Hybrid Living

The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has published research showing a new process by which bacteria consume fermenting cellulose and produce hydrogen – lots of hydrogen.

PennStateUniversity and Ion Power Inc. have developed a process that uses bacteria in an electrically charged fuel cell called a Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) to get high yields of hydrogen.

Prof. Bruce Logan of PSU:

This MFC process is not limited to using only carbohydrate-based biomass for hydrogen production like conventional fermentation processes. We can theoretically use our MFCs to obtain high yields of hydrogen from any biodegradable, dissolved, organic matter — human, agricultural or industrial wastewater, for example — and simultaneously clean the wastewater.

Basically, we use the same microbial fuel cell we developed to clean wastewater and produce electricity. However, to produce hydrogen, we keep oxygen out of the MFC and add a small amount of power into the system.

The bacteria consume acetic acid, which is produced in the cellulosic fermentation process or in the Mix Alco process. Cellulosic fermentation requires enzymes to convert cellulose to sugars that can then be fermented. The Mix Alco process converts cellulose to acetic acid through a process that mimics how a cow’s stomach digests grass.

The Department of Energy has found an algae that makes hydrogen, which means we might be at the dawn of an interspecies competition for hydrogen domination!

Via: Wired Science

Nanosolar Powersheet, a very thin film solar panel, has won the Popular Science Innovation of the Year award. The technology uses no expensive silicon and the production process is so efficient that it can make solar cells for about 30 cents per watt, or about one tenth of the cost of making traditional solar cells.

The incredibly low costs are achieved by using a printing press style machine to deposit a layer of solar absorbing “ink” on thin rolled metal sheeting. In addition to low costs, the process is also fast, making several hundred feet per minute.

Backing Nanosolar is funding from Google’s founders and the U.S. Department of Energy.

From PopSci:

Nanosolar’s cells use no silicon, and the company’s manufacturing process allows it to create cells that are as efficient as most commercial cells for as little as 30 cents a watt. “You’re talking about printing rolls of the stuff—printing it on the roofs of 18-wheeler trailers, printing it on garages, printing it wherever you want it,” says Dan Kammen, founding director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley. “It really is quite a big deal in terms of altering the way we think about solar and in inherently altering the economics of solar.”

Via: PopSci

Imagine you are one of the billion people on this planet who live with intermittent power. You may live in Baghdad, or more likely you live in one of the many Squatter Cities where power is bootlegged or in short supply.

When your lights go out, which is every night, you get out your trusty kerosene lamps and light your home with the most inefficient light source known to man. If you are like most of your neighbors you will spend $60.00 – $75.00 per year to keep your home from going dark.

The GaiaLux light is a new design I’ve entered in the NASA Create the Future Design Contest. It is a simple, inexpensive, sustainable alternative to kerosene lamps. The key components are a recycled cell phone charger, a set of rechargeable batteries, and very efficient LED lights. When power is available, it charges the batteries; when light is needed the batteries can provide up to 40 hours of continuous use. What is really cool is that most cell phone chargers draw very little current when they are done charging batteries. (We have measured this.)

The benefits of this simple invention are several: First, the GaiaLux light reuses some of the 125 million cell phone chargers we throw away each year; second, it saves lots of CO2 emissions, (up to 50 million metric tons per year); third it reduces toxic emissions in people’s homes, so people are healthier; and fourth, the return on investment is fantastic. The GaiaLux light pays for itself in just a few months. After that people save money for more important things, like putting food on the table and buying clothes for the kids.

Please visit the NASA Create the Future Design Contest. Entries are judged in part by the number of people who click through and read them. The contest site has some really great entries as well as some pretty “out there” ideas for making the world a better place.

Qurrent is the winner of the 500,000 Euro Picnic Green sustainable technology challenge. Their technology is a decentralized renewable energy network. Here is how it works: A group of houses or businesses work cooperatively to generate renewable energy. One house may have a wind turbine, another solar panels, and another may have both. That group exchange energy locally to maximize efficiency. Rather than sending your surplus electrons through the grid, where up to 30% are lost, you share first with your neighbors in a Local Energy Network.

"Qurrent has in fact developed computer controlled energy management for entire streets, through which the available energy can be optimized between all houses. That’s a break-through.”

Sir Richard Branson, 01.10.07

The Qurrent design for a Local Energy Network is basically a mini-grid that is connected to the utility grid through just one connection. Surplus renewable electricity is first exchanged within the network members before being sold back to the grid. If the network as a whole isn’t producing enough energy, then additional energy is brought in through the grid.

One cool feature of the Qurrent system is the Qbox, a network interface device that knows energy rates and your particular energy needs. The Qbox can autonomously switch on your washing machine when it is most efficient, either when there is surplus energy in your Local Energy Network or when electric demand on the grid is low.

With prototype models already proven and a boost of 500,000 Euros, Qurrent is ready for prime time, at least in Europe.

Qualcomm has developed a new energy-efficient display technology based on lightwave interference. Their technology, an interferometric modulator (IMOD) display, works by setting up interference patterns in light. If light reflects off two surfaces that are within one light wavelength apart, a destructive interference pattern sets up that cancels out that wavelength of light.

Wavelength interference is the phenomena that gives a butterfly its color. It’s also the thing that makes an oil slick on water look like a rainbow. Qualcomm picked up on the butterfly image and calls its invention the "butterfly effect." I guess the "oil slick" effect wouldn’t have passed their marketing department.

IMOD has the potential to be easily readable in daylight without using power-hungry back lighting. Some of the current crop of IMOD displays use so little power that they are designed to be left on all the time. The response time for IMOD is 10 – 1000 times faster than LCDs making IMOD ideal for gaming and animation applications.

Designs and technologies based on nature, like Qualcomm’s IMOD displays, are called "biomimetic", a growing branch of industrial design.

The November 2007 Scientific American has a great article on this; unfortunately, the full article isn’t available online without a subscription.

The Department of Defense gets its green on with the All Electric Combat Vehicle (AECV).

Defense Tech Briefs reports that current research is focusing on developing battery capacity that can power a variety of military vehicles. Big DoD research contracts will help push forward vehicle and battery technology. Battery design is also moving forward for DoD hybrid electric vehicles as part of future combat and tactical platforms.

Unlike present vehicle designs, the energy storage requirements for military vehicles are much greater than those for a Prius. In military vehicles, energy storage is required for silent watch and silent mobility applications for a variety of vehicle sizes. Sometimes vehicle operations have to be conducted independently of an internal combustion power source. Both high power and high energy capacity are critical for mission implementation and must be delivered from the battery pack. Imagine moving an up-armored personnel carrier with just a stack of D-cells. Also required are battery cooling (a problem in the early electric Tesla roadsters) and electronic controls. When those problems are solved, add in special requirements for space and weight.