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According to Swedish researchers, storing energy as compressed air rather than in batteries would reduce the price of hybrid cars. Some hybrid and electric vehicles are already using brake energy to activate a generator that charges the batteries.

However, pneumatic hybrids (or air hybrids) would be much cheaper to manufacture, says Per Tunestal, a researcher at the Department of combustion engines, Lundt University, Sweden. “The technology is fully realistic. I was recently contacted by a vehicle manufacturer in India which wanted to start making air hybrids,” he claims.

This technology is especially attractive for low speed running vehicles, such as buses or city cars. “My simulations show that buses in cities could reduce their fuel consumption by 60%,” says Sasa Trajkovic, a doctoral student in Combustion Engines at the same University.

After some calculations made by Traykov, 48% of the energy produced by brakes, which is compressed and stored in a small tank that is also connected to the engine, could be reused later. The engine is cheap to manufacture because it does not require any expensive materials. Unlike an electric hybrid engine, the compressed air one takes up much less space. The method works with diesel, petrol and natural gas.

The idea of pneumatic hybrids was first launched by Ford in the ’90s, but the company has dropped plans due to lack of necessary technology. Today, one of the companies who wants to invest in this technology is American Scuderi. “The research so far has only been theoretical. In addition, we have used data that means we get credible driving cycle results, for example data from the driving patterns of buses in New York,” said Trajkovic.

The development of alternative energy has to go hand in hand with a reinforcement of the electrical grid, otherwise the latter will eventually become so busy and will cap the production to its capacity. Such is the case with Germany’s grid, which is an example of an imbalanced structure of solar and wind energy harvesters on one hand and the outdated grid, on the other.

Following a report from published in the NY Times, we find out the opinion of Oxford University economist Dieter Helm, who stated that “basically, governments have allowed the buildup of wind without thinking through the grid consequences. There are two responses: Stop wasting so much on the rapid development of wind and its questionable economics,

In most cases, the proliferation of alternative energy is done by government subsidies, but these are made without taking into consideration that it’s also necessary to invest in the grid. Up to 100 billion euros ($138 billion) are necessary to upgrade the grid over the next decade.

The projected production capacity, the one that’s been heavily invested in, is not always working at maximum parameters, but when that happens, the companies managing the grid need to put a hold on everything, because there’s too much energy to cope with. For example, when wind blew harder in Germany recently, their usual 5 GW reached 20 GW, and cross-border connection with grids in neighboring countries had to be shut down because they couldn’t handle the spike.

Read more: http://www.greenoptimistic.com/2011/03/03/european-supergrid/#ixzz1FbDvcWkm

Finding new methods of processing wastewater is very important. Using a combination of wastewater and algae to produce biodiesel is even better, because it’s “doubly green”, as the algae neutralize water pathogens as they feed and eat out carbon dioxide to produce fuel.

The main advantage, the Rochester Institute of Technology researchers say, is that algae are easier to grow than corn and doesn’t consume precious resources such as freshwater or land to grow. On the contrary, those plants grow and do photosynthesis in the most harsh environments, where nobody really wants to grow anything else.

“Algae—as a renewable feedstock—grow a lot quicker than crops of corn or soybeans,” researcher Eric Lannan said in a statement. “We can start a new batch of algae about every seven days. It’s a more continuous source that could offset 50 percent of our total gas use for equipment that uses diesel.”

The scientists isolated and extracted the lipids from Scenedesmus, a single-celled alga which they grew in a treatment plant in Irondequoit, NY.

“Algae will take out all the ammonia [and] 88 percent of the nitrate and 99 percent of the phosphate from the wastewater — all those nutrients you worry about dumping into the receiving water,” Lodge said in a statement. “In three to five days, pathogens are gone. We’ve got data to show that the coliform counts are dramatically reduced below the level that’s allowed to go out into Lake Ontario.”

The first lab tests have been made using only 30 gallons of water. A tank that they used at Environmental Energy Technology used 100 gallons, and the plans are to use as much as 1,000 gallons to produce fats that Northern Biodiesel will process into fully-usable biodiesel.

There are so many solar projects being developed at present which is a good thing. Here is another one that looks interesting:

Israel-based Solaris Synergy and French EDF Group are planning to develop a new system of floating solar panels, called AQUASUN, which has the possibility of being installed on the surface of existing bodies of water.

The panels use silicon cells, which unlike other types, are less expensive but also prone to inefficiency caused by overheating. However,this is not a problem as the water on which they’re floating acts as a cooling system.

Users have the option to add or remove panels in order to tailor the power output to their requirements. A single modular panel is capable of generating around 200 kW of clean energy.

This kind of system will not be installed in ecologically-sensitive areas or in open seas, but rather on reservoirs already in use for agriculture and industrial purposes. The water will not become stagnant because the panels are designed to allow oxygen to permeate through. So far, the companies have released a prototype that has been presented at the 4th International Eilat-Eilot Renewable Energy Conference in Israel. The designers have great plans for the future. They’re planning to install AQUASUN for a nine-month test period on a basin at a hydro-electric facility in southeastern France by the end of September

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