Alternative Energy Diggs

On a blackboard, it looks so simple: Take a plant and extract the cellulose. Add some enzymes and convert the cellulose molecules into sugars. Ferment the sugar into alcohol. Then distill the alcohol into fuel. One, two, three, four —and we're powering our cars with lawn cuttings, wood chips, and prairie grasses instead of Middle East oil.read more | digg story

A massive genomic study of the microbes living within the termite gut has identified close to 1,000 possible enzymes that break down wood. The plethora of cellulose-digesting proteins could shed light on the insects' renowned wood-eating capacity and suggest cheaper, more efficient methods for generating cellulosic ethanol.read more | digg story

Mariah Power is taking reservations for the units that are expected to be ready in the fall of this year. Look for prices for the full kit to be around $3,900. Finally, a turbine I can afford AND live with!read more | digg story

Even in the best of times looking for a job can be a tough task, but if you’re looking for a job in the environmental marketplace it may seem near impossible. Check out these sites and get a meaningful job - it can be done. I hope that these resources become invaluable. Good luck!read more | digg story

The company says the car will consume an average of 13.9 liters (3.7 gallons) per 100 kilometers (roughly 17 miles per gallon) using regular gasoline and a whopping 50 liters to drive the same distance when fuelled by hydrogenread more | digg story

London based boutique electronics company Hulger has designed these beauties to counter the ugliness of CFLs that are currently available, No need to hide these babies under a bushel, or lampshade for that matter.read more | digg story

Mobile electronic devices capable of recharging by harnessing the user's kinetic energy could be available to the US military within twelve to eighteen months, with the same technology deployed in consumer devices soon after.read more | digg story

Researchers in Colorado are reporting the first successful “wiring up” of hydrogenase enzymes. Those much-heralded proteins are envisioned as stars in a future hydrogen economy where they may serve as catalysts ...read more | digg story

Today at the Los Angeles auto show, Volkswagen's revealing a zero-emissions fuel-cell hybrid concept car that combines a hydrogen fuel cell with a mess of lithium-ion batteries, a plug-in charger and a roof-mounted solar panel. It's called the Space Up! Blue Hybrid, and all it's missing is a diesel engine to have all fuel-economy bases covered.read more | digg story

The powertrain is a fuel cell able to produce 80 kW but the system has 100 kW (136 HP) in total thanks to lithium batteries which store braking energy and release it for acceleration purposes or at low speeds, making it a hybrid.read more | digg story

the home fueling station uses solar and wind energy to make electricity which then makes hydrogen, and stores it in a corner of your garage. It produces enough in a day to run your car about 100 miles.read more | digg story

Shell Hydrogen LLC and the City of White Plains, New York, have installed a hydrogen vehicle fueling station in the city's department of public works. The nice part of this station is that it generates hydrogen with electricity obtained from renewable sources.read more | digg story

Scientists at the University of Virginia have discovered a new class of hydrogen storage materials that could make the storage and transportation of energy much more efficient — and affordable — through higher-performing hydrogen fuel cells.read more | digg story

In the future everyone who is connected to the electricity grid will be able to upload and download packages of electricity to and from this network. At least, that is one of the transformations the electricity grid could undergo.read more | digg story

The age of the internet, personal digital media and distributed energy — the grid has failed to keep pace with the rapidly changing technological landscape. While most industries rely on technologies that have been invented or updated in the last few years, the electricity delivery industry uses technologies that have more or less stayed the same.read more | digg story

Breathing new life into an old idea, MIT Institute Professor Mildred S. Dresselhaus and co-workers are developing innovative materials for controlling temperatures that could lead to substantial energy savings by allowing more efficient car engines, photovoltaic cells and electronic devices.read more | digg story

NASA is developing ATHLETE (All-Terrain Hex-Limbed Extra-Terrestrial Explorer) which has in-wheel electric motors as the "foot pads" for mechanical legs. The advantage to this set-up is the small in-wheel electric motors are ideal for transport on flatter surfaces while the robotic legs are better for rougher surfaces.read more | digg story

The processing facility is to be built in Adelaide subject to the success of two feasibility studies. It will be capable of recycling 30 tonnes of tyres a day with an output of 12 tonnes of fuel per day. If all goes well recycling of tyres will start in the second quarter of 2008.read more | digg story

Researchers at Penn State University say they've developed a way to use bacteria to extract hydrogen from almost any biodegradable organic substance, from grass clippings to wastewater.read more | digg story

A system called Trionic that you could say cleans the air by "digesting" it. In the video demonstration, the amount of carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons in the exhaust of a Saab car with Trionic and an older, dirtier burning car are measured.read more | digg story

Hydrogen as an everyday, environmentally friendly fuel source may be closer than we think, according to Penn State researchers. This new process produces 288 percent more energy in hydrogen than the electrical energy that is added to the process.read more | digg story

The concept of the HES is to provide a self-contained unit to use a home's natural gas supply to heat the house, heat water, produce electricity and fuel a hydrogen car. The HES unit includes a steam reformer system to produce hydrogen from the gas, and a fuel cell of its own to provide electricity for the home.read more | digg story

In three days time a team from the UK will start a 6,000km journey from the the UK all the way to Timbuktu in Mali to prove to the general public that biodiesel is a viable fuel that can be used in any diesel engine.read more | digg story

Ferrari aims to have future models of its luxury sports line consume 40 percent less fuel by 2012 in response to the growing pressure on car makers to reduce CO2 emissions.read more | digg story

Linc Energy Ltd, the Australian company developing the Chinchilla Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) to Gas to Liquids (GTL) facility (earlier post and earlier post), has formed a joint venture with BioCleanCoal Pty Ltd to develop an algae bioreactor for the conversion of process CO2 into oxygen and biomass.read more | digg story

Total greenhouse gas emissions of 40 industrialized countries rose to a near all-time high in 2005, continuing the upward trend of the year before, according to data submitted to the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).read more | digg story

Swiss engineering firm Kruspan Engineering has modified an electric minicar —the Hotzenblitz, manufactured by Treffpunkt Zukunft—with a battery pack of Lithium Polymer (LiPo) cells from Kokam.read more | digg story

The first of its kind, British architects from Chetwood

World map of oil reserves and consumption. Scaled to the amount of oil reserves countries have.read more | digg story

Aptera announced that it's taking reservations for a 2+1 seater car that will get more than 300 miles-per-gallon for under $30,000. Is this the car of the future? Pictures and details.read more | digg story

Keith Guy gives a great viewpoint on the reality and inevitability of a Hydrogen Economy. Most importantly he mentions Economies of Scale - that is, the cost will go DOWN. What the article doesn't cover is all of the sources for Hydrogen, like the Ocean for example. Digg up to show your support for clean, renewable, profitable energy!read more | digg story

The human powered hybrid cars are zero emission vehicles that utilize a push pull hand mechanism and regenerative braking to provide power to batteries that would drive the vehicles dual electric motors. Whoa!read more | digg story

List of Hydrogen Vehicles and their manufacturers that have traveled 1 Million miles as part of renewable transportation initiatives in California.read more | digg story

What this process does is remove the remnants of the intellectual property from the wafers surface. This allows the wafers to be reused, or ideally, turned into solar panels. The process has been deemed innovative enough to be awarded the “2007 Most Valuable Pollution Prevention Award” from The National Pollution Prevention Roundtable.read more | digg story

Manufacturers estimate hybrid trucks can save anywhere from 20 to 35 percent in fuel. But prices are set to stay high until there's enough of a demand to warrant industrial-scale production.read more | digg story

The beginning of 100% green planes? Don't expect to book your Christmas flights on a solar-powered plane this year, but this is an exciting step forward.read more | digg story

The chief developer says reduced friction from magnets could cut the operational costs of wind farms by up to half, with an overall cost under 0.4 yuan ($US 5 cents) per killowatt hour. The base will produce a series of maglev wind power generators with capacities ranging from 400 to 5,000 watts in the first half of 2008, said a company statement.read more | digg story

It bears a slight, unfortunate resemblance to the AMC Gremlin - that funny box of a car produced for just a few years during the 1970s. But Norway's electric car Buddy, which ElbilNorge AB just started producing in larger quantities at its factory near Oslo, has a few things going for it.read more | digg story

Thomas Friedman can now sleep more soundly at night: Dehli's public-transit system got a shot in the arm today with the launch of a new fleet of low-floor buses that run on compressed natural gas (CNG).read more | digg story

This cute and sporty beetle-esque electric car comes with optional photovoltaics for solar power, and will be powered by a pack of Li-ions that will allow drivers to go about 100 miles before needing to recharge.read more | digg story

Home-based wind power solutions are, as of now, not extremely practical. read more | digg story

A sun-drenched town in Australia's north hopes to use only solar power in two years after being chosen as the site for a solar thermal power station.read more | digg story

South Africa’s state owned electricity provider Eskom leads by example in this cool advertising campaign.read more | digg story

We generate a lot of trash as a society.read more | digg story

The folks over at the Porter School for Environmental Studies are organizing a one-day event at the Watec conference tomorrow in Tel Aviv, but with a focus on air pollution and the global "ZeroCarbonCity" campaign.read more | digg story

Well, when the FCX Clarity is available to Southern California consumers this summer, it will go for $600 a month. The $10,000,000 guesstimate comes from the LA Times' Pulitzer Prize winning wunderkind Dan Neil. Jalopnik was invited to drive the Clarity around Santa Monica and Malibu.read more | digg story

[PICS] The first Gold certified LEED-H home in Illinois is built from the renovation of an old neighborhood tavern. The project incorporates numerous energy generating systems, including solar panels and roof mounted wind turbines. It also uses a geothermal heating and cooling system. You'll love this place.read more | digg story

In 2009, Shanghai will have a fleet of Hydrogen Buses. "Fuel Cell Vehicles are one of the important technologies for future development of the automobile industry in China," said Wan Gang, Minister of Ministry of Science and Technology, at the launch. Fueling stations are also part of the announcement.read more | digg story

300 miles per tank on a trek from Fairbanks, Alaska to Vancouver, British Columbia along the Alaska-Canadian (ALCAN) highway. There is substantial progress in reliability and durability, cold-weather operation and extended range capability of Toyota's hybrid fuel cell system.read more | digg story

Imagine a solar panel without the panel. Just a coating, thin as a layer of paint, that takes light and converts it to electricity. PopSci's Innovation of the Year for 2007 is a solar cell that can be printed like paper and applied to roofs or any other flat surface, delivering solar energy at 1/10th the cost of a traditional glass and silicon cellread more | digg story