413 — Practical Striving

Norway’s REC building solar power plant in Italy

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OSLO Feb 3 (Reuters) – Norwegian solar energy firm REC  said on Thursday it is building a 24-megawatt plant in Italy. Construction of the facility in Lazio has already begun and would use 100,000 REC solar modules. “The plant will produce around 37 million kilowatt-hours, equal to the energy consumption of around 14,000 families,” the … Read more

Eating Garbage & Excreting Crude Oil

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LS9’s bugs are single-cell organisms, each a fraction of a billionth the size of an ant. They start out as industrial yeast or nonpathogenic strains of E. coli, but LS9 modifies them by custom-de-signing their DNA. Using genetically modified bugs for fermentation is essentially the same as using natural bacteria to produce ethanol, although the … Read more

Life Form That Turns CO2 to Fuel

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“We think we will have fourth-generation fuels in about 18 months, with CO2 as the fuel stock.” Simple organisms can be genetically re-engineered to produce vaccines or octane-based fuels as waste, according to Venter. Biofuel alternatives to oil are third-generation. The next step is life forms that feed on CO2 and give off fuel such … Read more

Openfaced Silicon Sandwich

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Several years ago, SunPower, a unit of Cypress Semiconductor, (CY) realized the top metal plate was reflecting the sun’s rays, cutting efficiency by reducing the percentage of sunlight converted to electricity. So the company decided to put both plates beneath the silicon. It now has an industry-high efficiency of 22% vs. an average of 16%, … Read more

Foldable, Bendable Battery Made from Paper

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It is a battery that looks like a piece of paper and can be bent or twisted, trimmed with scissors or molded into any shape needed. While the battery is only a prototype a few inches (centimeters) square right now, U.S. researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute who developed it have high hopes for it in … Read more

Upgrading China’s Bike Industry

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China’s bicycle industry has been developed rapidly. In 2006, the total bicycle output has reached 85 million across the country with the export of 56 million, which accounted for 70 percent of the world bicycle trade volume. Electric bicycle industry has grown rapidly during the recent five years, and the annual sales reached 19.5 million … Read more

Well, does it?

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Fortunately there are people that have ventured beyond the question of whether the refrigerator light actually goes off when the door is closed. And they have developed a more energy efficient lighting system for refrigerator cabinets. Now you might be asking: “Why is his a priority? Did they conclude it stays on?” The new LED … Read more