Energy

Pig Poo + Distillation = Pigoline

- Adam Clare 2 Comments

Since it is Friday and we try to cover more ridiculous news, here is a gasoline made from pig poo.

A NASCAR feul specialists has found a way to take run of the mill pig waste and turn it into a high-octane adventure! Dean Gokel says he can produce 110 octane “pigoline” that is indistinguishable on a molecular level from petroleum-based additives.

“Here’s how it is supposed to work: First, he prepares the waste, turning it “into the consistency of a milkshake,” and then pumps it into the reactor. The hogs, kindly, do much of the hard work, breaking food into the big carbon-based molecules found in manure. Gokel’s process fractures long carbon chains and ring structures into chemicals closer to gasoline, such as C10 or better yet, C8 (basically, octane). Those smaller molecules are distilled off as a vapor, which is collected and eventually used as a fuel additive. The amines–nitrogen products–left behind can then be packed off and sold as commercial chemicals. Gokel is only running five-gallon batches, but there is no significant waste from it. The process takes about three hours.”

Bio-Solar Home

- Adam Clare

solar
In Bangkok there is a house that uses solar power and some bio-power to keep everything running. It is a great example of how individual houses can supply their own existence. This particular house was made by the very architect who lives there.

“The Bio-solar home’s energy is generated entirely through solar panelling. A sufficient water supply is maintained collectively via rain, dew and condensation from a cooling system which can also be recycled and used to replenish the garden”

This hose reminds me of living off the gird in a mobile home.

Kite Power

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

Wind power is nothing new, but a power plant that can produce as much power as a nuclear reactor is. Imagine a spinning top that uses kites to rotate and that, in turn, generates an electrical current. Researches in Italy have done just that, they have created KiteGen.

“KiteGen’s core is set in motion by the twirl of the kites; the rotation activates large alternators producing current. A control system on autopilot optimizes the flight pattern to maximize the juice produced as it sails on night and day. A radar system can redirect kites within seconds in case of any interference: oncoming helicopters, for example. Or small planes or even single birds.

Research by Sequoia Automation, the small company near Turin heading the project, estimates that KiteGen could churn out one gigawatt of power at a cost of just 1.5 euros per megawatt hour. That’s nearly 30 times less than the average cost in Europe of 43 euros per megawatt hour.”

Sausage-Shaped Power Generator

- Adam Clare

waves Ocean Power Delivery is putting a sausage-shaped device that will generate electricity by floating on waves off the coast of Portugal.

“OPD will deliver three wave power generation units with capacity of 2.25 megawatts to Portuguese renewable energy group Enersis for $10 million, but the project could be expanded significantly, Norsk Hydro said.”

OPD is banking on making more of these generators because by 2010 the European Union requires 22 percent of electricity consumption to come from renewable energy sources.

I wonder if the technology behind this wave turbine is similar to what is being done in San Francisco.

Thanks to mkb for finding this good news!

Bigger Lithium ion batteries ….with no explosion

- Cam Proctor 1 Comment

According to Moore’s law the processing power of a microchip doubles every 18 months. If we extend this line of reasoning to include all technologies electricity storage technology (batteries) could enable huge advances in computers and electric cars. However lithium ion battries have reached their limit of their capacity per kilogram at one hundred fifty watt-hours per kilogram.

Thin film lithium ion batteries are certainly something new. The batteries are actually composed of flat layers of pure lithium electrodes and an electrolyte bonded to a glassy surface. The batteries never lose charge, can withstand extremes of heat and cold, can charge quickly and discharge slowly or quickly an infinite number of times, can pack a ton of power into a small space, and will not explode in your lap if you dent them.

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