Energy in Biological News

'Green' energy from algae

This release is available in German . In view of the shortage of petrochemical resources and climate change, development of CO 2 -neutral sustainable fuels is one of the most urgent challenges of our times. Energy plants like rape or oil palm are being discussed fervently, as they may als...

Mars mission could ease Earth's energy supply crisis

Techniques and instrumentation initially developed for ExoMars - Europe's next robotic mission to Mars in 2016 - but now due to fly on a NASA mission in 2018, could also provide the answers to the globally pressing issue of energy supply. A major study by the Imperial College London, funded b...

European top universities join forces in energy research

The focus on Sustainable Energy Technologies was chosen for multiple reasons: to initiate a research and innovation driven combat against climate change, to provide society with security of energy supply and to stimulate economic growth and development. For this a European graduate school is t...

Trading energy for safety, bees extend legs to stay stable in wind

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., June 2, 2009 -- New research shows some bees brace themselves against wind and turbulence by extending their sturdy hind legs while flying. But this approach comes at a steep cost, increasing aerodynamic drag and the power required for flight by roughly 30 percent, and cutting in...

Scientists work to plug microorganisms into the energy grid

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...

New study: Home energy savings are made in the shade

Trees positioned to shade the west and south sides of a house may decrease summertime electric bills by 5 percent on average, according to a recent study* of California homes by researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)...

Vanderbilt engineers play key role in new DOE energy frontier research center

A team of Vanderbilt engineers will play a key role in a new federal effort to significantly improve our understanding of how gases and liquids interact with solid surfaces basic studies that have potential applications ranging from better batteries to more efficient methods for converting solar ...

DOE to establish Energy Frontier Research Center at PNNL

RICHLAND, Wash. -- The Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will be home to one of 46 new multi-million-dollar Energy Frontier Research Centers announced earlier this week by the White House in conjunction with a speech delivered by President Barack Obama at the annual meet...

Ben-Gurion University research and technology used in new solar energy farm

BEER-SHEVA, ISRAEL, April 28, 2009 ZenithSolar, an Israeli start-up company, launched its first "solar farm" near Tel Aviv on April 26, based on concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) systems developed by Prof. David Faiman of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU). ZenithSolar Video Faiman,...

Saving energy and the environment with Flywheels

ECE researcher, Dr. Mark Flynn's high-speed flywheel motor controller is reducing fuel consumption and harmful emissions at ports throughout the world. Flynn's design has been incorporated into energy storage systems used in Rubber Tired Gantry (RTG) cranes and sold by VYCON Inc. The 8,000 RTG ...

Breakthrough made in energy efficiency, use of waste heat

CORVALLIS, Ore. Engineers at Oregon State University have made a major new advance in taking waste heat and using it to run a cooling system a technology that can improve the energy efficiency of diesel engines, and perhaps some day will appear in automobiles, homes and industry. This heat-ac...

Iowa State researchers developing clean, renewable energy for ethanol industry

AMES, Iowa Iowa State University researchers are working to produce clean, renewable energy by developing a new, low-emissions burner and a new catalyst for ethanol production. Both technologies will use the synthesis gas a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen produced by the gasification...

Venter, Somerville and Church highlight DOE/JGI genomics of energy and environment meeting

Keynote addresses by genomics pioneers J. Craig Venter, Energy Bioscience Institute's Chris Somerville and Harvard's George Church will highlight the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI) annual Genomics of Energy and Environment User Meeting March 25-27, 2009 in Walnut Creek,...

MacArthur Foundation awards planning grant to improve decision-making in energy policy

The University of Chicago is launching a large-scale collaboration to develop a computational modeling tool that will help a wide range of organizations in climate and energy policy decision-making. A $350,000 planning grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation supports the eff...

Will large amounts of soil carbon be released if grasslands are converted to energy crops?

MADISON, WI, February 16, 2009 -- Grasslands in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) in the United States may be increasingly converted to growing bioenergy grain crops. Questions abound regarding the fate of carbon sequestered in the soil during the CRP program by perennial grasses if the land ...

Global Energy Systems to Acquire WoodTech, LLC, and Affiliated Entities

Georgia Facility to Recycle Wood Waste and Generate Energy from Waste Biomass ATLANTA, Feb. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Global Energy Systems, a subsidiary of the diversified renewable energy company, Global Energy Holdings Group, Inc. (NYSE Alternext US: GNH), announced the execution of a de...

Microbes fuel energy debate

According to Professor Demain, the petroleum-based economy in the US is getting close to the end of its lifecycle. Global oil reserves and new petroleum discoveries will not be enough to meet the annual demand worldwide. It is therefore essential to anticipate and avoid any shortfall in future sup...

Stanford launches $100 million initiative to tackle energy issues

Recognizing that energy is at the heart of many of the world's tribulationseconomic, environmental and politicalStanford is establishing a $100 million research institute to focus intently on energy issues, President John Hennessy announced today. The $100 million in new funds will enable the hiri...

Impaired energy metabolism linked with initiation of plaques in Alzheimer's brain

Scientists have identified an initiating molecular mechanism in sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD). The study, published by Cell Press in the December 26th issue of the journal Neuron , provides new information about generation of damaging amyloid β (Aβ) plaques within the AD brain and u...

New research program for energy innovations

The program will award seed money grants of up to $200,000 annually for two years to projects that explore alternative energy innovations for transportation. Each project must have researchers from both U-M and Fraunhofer, have strong potential to eventually attract external funding and ultimately...

Turning over a new leaf for future energy supplies

A global energy supply based on biomass grown to generate electricity and produce fuel is a real possibility. According to Prof. Jrgen O. Metzger from Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg in Germany and Prof. Aloys Huettermann from the University of Goettingen in Germany, it is both a sustai...

'World Energy Outlook' to be presented at Rice University Dec. 9

Richard H. Jones, deputy executive director of the International Energy Agency, will present the "World Energy Outlook 2008" Dec. 9 at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy. Jones will address such questions as: Is the world facing a supply crunch because of geology or inadequate ...

New publishing partnership for Energy for Sustainable Development

Amsterdam, 2 December 2008 - Elsevier is delighted to announce that starting in January 2009, it will be the official publisher of the quarterly peer-reviewed journal Energy for Sustainable Development ( www.elsevier.com/locate/esd ) on behalf of the International Energy Initiative (IEI). "S...

'Fish technology' draws renewable energy from slow water currents

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---Slow-moving ocean and river currents could be a new, reliable and affordable alternative energy source. A University of Michigan engineer has made a machine that works like a fish to turn potentially destructive vibrations in fluid flows into clean, renewable power. The machi...

Trustee makes donation to start new solar energy research center at Rensselaer

Troy N.Y. Thomas R. Baruch, a member of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Board of Trustees and alumnus of the Class of 1960, has donated a gift that will help to establish a new center at the Institute devoted to bio-energy research. The new center the Baruch '60 Center for Biochemical Solar...

Food for thought -- regulating energy supply to the brain during fasting

LA JOLLA, CAIf the current financial climate has taught us anything, it's that a system where over-borrowing goes unchecked eventually ends in disaster. It turns out this rule applies as much to our bodies as it does to economics. Instead of cash, our body deals in energy borrowed from muscle and ...

Are we trading energy conservation for toxic air emissions?

A team of Yale scientists has found that certain countries and some U.S. states stand to benefit from the use of compact fluorescent lighting more than others in the fight against global warming. Some places may even produce more mercury emissions by switching from incandescent light bulbs to comp...

Future for clean energy lies in 'big bang' of evolution

Amid mounting agreement that future clean, "carbon-neutral", energy will rely on efficient conversion of the sun's light energy into fuels and electric power, attention is focusing on one of the most ancient groups of organism, the cyanobacteria. Dramatic progress has been made over the last decad...

Baker Institute report proposes strategies to ensure global energy security

A new policy report released by Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy suggests strategies to deal with the current turmoil in the global energy markets, including the role of petrodollars in the U.S. credit bubble. "Sharp changes in energy prices are having dramatic effects on the...

Issue 1 of Energy and Environmental Science published on Web

RSC Publishing today announced the online publication of the first issue of Energy & Environmental Science , a new interdisciplinary journal for the scientific community. Free for all to read online, this inaugural issue contains articles on solar cells, hybrid fuel cells, hydrogen storage, t...

New studies predict record land grab as demand soars for new sources of food, energy and wood fiber

LONDON (14 July 2008) -- Escalating global demand for fuel, food and wood fibre will destroy the world's forests, if efforts to address climate change and poverty fail to empower the billion-plus forest-dependent poor, according to two reports released today by the U.S.-based Rights and Resources ...

Can microorganisms be a solution to the world's energy problems?

Microorganisms once reigned supreme on the Earth, thriving by filling every nook and cranny of the environment billions of years before humans first arrived on the scene. Now, this ability of microorganisms to grow from an almost infinite variety of food sources may play a significant role in bai...

IEEE-USA position encourages energy efficiency to save households money, reduce carbon emissions

WASHINGTON (2 July 2008) -- There's little the average person can do to stem the rising cost of gasoline, electricity, natural gas and other energy sources. But by improving our energy efficiency at home, on the road and at work, we can use less energy and save money. IEEE-USA, in an "Energy Ef...

US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute announces new genome sequencing projects

WALNUT CREEK, CAIn the continuing effort to tap the vast, unexplored reaches of the earth's microbial and plant domains for bioenergy and environmental applications, the DOE Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI) has announced its latest portfolio of DNA sequencing projects that it will undertake in the...

Gift of $100 million to transform energy and environment research at Princeton

Gerhard R. (Gerry) Andlinger, an alumnus and noted international business executive, has made a gift to Princeton University to accelerate research on effective and sustainable solutions to problems of energy and the environment. Princeton will use the gift, which will total $100 million, to creat...

Algae from the ocean a sustainable energy source of the future

MANHATTAN, KAN. -- Research by two Kansas State University scientists could help with the large-scale cultivation and manufacturing of oil-rich algae in oceans for biofuel. K-State's Zhijian "Z.J." Pei, associate professor of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering, and Wenqiao "Wayne"...

Major progress in technology needed for 25 percent renewable energy use to be affordable

Dramatic progress in renewable energy technology is needed if the United States desires to produce 25 percent of its electricity and motor vehicle fuel from renewable sources by 2025 without significantly increasing consumer costs, according to a RAND Corporation study issued today. Produced by...

Sleep restriction results in increased consumption of energy from snacks

WESTCHESTER, Ill. Bedtime restriction in an environment that promotes overeating and inactivity is accompanied by increased intake of calories from snacks. This behavior may contribute to the increased risk of weight gain and obesity associated with short sleep hours, according to a research abs...

Biodesign's Rittmann offers promising perspectives on society's energy challenge

Perhaps there is no greater societal need for scientific know-how than in finding new ways to meet future energy demands. Skyrocketing gas prices, an uncertain oil supply, increasing demand from around the world, and the looming threat of climate change have made identifying and developing realist...

BP funds energy scholarships for K20 scholars

BP, one of the world's largest energy companies, announced a $135,000 contribution to The University of Oklahoma's K20 Center to support a program aimed at encouraging new students to pursue energy-related degrees. The K20 Scholars program offers high school graduates from the K20 Center's scho...