The turbine, known as “Deep Green” was developed by a privately-owned Swedish/UK company, Minesto, and is intended to be tethered 100 meters above the sea bottom. It has a wingspan of 12 meters and a turbine one meter in diameter. The “kite” comprises a wing with a rudder to steer the turbine to face in the direction that will allow it to capture the maximum amount of tidal energy, and generate up to 500 kW of electricity. The kite flies in a figure eight and travels 10 times faster than the water it is tethered in.
Category: Energy
Back in December 2007, the main nuclear reactor that supplies the majority of the worlds supply of cobalt-60 and almost half of the world’s supply of Tech-99 had to be shut down. This create a shortage of diagnostic and therapeutic nuclear medicine. Apparently the Canadian government saw this possibility and started creation of two new reactors as backups; however, these had to be essentially scraped due to a miscalculation of the power coefficient of reactivity (PCR.) A negative PCR means as the reaction increases, the design of the reactor is such that the reaction will slow down in a negative feedback loop. The only problem was when they started tests, it actually had a positive reaction, meaning it would continue to build unless other safety measures were enabled (inserting rods for example to slow the reaction.) Since the negative PCR was part of the safety spec, it was not allowed to continue.
It’s an interesting read: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20527431.400-nuclear-safety-when-positive-is-negative.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news
Nanosolar has a manufacturing facility churning out flexible solar cells on aluminum foil. They claim they could produce electricity at five to six cents per kilowatt hour, which is 3-4 times less expensive than current methods. This brings solar cells electricity generation down to the same cost as coal. Now why hasn’t this gotten the attention of the US government..?
This was published on NewScientist -http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn15016-humble-sticky-tape-emits-powerful-xrays.html
This may not sound impressive, but it’s a step towards having LEDs used for blinkers on cars, yellow on stop lights, and other consumer products such as lower-cost LCD devices.
“A nitride phosphor with peak emission at 590 nm in the form of a dense ceramic – Lumiramic is attached to a highly efficient blue emitting InGaN diode, so that full conversion of blue light is achieved. A total External Quantum Efficiency (amber photons per electron) of 32% has been reached, resulting in a 300% improvement over the best direct AlGaInP LED”
A first of it’s kind, the superconducting plasma drive underwent successful initial tests. In about a week a full-output test will be conducted. This new engine will provide enough power to go on deep-space missions and at a fraction of the payload.
A cool video : http://www.adastrarocket.com/Plasma.html
The international Space Station is the first hop / node in space to use the new Interplanetary Internet. This first iteration has certain hours that it can be used, so it still has some growth, but at least it’s the first step in expanding out reach. It uses Delay-Tolerant-Networking (DTN) to send the data instead of our standard TCP/IP, since it’s likely there data will come in waves and perhaps out of order. The main difference with DTN is the node will store all information it receives until it finds another node to send the data. The reason for this is a NAK (not acknowledged) message could delay transmissions for days, so a new method was needed. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17416-interplanetary-internet-gets-permanent-home-in-space.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news
Finally, a all-electric vehicle with a 300 mile range, 0-6 in 5.6 seconds,electronically limited to 125-MPH and 45 minute quick-charge and seats 5 adults? It won’t be available in the U.S. for a couple of years, but it sure had caught my attention. This car as the ability to be used for daily life, get 2x the efficient as a hybrid, and do so with so much cargo room it’s insane. Check out the Tesla site here: http://www.teslamotors.com/models/index.php and Pcauthority has a interesting write up as well: http://www.pcauthority.com.au/News/149096,motor-tech-teslas-upgrade-to-right-hand-drive-evokes-exotic-electric-car-future.aspx
This year F1 racing will be even more exciting to watch with the new energy recovery systems – KERS. The cars will have one of two methods of storing braking energy and provide that power on-demand via a boost button on the cars. It’s generating a lot of controversy over safety; time will tell. Read more here: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20127015.800-f1-cars-get-a-power-boost-but-at-what-risk.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news
See a video of the fly-wheel design here:
http://www.williamshybridpower.com/f1/
Also check out this blog entry:
http://blog.hitzenglish.com/2008/12/formula-one-kinetic-energy-recovery.html
It’s still being investigated, but researches have found a way to increase the resolution of MRIs 1000-fold. The good news is the MRI scanners would be able to use this without hardware modifications. Read more here:http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/38423
“ Physicists are on the verge of demonstrating perhaps the ultimate application of the laser: creating nuclear fusion in the lab.
Later today the US Department of Energy will give official clearance for experiments to begin at the the $4bn National Ignition Facility (NIF) “
I’ve submerged myself in technology since I was a toddler, taking apart my mother’s vacuum to see how it worked, to stringing “parts” all over the house. I shocked myself hundreds of times before I was seven, when I first started working with a Tandy Color Computer. So basically what I am saying is technology and it’s draw for energy keep me intrigued.
This leads me to the current state of the U.S., with all it’s problems has the potential to make huge leaps forward both economically and technically. Obama has made an interesting pick to head the Department of Energy (see http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081211-obama-pick-for-energy-dept-may-herald-much-needed-shakeup.html)
But the most intriguing choice by far is the decision to place Steven Chu in charge of the Department of Energy. Chu has a PhD in physics, and was a wide-ranging experimentalist, sharing a Nobel Prize for his work in trapping metal atoms in ultracold gas clouds, a technique with a variety of applications. Chu brings a wealth of experience to the position; he has spent time in academic positions at Berkeley and Stanford, and won his Nobel Prize for work performed while at Bell Labs at a time when it was an icon of industry-funded "blue sky" research.
Since 2004, he has headed the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which has undoubtedly given him a wealth of administrative experience. LBL hosts some work from the DOE’s joint genome initiative, which has given Chu some experience with biology; he can now speak comfortably about termite endosymbionts. During his tenure, he helped refocus the facility on renewable and sustainable energy, primarily directed toward biofuels and solar. In his talk at the World Science Festival last year, Chu said he felt that solar technology has hit a critical mass where the number and quality of the people working on it had risen rapidly in recent years. He was clearly hoping that biofuels would go the same direction, suggesting that we needed to start engineering plants to contain complete biosynthetic pathways that produced some of the hydrocarbons we need for fuel and industrial purposes.
Chu clearly lacks some of the political skills of the other appointees—he’s bluntly termed corn-based biofuels "a dumb way to do things"—but we’ve argued before that US energy policy needs a major shake up, and Chu’s role in directing this sort of focus at LBL may make him the right person to do so. Regardless of political experience, he’s incredibly personable and persuasive, and it’s impossible to be anything but impressed with his sheer intellectual capacity after seeing him speak. His choice, along with several of the other environmental staff, clearly indicates that the scientific focus of the Obama administration will clearly be in the energy arena.
My wife works in Nuclear Medicine, and on a couple of occasions now due to tightening of regulation, shrinking sources for supplies and other factors. It’s a fascinating field to me since it involves science to a high degree. My great uncle says she “fixes sick Bombs,” which may explain why some people freak out when i tell them what she does. It instills images of nuclear bombs etc, so even though my uncle is jesting I bet it’s close to what some people actually think. Nuclear medicine has exploded as a modality, especially with the combination with other technologies, such as CAT scans and PET. My wife is actually working with the latest in dual-modality equipment in the state. The combining of the technologies should help Nuke Med to shave it’s old “unclear medicine” name, due to the large pixel size of the images. The software for these cameras has come a long way, to 3-d rendering of the heart actually pumping.
affectionately called Unclear Medicine due to the less than crisp images, it is the one of the best imaging for detecting unnatural growths, bone density, and heart function. 
So this brings me to an article I found that might help one of the most difficult parts of the job: obtaining the isotope needed from a very limited supply.
“Researchers in Canada have proposed a new way to make key medical isotopes that avoids the need for nuclear reactors and weapons-grade uranium.
The alternative technique uses a particle accelerator and could help secure a long-term, reliable supply of technetium-99m, which is a radioisotope that is used in around 80% of all diagnostic nuclear medicine tests worldwide. “
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/36907
“An engineer in the US has built a machine that can harness energy from the slow-moving currents found in oceans and rivers around the world. By exploiting the vortices that fish use to propel themselves forward, the device could, he says, provide a new kind of reliable, affordable and environmentally-friendly energy source.
Turbines and water mills can generate electricity from flowing water, but can only do so in currents with speeds of around 8–10 km/h if they are to operate efficiently. Unfortunately, most of the currents found in nature move at less than 3 km/h. The new device is called VIVACE, which stands for vortex induced vibrations for aquatic clean energy, and its inventor claims it can operate in such slow-moving flows. “
Interesting read, but personally I am skeptical this would ever be used in mass.
