IBM has just squeezed the most power ever out of the smallest area of solar panel. By focusing the sun over 2300x, they were able to pull 70 watts of usable electric power out of one square CENTIMETER of silicon photovoltaic panel.
Of course, the concentrator itself is quite large. But as the silicon photovoltaics are undoubtedly the most expensive piece of any solar installation, decreasing the amount needed dramatically reduces costs. Recently we reported on another company, Sunrgi, working on a similar technique, with similar claims of extremely inexpensive solar power. Both of these companies have had to face the same problem, keeping the photovoltaics from frying even when exposed to the power of thousands of suns. Sunrgi uses a proprietary cooling system, but this means that they can only concentrate solar power to around 1600x.
IBM, who has a LOT of experience cooling silicon (though generally not in the form of photovoltaics) has a more advanced system.
the IBM team used a very thin layer of a liquid metal made of a gallium and indium compound that they applied between the chip and a cooling block. Such layers, called thermal interface layers, transfer the heat from the chip to the cooling block so that the chip temperature can be kept low.
The really exciting thing about this story is that its coming from IBM. When we heard Sunrgi exclaiming that they were on the path to truly cheap solar, we were excited, but skeptical. They are, after all, a young company searching for funding. But IBM has a lot more to lose in making claims that don't eventually pan out. In short, we believe them, and that's exciting.
Currently solar thermal projects, in which sunlight is focused in order to boil water and spin a turbine, is currently the cheapest way to get solar power. But IBM says that they think, if the silicon can be cooled effectively, concentrated photovoltaics could take over as the cheapest form of solar energy. All I care about is that it gets cheaper...and faster, and I really hope to see IBM bringing this technology to market fast.
This is the third in our series of projects from ISEF that we will be covering. Many more to come. Thanks to Intel for flying me out and putting me up so I could cover the conference.
Denmark may not be a big country, with only 5.6 million inhabitants, but there are more than 160,000 mopeds there, not to mention lawnmowers, chainsaws, and even cargo ships that transport goods. Each of these have a common thread: they all run on two-stroke engines. Michael Madsen and Jesper Rasmussen, both riders of mopeds, found out one day how utterly inefficient and polluting they could be, even for their size. The reason is that with two-stroke engines, no matter the size, when fuel is injected into the cylinder, part of it is allowed to escape through the exaust manifold (see white spheres in picture).
This means that not only are you sending a large portion of your fuel in the exhaust without burning it (30-40% on average in chainsaws), these hydrocarbons are released into the atmosphere as reactive organic gases, which cause a slew of health problems. Madsen and Rasmussen decided to design a system that would eliminate these problems and make the engine more efficient. What they’ve done is created a unique design in their exhaust system that pushes the overflowing hydrocarbons, along with a little of the exhaust, back into the cylinder by way of a shockwave traveling at 500m/s.
This allows the fuel to be completely burned, and has resulted in a fuel efficiency improvement of 17.7%, just for their mopeds. Carbon monoxide has been decreased by 10% and hydrocarbon emissions have been reduced by 36.7%. The system is even more efficient in hot, dry climates, so would work well in areas like California, many countries in Asia, and the middle east. Heavy cargo ships, carrying some of the most polluting engines in the world, would greatly benefit from this technology, and the team has patented their system and hopes to bring this to market in the future.
Frankly, it makes us at EcoGeek feel like we're slacking. If this is what high school students are doing, shouldn't we be doing a bit more than just blogging?
This is the second in our series of projects from ISEF that we will be covering. Many more to come. Thanks to Intel for flying me out and putting me up so I could cover the conference.
Water may look clean, but it can contain many clear or diluted chemicals, unobservable by the naked eye, that can seriously harm human health. Water testing is not prohibitively expensive, but it only tests for certain things. So Leah Schecter of Florida decided to see if one can actually SEE and test the quality of water, using bioluminescent dinoflagellates (bacteria).
The bioluminescence of an organism is a very good indicator of overall health and so she tested some groups to see how long their bioluminescence would last. It lasted about 30 seconds for the control group and 34 seconds for the experimental group. She then added the most popularly used pesticide to the experimental group. The chemical contained Atrazine, which causes harm to human and animal life, and the results were quite acute.
After 4 days, the control group had lost 6 seconds of luminescence while the experimental group, that exposed to the chemical, lost 24 seconds, to 10 seconds, only 29% of its initial duration. It is clear that the Atrazine had a significant effect on the health of even these small bacteria. While this specific experiment only applies to salt water, Leah says that the experiments can be duplicated for fresh water applications with strains of other bacterium or lichens found in fresh water.
This is the first in our series of projects from ISEF that we will be covering. Many more to come. Thanks to Intel for flying me out and putting me up so I could cover the conference.
As ecogeeks, we tend to have a number of gadgets around, many of them powered by batteries. When we throw them away, they either go to landfill, where their toxic chemicals pollute the soil and water, or we recycle them, reusing their components.
That’s what 3 Brazilian students are doing, but in a very unique way. Camila da Silva Bruzadelli, Alan Juliano de Andrade and Deborah Asbahr, of Limeira, Brazil, have discovered a way to make pigmentation that can be used in ceramics coloring, from batteries. In their state of Sao Paolo, 192 million batteries are used each year, with only a fraction of them being recycled. But what batteries they do receive, they disassemble into their constituent components, being cardboard, plastic, steel and graphite, each of which can be recycled using the existing infrastructure.
The zinc, manganese, and iron, can be combined with the electrolyte, which is treated with nitric acid, filtered, neutralized, and then heated at 1000C for 4 hours to obtain the various metallic oxides. These are then applied to ceramics, which are also baked and glazed. The oxides provide several colors; from a light rose to a dark brown. They plan on approaching the ceramics industry with this technology and hopefully end up reducing both the amount of artificial pigmentation created or mined from minerals, and the amount of batteries that do not make it to the recycling depots.
Intel's annual International Science and Engineering Fair kicked off this week in Atlanta, showcasing over 1,500 high school students from around the world in what is the world's largest pre-college science competition. Students, representing 51 countries, have come in with their projects on engineering, science, robotics, medicine, physics, electronics, and the list goes on!
They are competing for almost $4 million in scholarships and awards. A good portion of the projects exhibited relate to sustainability and the environment, and Intel was kind enough to send us down to meet with these young ecogeeks! We'll be featuring several projects daily, so on with the first. The list below shows all of the projects we've covered from the Fair so far.
These projects are amazing from any perspective. but the fact that these ecogeeks are a decade younger than me (and I am quite young) really shows that innovation knows no bounds.
Skepticism remains surrounding GM's promise of the Chevrolet Volt. Test versions of the car, which, they claim, will be able to go 40 miles on all-electric power before a backup generator recharges the batteries, is currently being tested in various conditions.
Now GM has officially announced that, even with a less-aerodynamic body (a Chevy Malibu), a suboptimal drive unit and "rough calibration" it is consistently going more than 40 miles on all-electric power with its current batteries. GM's VP of product development, Bob Lutz has said “I can almost say the battery is the least of our problems.”
In general, this is good news. But there are reasons to remain skeptical. First, the initial announcement of a $30,000 price point has already been raised to $35 and it's been hinted that it could be "closer to 40." Second, there is still nothing extremely firm about their November 2010 release date.
But the fact that the batteries work, and work as planned) is a big deal. We're waiting patiently to get our "ecogeek" vanity plates along with our Volt in November of 2010.
This video explains the whole process...but I sugest you turn off your speakers...unless you want to have the most awkward dance party ever.
Driving aimlessly is bad enough, so the only thing that could be worse is driving in circles looking for a parking spot. Then there are those drivers who deserve a special reserve space in hell for idling their cars waiting for a spot closer to the mall entrance because they can't be bothered walking a few extra feet.
A South Korean company may have a partial solution to that parking problem. There are more than enough cars on the road, but even so, there are even fewer parking spaces, especially in cities. Automatic parking systems, which have been used for years in Europe and Asia because of space constraints, are beginning to be considered in theUnited States.
MP Systems designed the software and technology that makes parking simpler and easier by letting computers do the work. The system can fit twice as many cars in the same amount of space and eliminate hours of combined engine use every day so drivers don't have to drive around searching for that elusive space. Drivers pull into a platform and technology does the rest. When drivers want to retrieve their car, they enter a code and the car is delivered back via the platform.
There's also another bonus. With automated parking, the physical footprint of lots are smaller and there are cost savings in the maintenance of these facilites. When people are out of the equation, it eliminates the need for climate control, walkways, elevators and even lighting. The biggest plus of all may be one that MP Systems hasn't even thought of yet: No more urine stains in stairway.
We've been reminded in recent weeks that the world is a vulnerable place. First as many as 100,000 killed in the cyclone in Burma, and now 12,000 feared dead after an earthquake in China. But as we've seen over and over again, sometimes disaster response is even more important than being prepared for the disaster.
How do you take care of hundreds of thousands of disaster refugees? It's not like you can plop down a coal power plant and fire it up wherever it's needed.
Or can you? Andrew Leinonen has put together a strong concept design for an airship covered in solar panels that can be flown into a disaster area, anchored in, and immediately begin to serve power to the rescue effort.
Though the airships are small by blimp standards, only 20 m long, they can house about 120 square meters of CIGS solar cells, producing up to 125 kWh / day. That's enough energy to power 25 shallow water pumps, providing clean water for up to 12,000 people. Or enough to power 400 medical refrigerators.
The airship will fly in it's own power box (also containing anchoring mechanisms) that will be lowered when the disaster site is reached. Additionally, the vehicle flies autonomously, and can be delivered entirely unmanned, simplifying the diplomatic process of serving aid, which, as we saw in Burma, can be a huge problem.
Lots of excellent pictures provided by Andrew can be found after the jump, and I have it on good authority that he will be reading comments, so if you would like to ask any questions about the project, feel free.
UPS just announced it has ordered 200 hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) - the largest commercial order of such trucks by any company - in addition to another 300 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicles for its U.S. delivery fleet.
The purchase of the 500 additional vehicles means the UPS alternative fuel fleet - already the largest such private fleet in the United States - will grow 30 percent from 1,718 to 2,218 low-carbon vehicles.
Obviously, UPS has other reasons besides the environment to get more efficient. Particularly, we expect that rising fuel prices are cutting into their profits. Already they've been taking measures to decrease gasoline use through more quotidian measures, like favoring right turns over left turns in delivery routes.
Nonetheless, the focus on hybrid and LNG propulsion is definitely a good thing for the environment. The trucks are expected to save 176,000 gallons of fuel annually and reduce CO2 emissions by 1,786 metric tons each year. Delivery trucks are particularly useful for both of these applications because they spend so much time driving in cities. Hybrid technology is most useful when there are lots of stops and starts, while the ultra-low emissions of LNG does a great job of reducing pollution in areas where it generally collects.
The truck's chassis is being supplied by Freightliner Custom Chassis Corp. while the hybrid drivetrain was created by Eaton. They'll look just like regular UPS trucks, but don't worry, you'll be able to tell the difference due to UPS's big blazing yellow labels on the side of each one.
In an undoubted victory in the fight to make the world more sustainable, Japanese lingerie company, Triumph, has created an organic cotton, solar bra.
The solar panel powers an LED display board that can, I guess, advertise stuff?
OK, there's really nothing green about this, but I really can't pass up a good solar-powered undergarment story. We imagine that the bra will be useful mostly to people trying to sell technology with hot girls. Putting technology right there on the hot girl will give shy guys an excuse to look, increasing the chances that they'll buy whatever trade show item is actually on display.
Some would say that there's plenty of space in cities for distributed solar power on roofs. However, this isn't entirely true. Solar thermal plants, which focus the sun's rays to create extreme heat in order to turn turbines, cannot be used in cities. Because of the extreme heat, and the danger of someone stumbling across (or into) one of them, they have to be carefully guarded and separated from passersby.
However, I'm not sure if Richardson wants to use photovoltaics or solar thermal. If he wants to use photovoltaics, then I don't really see the advantage, aside from having large areas of contiguous, in-city solar potential. In America, we find that on the roof of the local Wal-Mart...not in our rivers.
I would want some assurance that the River Clyde would not be harmed in any way. I'm not familiar with Scotland's ecology, but it seems pretty obvious that the water temperature would be lowered by this project, potentially impacting the species that live in the river.
The solar pads would be rotated throughout the day, so that the slanted panels could track the sun, and power would be delivered to shore via tethers. Glasgow's city council is considering a small pilot project in conjunction with the Glasgow Science Centre. If that ever gets off the ground, you know EcoGeek will let you know.
We spend an awful lot of time talking about cars here at EcoGeek. And that's not necessarily something that we're proud of. We think that cars, in the end, can never be green...only greener. Which is why we love Carectomy, and also why we love these bike trees.
In general, bike racks suck. They're used improperly, often there aren't enough around, and they can even be downright insecure. Parking and walking away from your thousand-dollar investment is never fun, especially when we all know that any lock, with enough persistence, can be cut.
Enter the bike tree, a marvolous bit of technology which will keep your bike safe in any situation (save a meteorite.) Abhinav Dapke of Bahrain and India designed the trees to deal with theft, and with congested bike parking. The trees actually use significantly less space than traditional bike parking.
Just hook your bike into the device, push the thumbprint scanner, and the bike gets lifted to safety. When you return, scan your thumb again your bike comes down to meet you. A simple system, and one that could also be performed with RFID or a swipe card, to lower the costs of thumb-scanning.
In any case, one more way to make biking more convenient. Now if they just put a roof over the whole thing we wouldn't have to worry about soggy-butts after a rainstorm.
It’s not often that a blogger has the opportunity to meet with GM engineers and test drive a one-of-a-kind prototype, but that’s exactly the opportunity I was given the other day. GM first presented a run-down of the interesting tech (which we've written up here) and then handed over the keys so I could see what I thought first hand. The HCCI-equipped Saturn Aura I drove was hot off the proving grounds and the only one of its kind in the United States (there are two HCCI Opels in Europe, like the Opel pictured), and evolved out of an idea hatched way back in the 70s.
My first impression (and the first negative) came before even stepping into the car, and that was when I learned I would be driving an automatic. Evidently, Americans don’t drive stick anymore, but I was still jealous when I learned the two HCCI Opels in Europe were stick shift. I’ll try to put that aside since I’m supposed to be considering the engine, not the whole car.
The Saturn Aura is a fairly large, family-size sedan, and is not uncomfortable by any means. I was given the impression by Paul Najt that this was the type of car currently targeted for HCCI, so I would wager it was a fairly representative of what we as consumers might actually be seeing. GM did hint at the possibility of a V6 HCCI in such a vehicle, but that is just speculation right now, as to the best of my knowledge, there is no such engine in existence.
Those disclaimers made, my first driving impression was “wow, this thing really is like a diesel.” It sounded and drove the part when in HCCI mode, and then in switching back to standard ignition (SI) mode showed its side as a typical gasoline-powered car. The transitions were definitely a little rough around the edges, but I was assured (and believe) that these things will be cleared up long before the car is sent to consumers.
Given the size of the car, the 2.2-liter 4-cylinder had a little less oomph than you would expect from your typical Detroit-built family sedan, but it definitely wasn’t unbearable and I didn’t find myself digging into the gas to keep up with traffic. Monitoring the HCCI display screen while cruising you could see (and feel) the engine performing its unique compression ignition. Such a screen won’t be available in production cars, but even in the unusually aggressive driving cycle that I put the car through in the downtown, live-traffic course, I was in fuel-saving HCCI mode over 50% of the time.
That was, in fact, the most impressive part of the test drive. While I understand that an HCCI mode monitor is unlikely to come with a production model (due to marketing reasons), even without being particularly conscious of my driving, this new technology was in use over half the time. Even though HCCI mode cannot carry the car to highway speeds (it only reaches up to 55 mph right now), the fact that is in operation the majority of the time bodes well for GM’s quoted 15% increase in fuel economy.
It was a pleasure to drive, and it will be interesting to see how (and if and when) it is introduced to the public. If the car does maintain a slight transition between HCCI and SI modes or the sound difference is profound (which really gives the impression of driving a diesel while in HCCI mode), driving an equipped engine will definitely take a shift in the mind of the consumer. However, I won’t fault GM for that now, as it seems that consumers are finally ready to make that switch.
Let’s just hope that those fears don’t keep GM from putting the kibosh on this technology. It gets a definite thumbs up from me.
Science, technology gadgets and...baby seals. We're in a bit of an eco-mess, but we've got the brains to lick any problem. And that's why EcoGeek.org publishes up to ten stories daily about innovations that are saving the planet.
And if that sounds interesting to you, then congratulations, you're an EcoGeek.
IBM has just squeezed the most power ever out of the smallest area of solar panel. By focusing the sun over 2300x, they were able to pull 70 watts of usable electric power out of one square CENTIMETER of silicon photovoltaic panel..jpg)
This is the first in 
Skepticism remains surrounding GM's promise of the Chevrolet Volt. Test versions of the car, which, they claim, will be able to go 40 miles on all-electric power before a backup generator recharges the batteries, is currently being tested in various conditions.
We've been reminded in recent weeks that the world is a vulnerable place. First as many as 100,000 killed in the cyclone in Burma, and now 12,000 feared dead after an earthquake in China. But as we've seen over and over again, sometimes disaster response is even more important than being prepared for the disaster.
UPS just announced it has ordered 200 hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) - the largest commercial order of such trucks by any company - in addition to another 300 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicles for its U.S. delivery fleet.
In an undoubted victory in the fight to make the world more sustainable, Japanese lingerie company, 
We've already talked about this 
It’s not often that a blogger has the opportunity to meet with GM engineers and test drive a one-of-a-kind prototype, but that’s exactly the opportunity I was given the other day. GM first presented a run-down of the interesting tech (which we've 