Discoveries in nanotechnology have led to what many consider the next generation of solar technology: ultra-thin amorphous silicon, organic and inorganic solar cells derived from nanocrystals that convert sunlight into electricity at a fraction of the cost of silicon-based solar cells. They are also more flexible, less brittle, and can even be painted onto structures, allowing more possibilities for building integrated architectural design, and helping to ensure that more of our future electricity generation will be derived from the clean energy of the sun. Greater research investment in these technologies is yielding continually higher sunlight-to-electricity conversion efficiencies, bringing them closer to full-scale commercialization.

AEVIA Reveals the Source

The common windmill design used to capitalize on air currents, while centuries old, operates at around 1% efficiency in terms of the power it harvests from the wind, due to the deflective blade design and friction losses. But a new technology unveiled last year in China seeks to dramatically boost the output of wind-driven generators by using the virtually frictionless advantages of magnetically levitated turbines. Since there’s virtually no touching of moving parts, the MagLev wind turbine requires far less servicing than a traditional windmill – which dramatically lowers the operating costs to under five U.S. cents per kilowatt-hour. If projections are accurate, giant 1-gigawatt versions of these machines could have a 12-month ROI – a scenario sure to catch the eye of investors worldwide.

Magnetic levitation uses the repelling properties of magnets to lift an object off the ground. In this case, the object is a wind-harvesting fan. The benefit of having it floating in midair is that it cuts down on the friction that causes so much inefficiency in the traditional windmill-style wind energy harvester we see dotting our coastlines. Friction is also the key factor necessitating frequent maintenance of windmill turbines, adding considerably to the cost of running them.

Without rotational friction to overcome, a wind turbine generator can begin to harvest power from air speeds as low as 1.5 meters per second.

AEVIA Reveals the Source

When Marin Soljacic first presented the principle, it was unproved. All he could show were his calculations. “I expected that some people would think I was a crackpot,” says Soljacic, a physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). “This was pretty far out.”
A year and a half later, a bulb lit up in an MIT lab—unplugged. Soljacic and his collaborators had demonstrated a new way of coaxing magnetic fields into transferring power over a distance of several meters without dispersing as electromagnetic waves. The demonstration ushered in a technology that might eventually become as pervasive as the gadgets it could power. Laptops, cell phones, iPods, and digital cameras might someday recharge without power cords. With the proliferation of wireless electronics, perhaps it was just a matter of time before power transmission would go wireless, too.
Technologies such as lasers and parabolic antennas can confine the energy of electromagnetic waves in tight beams, that can transfer power. But beams have disadvantages. One problem is that anything that happens to cross a beam’s path may get fried. Soljacic’s wireless power system harnesses oscillating electric and magnetic fields in a novel way. Although it doesn’t radiate energy as a radio antenna does, it transmits power across greater distances than a conventional transformer can.
AEVIA Reveals the Source
Additional Source

“I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” — Jesus (MT 17:20)

Peter Kahugu of Banana Hill just outside Nairobi makes a living using his bicycle. He has modified his bicycle with a belt, a set of tensioning pulleys and a grinding stone to make it a knife-sharpening machine. By kicking the bike up onto its stand and engaging a gearing system, he is able to use “leg-horsepower” to drive a grinding wheel and sharpen knives while “on the move”. Peter has been at this for 2 years now and he makes about Kshs 500 ( app. 10 US$) a day by riding his mobile workshop from client to client sharpening all their knives as he goes. The grinding stone he uses has lasted an astounding 2 years and he has had to replace his drive belt a couple of times but that is as simple as cutting up a long strip of rubber from an old car or bicycle tire inner tube.
See Peter In Action

Dr. Amir Sharon of Tel Aviv University has discovered a transgenic fungus strong enough to convert even the most resilient plant parts into bioethanol, a chemical used for biofuel. Strengthened with an anti-death gene, this fungus is resistant to harsh conditions such as heat and toxic substances – both of which are released while converting plant biomass into ethanol. As a result, the production of ethanol using this transgenic fungus could be much more efficient than with conventional fungi.
Most bioethanol produced in the US is derived from the edible parts of corn crops. The stalks and leaves, comprised of cellulose and known to scientists as cellulosic biomass, are much harder to convert into ethanol. The cellulose is bound with a chemical called lignin, which causes the plant material to be rigid and difficult to break down.
As a result, some grain crops that could be used for food production are being used for fuel production instead. The prevailing criticism is that there is not enough farmland to produce crops for biofuel and still maintain an adequate supply of food. Sharon’s new fungus, with its capability to convert inedible plant cellulose into ethanol, could have a significant impact on ethanol production.
The unusual hardiness of the fungus may also be important for the food and drug industries, which rely on the process of fermentation. More than 20 drugs, including penicillin, require fungi in the manufacturing process. Sharon says, “Our fungus can grow for much longer in the fermenter – twice as long or more. This can allow for the production of many more fermentation units.” Doubling the efficiency of food and drug manufacture could mean significant cost savings for these industries.
AEVIA Reveals the Source

The cooperative production model has increasingly come to define the development strategies of the “Bolivarian Revolution.” In its August 2005 report, SUNACOOP registered a total of 83,769 cooperatives, with more than 40,000 cooperatives created in 2004 and almost 30,000 more cooperatives formed in the first eight months of 2005. The total number of associates in October 2004 was 945,517, up from 215,000 in 1998.
This proliferation originates in the recognition of cooperatives throughout the 1999 Bolivarian Constitution as key economic actors within the nation’s social economy, portrayed as tools for economic inclusion, participation (article 70), and state decentralization (article 184). More significantly, the state is expected to “promote and protect” cooperatives (articles 118 and 308). It wasn’t until the Ley Especial de Asociaciones Cooperativas (Special Law of Cooperative Associations) was published in September 2001 that numbers started growing with almost 1,000 cooperatives in 2001, more than 2,000 the following year, and more than 8,000 in 2003.
AEVIA Reveals the Source

A tremendous knowledge of tree crops has been amassed by many at great cost in time and energy . . . but is virtually unknown or unaccepted by contemporary farmers.
There is no better example of this unfortunate situation than exists in a review of the life work of J. Russell Smith, tree-man par excellence. Smith launched his study of commercially useless trees in 1910, with a worldwide quest for new varieties. In 1929 he published TREE CROPS—A PERMANENT AGRICULTURE. His valuable tree discoveries were then intensified with more worldwide travel followed by a revised edition of his book in 1954.
As a loyal tree-man, Smith (who, incidentally was professor of economic geography at Columbia University) spoke vehemently against annual row crops. Crops that must build themselves from scratch for each harvest are victims of the climatic uncertainty of short seasons. Tree crops, on the other hand, are not affected by drought to the same degree . . . deep roots enable a tree to accumulate and store moisture.
Smith was repulsed by the fact that four-fifths of everything raised by the American farmer goes to feed animals. He made a good case for a tree crop diet instead, realizing that meat contains 800 calories as compared to nuts which contain 3,200 calories. If animals are to be raised, Smith maintained that they should be allowed to harvest their own crops. This “hogging down” principle is nowadays a major agricultural innovation . . . as when hogs are permitted to harvest corn, soybeans, peanuts, etc. Smith maintained that tree crops can also be harvested directly by animals . . . mulberry, persimmon, oak, chestnut, honey locust, and carob are all excellent stock-food trees.
Andrew Jackson Downing continues to be the tree-crop giant of them all. One of his major works, FRUITS AND FRUIT TREES OF AMERICA, published in 1845, remains today an essential tree crop reference. Resulting from the publication of a number of his important books, Downing’s influence on American fruit tree culture is apparent to this day. He fully remodeled western European fruit growing practices to fit American site and climatic conditions. One contemporary tree crop author found that fruit trees planted in Massachusetts and Michigan during the height of Downing’s influence (18701890) are still standing and bearing fruit. Yet thousands of trees planted in subsequent years (1890-1920) have broken down or died. There is a refreshing simplicity in Downing’s basic principles:
A judicious pruning to modify the form of our standard trees is nearly all that is required in ordinary practice. Every fruit tree, grown in the open orchard or garden as a common standard, should be allowed to take its natural form, the whole efforts of the pruner going no further than to take out all weak and crowded branches.
The tree-men who have qualified the science of pomology are in unanimous agreement on one important aspect: interplanting is a desirable practice. Interplanting makes good sense to the homesteader from a purely economic standpoint. Where peaches, pears and plums are interplanted in apple orchards, revenue from their yields subsidize the apples to production. Rapidly maturing ‘tree crops (like dwarfed varieties) can be alternated with slowly maturing species. Mulberry trees are an excellent choice to interplant in a nut tree orchard . . . they grow rapidly, bear young and are resistant to shade.
AEVIA Reveals the Source

In an era of war and global terrorism, Nobel laureate Norman Borlaug sees agriculture as an instrument of peace.
Though he’s revered as a peacemaker, this pugnacious 90-year-old is quick to wrestle with procrastinating bureaucrats in third-world countries, and he’s worked tirelessly to convince kings and presidents of the value of his agricultural advancements. These days, Borlaug is speaking out against those who fervently oppose biotechnology, referring to them as “extremist greenies” who have never seen the misery and hopelessness that he’s seen up close.
Borlaug is famous for developing a hearty strain of dwarf wheat in Mexico. He took the new hybrid seeds and fertilizing practices to India and Pakistan to launch the “Green Revolution” of the 1960s, and for that he’s credited with saving a billion lives.
Borlaug is motivated by the sight of starving children who can barely stand on spindly legs — children barely alive, many of whom die. “I hate poverty and misery,” Borlaug said, his boyish face full of anger. “I’ve seen people suffering.”
Amid his busy schedule, Borlaug continues his alliances with agricultural scientists around the world, such as M.S. Swaminathan — India’s most famous scientist. Borlaug is most consumed, however, with his efforts in Africa, where he, former President Jimmy Carter and the Sasakawa family of Japan are trying to bring a new Green Revolution in food production to millions of small-scale farmers. “African food production remains in crisis, even though technology is available to double and triple yields of the major food crops,” he said.
Worldwide, agricultural technology has improved food availability, yet the need remains great: In 2002, the United Nations estimated that about 24,000 people die of hunger-related causes each day around the globe.
AEVIA Reveals the Source

It has been a year since farming operations in Ceballos’ small lot in Caloocan began. At only 200 sq.m., the area is obviously small for commercial production. But the young entrepreneur used the financial grants anyway to build a greenhouse and assemble a Nutrient Film Technique-driven hydroponic system in the family backyard.

Throughout the course of his research, Ceballos realized he still had so much to learn about this water-based farming technique, and that he could not go full blast on production unless he unravels the many “mysteries” of hydroponics. He wanted to know why some seeds won’t sprout, and why some plants suddenly dry up among other farming concerns. Despite the setbacks, Ceballos is confident he would eventually make it in the agriculture business.

Tooling Up for Hydroponics