Nano Technology shows promise for new way of winning electricity from coal

Posted Wed, 22 Jun 2011 12:21:00 GMT by Mike Campbell

Traditionally, coal has been used for the production of electricity by burning it in power stations to produce steam which then turns turbines and generates power. However, researchers from Brookhaven National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the New Jersey Institute of Technology have published a paper which may ultimately change that.

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Caught between Snowball Earths - the first shelly amoebas

Posted Thu, 16 Jun 2011 16:52:00 GMT by Martin Leggett

The mystery of life between the total ice lock-downs of two Snowball Earth eras - when the planet was covered in ice from pole-to-pole - is being swept away by new research, just published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters. It seems that tiny amoeba were reaching out into the sea, to make some of the first sea-shells from floating particles, right after the first Snowball Earth event ended, some 710 million-years ago.

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Book holds up 50-year old Antarctic Treaty as beacon of hope

Posted Thu, 16 Jun 2011 12:50:00 GMT by Martin Leggett

A new book on the diplomatic triumph of the 'border-less' Antarctic Treaty in 1959, is being launched today, as the 5th Malaysian International Seminar on Antarctica draws to a close. The book's editor, respected polar scientist Paul Berkman, sees the need to re-summon the political will shown back then, so as to deal with the ultimate cross-border threat - global warming.

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From soil to clouds: African farmers benefit from improved rainstorm predictions

Posted Sun, 12 Jun 2011 17:00:00 GMT by Martin Leggett

Thunderstorm predictions during the Sahel monsoon season, in Africa, are likely to be improved by work published in Nature Geoscience today. By using incredibly detailed satellite images, scientists have discovered that soil moisture levels can be a big factor in some of the crop-nourishing storms breaking out at that time of year.

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Sail Transport Network - The Past Meets the Future

Posted Fri, 10 Jun 2011 15:43:00 GMT by Julian Jackson

With high oil prices are sailing ships about to make a comeback? In order to lower running costs, cargo ships are now often reducing speed to 12-15 knots, but this makes them slower than the sail-powered clipper ships of a century or more ago.

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Oxygen-poor 'dead zones' ebb and flow across the oceans

Posted Thu, 09 Jun 2011 18:00:00 GMT by Martin Leggett

Worries about the growth of oxygen-depleted dead zones may be eased by a new study, which models the 50-year evolution of low oxygen tongues and plumes across the oceans. The paper in Science shows that bacteria have a big influence on the ebb and flow of oxygen through the seas – but that a long term decline in oxygen, due to global warming, is still likely.

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Call to save our soils, to save ourselves

Posted Wed, 08 Jun 2011 17:00:00 GMT by Martin Leggett

In today's Nature, a scientist is pointing to the role of 'Critical Zone Observatories' in understanding soils and fast-tracking solutions to preserve them - even as greater demands are placed on them. With the roots of civilization holding on tenuously to the denuded resources of the soil, action is needed fast, says Prof. Banwart.

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The Battery Powered Grid

Posted Wed, 08 Jun 2011 16:50:01 GMT by Mike Campbell

Researchers at the US Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have been collaborating with visiting scientists from Wuhan University in China on producing a sodium-based battery which operates at ambient temperatures.

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Social factors affect acceptance of sustainable technologies

Posted Sat, 04 Jun 2011 13:20:00 GMT by Melanie J. Martin

Social factors influence local farmers' willingness to accept sustainable technologies, a Stanford study shows. Local farmers may only accept sustainable and more cost-efficient methods if trusted resources promote the new methods.

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Rare Earth Metals - a Bottleneck in Supply?

Posted Sat, 04 Jun 2011 07:47:01 GMT by Julian Jackson

Vital element in clean technology could have shortages, but new mines are on the horizon. China currently supplies 97% of the so-called Rare Earths - metal elements which are vital to green technologies like electric cars, fuel cells or wind turbines, not to mention iPhones, plasma screens, and myriads of other consumer goods.

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Electric car to run at Le Mans

Posted Fri, 03 Jun 2011 19:43:01 GMT by John Dean

Japanese company Nissan today announced that its electric car the Leaf will perform at a support event for the round-the-clock race at Le Mans. The announcement from Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. and Nissan Motorsports International Co., Ltd. said that the LEAF NISMO RC will run at Le Mains Vers Le Futur later this month.

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Using wasted power to power our machines

Posted Wed, 01 Jun 2011 18:04:00 GMT by Colin Ricketts

Electricity can be generated by harnessing the wasted effort of industrial machines reducing emissions and saving money say a Finnish team. The team at Aalto University have used the technique on construction and mining machines, agricultural machines and material handling machines, capturing lost energy to use instead of fuel.

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Cracking the energy saving code

Posted Wed, 01 Jun 2011 16:56:00 GMT by Colin Ricketts

Computers have transformed the way we live and in doing so have massively increased our energy consumption. Now computer scientists are working on saving energy through the code that runs the machines.

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NASA forest map shows carbon storage

Posted Wed, 01 Jun 2011 07:05:00 GMT by Gracie Valena

NASA researechers have mapped the earth's forests as a baseline for carbon research and monitoring efforts, and as a tool for managing global carbon dioxide. The map shows that the tropical forests that store the most carbon are in Latin America.

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Climate change killed off Viking settlement on Greenland

Posted Tue, 31 May 2011 14:50:00 GMT by Colin Ricketts

It was global cooling rather than global warming, but American climate scientists say new evidence points to the catastrophic effects of climate change on a Viking settlement on Greenland.

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Rotterdam plans electric vehicle fleet

Posted Mon, 30 May 2011 11:11:00 GMT by Julian Jackson

75 EVs to be road tested as part of low-carbon transportation network. The Dutch port city of Rotterdam is pushing forward on its plan to explore the possibilities of Electric Vehicles (EVs) for public transport and utilities. 75 EVs of different types are to operate on the roads in this bustling maritime city.

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