Free Energy at last!

[waltky]

Ride the wave...

Scientists tap motion in the ocean for energy
Wave power, dolphin flukes and humpback whale fins among inspirations
Mon., July. 21, 2008

A sea of potential is lurking just beneath the waves. In a sinuous rubber tube dubbed the Anaconda and in the unusual features of dolphin flukes and humpback whale fins, scientists are looking to the ocean and its inhabitants for a little alternative energy inspiration. For Frank Fish, humpback whales are inspiring new designs for more efficient windmills and industrial ceiling fans. Why humpbacks? “They actually have these very elongated flippers, about one-third the body length of the animals,” said Fish, a biomechanist at West Chester University in West Chester, Pa.

Along the leading edge of each wing-like flipper, he said, prominent bumps called tubercles modify the flow of water and keep it from stalling. A stall, in either air or water, happens when a wing (or flipper) banks at too high of an angle relative to the oncoming flow, resulting in a dramatic loss of lift. The phenomenon can be catastrophic in airplanes, dropping them from the sky like dead weight.

Humpback fins, however, show that bumpy surfaces can help establish a flow pattern that reduces the likelihood of a stall. Because of the design, the wings can be held at a much higher angle to increase the flow. Fish’s research suggests that at higher angles, the tubercles may actually reduce the drag compared to perfectly smooth wings, flipping conventional engineering theory on its head. Accordingly, Fish sees obvious applications for any lifting, wing-like surface, whether for airplanes or windmills.

Whales and wind turbines

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The answer is blowin' in the wind...

Wind power: A reality check
July 24, 2008: Plans are afoot to prod the nation into using much more renewable energy. Can it be done, and what's the cost?

High-profile personalities have been telling the nation to ditch that dirty fossil fuel and turn to renewable energy. T. Boone Pickens, the billionaire oilman, has been hitting the airwaves, pitching a plan to use wind to replace all the natural gas that's used to produce electricity, then using that saved natural gas to fuel cars.

In addition to weaning the nation from foreign oil, Pickens' plan is not entirely altruistic. He's investing hundreds of millions of dollars on a giant wind farm in the Texas panhandle, and his hedge fund, BP Capital, is said to own stakes in several companies that equip cars to run on natural gas. If his energy efforts pan out, he could get even richer in the process.

Then there's Al Gore. The former U.S. vice president and Nobel Prize winner said last week that electricity generation should be completely fossil-fuel free in 10 years. The question is, are these plans realistic or just dreams?

"It's not out of the realm of technical feasibility," said Chris Namovicz, a renewable energy analyst at the government's Energy Information Agency. "But they come with pretty significant price tags." The order is indeed tall.

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China becoming big on wind power...

China's 'rapid renewables surge'
Friday, 1 August 2008 - China has the world's fifth largest fleet of wind turbines

China's rapid investment in low carbon technologies has catapulted the nation up the global renewable energy rankings, a report shows. The Climate Group study said China invested $12bn (£6bn) in renewables during 2007, second only to Germany. However, it was expected to top the table by the end of 2009, it added. The findings have been published as China faces criticism over its air quality ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games, which begin on 8 August.

The report, China's Clean Revolution, brings together the latest data on the country's burgeoning renewables sector in one publication. Co-author Changhua Wu, The Climate Group's China director, said the rapid rise in investment was, in part, the result of the government realising that the western model of industrialisation was unsustainable. "China has been experiencing similar problems during its industrial revolution that western nations saw during their period of rapid growth - pollution, environmental damage and resource depletion," she told BBC News.

"Domestically, we are being constrained in many ways; we do not have that many natural resources anymore. "We have to rely on the international markets, so there is a big security concern there." Uncertainty over future energy supplies has seen global fuel prices reach record levels, which has resulted in renewable technologies becoming a more attractive option. The report said China's $12bn investment in renewables during 2007 was only just behind top-of-the-table Germany, which spent $14bn.

More BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | China's 'rapid renewables surge'

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With the amount of coastlines we have, we ought to be able to provide all the non-vehicular power we need...

Britain To Build World's Largest Tidal Power Station
August 8, 2008 - Great Britain is planning to build the world's largest tidal power station expected to generate 5 percent of the country's power requirement.

The water will come from Severn, Britain's longest river measuring 217.5 miles (350 kilometers). The 7.4 mile (16 km) dam will cover the length of the inlet between England and South Wales. Its underwater turbines are expected to produce 8.6 gigawatts, sufficient to power 1,000 homes. The project's price tag is estimated at $29 billion (15 billion pound). It has the support of both British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Conservatives leader David Cameron.

When tidal energy firm Marine Current Turbines installed the trial turbine called SeaGen, it generated 150 kilowatts of electricity. Martin Wright, managing director of MCT, explained to Guardian Unlimited, "The best way to think of it is an underwater windmill... There are big masses of water moving on the Earth's surface as a result of the gravitational attraction of the moon. Therefore you have streams occurring where you have accelerated flow."

British Secretary of State for Business John Hutton said once the tidal powered plant is operational, it will reduce U.K.'s dependence on fossil fuel and secure its future energy supply.

Britain To Build World's Largest Tidal Power Station | AHN | August 8, 2008

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Cheap hydrogen...

Scientists find new ways to convert ethanol into hydrogen
Thursday 21st August, 2008 - Scientists have found a way to convert ethanol and other biofuels into hydrogen very efficiently, by using a new catalyst that makes hydrogen from ethanol with 90 percent yield, at a workable temperature, and using inexpensive ingredients.

According to Umit Ozkan, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Ohio State University in the US, the new catalyst is much less expensive than others being developed around the world, because it does not contain precious metals, such as platinum or rhodium. 'Rhodium is used most often for this kind of catalyst, and it costs around 9,000 dollars an ounce,' said Ozkan. 'Our catalyst costs around 9 dollars a kilogram,' she added. The Ohio State catalyst could help make the use of hydrogen-powered cars more practical in the future, said Ozkan.

'There are many practical issues that need to be resolved before we can use hydrogen as fuel -- how to make it, how to transport it, how to create the infrastructure for people to fill their cars with it,' she explained. 'Our research lends itself to what's called a 'distributed production' strategy. Instead of making hydrogen from biofuel at a centralized facility and transporting it to gas stations, we could use our catalyst inside reactors that are actually located at the gas stations,' said Ozkan. 'So we wouldn't have to transport or store the hydrogen - we could store the biofuel, and make hydrogen on the spot,' she added.

The catalyst is inexpensive to make and to use compared to others under investigation worldwide. Those others are often made from precious metals, or only work at very high temperatures. Precious metals have high catalytic activity and - in most cases - high stability, but they're also very expensive. 'So our goal from the outset was to come up with a precious-metal-free catalyst, one that was based on metals that are readily available and inexpensive, but still highly active and stable. So that sets us apart from most of the other groups in the world,' said Ozkan.

The new dark gray powder is made from tiny granules of cerium oxide - a common ingredient in ceramics - and calcium, covered with even smaller particles of cobalt. It produces hydrogen with 90 percent efficiency at 660 degrees Fahrenheit (around 350 degrees Celsius) - a low temperature by industrial standards. According to Ozkan, whenever a process works at a lower temperature, that brings energy savings and cost savings. 'Also, if the catalyst is highly active and can achieve high hydrogen yields, we don't need as much of it. That will bring down the size of the reactor, and its cost,' he said.

Scientists find new ways to convert ethanol into hydrogen

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Geothermal comin' to the forefront...

Geothermal Energy Gathering Steam
Oct. 7, 2008 - Economic, Environmental Forces Favorable To Developing Renewable Power From Below Ground

An unusual combination of economic and environmental forces have created a "perfect storm" that could help geothermal shed its back-seat status to its renewable cousins wind and solar energy, experts said at an international conference Monday. One after another, state and federal regulators, oil company executives, investor-owned utility officials and private developers recited the conditions in play to an overflow crowd of more than 1,000.

The financial meltdown on Wall Street, soaring oil prices, the volatility of the natural gas market, concern about global warming and a new administration assuming the White House are driving increasing demand for the energy produced by harnessing heat from beneath the earth's surface, they said. "There is not going to be another opportunity like there is now," said Rebecca Wagner, a former manager at a geothermal development company who serves on the state Public Utilities Commission in Nevada, which has the most potential geothermal power in the country.

"This is the perfect storm of events to prove the geothermal industry is going to help address and possibly solve a lot of our energy issues," she said. Steve Chalk, deputy assistant U.S. energy secretary for renewable energy, said the nation is "at the cusp of an historic movement in renewable energy." "We're going through a renaissance now with geothermal - a rebirth," he said.

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