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voltzman 658 days ago
Algae hold the key to the biofuel conundrum 02 February 2008 Rachel Nowak Magazine issue 2641 It is no secret that biofuels made from food crops such as corn and palm oil have driven up food prices and depleted rainforests, often without reducing net greenhouse emissions. The message was driven home by two recent UK reports, first from the Royal Society and then last week from the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee. The days of unbridled enthusiasm for first-generation biofuels have passed, even if production is still rising. Last week the European Commission controversially called for 10 per cent of transport fuels to be biofuels by 2020. Yet the drive to develop second-generation biofuels - ethanol brewed from plant cellulose in the form of wood, grass, or even waste - is edging towards commercialisation in the US. Many experts say this next generation holds the greatest ...voltzman 727 days ago
voltzman 730 days ago
Cheap hydrogen power gets a nanotube boost 13:00 21 November 2007 NewScientist.com news service Robert Adler Tools Related Articles Nanotube tangles power printable batteries 16 November 2007 Light-harvesting nanowire could drive tiny devices 17 October 2007 Nano-cables convert light into electricity 14 December 2006 Search New Scientist Contact us Web Links Paul King National Renewable Energy Laboratory John Peters, Montana State University Scientists have moved us a step closer to a hydrogen-based economy by successfully "wiring up" carbon nanotubes to hydrogenase – a biological molecule that can be used to harness ...voltzman 730 days ago
Analysis: IPCC issues dire climate change warning 22 November 2007 Fred Pearce Magazine issue 2631 THE warning is of "abrupt and irreversible" climate change. They are words we have heard often enough - but never before from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Its "synthesis report" published last week - which is intended mainly as a summary of findings presented in three detailed studies released earlier this year - has in fact gone further than those reports. IPCC chiefs headed by chairman Rajendra Pachauri were stung by criticisms from scientists that their report on the physical science of climate change, agreed in February, had painted too rosy a picture. The charge was that their efforts to concentrate on findings with a 90 per cent certainty or better had resulted in them leaving out scarier but less certain scenarios. The synthesis ...voltzman 730 days ago
China surges ahead on clean energy spending 23 November 2007 NewScientist.com news service Print Send Feeds Tools Advertisement CHINA is leaving the US in the dust in its spending on clean energy - but it still has plenty to do if it is to shake off its sooty reputation. According to a study released last week by the Washington-based think tank, Worldwatch Institute, China will invest more than $10 billion on renewable energy this year - double the amount invested by the US in 2006. China is on track to hit its goal of 15 per cent energy from renewables by 2020, up from 8 per cent today, the authors say. "I think the targets are realistic, even conservative based on what they have done so far," says ...
