The CBC has put online a short news report on a German town. Germany has been a pioneer in seeking to break the
addiction to fossil fuels. This clip is about one experiment using methane gas to produce power.
Energy
A New Way to Produce Coal From Biomass
Good news from Germany!
Markus Antonietti from Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces has devised a chemical process that converts biomass like leaves, pine cones and other plant residue into wet coal (coal + water). Biomass goes into the autoclave, a kind of pressure cooker, water goes in, too, along with a citric acid catalyst. A chemical reaction takes place and coal is produced.
The single major by-product of the reaction is water, which can be filtered off. In contrast to other biomass techniques this reaction does not generate carbon dioxide. It also gives a higher energy product, which even smells acceptable.
We underestimated this when we started. We could calculate how much energy was stored in the sugar – in the leaf material. But the first time – as you see – we had a runaway reaction, which is obviously dangerous, so we need to carry it out under safe conditions.
-Markus Antonietti
See Solar Run
A solar cell absorbs a small range of light wavelengths based upon the density and width of silicon crystals. Light strikes the crystals and causes electrons to propagate along the network. We call this flow of electrons electricity.
More crystals of different widths in the network mean that more different wavelengths can be absorbed and more power can be generated. Adding different layers of crystals to absorb a wider range of wavelength is one way to increase the power, but the process to spread these crystals over a surface is very expensive and energy intensive.
Prism Solar Technologies is going a different path by splitting the incoming sunlight and concentrating specific wavelengths onto a variety of cells designed to collect those specific wavelengths, yielding 25% greater electricity yields. These concentrators and splitters are orders of magnitude cheaper to produce than solar cells and increase the power of each solar cell. Oh, by the way, the Prism splitter is clear.
Toronto Offers Incentive to Save Power
Summers in Toronto can be kind of, well, hot. With lights, machinery, and air conditioning at their yearly peak, the strain on the city’s power-system can be enormous.
To reduce the summer strain on the city’s electrical system, Toronto Hydro-Electric System Ltd. is offering consumers a financial incentive to conserve power.
If Toronto power consumers can reduce their summer power consumption by 10% from the previous summer’s bill, Toronto Hydro-Electric will knock 10% off of autumn’s electricity bill. Using fans instead of air conditioning, even for part of the day, can put a 10% reduction well within reach of most consumers. A financial incentive to conserve is hard to ignore.
Super Efficient House Uses 800 Watt Hours/Day
The Treehugger website is running some good news on an ultra-efficient model home.
This house has the conveniences of a modern house, but consumes only 800Whr on average per day. Compare this to a typical U.S. suburban house that uses 45 kilowatt hours (kWh) per day. How is this reduction possible? It’s through the strategic use of ultra-efficient appliances, daylighting, and green design principles for temperature control and ventilation.
The house also automatically turns off computer peripherals when not in use.