Friday, November 4, 2011

100 + Things to be optimistic about (updated)

Engine- Auto IC

1) DOE Consortium looks to improve ICE efficiency by 30%  

2.  Michigan State University, Nobert Mueller,  has a Wave Disk creates a pulse which recharges a battery

Wave Disk Engine 3.5 X more efficient than ICE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humphrey_cycle
http://gas2.org/2011/03/21/the-wave-disk-engine-cheap-efficient-clean-and-different/
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/04/11/new-gasoline-engine-design-has-4x-efficiency-of-pistons/
a good description of the shock wave cycles 
Arpa-e MSU Norbert Mueller Group explanation of the technology


3  Tour Engines - Improved ICE with Split Cycle 

The TourEngine™ design splits the conventional 4-stroke cycle of a common engine between two opposing cylinders: The Cold-Cylinder hosts the intake and compression and the Hot-Cylinder hosts the combustion and exhaust.       

5. Ilmor engineering designs a 5 stroke IC engine 

6. Kazimierz Holubowicz is a physicist who thinks he has a plan to greatly reduce the rate of fuel (oil) consumption in engines.

7 Concept: Garric Rotary Variable Compression Ratio Engine

 http://www.sandersonengine.com/html/the_engine_of_the_future.html

9  Rolf Reitz, a professor of mechanical engineering at UW-Madison.
10) Transonic injects supercritical fuel for 30mpg increase, a khosla startup 


11)   Vincent Carman  The Inertial Storage Transmission (IST) by storing the engine's energy in high-pressure fluid improves MPG. 



12) SAE 2010 shows multiple automotive efficentcy innovations  &

13) Electric Supercharger bumps torque with a decrease in Co2

14 ) Pinnacle Engine Boxer Engine 30-40 % efficentcy

15) Spark Plugs made from lasers


Engine -ICE Diesel

1) Zajac improved diesel engine design

2) Liquid Piston diesel engine design improvement 20-30

3)  Diesel-Gas in same engine 20 %improvement


Engine- Hydrogen

 1   Hydrogen Fuel Cells costs cut by 75% by Nissan

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20071530-54/solar-generator-splits-water-to-make-hydrogen/?tag=mncol;txt



Engine- Heat & Stirling
1  Lonnie Johnson Stirling Engine in a Box- SolidState Membrane   Heat Recovery--Heat Engine

- JTEC- Johnson Thermo-electromechanical Energy Conversion System, It will convert heat to electricity at rates reaching just under 40 percent of the maximum theoretical efficiency available in an engine operating between two temperatures -- the Carnot efficiency.

Lonnie Johnson lectures at Xerox Parc Video

2 Lonnie Johnson Amtec

Amtec -solid state heat engine

http://www.memagazine.org/contents/current/archive/alkali.html
http://peswiki.com/index.php/PowerPedia:Atomic_Battery

3


Motor-Electric

Electric Motor
 1)  :QM Power uses parallel path technology for more power over a wider range of profiles
 http://pesn.com/2011/04/30/9501820_QM_Power_Commercializing_Flynns_OU_Parallel_Path_Technology/

2) Yasa Motors  Electric Motor design 1/2 the size and twice the tourque
and more about Yasa Projects


Fuel- Alcohol-Ethanol-Methanol 


1)  Supercritical Water removes sugar from wood at sugarcane prices

2)  Synfuel cleaned with plasma arcs

3)

4)  Molecular Filtration Advancements for Petroleum Refiners

5)
6) Low grade Coal (lignite) to Gas? Is it real and desirable?

8) Urine Fuel

E3 clean technology hydrogen fuel cell
http://www.zerofuel.org/

Fuel Algae,bugs etc Microbrew fuel

Joule Technology  and more on Joule bioengineered cynobacteria

 Venter harvests 20 million new genes to find bug that turns coal to methane
Bugs that create Methane from Coal
 ARPA invests in bugs that produce Hydrogen, Ethanol etc. 



Pressure cooking Algae to oil


Fuel Celulosic

One Step Cellusoic sludge to Ethanol

2 One Step Algae to Ethanol

Miscanthus Research

4 Anellotech catalytic process for cellulostic

5) University of Maine Tree Residue to energy

Fuel - Syngas etc


1.  Miniaturizing Fischer-Tropsch plants  allows for more regional smaller scale plants reducing material  transportation costs



Improved Manufacturing for large scale chemicals

      
1( CO2 as a FeedStockhttp://www.chemicalprocessing.com/articles/2008/090.html

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18387-co2-in-the-air-could-be-green-fuel-feedstock.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-9811962-54.html
http://www.chemicalprocessing.com/articles/2010/133.html
http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/1938440/dnv-converts-waste-carbon-valuable-chemical-feedstock
http://www.catelectric.us.com/technology.html
http://www.powerplantccs.com/ccs/cap/fut/c2p/c2p.html
http://newenergyandfuel.com/http:/newenergyandfuel/com/2011/10/07/fuel-from-the-air-a-step-closer/
Hydrogenization of CO2 (using it as a possible feedstock through Fischer-Tropp)
CO2 to Methanol
Solar heated iron creates syngas
Improved Refining
Factor of 50 energy savings membrane for seperation

Geothermal & Drilling Technologies

2)  Fracking Oil Shale (pending safety concerns) 

3)  New Drilling technology for GeoThermal Wells

4) Improved Heat carriers for Geothermal

5) faster hole drilling

6)Virtual lithium mine attaches to geothermal plant

Grid Energy 

 Miniaturizing Fischer-Tropsch plants allows for more regional smaller scale plants reducing transportation costs

Coal

Luca Technology microbes turn coal into Natural Gas in the ground


Wind

Vertical Wind towers  can mean 10X wind power on same amount of land. 

Jet-engine inspired FloDesign boosts wind turbine output (exceed Betz Limit}

Solar

1) Khosla Scilicium a startup in Solar where disk benefits from heat as well. 

2   NanoAntennas -Harvesting the full spectrum of the Sun's Rays
http://alfin2100.blogspot.com/2008/01/revolutionary-unique-solar-energy-nano.html

http://www.greenoptimistic.com/2011/07/11/light-harvesting-nanoantennas/

3 Infrared Light into Electricity :using a wider spectrum

also early detection of diseases and splitting light by color and intense focus of light
4 Spectrolab Solar reaches 40% with mirrors
5 CanSolar Beer Can Solar
6) Artifical Photosynthesis

http://palscience.com/2009/03/11/turning-sunlight-into-liquid-fuel/

7 ) Wake Forest- Fibercell inc Fiber Photovoltaics can double flat cell solar productivity at a fraction of the cost =small microfibers

8) DOE spends money on concentrated solar power

9)Stanford Has a Process to Make Solar Power Production More Than Twice as Efficient to as High as 60% efficient  (solar power and heat in the same package)

10)The company's tiny solar cells, each a dot the size of a ballpoint pen tip, have been validated to convert 41 percent of solar energy to electricity, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory announced yesterday. Semprius is in the process of building a manufacturing facility in Henderson, N.C., to make concentrating solar arrays using its "micro-transfer printing" technique, according to the Department of Energy



Pizoelectric-

 
1) Capturing kinetic energy from cars- Speed bump power-drive throughs toll booths. -

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/New-Energy-MotionPower-TM-iw-3318612337.html?x=0

CHP

http://www.treehugger.com/renewable-energy/the-holy-grail-for-renewable-energy-solar-power-makes-electricity-day-and-night.html

General Technology

NASA  shares technology with others 

Air Conditioning [energy efficentcy]

Chromosun Solar Air Conditioning with a 4 year payback

The U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory has invented a new air conditioning process with the potential of using 50 percent to 90 percent less energy than today's top-of-the-line units

7AC technology Salt-driven air conditioner looks to slash energy


Heat Pumps

Finnish energy company uses corrigated aluminum for new heat pump technology.

Building Materials


Architect Grows Brick From Bacteria, Sand & Urine


Nuclear  

1 ) General Fusion

Fusion for 30M? Vancouver CA company with Bezos money.
NPR interview with Michael Laberge of General Fusion

2 Toshiba smaller nuclear



HydroPower

Micro hydro- canals slow moving

Rentricity turns presure drops in pipes to electricity




Water

Various Water Ideas

Seawater Greenhouses

Cyprus Institutes Solar Desalination

Bruce Logan Microbial Desalination  Microbial Fuel Cells

Substainability :growing trees in the desert
http://www.scientificblogging.com/news_releases/waterboxx_grows_forests_desert
http://newenergyandfuel.com/http:/newenergyandfuel/com/2010/04/15/getting-water-to-grow-biofuels/

Scientific America article on greening the world

Desalinization Energy Plant


http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/desalination-can-the-technology-go-elsewhere/
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/energy-from-sea-water-consider-ibm-intrigued/

Desalinization Pressure Drop Energy

A variant on Salt-Freshwater Energyhttp://www.physorg.com/news171102611.html

Sewerage Energyhttp://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/can-sewage-save-the-world/

Salt Water Battery Cuts Desalination Energy Use by 80%


IBM Seawater Osmotic Pressure Gradient





????
the will to explore new energy ideas :Rising above the gathering storm
Electric Cream ??

Recycling

Biomediation
Microvi biotech solves polution problem with tiny dogs

Farming

Urban farming

Appreciation for Dirt

research into perenial grains such as wheat -20 years out?

Diamond coating for plows means reduced energy

Government

why governmneeds to invest in energy ent

ARPA-E Awards $151M to 37 Projects for Transformative Energy Research[2009