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A better water wing to harvest tidal energy

By Guest PostApril 13, 2014Sciencearpa-e, cipher256, climate change, energy, entebbe main hospital, henry waxman, kenneth breuer, midwife, prenatal care, progress, projektionseffekt, prossy alanyo, renewable, robert busingye, sheldon whitehouse, smartphone based, source of energy, ultrasound alternative, winsenga

The eternal ebb and flow of tides — 24 x 7 x 365 — makes them a dependable source of energy, but how to harness all that, especially in shallow water? Shreyas Mandre and colleagues at Brown have developed an efficient water wing and optimized its performance with a “secret sauce.”

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — When it comes to raw power and absolute reliability, it doesn’t get much better than the tides. That’s why tidal power is such an attractive option as a renewable form of energy. But designing a device to gather tidal energy in shallow water, where the ebb and flow move fastest and the energy potential is highest, has proven problematic. (more…)

Fill ‘Er Up With Tobacco? Berkeley Lab-Led Team Explores New Path to Biofuels

By Guest PostFebruary 26, 2012Environmentarpa-e, berkeley lab, biofuels, capture co2, carbon bottlenecks, carbon into fuel, carbon uptake, cheryl kerfeld, christer jansson, corn ethanol, cyanobacteria, cyanobacteria genes, diesel, energy from sunlight, fuel molecules, gasoline, genetic engineering, hydrocarbon molecules, iconic plant, jet fuel, kris niyogi, microbes, miscanthus, peggy lemaux, plant biochemist, power plant emissions, renewables, switchgrass, tasios melis, tobacco, tobacco leaves, tobacco plants

*ARPA-E funded project aims to produce fuel molecules in plant leaves*

Mention biofuels and most people think of corn ethanol. Some may think of advanced biofuels from switchgrass or miscanthus. But tobacco? Not likely.

That could change. A team of scientists led by a researcher from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) is exploring a way to produce gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel from the iconic plant of the South. (more…)

How a Summer Internship—or a Weekend Lecture—Can Change a Life

By Guest PostJune 17, 2010Educationarpa-e, arun majumdar, berkeley campus, berkeley lab, center for science and engineering education, csee, department of energy’s advanced research projects agenc, emily chen, janet sheung, julie chao, lab physicist, larry pezzaglia, mark alper, MIT, nano*high program, robert cahn, roy kaltschmidt, susan brady, university of ilinois, urbana-champaign

Emily Chen still vividly remembers the lecture on gecko feet. She was an eighth grader attending Berkeley Lab’s Nano*High program to hear materials scientist Arun Majumdar explain how what he was learning about gecko feet might translate into a new adhesive product based on carbon nanotubes.

(more…)

The search for improved carbon sponges picks up speed

By Guest PostJune 2, 20105 commentsEnvironment, Scienceadvanced research projects agency-energy, arpa-e, berend smit, berkeley lab, berkeley lab scientists, california, carbon capture, carbon capture and storage, carbon dioxide, carbon-hungry materials, CCS, climate change, climate change mitigation strategy, department of energy, energy, eric masanet, intergovernmental panel on climate change, ipcc, jeffrey long’s lab, jeffrey reimer, maciej haranczyk, magnetic resonance spectroscopy, materials sciences, san diego, united nations, voracious sponge, wildcat discovery technologies

Jeffrey Long’s lab will soon host a round-the-clock, robotically choreographed hunt for carbon-hungry materials.

(more…)

Tag Archives: arpa-e

A better water wing to harvest tidal energy

Fill ‘Er Up With Tobacco? Berkeley Lab-Led Team Explores New Path to Biofuels

How a Summer Internship—or a Weekend Lecture—Can Change a Life

The search for improved carbon sponges picks up speed