As of March 26, we're $27,100 in the red for the quarter. Donate here to support this vital work
Subscribe here and join over 13,000 subscribers to our free weekly newsletter

Energy Inventions News Stories

Below are key excerpts of revealing news articles on energy inventions from reliable news media sources. If any link fails to function, a paywall blocks full access, or the article is no longer available, try these digital tools.

For further exploration, delve into our Energy Information Center.

Explore our comprehensive news index on a wide variety of fascinating topics.
Explore the top 20 most revealing news media articles we've summarized.
Check out 10 useful approaches for making sense of the media landscape.

Sort articles by: Article Date | Date Posted on WantToKnow.info | Importance

Pee power! African teens create urine-fueled generator
2012-11-08, CNET
Posted: 2013-02-25 16:20:49
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57547296-1/pee-power-african-teens-create...

Four teenage African girls have come up with a urine-powered generator ... which they claim generates one hour of electricity from one liter (about a quart) of urine. The pee-powered product made its debut at Maker Faire Africa in Lagos, Nigeria. Urine is put into an electrolytic cell, which separates out the hydrogen. The gas cylinder pushes hydrogen into a cylinder of liquid borax, which is used to remove the moisture from the hydrogen gas. This purified hydrogen gas is pushed into the generator. The girls will probably be famous chemists one day, in any case, but they aren't the first to propose urine (or more solid human and animal waste) as a possible alternative fuel. Last year, in one example, researchers from Ohio University came up with their own technology for extracting hydrogen from urine. Doing so, they say, requires less power than plucking it from water, as hydrogen can be separated more easily from the ammonia and urea chemical compounds present in pee. The four African teens likely are the youngest researchers yet to dabble in pee as power. Skepticism aside, can we all just agree that the foursome should be lauded for their efforts to find alternative power sources on a continent that could really use them?

Note: For a treasure trove of great news articles which will inspire you to make a difference, click here.


Peugeot unveils battery-free hybrid
2013-01-22, Chicago Tribune
Posted: 2013-01-29 08:20:11
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-01-22/business/chi-peugeot-unveils-ba...

PSA Peugeot Citroen [has] unveiled a pioneering hybrid vehicle concept combining a conventional engine with compressed nitrogen propulsion which it said would halve the cost of cutting emissions compared with current gasoline-electric hybrids. The French carmaker said the so-called "Hybrid Air" system developed with auto parts supplier Robert Bosch would be lighter than a hybrid running on petrol and battery power. Peugeot, which is cutting more than 10,000 jobs as it struggles to stem losses and expand overseas, said the technology would be launched around 2016, with vehicles priced below 20,000 euros ($26,600). Unlike Toyota's Prius hybrid, which supplements a conventional engine with an electric motor, the new Peugeot will use a separate hydraulic motor driven by nitrogen compressed by energy from braking and deceleration. In city driving conditions, the vehicles can travel on the compressed gas power as much as 80 percent of the time with the 3-cylinder gasoline engine cut. Peugeot said a prototype Hybrid Air subcompact emitted 72 grams of CO2 per km, compared with 104 grams for a Peugeot 208 model with the same combustion engine.

Note: For a video and more on this exciting development, click here. Let's hope this doesn't go the way of Toyota's Eco Spirit in 2002, which strangely never made it to market. For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on exciting new energy and automotive technology developments, click here.


Biofuel created by explosive technology
2013-01-13, San Francisco Chronicle (SF's leading newspaper)
Posted: 2013-01-22 09:46:22
http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Biofuel-created-by-explosive-technology...

Chemical engineers at UC Berkeley have created a new, cleaner fuel out of an old concoction that was once used to make explosives. The fuel, which uses a century-old fermentation process to transform plant material into a propellant, could eventually replace gasoline and drastically cut down on greenhouse gas emissions, according to the team of Berkeley scientists. The discovery, published in the journal Nature, means corn, sugar cane, grasses and other fast-growing plants or trees, like eucalyptus, could be used to make the propellant, replacing oil. The research into creating a diesel substitute is part of a 10-year development program by the Energy Biosciences Institute, a collaboration among UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The research, paid for using $50 million a year from the British oil company BP, has been going on for five years. [The researchers] extracted the acetone and butanol from the fermentation mixture [and] then created a catalyst that converted the brew into a mix of hydrocarbons similar to those in diesel fuel. The resulting substance burns as well as petroleum-based fuel and contains more energy per gallon than ethanol, according to the study. It can be produced using a variety of renewable starches and sugars that can be grown in crops. The expectation in California is that it will be used initially for niche markets, like the military, and eventually in trucks, trains and other vehicles that need more oomph than hybrid or battery power can provide.

Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on promising new energy developments, click here.


MSV Explorer amphibious vehicle promises perpetual motion
2012-12-14, MSN
Posted: 2012-12-24 08:37:01
http://cars.uk.msn.com/news/in-pictures-msv-explorer-amphibious-vehicle-promi...

As if the images of this MSV Explorer prototype amphibious vehicle werent arresting enough, Cornish inventor Chris Garner claims to have solved the centuries-old conundrum of perpetual motion which could lead to electric cars that never have to be recharged. Garner ... is utterly convinced that what hes come up with will work, saying hes spent 35,000 hours of science on the project so far. Its called the hyper performance gyro generator, and he doesnt just want us to take his word for it instead hes having it tested ... at the University of Plymouth next week. Garner prefers to call it self-sustaining energy. He explained that the gyro gen functions on the principle that it can go from 1rpm to 6,000rpm with very little in the way of friction or drag. Once spinning it wont stop until it wears out. If the resulting ampage ... is higher than that required to power an electric motor then youve got free fuel for travel. In the example currently under development, the gyro gen produces 1,600 amps, far more than the 400 amps required to drive a pair of motors. The remaining electrical energy could then be used to power ancilliaries, such as air conditioning, lights and so forth. Whether it all works in reality remains to be seen well have a better idea after the tests next week but it could mean a future free from electric vehicle range anxiety for all of us.

Note: To get the full story on this, click on the MSN link above and then click through the 14 slides of the vehicle there. For lots more great information on this exciting new technology, click here.


San Francisco area drivers 1st with algae biofuel
2012-11-14, San Francisco Chronicle (SF's leading newspaper)
Posted: 2012-11-19 14:20:04
http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/San-Francisco-area-drivers-1st-wit...

Drivers in the San Francisco Bay Area have become the first motorists in the nation to fill up their gas tanks with an algae-based biofuel. Biodiesel B20 is made from 20 percent algae and 80 percent petroleum, and can be used by any vehicle that runs on diesel. Advocates say it is the first in a wave of clean fuel to hit the marketplace. "We are putting a stake in the ground," said Matt Horton, chief executive officer of Propel Fuels, as he prepared to fill the first tank with the algae-based product at a Valero station in Redwood City. The fuel's algae was grown by South San Francisco-based Solazyme Inc. and already has been used in trials by the military and industrial companies. It was sold for about $4.25 a gallon at the Redwood City station, about the same as the average price for diesel fuel in California. Horton said most diesel vehicles could run on 100 percent algae fuel, but doing so would result in higher costs for consumers. He added that many automakers oppose allowing a mix higher than 20 percent.

Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on new energy developments, click here.


MU professor revisits decades-old fusion project
2012-11-03, Kansas City Star/Associated Press
Posted: 2012-11-13 11:02:27
http://www.kansascity.com/2012/11/03/3899586/mu-professor-revisits-decades.html

A University of Missouri professor has resurrected his two-decade-old work in the contested field of cold fusion. In 1991, Mark Prelas was part of a research team that conducted a fusion experiment that emitted a burst of millions of neutrons. The work stopped when funding was cut off. At the time, cold fusion claims had been dismissed as junk science. Prelas shifted to other work. But his neutron-producing experiment resumed this year, and he presented his findings at a cold fusion conference in August in South Korea. Prelas, now a professor in the university's Nuclear Science and Engineering Institute, received funding from the Sidney Kimmel Institute for Nuclear Renaissance at MU. In the original experiment, the team created an emitted neutron-recording device and expected to count about 10 neutrons a second. They reached a million neutrons in a second. With SKINR funding, [Prelas] re-created the experiment. More technologically advanced equipment has allowed for a better counting system, and in one run, his research team saw neutron emissions at similar levels to the 1991 observation. Rob Duncan, MU's vice chancellor of research, said ... "We've got to understand what this is. The focus clearly has to be on an opportunity to discover new physics and to understand new science. That really is our aim here at SKINR.

Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on new energy inventions, click here.


Pioneering scientists turn fresh air into petrol in massive boost in fight against energy crisis
2012-10-19, The Independent (One of the UK's leading newspapers)
Posted: 2012-11-08 09:27:46
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/exclusive-pioneering-scientist...

A small British company has produced the first "petrol from air" using a revolutionary technology that promises to solve the energy crisis as well as to help curb global warming by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Air Fuel Synthesis in Stockton-on-Tees has produced five litres of petrol since August when it switched on a small refinery that manufactures gasoline from carbon dioxide and water vapour. The company hopes that within two years it will build a larger, commercial-scale plant capable of producing a ton of petrol a day. It also plans to produce green aviation fuel to make airline travel more carbon-neutral. "We've taken carbon dioxide from air and hydrogen from water and turned these elements into petrol," said Peter Harrison, the company's chief executive. "There's nobody else doing it in this country or indeed overseas as far as we know. It looks and smells like petrol but it's a much cleaner and clearer product than petrol derived from fossil oil," Mr Harrison told The Independent. Being able to capture carbon dioxide from the air, and effectively remove the principal industrial greenhouse gas resulting from the burning of fossil fuels such as oil and coal, has been the holy grail of the emerging green economy. Using the extracted carbon dioxide to make petrol that can be stored, transported and used as fuel for existing engines takes the idea one step further.

Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on new energy technologies, click here.


Tesla unveils faster electric car charging station
2012-09-25, Boston Globe/Associated Press
Posted: 2012-10-02 09:59:12
http://www.boston.com/business/technology/2012/09/25/tesla-unveils-faster-ele...

Tesla Motors Inc. unveiled a solar-powered charging station ... that it said will make refueling electric vehicles on long trips about as fast as stopping for gas and a bathroom break in a conventional car. CEO Elon Musk said ... that the company’s roadside Supercharger has been installed at six highway rest stops in California. The free stations are designed to fully charge Tesla’s new Model S sedan in about an hour, and a half-hour-long charge can produce enough energy for a 150-mile trip, he said. The first six, which were developed and deployed in secret, are in Barstow, Hawthorne, Lebec, Coalinga, Gilroy and Folsom. Tesla spokeswoman Christina Ra said they are open only to company employees, but would be available to the public in early October. Musk said his Palo Alto-based company planned to have more stations running throughout California and in parts of Nevada and Oregon by the end of the year, and expected to blanket ‘‘almost the entire United States’’ within two years. Tesla unveiled the Model S, its first mass-market vehicle, in June. The base model costs sells for $49,900 after a federal tax credit. Along with persuading consumers that electric vehicles are practical, the charging stations were developed with an eye toward alleviating doubts about their environmental effects. Musk said the solar-powered stations in California would produce more clean energy than is needed to keep cars running.

Note: For inspiring reports from reliable major media sources on new developments in automotive and energy technologies, click here.


Craving Energy and Glory, Pakistan Revels in Boast of Water-Run Car
2012-08-05, New York Times
Posted: 2012-08-14 09:04:23
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/05/world/asia/boast-of-water-run-car-thrills-p...

In a nation thirsting for energy, he loomed like a messiah: a small-town engineer who claimed he could run a car on water. The assertion based on the premise that he had discovered a way to easily split the oxygen and hydrogen atoms in water molecules with almost no energy would, if proven, represent a stunning breakthrough for physics and a near-magical solution to Pakistans desperate power crisis. By the grace of Allah, I have managed to make a formula that converts less voltage into more energy, the professed inventor, Agha Waqar Ahmad, said in a telephone interview. This invention will solve our countrys energy crisis and provide jobs to hundreds of thousands of people. Established scientists have debunked his spectacular claims, first made one month ago, saying they violate ironclad laws of physics. The quest to harness chemical energy from water is a holy grail of science, offering the tantalizing promise of a world free from dependence on oil. Groups in other countries, including Japan, the United States and Sri Lanka, have previously made similar claims. They have been largely ignored. Not so with Mr. Ahmad, even if he is an unlikely scientific prodigy. He graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1990 from a small technical college in Khairpur, in southern Sindh Province, he said in the interview. For most of his career he worked in a local police department. He is currently unemployed. But he sprang up at a moment when Pakistan was intensely aware of its power shortcomings.

Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on new energy inventions, click here.


Tesla test drive: Smooth, silent, fast
2012-07-14, San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco's leading newspaper)
Posted: 2012-07-17 10:40:34
http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Tesla-test-drive-Smooth-silent-fast-37...

A word of caution about the Model S, Tesla Motors' new electric sedan: The S stays smooth and silent, even when it's flying down the highway. Absent gears, engine noise or any vibration that doesn't originate with a pothole, it's absurdly easy for Model S drivers to shred speed limits without the slightest clue. Depending on the range of the battery pack and other options, Model S prices range all the way from $57,400 to $105,400 before state and federal incentives. The Model S functions much like a typical, automatic transmission sedan. But it's not quite the same. Put the car in drive and take your foot off the brake pedal, for example, and the S doesn't go anywhere. It just sits there until you touch the accelerator. Push the accelerator, and the car responds instantly. There's no sense of an engine laboring to pick up speed. Like other electric vehicles, the Model S uses regenerative braking. The brakes capture some of the moving car's kinetic energy, convert it to electricity and use it to recharge the battery while you drive. It's one of the ways a Model S with the most expensive battery pack option can drive more than 300 miles without plugging in. With the Model S, the regenerative braking starts the moment you ease off the accelerator pedal. The drop in speed is so pronounced that the car's brake lights will go on, even before you touch the brake pedal itself. It feels almost like having two separate braking systems working at the same time.

Note: For lots more inspiring reports from reliable major media sources on new automotive and alternative energy technologies, click here.


Teen girl from Egypt has just reinvented space travel
2012-05-30, MSN
Posted: 2012-06-19 10:33:47
http://now.msn.com/now/0530-egyptian-physics-fuel.aspx

Egyptian Aisha Mustafa, 19, has dazzled the physics world with a new invention that could launch spacecraft off the Earth's surface and soaring through space without any fuel. Space is filled with a billowing sea of quantum particles that jump in and out of existence, and Aisha Mustafa proposes using thin silicon panels, spaced closely together, to trap these particles and then move against them, creating a propelling force. This innovation would make space exploration lighter, safer and cheaper. Mustafa still has some design work to do, but unfortunately her research is currently limited by lack of state funding for space science departments at the university level, though her school's science club did help fund her application for a patent.

Note: For more on this intriguing innovation, click here.


Wind turbine creates water from thin air
2012-04-29, CNN
Posted: 2012-05-08 12:41:11
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/04/29/world/eole-water-turbine/index.html

Wind turbines have long produced renewable energy. A French engineering firm has discovered another [application] for the towering structures. Eole Water claims to have successfully modified the traditional wind turbine design to create the WMS1000, an appliance that can manufacture drinking water from humid air. The technology works by first generating electricity in the traditional manner of a wind turbine. This power enables the entire water generating system to function. The next stage sees air sucked in through the nose of the turbine via a device known as an "air blower". All air trapped during this procedure is then directed through an electric cooling compressor situated behind the propellers. This contraption extracts humidity from the air, creating moisture which is condensed and collected. The water gathered at this stage is then transferred down a series of stainless steel pipes, which have been specially modified to aid the water production process, to a storage tank in the base of the turbine. Once there, the water is filtered and purified before it is ready for use and consumption. One turbine can produce up to 1,000 liters of water every day, depending on the level of humidity, temperature and wind speeds, ... enough to provide water for a village or town of 2,000 to 3,000 people.


Tesla at 75
1931-07-20, Time Magazine
Posted: 2012-05-08 12:35:43
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,742063,00.html

Nikola Tesla (pronounced Teshlah) [invented] the Tesla induction motor which made alternating current practical, and the Tesla transformer which steps up oscillating currents to high potentials. Last week was Dr. Tesla's 75th birthday. To Nikola Tesla, all the world's a power house. For 40 years he has been reasoning, calculating and arguing that the earth has a definite electrical resonance. All that men need do to have unlimited power at their command, and that power without the necessity of transmission wires, would be to generate electricity in tune with the earth's. Only possible drawbacks would be the vast expense of installation ... and anyone could tap the current. There could be no financial control of electricity. In Colorado in 1899, Tesla built a huge induction coil by which he generated and, he says, sent out wireless waves the same year Marconi established wireless communication. Tesla claims priority, because he conceived his system six years earlier, in 1893. The theoretical path of Tesla's waves were through the earth, not through the air as Hertzian waves go. [Tesla has commented] "I think that nothing can be more important than interplanetary communication. It will certainly come some day, and the certitude that there are other human beings in the universe, working, suffering, struggling, like ourselves, will produce a magic effect on mankind and will form the foundation of a universal brotherhood that will last as long as humanity itself." Dr. Tesla migrated to the U. S. in 1884 to work for Thomas Alva Edison, whom he soon quit. His naturalization papers he keeps in a safety box, his scientific medals and degrees in old trunks and cupboards.

Note: The above link requires a small payment. To view the full article free, click here. Though Marconi gets major mention in the history books while Tesla is given but a footnote, the U.S. Supreme Court in 1943 "ruled that that Tesla's radio patents had predated those of [Marconi]," as stated in this Chicago Tribune article. There are many intriguing secrets about this mysterious genius. To learn how the government seized his work immediately after his death and lots more, click here. For other verifiable information on incredible new energy inventions based on Tesla technology and more, click here.


Shine a Light: The Suitcase Thats Saving Womens Lives
2012-01-12, NationalGeographic.com
Posted: 2012-03-20 10:20:08
http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2012/01/12/shine-a-light-the-suitcase...

In the fight against maternal mortality in the developing world, a rugged, portable Solar Suitcase is providing reliable electricity to clinics in 17 countries where healthcare workers previously struggled to provide emergency obstetric care by the light of candles, flashlights and mobile phones. The Solar Suitcase powers medical LED lights, headlamps, mobile phones, computers and medical devices. Healthcare workers using the Solar Suitcase report greater facility and ease in conducting nighttime procedures. Improved lighting allows health workers to identify and treat complications such as obstetric lacerations and hemorrhage, nurses to locate and administer intravenous medication, and emergency Caesarean sections to be performed 24 hours a day. Solar-powered mobile phones allow on-call doctors to be alerted when obstetric emergencies require surgery. With augmentation, the solar suitcase powers blood bank refrigeration, permitting life-saving transfusions to occur without delay. An estimated 358,000 maternal deaths occur worldwide. Reducing childbirth deaths depends, in part, on providing adequate emergency obstetric care. However, a lack of health facility power translates to an inability to perform life-saving care.


Billionaire helps fund MU energy research
2012-02-10, Columbia Tribune (Columbia, MO's leading newspaper)
Posted: 2012-02-28 10:22:14
http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2012/feb/10/billionaire-helps-fund-mu-ene...

The founder of an apparel company has given the University of Missouri $5.5 million to study new sources of clean energy. Sidney Kimmel, founder and chairman of The Jones Group which includes brands such as Anne Klein, Nine West and Gloria Vanderbilt donated the money through his charitable foundation. The money will be used to create the Sidney Kimmel Institute for Nuclear Renaissance, SKINR, which will involve researchers from the MU Research Reactor and physics, engineering and chemistry departments. Mostly, MU scientists will be trying to figure out why excess heat has been observed when hydrogen or deuterium interacts with materials such as palladium, nickel or platinum under extreme conditions. Researchers dont know how the heat is created, nor can they duplicate the results on a consistent basis. Its a chance to turn cold confusion to real understanding and opportunity, said Rob Duncan, MUs vice chancellor for research. Since researchers Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons declared they had observed tabletop energy, scientists have been scrambling to re-create the phenomenon. Once dubbed cold fusion, some now refer to the process as a low-energy nuclear reaction. Some companies have even been trying to find marketplace applications for the excess heat, even though its not consistent. Duncan has called on the scientific community to stop trying to label the phenomenon before figuring out what causes it. The gift, he said, will let MUs research team focus on the pure science without being distracted by trying to find uses for it.

Note: The comment about scientists scrambling to reproduce the cold fusion research of Pons and Fleischmann is not quite the reality. The two scientists were slammed and ridiculed in a coordinated effort to suppress their amazing discoveries, which threatened the huge profits of the oil industry. For lots more reliable information on this, click here and here.


Miracle material graphene can distil booze, says study
2012-01-27, BBC News
Posted: 2012-02-14 15:58:20
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16747208

Membranes based on the "miracle material" graphene can be used to distil alcohol, according to a new study in Science [magazine]. An international team created the membrane from graphene oxide - a chemical derivative of graphene. They have shown that the membrane blocks the passage of several gases and liquids, but lets water through. This joins a long list of fascinating and unusual properties associated with graphene and its derivatives. Graphene ... is a flat layer of carbon atoms tightly packed into a two-dimensional honeycomb arrangement. Because it is so thin, it is also practically transparent. As a conductor of electricity, it performs as well as copper; and as a conductor of heat, it outperforms all other known materials. The unusual electronic, mechanical and chemical properties of graphene at the molecular scale promise numerous applications. Andrei Geim and Konstantin Novoselov from the University of Manchester were awarded 2010's Nobel Prize in physics for their discovery [of graphene]. Geim and others have now developed a laminate made from thin sheets of graphene oxide. These films were hundreds of times thinner than a human hair but remained strong, flexible and easy to handle. In another study in Science journal, a different team reports the development of a membrane based on diamond-like carbon. This membrane has unique pore sizes that allow for the ultra-fast passage of oil through it. One expert said it could potentially be used for filtering toxic contaminants out of water or for purifying industrial chemicals.

Note: To read about the exciting potential of this miracle material to create fresh water from salt water, click here. For revealing media articles on amazing energy inventions, most of which are not getting nearly the attention they deserve, click here.


Method for Enhancement of Surface Plasmon Polaritons to Initiate & Sustain LENR (Cold Fusion)
2012-01-16, NASA Website's Technology Gateway
Posted: 2012-01-25 09:20:34
http://technologygateway.nasa.gov/media/CC/lenr/lenr.html

[Video transcript] Narrator: While the world is drastically dependent on fossil fuel, researchers at NASA Langley Research Center are working on another way of producing energy-efficient nuclear power. Senior Resarch Scientist Dr Zawodny: This other form of nuclear power releases energy by adding neutrons. Eventually [the nuclei] gain a sufficient number of neutrons that they spontaneously decay into something of the same mass but a different element. It has the demonstrated ability to produce excess amounts of energy, cleanly, without hazardous ionizing radiation, without producing nasty waste. Narrator: This clean form of energy is ... able to support everything from transportation systems to infrastructure. Dr. Zawodny: The easiest implementation of this would be for the home. It would be ... dual use. It would [produce] heat; and youd derive electricity from it to run your electronics, power the house, power the building, power the light industry. And then the waste heat would be used for environmental control [i.e. heating, air conditioning, etc.] and warm water. Narrator: NASAs method for enhancement of surface plasmon polaritons to initiate and sustain LENR in Metal Hydride Systems, a clean nuclear energy for your power-operated technology.

Note: LENR stands for Low Energy Nuclear Reactions, aka cold fusion. So NASA is now acknowledging cold fusion is real! And their research provides major hope for the future. To see Dr. Zawodny's patent for this revolutionary technology, click here. For more on NASA's involvement in this, click here. For lots more reliable information on the suppression of cold fusion/LENR by the media and the scientific mainstream, click here. For more inspiring news on amazing new energy inventions, click here.


PG&E buys Via Motors e-Rev electric pickups
2012-01-11, San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco's leading newspaper)
Posted: 2012-01-17 15:17:52
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/10/BUTI1MNFD7.DTL

Think of the pickup truck from Via Motors as an electric generator on wheels. The truck, unveiled [on January 10] at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, runs on electricity. But it also can supply electricity - enough to power whole houses. PG&E has been testing two of the pickups since 2010. The trucks could respond to small power outages, temporarily supplying electricity to blacked-out homes. The trucks can supply a maximum of 15 kilowatts of electricity at any given moment - more than the typical house requires. PG&E field workers also could use the pickups to run their power tools. Many of the electric cars now hitting the market are small passenger vehicles, made for commuters. Via, however, targets the other end of the size spectrum. The company, based in the Detroit suburbs, has focused on electrifying large vehicles: trucks, SUVs and vans. Each Via truck has saved PG&E about $2,700 per year in fuel costs, when compared with a conventional pickup. The utility has about 3,500 similar vehicles in its fleet, and converting all of them would save PG&E about $9.5 million each year.

Note: For exciting reports from reliable sources on promising new automotive and energy inventions, click here.


Duke, Google turn hog waste into clean energy
2011-12-26, San Francisco Chronicle/Los Angeles Times
Posted: 2012-01-03 18:04:14
ttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/25/MNK51MGUV9.DTL

Loyd Bryant used to pump manure from his 8,640 hogs into a fetid lagoon, where it raised an unholy stink and released methane and ammonia into the air. The tons of manure excreted daily couldn't be used as fertilizer because of high nitrogen content. The solution to Bryant's hog waste problem was right under his nose - in the manure itself. A new waste-processing system - essentially a small power plant - installed on his 154-acre farm uses bacteria to digest the waste and burns methane to produce electricity. It also converts toxic ammonia into forms of nitrogen that can be used as fertilizer for more profitable crops. Waste-to-energy systems have been around for at least 15 years. But Duke University, which helped develop and pay for Bryant's system, says this one is the cleanest in existence - and virtually the only one that tackles all of the environmental problems created by animal waste. The system was built with off-the-shelf parts and simple design plans that are free for the asking. It's poised to become the standard for a cleaner waste-to-energy model that brings together farmers, utilities and private companies in an environmentally friendly effort. Bryant saves money on electricity and gets a cleaner farm. Improved air quality in his hog barns also means his pigs will have lower mortality rates and convert feed more efficiently, fattening Bryant's profits.

Note: For reports from reliable sources on exciting new energy developments, click here.


Italian cold fusion machine passes another test
2011-11-03, MSNBC
Posted: 2011-11-08 16:19:00
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45153076/ns/technology_and_science-science/

Italian physicist and inventor Andrea Rossi has conducted a public demonstration of his "cold fusion" machine, the E-Cat, at the University of Bologna, showing that a small amount of input energy drives an unexplained reaction between atoms of hydrogen and nickel that leads to a large outpouring of energy, more than 10 times what was put in. The first seemingly successful cold fusion experiment was reported two decades ago. Two types of atoms, typically a light element and a heavier metal, seem to fuse together, releasing pure heat that can be converted into electricity. The process is an attractive energy solution for two reasons: Unlike in nuclear fission, the reaction doesn't give off dangerous radiation. Unlike the fusion processes that take place in the sun, cold fusion doesn't require extremely high temperatures. In April ... Rossi and fellow physicist Sergio Focardi successfully demonstrated the device for a group of Swedish physicists. At the demo in October, after an initial energy input of 400 watts into each module, each one then produced a sustained, continuous output of 10 kilowatts (470 kW altogether) for three to four hours. Peter Hagelstein, an MIT professor of electrical engineering and computer science and one of the most mainstream proponents of cold fusion research, thinks the process may involve vibrational energy in the metal's lattice driving nuclear transitions that lead to fusion.

Note: For lots more on this exciting development, click here. And for a CBS video segment and another excellent documentary showing top researchers who continue to be very excited about results of ongoing cold fusion experiments, click here. For media reports on other suppressed new energy inventions, click here.


Important Note: Explore our full index to revealing excerpts of key major media news stories on several dozen engaging topics. And don't miss amazing excerpts from 20 of the most revealing news articles ever published.