Solar production of hydrogen has been pretty inefficient.  And really, it seems like hydrogen should be thought more of a battery type solution.  I know of home solar installations where people are also doing hydrogen production so that they can switch to hydrogen in low sunlight situations.  Anyway, Dr. Thomas Nann at the University of East Anglia have found a way to make the solar hydrogen production at 60% efficiencies.

I just have to post their abstract summary though b/se it makes me die laughing whenever I read these:

“A novel nanophotocathode for hydrogen production which is based on a multi-layer array of InP quantum dots activated with a synthetic iron-based electrocatalyst related to the subsite of an hydrogenase…”

Okay, enough geek humor.  Basically, what they have done is create a gold cathode with indium phosphide nanoclusters on it.  What they found is that the nanoclusters really catalyzes the electrolysis event.  That means better hydrogen production.

Now, what’s funny is that gold doesn’t have to be used for the cathode.  And that’s good, with Gold currently exceeding $1,000 and ounce.  So, the possibility of building low cost, high efficiency hydrogen producers is much more likely.  But, like most nano work, I’ll believe it when i see it in production – being mass produced.

Nissan is really trying to go full bore with its new Leaf electric car.  It will allow you to go up to 100 miles on a single charge.  But will people buy it?

Nissan will be putting a lithium ion battery into the Leaf.  Now, before you groan.  Nissan is cutting the size in half while also increasing power and range twice.  Pretty impressive.   The batteries will take around 16 hours to recharge, unless you are doing a higher power charge, like the video below demonstrates.  They are also saying that it will be competitively priced, whatever that means.

Yes, small and mighty.  Lilliputian is trying to change the game on mobile powering.  It’s not a surprise that today’s battery power systems stink.  We just don’t have a great ways to store energy or regenerate.  Lilliputian systems wants to step into that gap by providing a nifty little mobile power recharging system.

The amazing thing is that the cartridges are actually pretty cheap.  It will cost you around $100-$200 dollars for the unit and cartridges will run between $1-$3.  That’s a great deal considering that the cartridges could recharge a cell phone like 20 times.  What a blessing for the world traveler!

It’s staggering how little has been done in solar and wind alternative energy.  I think that shows just how apathetic we are when it comes to such ideas.  However, some folks have recently come up with a pretty neat idea.  It involves making solar cells that look like ivy, as you can see in the flash video above.  But this is also a wind generator, as you will see.

The cells look interesting climbing up the side of a building, but they also generate solar power.  The interesting twist is that each leaf also carries a piezoelectric generator on the backside.  So, when the wind is blowing the leaves, it is generating electricity as well.  SMIT_grow as the project is called, is currently producing a lower design, but is working to get this idea into production.  I would love to see the energy generation facts on this as well as cost.

Specs:

Horsepower:      4 HP Traction Drive; (2) 1.7 HP Deck Blade Drive
Drive System:     Hydrostatic Transaxle with 3/4″ Axels
Cutting Width:     34″ Twin-Blade Design
Ground Speed:     5.0 mph fwd/2.5 mph rev

So it pretty much gives you the same power that a conventional riding mower does.

Natural disasters make life stand still.  That’s when we truly realize that we are very electric dependent.  I’m not saying it’s all a bad thing – it’s not.  Sometimes it helps us realize how we miss the simpler things in life.  But when you need some power in that situation, the Potenco PCG2 fits the bill.

Basically, the PCG2 is like a giant yo yo that allows you to transform your energy into electrical energy.  By simply pulling on the tiny generator for a minute, you can generate enough electricity for:

• 30 minutes of talk time on a mobile phone
• 30 minutes of ultra-bright 1W White LED light
• 2.5 gallons (9.5L) of purified water

The generator features an LED readout with battery protection during generation.  Specs:

• 12V Output, limited to 16V
• Typical power generated: 20-40W
• Dimensions: 3 x 4 x 6in / 7.6 x 10.2 x 15.2cm
• Weight: 2lbs/900g

Here’s a video on a variety of their generators that will be available sometime in the future:

These days, we are all looking for ways to cut costs.  And energy is one of the big ones.  Now, a lot of folks are really starting to look at solar, wind, and geothermal energy to help lower their energy costs over the long haul.  But some companies are looking for auxilliary ways to boost energy savings.  One such concept is the inlet.  Now, mind you, I don’t usually like posting on concepts.  But this one is a great idea that could gain ground.

The Inlet is the brainchild of Carla Diana and Jeff Hoefs of Smart Design.  The concept is simple.  You have outlets all over your house which draw power from the grid.  How about an inlet that puts power back to the grid?  Exercise equipment would be a great example of an instant energy generating device that could put power back.  And heat from various items like ovens could also be retrofitted with attachments to capture lost heat.  I’m sure light bulbs would be another great one.

Speaking of exercise equipment generation.  One such company in Portland, Green MicroGym, is already one step in front of this type of thinking.  They retrofitted all their aerobic machines to generate electricity.  Now they powering the place on that electricity.  Not only that, but they are giving power back to the grid.  In fact, each member gets a $10 voucher for local businesses with every 10 hours of working out.  I love this idea all around.  That’s American ingenuity at work!

It’s high time we start really pushing the innovation envelope here.  And by that, I mean, start doing something.  America is behind the curve here.  Maybe this economy will get us off our duff – it’s nigh time.

Solar energy is on the verge of becoming very commercially viable.  The cost per kilowatt keeps coming down.  But two major hurdles remain: capturing more of the light spectrum and capturing the excited electrons.  Researchers at the Ohio State University claim to have solved both.

The exciting news coming out of Columbus is that Malcolm Chisholm and his team have been able to capture the entire light spectrum’s energy.  Not only that, but they have been able to make a hybrid material that also allows for much great time to gather the excited electrons before they sink back to the electrons from which they came.  The result is a hybrid material that promises incredible advantages.  The hybrid material is a “conductive plastic with metals including molybdenum and titanium.”  Here is what they found out about electron excitation with this hydrid material:

“They saw something very unusual. The molecules didn’t just fluoresce as some solar cell materials do. They phosphoresced as well. Both luminous effects are caused by a material absorbing and emitting energy, but phosphorescence lasts much longer.

To their surprise, the chemists found that the new material was emitting electrons in two different energy states — one called a singlet state, and the other a triplet state. Both energy states are useful for solar cell applications, and the triplet state lasts much longer than the singlet state.

Electrons in the singlet state stayed free for up to 12 picoseconds, or trillionths of a second — not unusual compared to some solar cell materials. But electrons in the triplet state stayed free 7 million times longer — up to 83 microseconds, or millionths of a second.

When they deposited the molecules in a thin film, similar to how they might be arranged in an actual solar cell, the triplet states lasted even longer: 200 microseconds.”

That’s an incredible gain – one that will allow amazing advances in the energy potential of future solar cells.

While GasBuddy.com has a plethora of resources you should investigate for yourself, the feature I use the most (and the main focus of this article) is the USA National Gas Temperature Map. Starting with a overview of the continental United States, you’ll immediately notice the coloring of the map varies across the 48 contiguous states; this is indicative of how varied gas prices are across the nation, as compared to the average. The operation of the temperature map is extremely similar to Google Maps: mouse wheel controls the level of observation, major highways and roads are displayed, states, counties, and cites are easily recognizable and accurately represented, etc. The devil, however, is in the details.

Once you get up close and personal, the temperature feature goes away and individual stations are displayed as small mini-markers, each displaying the price of the specified fuel type (regular, diesel). These mini-markers can be accessed for detailed information, such as station features, photos, and address information and even LAT/LONG coordinates. Prices and station details are uploaded by registered users, and the content is monitored by GasBuddy staff and other registered users. In writing this article, I’ve already found the lowest gas price near my residence, and it’s 10 cents cheaper per gallon than the station I frequent, with a comparable commute time. The website itself isn’t limited to the USA fuel price map itself; price maps for Canada, Alaska, and Hawaii are available, and there’s a nifty, if not necessary, historical cost graph for anywhere from last month to 6 years ago.

In all actuality, this is a service you may use only a few times a month. Once you have figured out where the lowest price is, you won’t need GasBuddy unless the prices radically change. However, some of the extras, such as coordinates and station features are invaluable. There are a few times while on vacation where my family could have been well served by an air pump, and the lack of one at the most readily available station was annoying. Such features make GasBuddy a flexible and useful resource for planning a road trip or vacation.

Pictures courtesy of: GasBuddy;

Solar power enthusiasts have always said that around 5 cents per kWh is the magic number to compete with electricity costs.  Sungri, a company haling from Hollywood, CA, says that they have a cell that will do it.  And it’s called the Xtreme Concentrated Photovoltaic.

As we’ve seen on other systems, they utilize a lot of magnification to achieve their power ratio.  That would be about 1,500 suns worth of magnification.  Here are the R&D milestones that Sungri has achieved:

An initial thermodynamic analysis was calculated to determine initial design
parameters and an approach to a cooling solution for a 1-cm2 solar cell subjected
to high-concentration solar energy.
• An experimental system concept-solution for cooling a 1,089X Suns
concentration on a 1-cm2, triple-junction solar-cell was theorized, designed,
developed, constructed, calibrated and tested;
• This triple-junction solar cell is a 35% efficient, terrestrial version of the PV cells
used in space-based applications;
• SUNRGI’s experimental testing included supplier pre-mounted solar-cells on
ceramic substrate and a bare-cell. Proprietary techniques were used to directly
mount the solar chip on to SUNRGI’s cooling technology;
• SUNRGI’s solar cell cooling technique was successful and resulted in a cooling
improvement of approximately 300% in comparison to supplier’s own testing
data-sheets (around 36°C compared to supplier’s 105°C).

It sounds like Sungri is poised to deliver an efficient solar cell with good cooling.  We’ll keep an eye on them.