uses a network of smartphones mounted on car dashboards to collect information about traffic signals and tell drivers when slowing down could help them avoid waiting at lights.
In building a fuel cell that uses bacteria to break down waste in water, Israel's water company Emefcy Ltd. has raised about $10 million from investors including GE, NRG Energy Inc. and ConocoPhillips.
NEDAK Ethanol LLC, an alternative fuels manufacturer, has agreed to pay a civil penalty of $3,600 to the United States for failing to develop a risk management program and file a risk management plan for its ethanol production facility at Atkinson, Neb.
Except for the few temperate regions on the West Coast, air conditioners are now standard equipment in most homes, especially in those newly constructed.
A novel microscopy method at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory is helping scientists probe the reactions that limit widespread deployment of fuel cell technologies.
U.S. carbon dioxide emissions from the consumption of fossil fuels were 5,638 million metric tons carbon dioxide (MMTCO2) in 2010, an increase of 3.9 percent from the 2009 level.
Researchers at the University of California, Riverside along with their research partners received a $1.2 million grant from the Department of Energy to study and evaluate technologies that provide feedback to drivers so they can cut harmful emissions and reduce fuel use by up to 30 percent.
A report forecasts that the EV cybersecurity market will increase from just $26 million in 2011 to $144 million by 2015, with a cumulative investment of $432 million during that period.
Their estimate, reported this week in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is based on a signal sent across the Pacific Ocean when operators of the damaged reactor had to resort to cooling overheated fuel with seawater.
Undergraduate researcher Safatul Islam is a member of a team in the College of Optical Sciences investigating organic photovoltaics, which can lead to improved electronics.