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Berkeley Lab Startup Brings Fuel Cells to the Developing World

By Guest PostMay 18, 2013Environmentalameda, berkeley lab, california, ceo, ceramics, charging station, craig jacobson, developing world, electricity, fuel cells, greenhouse gases, kerosene, led bulb, lutgard dejonghe, magic, mike tucker, money, philosophy, point source power, startup, steve visco, unhealthy pollutants, voto, waste biomass, woman in kibera

Point Source Power’s cheap, rugged fuel cells can provide electricity where none exists.

In some parts of the developing world, people may live in homes without electricity or toilets or running water but yet they own cell phones. To charge those phones, they may have to walk for miles to reach a town charging station—and possibly even have to leave their phones overnight. Now a startup company spun off technology developed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has created a simple, inexpensive way to provide electricity to the 2.5 billion people in the world who don’t get it reliably.

Point Source Power’s innovative device is based on a solid oxide fuel cell that is powered by burning charcoal, wood or other types of biomass—even cow dung—the types of fuel that many in the developing world use for cooking. The fuel cell sits in the fire and is attached to circuitry in a handle that is charged as the fuel cell heats up to temperatures of 700 to 800 degrees Celsius. The handle, which contains an LED bulb, can then be detached and used for lighting or to charge a phone. (more…)

Ceramics Tell the Story of an Ancient Southwest Migration

By Guest PostJune 5, 2012Culture, Scienceancient, archaeologist, arizona state museum, byron cummings, ceramics, charles adams, colorado plateau, confluence, diaspora, doctoral dissertation, east central arizona, emil haury, excavations, four corners region, gila, grasshopper, homolovi, jannelle weakly, jeff harrison, kayenta polychrome vessel, kayenta region, kinishba, masters theses, mogollon rim, patrick lyons, perforated plates, point of pines, river, san pedro, social unrest, southwest migration, university of arizona, vessel, winslow

Another look at a nearly 80-year-old pottery collection at the Arizona State Museum is yielding new information about migrants who abandoned the Four Corners region.

Approximately eight centuries ago, people living along the Colorado Plateau in what is now the Four Corners area faced a crisis. Environmental changes that devastated their agricultural practices and likely aggravated social unrest forced significant numbers of these people to move away.

Many of them headed south into central and southern Arizona and western New Mexico, into lands already inhabited by well-established groups.

What is remarkable about this diaspora is that while there is no written record of what happened, much of what archaeologists know is told in the ceramic bowls, plates and figurines that were created and left behind when those civilizations later collapsed. (more…)

Berkeley Lab Scientists Generate Electricity From Viruses

By Guest PostMay 19, 2012Scienceberkeley lab, bone, byung yang lee, ceramics, crystals, dan krotz, DNA, electric charge, electric cigarette, electricity, electricity from viruses, futuristic scenario, m13 bacteriophage, mechanical energy, mechanical stress, nano building block, nano devices, nanoamperes, nanoscale, piezoelectricity, proteins, ramamoorthy ramesh, seung wuk lee, Technology

New approach is a promising first step toward the development of tiny devices that harvest electrical energy from everyday tasks

Imagine charging your phone as you walk, thanks to a paper-thin generator embedded in the sole of your shoe. This futuristic scenario is now a little closer to reality. Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed a way to generate power using harmless viruses that convert mechanical energy into electricity.

The scientists tested their approach by creating a generator that produces enough current to operate a small liquid-crystal display. It works by tapping a finger on a postage stamp-sized electrode coated with specially engineered viruses. The viruses convert the force of the tap into an electric charge. (more…)

UMD Dig at Historic Annapolis Black Home Producing Surprisingly Rich Haul

By Guest PostJune 16, 2011Culture, Science99 east street, african americans, annapolis, annapolis african american households, archaeological team, archaeologist, ceramics, creamware, emancipation, excavation, filipino community, historic african american home, holliday house, household materials, james holliday, james holliday house, justin uehlein, kate deeley, mark leone, maynard burgess house, pearlware, post civil war annapolis, university of maryland, us naval academy, victorian etiquette, whiteware

*Archaeologists Focusing on Naval Academy Connection, Filipino Past*

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – An archaeological team from the University of Maryland is uncovering an unexpectedly rich haul of household materials from an historic African American home in Annapolis. The team has one more week to go in their excavation.

The archaeologists resumed work at the James Holliday House – a middle class home purchased in 1850 by one of the first African Americans to work for the U.S. Naval Academy. (more…)

Tag Archives: ceramics

Berkeley Lab Startup Brings Fuel Cells to the Developing World

Ceramics Tell the Story of an Ancient Southwest Migration

Berkeley Lab Scientists Generate Electricity From Viruses

UMD Dig at Historic Annapolis Black Home Producing Surprisingly Rich Haul