Scientific American Topic - Fuel Cells

Sunshine is free, so can photovoltaics be cheap?

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:35:00 EST

Here's how to make a solar cell from silicon : take one solid block of doped silicon, saw it into thin wafers, layer said semiconductors beneath a panel of transparent glass, connect them to a metal electrode that can channel away the electrons knocked loose by incoming photons and turn it into a photovoltaic device. That process has at least two flaws: such silicon is expensive, contributing more than half to the final price of a solar photovoltaic, and sawing it turns as much as half of that silicon into wasted grit.* [More]

Can solid-oxide fuel cells like the Bloom box remake the energy landscape?

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:34:00 EST

The fuel cell has a long history. Various types of fuel cells have been part of the NASA space program, and the basic science of how fuel cells work--an energy carrier comes in, creates a flow of charge in the anode, which migrates to the cathode creating a current, and separated by some form of electrolyte--has been known for more than a century. Yet, Bloom Energy believes the time is finally right for one of the more promising fuel-cell technologies--solid-oxide fuel cells, so-called because the electrolyte is a solid rather than the more common liquids--to produce electricity on a grander scale. [More]

Next-Gen Scientists Honored for Evolving Medicine and Renewables [Slide Show]

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:00:00 EST

The more mysteries that scientists unlock, the more opportunities emerge for the next generation of researchers to transform newfound knowledge into tomorrow's breakthroughs that serve society. The Lemelson–M.I.T. Program recognized several potential breakthroughs Wednesday in awarding four of its $30,000 Lemelson–M.I.T. Student Prizes to those from California Institute of Technology (Caltech), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (R.P.I.), and the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (U.I.U.C.). [More]

World's Mightiest Solar Boat Unveiled

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:00:00 EST

Nearly 500 years after Juan Sebastián Elcano completed the first circumnavigation of the globe using nothing but renewable power, Swiss engineer Raphael Domjan and French sailor Gerard D'Abouville are preparing to repeat Elcano's journey in an all-electric boat powered by the energy gathered by 470 square meters of solar panels. [More]

Can greener gadgets save us from e-waste?

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 10:00:00 EST

One laptop per child seems a simple slogan, chock full of benefit. What could go wrong when you put the power of the Internet and solar cells into the hands of children in the developing world? After all, not only does it train the global underclass in the tools of modern production, it also unleashes a creativity that may allow them to leapfrog the old, dirty, industrial development that has fouled the planet. [More]

Germany Floats New Plans to Keep Hydrogen-Powered Cars in the World's Transportation Mix

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:30:00 EST

It's amusing to reduce the development of next-generation electric- or hydrogen-powered cars to a binary paper-versus-plastic decision, but the companies making these cars and the infrastructure to support them are hoping there will be room for both. Hydrogen cars, in particular, have had a bumpy road thus far--the Obama administration has been at odds with Congress over whether to fund hydrogen fuel-cell research. Meanwhile, the first commercial models are not expected to hit the road until 2015, a few years after their hybrid and all-electric counterparts . [More]

Obama Budget Increases Funding for Energy Research and Nuclear Power

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:00:00 EST

Nuclear energy and energy research are among the big winners in the proposed $28.4 billion Energy Department fiscal 2011 budget the White House unveiled today.

The almost 5 percent increase in funding from fiscal 2010 covers a $36 billion boost in loan guarantee authority for nuclear power facilities for a total of $54 billion, $300 million for an innovative energy research program, and a $226 million increase in funding for the Office of Science for research and development of "breakthrough" technologies for a total of $5.1 billion.

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Bacteria Transformed into Biofuel Refineries

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:31:00 EST

The bacteria responsible for most cases of food poisoning in the U.S. has been turned into an efficient biological factory to make chemicals , medicines and, now, fuels. Chemical engineer Jay Keasling of the University of California, Berkeley, and his colleagues have manipulated the genetic code of Escherichia coli , a common gut bacteria, so that it can chew up plant-derived sugar to produce diesel and other hydrocarbons, according to results published in the January 28 issue of Nature . ( Scientific American is part of Nature Publishing Group.) [More]

Fixing the Global Nitrogen Problem (preview)

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 08:00:00 EST

Billions of people today owe their lives to a single discovery now a century old. In 1909 German chemist Fritz Haber of the University of Karlsruhe figured out a way to transform nitrogen gas--which is abundant in the atmosphere but nonreactive and thus unavailable to most living organisms--into ammonia, the active ingredient in synthetic fertilizer. The world’s ability to grow food exploded 20 years later, when fellow German scientist Carl Bosch developed a scheme for implementing Haber’s idea on an industrial scale.

Over the ensuing decades new factories transformed ton after ton of industrial ammonia into fertilizer, and today the Haber-Bosch invention commands wide respect as one of the most significant boons to public health in human history. As a pillar of the green revolution, synthetic fertilizer enabled farmers to transform infertile lands into fertile fields and to grow crop after crop in the same soil without waiting for nutrients to regenerate naturally. As a result, global population skyrocketed from 1.6 billion to six billion in the 20th century.

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Better Mileage Now--Improving the Combustion Engine (preview)

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 08:00:00 EST

Demand for automobiles is rising worldwide. So is concern about greenhouse gas emissions. In response, scientists and engineers are working diligently to perfect new power plants for future vehicles, including battery and hydrogen fuel-cell electric cars. Although these and other alternatives show great promise for the long term, perhaps the single greatest way to reduce fossil-fuel consumption in the near term is to further improve today’s dominant transportation power plant: the gasoline internal-combustion (IC) engine.

Fortunately, efficiency can be raised in a number of ways, notably, better control over the air-fuel mixture entering the combustion chamber, over the way gasoline is ignited there, and over the mechanical systems that harness that energy. These can improve traditional automobiles as well as gasoline-electric hybrid models.

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The Naked Truth: Why Humans Have No Fur (preview)

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 11:01:00 EST

Among primates, humans are unique in having nearly naked skin. Every other member of our extended family has a dense covering of fur--from the short, black pelage of the howler monkey to the flowing copper coat of the orangutan--as do most other mammals. Yes, we humans have hair on our heads and elsewhere, but compared with our relatives, even the hairiest person is basically bare.

How did we come to be so denuded? Scholars have pondered this question for centuries. Finding answers has been difficult, however: most of the hallmark transitions in human evolution--such as the emergence of upright walking--are recorded directly in the fossils of our predecessors, but none of the known remains preserves impressions of human skin. In recent years, though, researchers have realized that the fossil record does contain indirect hints about our transformation from hirsute to hairless. Thanks to these clues and insights gleaned over the past decade from genomics and physiology, I and others have pieced together a compelling account of why and when humans shed their fur. In addition to explaining a very peculiar quirk of our appearance, the scenario suggests that naked skin itself played a crucial role in the evolution of other characteristic human traits, including our large brain and dependence on language.

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Greening executives: A new program teaches managers about the business of clean tech

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 15:45:00 EST

While the unemployment rate in the U.S. climbed to more than 10 percent in December, the job market could be gaining strength for green leaders. Already companies such as Wal-Mart, Coca-Cola Co. and FedEx Corp. have reportedly carved out executive positions for so-called sustainability officers. But, as two professors at New York University (N.Y.U.) recently discovered, there are scant programs to ready future green executives working in urban environments. [More]

Hybrid Solar Panels Combine Photovoltaics with Thermoelectricity

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 11:00:00 EST

Tar and shingles are hardly environmentally friendly materials, so the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) hopes to soon help homeowners and businesses replace the roofs over their heads with something greener. To that end, the DOE awarded Weidlinger Associates , a New York City-based structural engineering firm, a $150,000 grant earlier this month (matched by a 10-percent commitment from the state) to develop durable hybrid solar roofing panels with integrated photovoltaic cells and thermoelectric materials that harvest the sun's energy to produce both electricity and hot water for buildings. [More]

World's First Fuel Cell Ship Docks in Copenhagen

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 10:00:00 EST

COPENHAGEN--Pleasure yachts and tall ships line the wharves and quays of Nyhavn here in the Danish capital. Shipping in Denmark goes back to the Vikings and their long ships that made perilous sea crossings even beyond Greenland. Now what may be the future of shipping is docked around the corner from Nyhavn at Kvaesthusmolen pier, a bright orange and yellow North Sea supply ship from Norway dubbed " Viking Lady "--the first ship to employ a fuel cell in history. [More]

The Double Life of ATP in Humans (preview)

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST

One of the first and most enduring facts most students learn in biology class is that all living cells use a small molecule called adenosine triphosphate (ATP) as fuel. That universal energy currency drives the biological reactions that allow cells to function and life to flourish--making ATP a crucial player in the biological world.

Less commonly known, however, is that what is perhaps the most produced and consumed molecule in the human body also has a completely separate but no less essential role outside of cells. A long series of discoveries has now demonstrated beyond doubt that ATP is a critical signaling molecule that allows cells and tissues throughout the body to communicate with one another. The universal fuel, in effect, serves as a common language as well.

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World Changing Ideas: 20 Ways to Build a Cleaner, Healthier, Smarter World

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:00:00 EST

What would happen if solar panels were free? What if it were possible to know everything about the world--not the Internet, but the living, physical world--in real time? What if doctors could forecast a disease years before it strikes? This is the promise of the World Changing Idea: a vision so simple yet so ambitious that its full impact is impossible to predict. Scientific American’s editorial and advisory boards have chosen projects in five general categories--Energy, Transportation, Environment, Electronics and Robotics, and Health and Medicine--that highlight the power of science and technology to improve the world. Some are in use now; others are emerging from the lab. But all of them show that innovation is the most promising elixir for what ails us. --The Editors

The No-Money-Down Solar Plan [More]

Tree Ring Science and Tomorrow's Water

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:42:08 EST

Podcast Transcription

Steve: Welcome to the Science Talk, the weekly podcast of Scientific American posted on November 18th, 2009. I am Steve Mirsky. In this episode we'll hear about trees and water with tree ring expert Kevin Anchukaitis and water [maven]Colin Chartres. Plus, we will test your knowledge about some recent science in the news. First up, Kevin Anchukaitis--he is a researcher in the tree ring lab at the Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory, part of Columbia University's Earth Institute. A group of science writers visited the Observatory just north of New York City on the west side of the Hudson River on October 29th, and we all got a brief primer on tree rings and what they tell us.

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Hot Spot Hot Rod: The Internet Invades the Automobile

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:00:00 EST

With U.S. commuters spending an estimated 500 million hours per week in their vehicles , carmakers, software companies and content providers are trying to figure out how to take advantage of new high-speed wireless network technologies to help drivers have better Internet access during this often idle time. [More]

Government Incentives Can Help Finance Energy-Efficient Home Improvements

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:00:00 EST

Dear EarthTalk: Since Obama took office, have any new incentives been put in place for homeowners looking to increase energy efficiency and reduce the overall environmental footprints of their homes? --Rob Felton, Little Rock, AK [More]

The Future of Cars (preview)

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:00:00 EST

For a glimpse into what automobiles will be like 20 years from now, contributing editor Stuart F. Brown conducted a group interview with executives at General Motors, Tesla Motors and Toyota and also spoke separately with a program manager at the Electric Power Research Institute. The interviewees, whose comments have been edited for length, foresee increased communication among cars and a combination of vehicle types. Some, like Tesla’s current sports cars, will draw their energy from a battery pack. Others, in common with today’s Toyota’s Prius and the 2010 Chevy Volt, will be hybrid designs, relying on both electric motors and small internal-combustion engines. Many forthcoming hybrids will charge batteries by plugging into the electric grid, and hydrogen fuel cells might be a reality. But that is not all that the participants see. Read on. --The Editors

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