The artificial leaf could be one of the most important inventions of this decade.  No, this wasn’t the first time someone has invented such a thing, but it was the first time someone perfected the technology and is on the cusp of making it widely available.  Meet Daniel Nocera, Ph.D.

The first artificial leaf worked but on a limited basis.  It was costly because it used precious metals and was unstable, only lasting a day at most.  Nocera’s leaf is different.  It works on nickel and cobalt and is highly stable.  That makes it cost effective.  When the nickel and cobalt are immersed in water and exposed to sunlight, the “leaf” can split water into hydrogen and oxygen 10 times more efficiently than a natural leaf.

Welcome to a hydrogen economy.  When placed in a gallon of water in the bright sun, this device could power a home in a developing country for a day.  As the nickel and cobalt react and split the water into it’s components, the oxygen and hydrogen are stored in a fuel cell for later use.  This way even when the sun is not shining, electricity can be produced.

via sciencedaily

Currently a huge detractor is that hydrogen is expensive to produce.  Water is very stable, and it takes a lot of energy to break apart water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen.  Gerardine Botte of Ohio University has created a new catalyst that can extract the hydrogen from urine.

Urine is the most abundant waste on Earth and extrating hydrogen from it costs fraction of what it would cost to produce hydrogen from water.  A major component of urine, urea, incorporates four hydrogen atoms per molecule and only requires .37 volts to break the molecule down as opposed to the 1.23 volts needed to break water down.

“During the electrochemical process the urea gets adsorbed on to the nickel electrode surface, which passes the electrons needed to break up the molecule,” Botte told Chemistry World.  She also believes that this technology can easily be scaled to both clean up sewage plants while giving us a viable, long-term energy source.

via physorg

“We took a clean sheet of paper and designed a system with the goal of achieving an installed capital cost of $1/watt,” Angel said.The energy telescope is different from other systems in that it doesnt use a lens on every solar cell.  Instead, they are concentrating the energy of the sun through a ball lens.  After the light is concentrated in the middle of the ball, it is then emitted at about 400 times the intensity of the light going in.  The light is then channeled through optical funnels which concentrate the light again and evenly distribute the power.  The result light is 1200 times the geometric concentration when it hits the solar panels located behind the funnels.

“Other groups have used dish systems, but they don’t use the same type of optics to control the light at its focus,” Angel said. These optics allow more energy to be made using half the area of photovoltaic cells.  In most instances, the solar panel is the most expensive part of a solar array.  However, this is not the case with the solar telescope.  Consequently, high efficiency panels can be used in a smaller number more efficiently.

“Our goal is to have the first complete 20 kW energy telescope installed and operating by the end of the year,” Angel said. He recently received a $1 million grant that will be matched by REhnu, which will help him meet this goal and advance the technology.

via solarnovus

This is one of those ideas that is so simple and efficient.  Unlike solar panels, hot water heaters actually do not need to be on the roof, they simply need to be exposed to the sun.  While using sunlight for hot water, it also blocks the light from entering the house saving as much as 30% on cooling costs.

Another way this makes for a more efficient system is that it opens up the roof for solar panels.  The Eliosolar awnings and shade structures also qualify as solar hot water heaters for the 30% Federal tax break for solar thermal, and you may be in a location with other solar thermal incentives and rebates, You can check your state at DSIRE.

via eliosolar.com

Traditional wind turbines create a wake effect much like a wake seen behind a boat.  This causes the turbines behind the front line to be less effective than the ones behind it.  Turbines after the first row tend to produce 20-30% less power.  This is due to the fact that the turbines cannot dynamically move as winds change direction.

The parts of traditional turbines need to be shipped in very large pieces requiring many trucks to haul the blades and motor to the location for assembly.  FloDesign’s wind turbines break down so all the pieces fit on to one truck, and they have just secured $34.5 million to help begin commercial development.

The FloDesign turbines seem to address many of the issues faced by traditional turbines including size, space required for operation, efficiency, and directional mobility.  Let’s hope this new turbine is as good as FloDesign says.  If it is, we could see the price of wind energy start to drop dramatically.

via cleantechnica

image via ict-aeolus.eu

If you are not familiar with the technology, it basically uses off peak and surplus energy to power giant compressors that will fill salt caverns with air.  When power is at a greater demand than what is being produced, or in the case of solar, the renewable energy is not available, it will use the air pressure in the caverns to power the generators to produce electricity.

Traditional power plants like a 110 MW plant in McIntosh, Alabama have used this technology successfully for 16 years.  It seems the transition to a renewable source would be the next logical evolution in renewable energy.

via eere.energy.gov, inhabitat, swsolartech.com

The government will give you a free quote and pay you to have solar in your home.  If worked out correctly the solar panels and installation could be free, and they get to use the solar energy so it lowers bills.  The max size that qualifies for the tax credit is 10 kilowatts, which is much more than any one house will use.

All households and qualifying small businesses and community groups can apply and get a whopping 60 cents killowatt hour on all electricity produced while electricity in NSW costs 19 cents per kilowatt hour.  Most programs out there only pay on the surplus.

Most households will earn closer to $1,500 a year.  However, this program (a feed in tariff) is much like the programs rolled out in Germany and Spain that caused a global shake up in the solar economy.  The feed-in tariffs aim to drive down the price of solar by increasing the demand, and by-in-large it has worked.

via energymatters.com

img via earth2tech.com

Governor Rick Perry said, “Texas continues to lead the nation in the development of renewable energy and has more wind-generation capacity than any other state and all but four countries.”

The wind farm was built by international energy conglomerate E.ON Climate and Renewables.  They are now working on a multi-billion dollar project to build the largest off shore wind farm off the coast of the UK in the Thames Estuary.  When completed, it will power more than 750,000 homes and should be ready in time for the 2012 Olympic Games.

via cleantechnica

The soil-dwelling Rhodococcus bacteria eats sugars and other toxic compounds that can eventually be converted into biodiesel.  The researchers have already engineered one strain that can feed on glycerol which is a waste product in biodiesel production.  They have also created another that can feed on glucose and xylose.

The bacteria take these sugars and toxic compounds and make lipids in order to make biodiesel.  They are currently working to produce the maximum yields to put into commercial production.

via cleantechnica

image via sciencedaily

This is actually not a new process.  The process was first discovered in 1995, however, a more expensive and less efficient additive was used in place of the phytic acid used today making the process much less cost effective.  Now with the price of uranium going up and the cost efficiencies of the new process, using E.Coli has become viable.

It turns out that the uranium recovered can be used for nuclear energy.  This benefits countries that do not readily have uranium supplies.  A green nuclear future could be in store for all of us thanks to E.Coli.

via inhabitat

image via bioweb.uwlax.edu