Old Newspapers to Fuel Cars
Scientists at Tulane University 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. They are currently experimenting with old editions of the Times Picayune newspaper with great success. TU-103 is the first bacterial strain from nature that produces butanol directly from cellulose, an organic compound. "Cellulose is found in all green plants, and is the most abundant organic material on earth, and converting it into butanol is the dream of many," said Harshad Velankar, a postdoctoral fellow at Tulane University’s Department of Cell and Molecular Biology. "In the United States alone, at least 323 million tons of cellulosic materials that could be used to produce butanol are thrown out each year."
The Earth Is Full
"We will realize that the consumer-driven growth model is broken and we have to move to a more happiness-driven growth model, based on people working less and owning less," Paul Gilding, Australian environmentalist-entrepreneur, says. "How many people," Gilding asks, "lie on their death bed and say, I wish I had worked harder or built more shareholder value, and how many say, I wish I had gone to more ballgames, read more books to my kids, taken more walks? To do that, you need a growth model based on giving people more time to enjoy life, but with less stuff."
http://rdd.me/3qjaquz1
I Love Nuclear Power
You will not be surprised to hear that the events in Japan have changed my view of nuclear power. You will be surprised to hear how they have changed it. As a result of the disaster at Fukushima, I am no longer nuclear-neutral. I now support the technology. A crappy old plant with inadequate safety features was hit by a monster earthquake and a vast tsunami. The electricity supply failed. The reactors began to melt down. The disaster exposed poor design and corner-cutting. Yet, no one has yet died of radiation. Some greens have exaggerated the dangers of radioactive pollution. For a clearer view, look at this graphic. I am not proposing complacency, but perspective. Atomic energy has just been subjected to the harshest possible test, and the impact on people has been small.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/21/pro-nuclear-japan-fukushima/print
Russia's Diamond Capital
Mirny is a town in Russia's Sakha Republic (Yakutia), located 820 kilometers west of Yakutsk on the Irelyakh River. The town's population is around 40,000. The settlement was founded in 1955 after the discovery of a nearby kimberlite pipe. There is a massive diamond pit in the town. It is 525 meters deep and has a diameter of 1.25 kilometers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirny,_Sakha_Republic
World's first air-fuelled battery
The world's first battery fuelled by air -- with ten times the storage capacity of conventional cells -- has been unveiled. Scientists say the revolutionary STAIR (St Andrews Air) battery could pave the way for a new generation of electric cars, laptops, and mobile phones. The cell is much lighter than current batteries. The cells are charged in a traditional way but as power is used or "discharged" an open mesh section of battery draws in oxygen from the surrounding air. As the cycle of air helps recharge the battery as it is used, it has a greater storage capacity than other similar-sized cells and can emit power up to ten times longer. http://www.scientificblogging.com/news_articles/airfuelled_battery_lasts_ten_times_long_yes_please
How To Make Oil in Minutes
Chemical engineers at the University of Michigan hope to make fuel in minutes. They are applying heat and pressure on microalgae, exploring a method to create affordable biofuel that could replace fossil fuels. They also hope to use the byproducts of bio-oil production as feedstock for more biofuel. "The vision is that nothing would leave the refinery except oil. Everything would get reused," chemical engineering professor Phillip Savage said in a statement. "That is one of the things that makes this project novel. It’s an integrated process. We are combining hydrothermal, catalytic and biological approaches." "We make an algae soup," Savage said. "We heat it to about 300 degrees and keep the water at high enough pressure to keep it liquid as opposed to steam. We cook it for 30 minutes to an hour and we get a crude bio-oil. We are trying to do what nature does when it creates oil, but we do not want to wait millions of years."
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/04/university-of-michigan-bio-oil/
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