my new column out: NBICS and the Convention on Biological diversity (CBD)

see here
a list of all columns can be found here

U.S. Is Creating 3 Centers for Research on Biofuels

The New York Times
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June 26, 2007
U.S. Is Creating 3 Centers for Research on Biofuels
By MATTHEW L. WALD

WASHINGTON, June 25 — The Energy Department is creating three
bioenergy research centers to find new ways to turn plants into fuel.

The three centers, which the department described as three start-up
companies with $125 million each in capital, will be in Oak Ridge,
Tenn.; Madison, Wis.; and near Berkeley, Calif. They will involve
numerous universities, national laboratories and private companies.
The goal of the centers, which are to be announced on Tuesday, is to
bring new technologies to market within five years…..
see here

The Global Renewable Energy Policies and Measures Database

see here and an article about it here

Oil from Algae

is reported as a solution here

AlternativeEnergyBlogs

see here

AlternativeEnergyBlogs is a gateway to the following Alternative Energy Blogs:

The Bioeconomy Blog
The Bioeconomy Blog is devoted to the promotion of all key literature relating to biorenewable fuels, most notably bioethanol and biodiesel. It will focus on the economic, environmental, medical, political, and social aspects of bioeconomy initiatives. The Bioeconomy Blog is a companion to the The Bioenergy Blog, which is devoted to the technical aspects and technologies associated with production.
[http://www.bioeconomyblog.blogspot.com/]
Facebook Group
[http://iastate.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2350983131]

The Bioenergy Blog
is devoted to the documentation of key literature relating to biorenewable fuels, most notably bioethanol and biodiesel. It is focused on the technical aspects and technologies associated with the production of these fuels. The Bioenergy Blog is a companion blog to The Bioeconomy Blog, which is focused on the non-technical aspects of bio-based fuels.
[http://thebioenergyblog.blogspot.com/]
Facebook Group
[http://iastate.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2363348674]

The Geothermal Energy Blog
The Geothermal Energy Blog is devoted to the documentation of key monographic literature relating to all aspect of geothermal energy.
[http://thegeothermalenergyblog.blogspot.com/]
Facebook Group
[http://iastate.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2362519065]

The Wind Energy Blog
The Wind Energy Blog is devoted to the promotion of all key literature relating to wind energy and wind turbines and related technologies. It will also focus on non-technical issues as well.
[http://windenergyblog.blogspot.com/]
Facebook Group
[http://www.windenergyblog.blogspot.com/]

In Preparation

The Clean Coal Blog
The Green Building Blog
The Hydrogen Energy

More reports on biofuel…

Ethanol Expansion in the United States How Will the Agricultural Sector Adjust?
USDAhttp://www.proquest.com/products_pq/descriptions/pqdt.shtml
Ethanol Expansion in the United States How Will the Agricultural Sector Adjust?

Emerging Biofuels: Outlook of Effects on U.S. Grain, Oilseed, and Livestock Markets
Emerging Biofuels: Outlook of Effects on U.S. Grain, Oilseed, and Livestock Markets
Center for Agricultural and Rural Development
Iowa State University
Ames, Iowa 50011-1070
www.card.iastate.edu

Congressional Research Service CRS Regort for Congress Ethanol and Biofuels: Agriculture,…

Ethanol and Biofuels: Agriculture Infrastructure, and Market Constraints Related to Expanded Production
March 16, 2007
more at source

Cost of solar electricity

Boeing promises to cut the delivered price of electricity via concentrated solar to 15 cents per kilowatt hour by 2010, from an estimated 32 cents per kilowatt hour today, and to cut that price in half again by 2015. That would make solar power less expensive than electricity from the grid in much of the United States, where the average price of electricity in recent months has been about 10 cents per kilowatt hour.
more at source

Lights! Water! Motion!

The world’s urban infrastructure needs a $40 trillion makeover. Here’s how to reinvigorate our electricity, water, and transportation systems by integrating finance, governance, technology, and design.
PDF here

Solar cells with 40.7% efficiency made, 58% efficient possible

see more at source

168 million for 13 solar projects

U.S. Funds Shine $168M on Solar

President Bush wants to cut the price of solar electricity.
March 9, 2007

By Ilkka Luukkonen

The U.S. Department of Energy on Thursday announced it will invest $168 million in 13 solar technology projects in the next three years as a move to bring down the cost of solar energy.
more at source

EU’s Sustainable Energy Future

Commitment by European leaders to scale up efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 30 per cent by 2020 sets the right path to control climate change at the global level. But appropriate laws and measures are needed to be put into place so that the goal does not remain hot air.
more at source

Cheap Nano Solar Cells

Monday, March 05, 2007
Carbon nanotubes could help make nanoparticle-based solar cells more efficient and practical.
By Kevin Bullis
Researchers at University of Notre Dame, in Indiana, have demonstrated a way to significantly improve the efficiency of solar cells made using low-cost, readily available materials, including a chemical commonly used in paints. The researchers added single-walled carbon nanotubes to a film made of titanium-dioxide nanoparticles, doubling the efficiency of converting ultraviolet light into electrons when compared with the performance of the nanoparticles alone. The solar cells could be used to make hydrogen for fuel cells directly from water or for producing electricity. Titanium oxide is a main ingredient in white paint.
More at source

Nanotechnology for Sustainability: Key Opportunities for Energy Saving, Few for New Energy Generation - Report

Nanotechnologies for the Residential and Commercial Energy Market
Nanotechnologies for the Energy Market
Nanotechnologies for the Automotive Energy Market

Simple biofuel cells with nanotechnology

Nanowerk News) A simple enzyme-based biofuel cell has been made by a team of Japanese scientists (”Fructose/dioxygen biofuel cell based on direct electron transfer-type bioelectrocatalysis”).
more at source

Tactical Biorefinery

A group of scientists have created a portable refinery that efficiently converts food, paper and plastic trash into electricity. The machine, designed for the U.S. military, would allow soldiers in the field to convert waste into power and could have widespread civilian applications in the future.

more at Source

ENERGY 2020: A VISION OF THE FUTURE —A REPORT RETRIEVED FROM THE YEAR 2020 VIA A WORMHOLE

more at source

Alternative-Energy Spending Fizzles Out

USA Congress ends without funding research programs, as the United States falls behind in alternative technologies.
Read More at Source

Nanotechnology meets solar energy

(Nanowerk News) Two of the hot-button fields of scientific study — nanotechnology and solar energy — are being combined by a team of Arizona State University researchers in an effort to find a cheap source of household energy for the nation’s future.
The team headed by Stuart Lindsey, director of the Center for Single Molecule Biophysics at the Arizona Biodesign Institute; Rudy Diaz, associate professor of electrical engineering; and chemistry professor Devens Gust, have received a $1.1 million grant from the National Science Foundation to explore creation of infinitesimal nanoscale devices on the molecular level that can convert sunlight into electric current.
The idea is to try to overcome the major problem of photovoltaic solar energy — its relative inefficiency, which makes the cost of electricity produced by solar cells four times greater than electricity produced by nuclear or fossil fuels.
“If it works, there is a potential to bring the fabrication cost down to a very small amount,” Lindsey said.
That’s a big “if,” Lindsey admits. He said the idea of using nano-structures to convert sunlight into electricity is still theoretical. But the fact that the NSF is willing to fund research indicates an increasing interest in the concept by the scientific community, he said.

Red More at Source

Genetically engineered blood protein can be used to split water into oxygen and hydrogen

Scientists have combined two molecules that occur naturally in blood to engineer a molecular complex that uses solar energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, says research published today in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Read More at Source