Scientific American Topic - Fuel Cells

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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The albedo effect

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:03:00 EST

Editor's Note: Scientific American 's George Musser will be chronicling his experiences installing solar panels in Solar at Home (formerly 60-Second Solar). Read his introduction here and see all posts here .

Someone commenting on one of my recent posts posed an interesting question:

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A Plan to Power 100 Percent of the Planet with Renewables (preview)

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 08:00:00 EST

In December leaders from around the world will meet in Copenhagen to try to agree on cutting back greenhouse gas emissions for decades to come. The most effective step to implement that goal would be a massive shift away from fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy sources. If leaders can have confidence that such a transformation is possible, they might commit to an historic agreement. We think they can.

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Uncharted waters: Success!? New Clermont voyage showcases student ingenuity as well as green power

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:05:00 EST

Editor's Note: A team of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute students traveled up New York's Hudson River on the New Clermont , a 6.7-meter boat outfitted with a pair of 2.2-kilowatt hydrogen fuel cells to power the boat's motor. The 240-kilometer journey began from Manhattan's Pier 84 on September 21 and concluded October 2 near Rensselaer's campus in Troy, N.Y. This is the fifth and final Scientific American.com blog post chronicling this expedition, called the New Clermont Project.

When the crew members of the New Clermont set off from Manhattan, they hoped that by the time they returned to campus they would have notched a victory for green power. The jury is still out on whether the voyage was successful in its ability to use hydrogen as an alternative to gasoline--the boat limped to port last Friday under its own power but one week behind schedule and only after burning through a couple motors . [More]

Driving on Glass? Inventor Hopes to Lay Down Solar Roads

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:01:00 EST

A truck tire supporting a 36,300-kilogram load repeatedly traverses an 18-meter stretch of road, day in and day out, rolling up 483,000 kilometers on the odometer at the U.S. Department of Transportation's (DoT) testing facility in Virginia. The goal is to thoroughly challenge any new paving techniques and see how the road surface holds up. Now imagine putting a solar panel under there. [More]

Uncharted waters: Blown fuses and other troubles send the New Clermont back to the docks as the team regroups

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:54:00 EST

Editor's Note: A team of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute students was traveling up New York's Hudson River this week on the New Clermont , a 6.7-meter boat outfitted with a pair of 2.2-kilowatt hydrogen fuel cells to power the boat's motors. Their journey began September 21 from Manhattan's Pier 84 and was to cover 240 kilometers (at a projected speed of 8 kilometers per hour). After making several stops along the way, the crew originally expected to arrive back at Rensselaer Polytech's campus in Troy, N.Y., on September 25. This is the fourth of Scientific American.com's blogs chronicling this expedition, called the New Clermont Project . [More]

Uncharted waters: Hydrogen and the "law of unintended consequences"

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:25:00 EST

Editor's Note: A team of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute students are traveling up New York's Hudson River this week on the New Clermont , a 6.7-meter boat outfitted with a pair of 2.2-kilowatt hydrogen fuel cells to power the boat's motor. Their journey began September 21 from Manhattan's Pier 84 and will cover 240 kilometers (at a projected speed of 8 kilometers per hour). After making several stops along the way, the crew expects to arrive back at Rensselaer Polytech's campus in Troy, N.Y., on September 25. This is the third of Scientific American.com's blogs chronicling this expedition, called the New Clermont Project. [More]

Uncharted waters: When hydrogen fails, the students turn to that old standby--Gasoline

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:50:00 EST

Editor's Note: A team of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute students are traveling up New York's Hudson River this week on the New Clermont , a 6.7-meter boat outfitted with a pair of 2.2-kilowatt hydrogen fuel cells to power the boat's motor. Their journey began September 21 from Manhattan's Pier 84 and will cover 240 kilometers (at a projected speed of 8 kilometers per hour). After making several stops along the way, the crew expects to arrive back at Rensselaer Polytech's campus in Troy, N.Y., on September 25. This is the second of Scientific American.com's blogs chronicling this expedition, called the New Clermont Project. [More]

Uncharted waters: Students retrofit sailboat with hydrogen power and motor up the Hudson

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:00:00 EST

Editor's Note: A team of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute students are traveling up New York's Hudson River this week on the New Clermont, a 6.7-meter boat outfitted with a pair of 2.2-kilowatt hydrogen fuel cells to power the boat's motor. Their journey began September 21 from Manhattan's Pier 84 and will cover 240 kilometers (at a projected speed of 8 kilometers per hour). After making several stops along the way, the crew expects to arrive back at Rensselaer Polytech's campus in Troy, N.Y., on September 25. This is the first of Scientific American.com's blogs chronicling this expedition, called the New Clermont Project . [More]

Oil Rig of the Future: A Solar Panel That Produces Oil

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 17:45:00 EST

BANGALORE, India--In the ongoing hunt for alternative fuel sources that are also cost-effective, researchers are looking into making biofuel from genetically engineered diatoms, a type of single-celled algae with shells made of glasslike silica. [More]

The U.S. Must Prioritize Its Carbon Strategy [Extended Version]

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 08:00:00 EST

The House of Representatives passed the American Climate and Energy Security Act in June and sent it to the Senate. The House bill, running to 1,428 pages, aspires in one breathtaking stroke to take on renewable energy, carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), nuclear power, electric vehicles, carbon cap-and-trade, power transmission, energy efficiency and climate adaptation. It ranges from grand vision to minuscule details such as technical specifications on lighting fixtures.

What’s missing in this sprawling draft is prioritization. The bill rightly recognizes that America and the rest of the world require a fundamental overhaul in energy technology and use. The insecurity of global oil supply lines, the growing global scarcity of conventional fossil fuels and the urgency to reduce carbon emissions all point to the need for a fundamental energy overhaul. Yet to accomplish such a worldwide, fundamental energy overhaul, we will need to keep our eye on the big picture--the technology systems that will make a large and lasting difference--and not get mired in excruciating details.

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Mighty microbes might help clean up oil extraction and radioactive wastes

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 20:15:00 EST

There appears to be literally nothing microbes cannot do. From the invention of photosynthesis to lifecycles that require no sunlight --even surviving extreme radiation --the most extreme microbes thrive almost everywhere scientists look. And now microbiologists have added two more energy-related tricks to the microbial arsenal. [More]

Invert your thinking: Squeezing more power out of your solar panels

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 08:00:00 EST

Editor's Note: Scientific American 's George Musser will be chronicling his experiences installing solar panels and taking other steps to save energy in 60-Second Solar . Read his introduction here and see all posts here .

When people talk about improving the efficiency of solar energy production, they usually talk about the panels themselves. What fraction of sunlight do they convert into electricity? Most solar cells today are made of crystalline silicon , but could cleverer designs or advanced materials such as thin films , organic polymers , layered semiconductors , and phosphorescent dyes do better? Probably, but that’s only half the story. The auxiliary equipment that connects the panels to your household wiring or the electrical grid is just as important.

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Synthetic biology advance: Genome transferred between two bacteria via yeast

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:30:00 EST

Microbes can be resistant to genetic engineering. There's simply not enough DNA in some of them to permit significant alteration. But by building a bacterial genome inside yeast--a more complex and information-rich eukaryote that is one of mankind's oldest genetic engineering projects--scientists have successfully created new, synthetic bacterial strains, according to a paper published today in Science .

Carole Lartigue and colleagues at the J. Craig Venter Institute have been seeking to build living cells from scratch . The ultimate goal is to produce man-made microbes to solve man-made problems, whether eating up carbon dioxide or making the fuels of the future.

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The Great Electric Car Quandary: How to Build a Charging Infrastructure Before Demand Grows

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:00:00 EST

Which came first: the electric car or the infrastructure needed to power the electric car? That's one of the key questions that carmakers will have to answer if they ever hope to fill up the freeways with their plug-in vehicles. [More]

News Scan Briefs: Killer Smile

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 08:00:00 EST

Killer Smile A toxin that forces a condemned victim to smile really seems to exist. The Greek bard Homer coined the term "sardonic grin" after ceremonial killings that supposedly took place in Sardinia, where Phoenician colonists gave to elderly people who could no longer take care of themselves and to criminals an intoxicating potion that put a smile on their face. (They were then dropped from a high rock or beaten to death.) Scientists at the University of Eastern Piedmont in Italy and their colleagues think they now have identified the herb responsible: hemlock water dropwort ( Oenanthe crocata ), which is common on Sardinia, where it is popularly known as "water celery." Their analysis revealed the presence of highly toxic chemicals in the plant that could make facial muscles contract into a grimace, or rictus. The finding appears in the May 22 Journal of Natural Products . --Charles Q. Choi

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How Green Are Boron-Based Household Cleaners?

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:00:00 EST

Dear EarthTalk: I’ve heard so much about using Borax for green housecleaning. But if this mineral has to be mined, doesn't that negate some of its "green-ness?” -- Elsa, Lincoln, Nebraska

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Toyota Highlander gets 68 miles per... kilogram of hydrogen

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 13:30:00 EST

For Toyota, it's not just about hybrids (that is, the Prius ). Yesterday, the company announced the results of a sunny 331-mile jaunt in Southern California from Torrance to Santa Monica and back again at the end of June. Toyota engineers, accompanied by U.S. government partners, coaxed 68 miles per kilogram of hydrogen out of the Toyota Highlander Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicle (FCHV-adv). That's a range of 431 miles on a single tank at a fuel cost estimated at $2.50 per 68 miles (for hydrogen produced from natural gas).

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