October 6/13, 2008
Perspective
"Nearly 35 percent of the
world’s population does not have access to electricity. Providing
clean forms of electricity to underdeveloped countries needs to
be a priority of the industrialized nations. Providing electricity
will provide clean water supplies and improve agriculture, thus
reducing famine and increasing the overall quality of life."
- from Q&A
with Robert Birkmire
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News
RESEARCH
Make silicon solar cells small enough -- about 10 times narrower than
the period at the end this sentence -- and you can literally print
them onto surfaces, including curved and flexible surfaces. [more]
RESEARCH
Carefully match the electrical output from solar cells to the input
of an electrolyzer and you can double the efficiency of the process
that extracts hydrogen from water. [more]
RESEARCH
Stick sugar-busting enzymes on a fuel-cell electrode in a way that
keeps the enzymes working and you have a simple battery-like biofuel
power source. [more]
RESEARCH
 In
the quest to make fabrics that turn sunlight into electricity, one
research team has turned to an unlikely source of inspiration: polar
bears. [more]
RESEARCH
Make artificial versions of electric eel cells and you have a power
source for medical implants and other small electronic devices. [more]
Q & A
 The
state of thin-film solar cells, getting 20 percent of our electricity
from photovoltaics, over 2 billion people without electricity, and
the lack of political leadership on energy. [more]
POLICY
Biofuels are coming. The question is will we produce them in a way
that wisely balances environmental, economic and social factors. [more]
FUNDING
A National Science Foundation award to 14 materials science and engineering
research centers includes $2,325,000 to create a renewable energy
research center at the Colorado School of Mines. [more]
FUNDING
The National Science Foundation has awarded $2 million to University
of Michigan researchers to design a system to tie electric vehicles
into the electric power grid. [more]
LAB NOTE
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California
at Berkeley are collaborating with Indian universities, companies
and government agencies to develop renewable energy technologies and
reduce greenhouse gas emissions. [more]
Features
The return of science, the enormous task, the Apollo-like effort required,
and ideas for remaking the nation's energy infrastructure.
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{BlogDate}
Biology figures prominently in this issue of ERN; three research items
involve biomimicry and a policy item addresses the ecological impacts
of biofuels production. [more]
Features
Q&As
Special Report
Energy
in transition: researchers talk about Obama and our future
Feeds
News  | Blog
E-mail
headlines
Technology Research News
News and views from elsewhere
New York Times
Capitalism
to the Rescue
New Scientist
US
renewable energy plan 'shortsighted'
Greentech Media
Google
Proposes $4.4T U.S. Energy Plan
Wall Street Journal
Gimme a Break: Crunch Time for Clean-Energy
Tax Credits
Jeffrey Sachs, Scientific American
Why the Oil Crisis Will Persist
Technology Review
Efficient,
Cheap Solar Cells
Earth2Tech
Iberdrola Floats Oceanic PowerBuoy
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