The world's first solar powered motorway in Italy...

Image via WikipediaThe world's first solar powered motorway is in Italy. Surprisingly enough the very first motorway of any description was also in Italy. If I was a betting man I would have put my money on Germany, but its autobahns never arrived until the 1930's.

The very first motorway was the A8 Milano - Laghi (Milano - Lakes as it connects the city of Milan to Lake Como and Maggiore) and was completed in 1926. Time has certainly passed since those early days and every developed country  now has  motorway networks - strategic structures that help the inter-connection of people and places and is ultimately essential to a country's economic growth.

Now Italy has completed a new first and a new phase with the construction of theA18 Catania - Siracusa motorway - a 30km addition to Sicily's 600km motorway network - a fully solar-powered motorway, the very first of its kind.

http://ecospree.com/italian-roads-go-solar-with first-sun-powered-motorway/

http://ecospree.com

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Cut priced eco bulbs to be axed in the UK - govt to pull the plug on subsidies...

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From the UK this week:  Eco bulb subsidies to be scrapped.


Cut-price eco bulbs axed: Cost will soar as ministers pull the plug on subsidies



Eco bulbs will not be subsidised because energy firms will be forced to plough cash into other environmentally-friendly projects



Energy-saving lightbulbs could treble in price as ministers order energy suppliers to stop subsidising them.

At the moment, power companies discount compact fluorescent bulbs as part of measures to meet greenhouse gas targets.

But Chris Huhne, minister for climate change, has told electricity and gas firms to stop the promotions in supermarkets and DIY chains - and invest more money in home insulation instead.

Some industry experts have welcomed the change. But others warn that these rules will lead to price rises.

Energy-saving bulbs are sold for as little as 33p each in supermarkets. The end of subsidises means they could cost £1 or more.



Under the Government's Carbon Emissions Reduction Target, the biggest energy supplies must help customers cut their fuel bills and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The companies have met their targets by promoting energy-saving bulbs - and have given away around 230million in the last few years.

At the start of last year, ministers banned light bulb mail-outs. But power companies have continued subsidise the cost of bulbs in supermarkets and DIY stores.

In the last three months alone, eight million of the bulbs were sold by chain stores under the subsidy scheme.

But these subsidises will be scrapped when the CERT scheme is extended from March 2011 to the end of 2012, Mr Huhne explained.

Suppliers will be forced to spend the money promoting loft, cavity wall and solid wall insulation instead.

Most householders could save around £550 a year by insulating their homes, the minister added.





Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1290934/Cost-eco-lightbulbs-treble-energy-suppliers-ordered-scrap-subsidies.html#ixzz11v5faedP

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RESEARCH WATCH: Scientists hope to collect electricity from the air...

Image via Wikipedia  RESEARCH WATCH: Scientists hope to collect electricity from the air - green energy... 




'Hygroelectric' collectors could someday harness atmospheric electricity

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Nikola Tesla once dreamed of being able to harness electricity from the air. Now, research being conducted at Brazil’s University of Campinas (UC) is indicating that such a scenario may indeed become a reality. Professor Fernando Galembeck, a UC chemist, is leading the study into the ways in which electricity builds up and spreads in the atmosphere, and how it could be collected. “Our research could pave the way for turning electricity from the atmosphere into an alternative energy source for the future," he stated. "Just as solar energy could free some households from paying electric bills, this promising new energy source could have a similar effect.”



Scientists once believed that water droplets in the atmosphere were electrically neutral, even after having come into contact with charged dust particles. Galembeck and his UC team, however, have shown that this isn’t the case. In a lab experiment, they noted that tiny particles of silica and aluminum phosphate became negatively and positively charged (respectively) when circulated in highly-humid air. “This was clear evidence that water in the atmosphere can accumulate electrical charges and transfer them to other materials it comes into contact with,” Galembeck explained. “We are calling this 'hygroelectricity,' meaning 'humidity electricity'.”



He now pictures collectors, not unlike solar cells, that could someday collect and distribute hygroelectricity from the air. Just as solar cells work best in sunny places, his collectors would do best in humid parts of the world. He even believes it’s possible that by diminishing the electrical charge in the air, his collectors could prevent lightning, especially if mounted on top of tall buildings. His team is currently experimenting with different metals, to find out which would work best for capturing atmospheric electricity and preventing lightning strikes.



"These are fascinating ideas that new studies by ourselves and by other scientific teams suggest are now possible," he said. "We certainly have a long way to go. But the benefits in the long range of harnessing hygroelectricity could be substantial."



A report on Galembeck’s research was presented this week at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society.



Solar Power - advancedeco.co.nz


http://gizmag.com/

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Research team granted $122 million to develop liquid fuel from sunlight...

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Research team awarded $122 million to develop liquid fuel from sunlight...



The Department of Energy has awarded a $122 million grant to a team of researchers based out of the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab to develop an efficient process for creating liquid fuel from sunlight. The process would essentially create artificial photosynthesis, but instead of converting sunlight and carbon dioxide into oxygen and sugar like plants do, researchers will create oxygen and hydrocarbons-the essential component of fuel used in combustion engines.



The potential applications of sunlight-to-fuel technology include carbon capture techniques that could allow factories and power plants to convert their carbon emissions into combustible fuel and oxygen on-site. Of course, implementation of any such method is anything but certain and years-if not decades-down the road.



Artificial photosynthesis is not a new idea, though issues of cost, scaling and efficiency have plagued the technology and prevented any serious attempts to move it out of the laboratory. The Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis hopes to tackle these problems by using cobalt oxide nanocrystals as a catalyst in the photooxidation process. The nanocrystals are smaller and faster than other materials that have been used in artificial photosynthesis research, allowing for a much more efficient absorption of photons. Cobalt oxide is also cheap and abundant, whereas some of the other catalysts that have been experimented on are among the rarest and most expensive metals on earth.



Another challenge the team hopes to overcome is eliminating the intermediary processes that drive up costs and prevent viability. The JCAP will attempt to directly create a liquid fuel that doesn't need to be refined any further. In the past, researchers have been able to use solar energy to produce methane and other other gases that would then need to be liquified and refined in order to be used as fuel. Those processes greatly multiply the cost of production.



The JCAP will be led by researchers from Cal Tech, and is one of three Energy Innovation Hubs that DOE secretary Steven Chu will create for advanced energy research. A nuclear research hub was announced in May, and the department plans to announce one more in the coming months

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Japan restarts costly fast-breeder nuclear reactor...

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Japan restarts costly fast-breeder nuclear reactor....


Japan has restarted a costly fast-breeder nuclear reactor for the first time since it was closed down fourteen years ago because of a major accident and cover-up.



The experimental reactor Monju in the northern fishing town of Tsuruga, uses plutonium instead of the conventional uranium and produces radioactive substances that can actually be reused as fuel.



Monju's startup in August 1995 lasted only four months after it leaked volatile liquid sodium. No one was apparently hurt in the accident and no radioactivity escaped, but the operator's came under fire for concealing the extensive damage that was caused to the reactor.



This type of reactor could become more acceptable because it reuses waste product in its operation.

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Wind farms - the global energy of the future...

Wind Farms - The Energy of the Future...

In order to avoid climate change the world needs to cut back on carbon emissions. One way to do this is to use renewable energy such as wind, wave, water and solar power. In the UK the Government plans to concentrate on wind power at the expense of other renewable energy sources – will this be most the efficient renewable energy source for our future planet?

The government has set a target of meeting 15 per cent of all the UK's energy demands from renewables by 2020, which means that between 35 to 45 per cent of electricity will be from green sources. Most of this is expected to be generated by wind farms. Critics feel that wind turbines are large and noisy and that they spoil the countryside ultimately the NIMBY (not-in-my-backyard) attitude persists.

Although wind farms are not appealing onshore, offshore wind farms are proving successful. They are sited at sea where they do not affect the aesthetic appeal of the landscape and being at sea they are in a highly exposed and windy location. BWEA (British Wind Energy Association), the UK's leading renewable energy trade association reports that every home in the UK could be powered by electricity from offshore wind by 2020.

Maria McCaffery, BWEA Chief Executive, said: "We will have a cumulative installed capacity of up to 9 gigawatts (GW) by 2015. Wind will overtake nuclear in terms of installed capacity within the next 4 to 5 years, as an important milestone in reaching 2020."


Their counterparts down in the South Pacific, New Zealand, have already installed many windfarms in appropriate areas of the country, but are also researching wave, tidal, solar power and other renewable sources of energy. NZ is primarily hydro electric sourced, and coal powered to a lesser degree. Cook Strait in the middle of the North and South Islands has been described as being one of the roughest stretches of waters in the world at times, and could be a source of wave and tidal power.