A new study from NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies has identified on-road transportation as the most significant overall source contributing to global warming. Power generation, while having the greatest total impact, also includes a large number of compounds that increase cloud reflectivity and provide other effects to offset some of the warming they are responsible for.

The study looks at the range of gases and aerosols that are released by each of 13 sectors of the economy, and finds that on-road transportation has the greatest overall effect on global warming.

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Sun Catalytix is out to show that plants are not the only means to efficiently split water into its separate elements -- artificial photosynthesis. In a presentation at the ARPA-E conference (the Advanced Research Projects Agency) Sun Catalytix founder Dan Nocera indicates that the process his company is developing could generate 30 kilowatt hours of electricity with only four hours of sunlight, a bottle of water and a photovoltaic array. The company considers 30 kilowatt hours to be average for 1 home for 1 day.

The 30k assumption aside, I'm curious why the recipe described is so special that they can collect such a large amount of energy. The key to the article seems to be the quantities. As I can not find the original article, just other blogs, I take this with a big grain of salt. Before getting too excited, how big is the solar array and is the bottle of water the water cooler type or one that fits easily in a persons hand? I am curious and want to know more. If I find out more, I will post it.

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Researchers at the University of Michigan have unveiled their latest breakthrough: A tiny solar power system that contains a processor, battery, and solar cells all in 9 cubic millimeters!


The miniature system measures 2.5 by 3.5 by 1 millimeters - 1,000 times smaller than any comparable commercial system. It's extremely energy efficient and the scientists say that it could almost operate perpetually if the battery didn't have to be replaced after many years.

The first thing that comes to mind for me is the monitoring of aging monuments without distracting from their artistic beauty, like the Golden Gate Bridge or others that require maintenance.

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SCiB batteries are useful for a wide range of functions, from electric bicycles and hybrid and electric vehicles, to industrial equipment and renewable energy storage. Toshiba has now opened a US-based technical support center to aid in developing the SCiB, particularly for vehicles, grid storage, and wind and solar power applications.

The SCiB has characteristics that make it very appealing. It performs like an ultracapacitor with rapid charge times, reaching 90% charge in about 5 minutes. It is good for thousands of cycles without extensive capacity loss, and it has a life span of 10 years or more.

With these properties, solar and wind power generation as options for the power grid are actually increased as well as making electric vehicles more enticing. Imagine filling your electric vehicle with power in about 5 minutes, close to the time it takes to fill an average car with gas currently. I see this as a major advancement.

As I read other blogs in my day to day research, sometimes I come across one that sounds just like me. The following is a quote from YahooGreen:

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Don't get me wrong, I'm extremely excited about Bloom Energy. I honestly think that their technology is a good thing for the world and that it might very well revolutionize the power infrastructure in America and throughout the world. And yes, it will create jobs and make a select few people very rich.

In fact, I think it's so revolutionary that it doesn't need to be inflated by false or misleading claims ...

Annoying press point #1:
The Bloom Box "energy server" works with "nearly any fuel source."

The Bloom Box doesn't run on "nearly any fuel source" it runs on methane or methane or methane. That methane can be pumped out of the ground or captured from landfills, but it's still methane, and as I count it, that's one fuel source.

Annoying press point #2:
Companies using the Bloom Box can "expect a three to five year payback on their capital investment." The average cost per kW/h in California is 14 cents and a Bloom Box produces 100 kW. 100 kW multiplied by 8760 hours in a year times $0.14 per kW means 100 kW of continual electricity consumption over the course of the year will cost a company about $122,000 a year. Add in the cost of the fuel (in whatever form) the cost of maintenance and financing, and I doubt these companies are saving more than $60,000 per year per box.

Annoying press point #3:
Probably what annoys me most about Bloom's press release is that they claim the box "provides a cleaner, more reliable, and more affordable alternative to both today's electric grid as well as traditional renewable energy sources." Again, if it's not an outright lie, it's at least very misleading. The Bloom Box might be more reliable than both, but it isn't cheaper than the grid and it isn't cleaner than solar or wind.

Bloom Energy's technology is fantastic and exciting. It's much cleaner than our current electricity infrastructure and more practical than distributed solar. It's great, but there's no reason to make false claims when your product is this revolutionary.

By telling "60 Minutes" that the device can run on solar power (huh? isn't it cleaner than solar? how?) and saying that it doesn't perform "dirty combustion" they're implying that this is the same order of clean energy as solar or wind power. But it's simply not -- they're turning hydrocarbons into carbon dioxide (and a host of other pollutants, of course) just like every other power plant in the world.

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To read the whole blog with the original writers comments, follow the related link below.