Daily Tech News

Harvard Professor of Energy, Daniel G. Nocera, was able to genetically engineer bacteria so that it absorbs hydrogen and carbon dioxide to convert into alcohol fuel. The goal was to achieve a significant level of efficiency that could surpass plants. And this month, Nocera announced that his bacteria can convert sunlight 10 times more efficiently than plants. “Right now we’re making isopropanol, isobutanol, isopentanol,”  Nocera said  in a lecture to the Energy Policy Institute at Chicago. “These are all alcohols you can burn directly. And it’s coming from hydrogen from split water, and it’s breathing in CO². That’s what this bug’s doing.” The bacteria , called ralston eutropha, takes hydrogen and CO² then converts it into adenosine triphosphate (ATP) by inserting genes that will allow the ATP to convert to alcohol fuel. The practical applications of a bacteria that can breathe in CO² and produce energy are unlimited. With the results of the study soon to be published,...

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry show that large wind farms with a high density of installed capacity slow down the wind and generate less electricity than previously thought. Less energy can be withdrawn from wind than was assumed up to now. For example, a previous prediction from a 2013 study by the German Federal Environmental Agency concluded that almost seven watts of electrical power per square meter could be generated from wind energy. However, an international research team led by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena has now shown that the amount of energy actually possible from wind power is considerably lower. These researchers calculated that a maximum of 1.1 watts of electricity could be generated per square meter over a large (10 5 km 2 ) wind farm in the windy state of Kansas (USA). The correlation between the amount of energy generated and the number of wind turbines is not linear, as more turbines increasingly...

Engineers from the  University of Wisconsin-Madison  along with a collaborator from China have created a new nanogenerator that harnesses energy from the friction caused by rolling tires. Xudong Wang has developed a new way to harvest energy from rolling tires (Credit: The College of Engineering) As a novel energy reusing method, the nanogenerator could be potentially used by auto-mobile manufacturers to improve the efficiency of their vehicles. The first of its kind, nanogenerator was published in the Nano Energy journal. The research was carried out by Xudong Wang, the Harvey D. Spangler fellow and an associate professor of materials science and engineering at UW-Madison, and his PhD student Yanchao Mao for about one year. Based on the triboelectric effect, the nanogenerator can harness energy resulting from the electric potential created between a vehicle's wheels and the pavement. The triboelectric effect is the electric charge generated due to the rubbing...