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GE and Hitachi Use Benefit from Product of Nuclear Plant Waste Recycling

admin — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 18:14:31 +0000

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, a company formed between General Electric and Hitachi, nuclear waste from nuclear power plants could still be recovered with the nuclear fuel recycling techniques.

Conventional nuclear power plants in the United States only 5% of the energy use of nuclear fuel. The resulting waste is still a great energy saving potential. Techniques offered GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, will produce two kinds of different nuclear fuel. One of them can still be used to fuel conventional nuclear power plant, while the second could only be fuel in fast neutron reactor with a more advanced technology.

Actually, nuclear waste recycling technique has long been introduced, it’s just the technique is still strong criticism due to the emergence of concerns about the misuse of fuel it produces. Pure plutonium resulting from the technique commonly used in the manufacture of nuclear weapons.

Under these conditions, GE Hitachi offers a process that would complicate the use of recycled products into a weapon by separating the waste from conventional nuclear power plant waste into three streams by providing electrical voltage to the liquid salt.

The first waste material consisting of fission products, which can no longer be used as fuel and will need to be saved, but the required storage time will be reduced from tens of thousands of years for several hundred years (although a fraction of the material still needs to be stored more than 10,000 years).

The second material is uranium that has no material content of the fission of uranium for use in light water reactors in the U.S., which require enriched uranium, but can be used by deuterium uranium reactor (heavy water) used in Canada.

Final waste product is a mixture of transuranic elements including plutonium and neptunium. Plutonium is not separated from other elements, and the mixture off heat and 1,000 times more neutrons released 10,000 times more than pure plutonium. Mixed transuranic can be used in reactors that use liquid sodium as coolant. Type the last nuclear power plant is widely used in Japan and other countries. GE Hitachi also has developed the PRISM reactor that could use a mixture of these fuels, only in the United States has not approved its use.

Given the current under the leadership of Obama’s nuclear energy to be one important concern, the possibility to apply these technologies in order to reduce the impact that may result from radioactive waste stored in a particular area, can be substantially reduced.

Lithium Ion Battery The”Infected”Virus, Save 10 Times More Energy

admin — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 14:04:01 +0000

Battery technology is growing very fast. Lithium ion battery that is currently the favorite but the price is relatively expensive, probably will be produced with a cheaper price.

Expensive battery types that can not be separated from the use of the material used to bind to the surface of metal electrodes that are used perpendicular. But one research team at the University of Maryland, United States, managed to make a battery”infected”.

”Infected”is perhaps the right word to describe the battery. The reason the team developed a battery that uses a virus that often damage the tobacco or tobacco mosaic virus known.

Genetically engineered virus was used as a substitute material that serves to bind the surface of metal electrodes with the battery in a particular pattern. With this virus, the pattern is then coated with a thin film material which is conductive, such as nickel.

According to the team, the methods they use 100% safe. New viruses are genetically changed into harmless when it is connected with the plate electrode. As a result, the amount of active material, which collected the lithium ions are also effectively increased, which means increased ability to store energy, approximately 10-fold.

In 2050, Germany produce electricity 100% from renewable energy

admin — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 15:23:22 +0000

Germany, the country that leading adopters of solar cell technology to generate electricity GigaWatt 14 at the end of 2010, set a target to produce the overall supply of electricity from renewable energy sources in 2050.

Jochen Flasbarth, president of the Federal Environment Agency – a German government agency which deals with environmental issues – German target is not a dream in the daytime, because of technical and ecological point of view this target it is possible to achieve.

From the technical side, recently Germany has reached 16% of electricity from potential wind, solar and other renewable energy sources. This figure tripled from the previous fifteen years. Solar energy itself is almost reached 14 GW in this year and become the second country after the United States in the production of electricity from wind energy.

While the environmental side, from 1990 until 2020, Germany succeeded in reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 40%.

A study carried out by the agency also confirmed that the switch to electricity sourced from renewable by 2050 will provide an economic advantage, especially for export-oriented manufacturing industries. Besides tens of thousands of new jobs will be created simultaneously with the development of technologies and renewable energy industries.

The magnitude of the cost required to replace the entire supply of electricity from renewable energy sources is much smaller when compared with the costs of future generations of Germany if the problem of climate change is a major problem of the country.

Cheap batteries using boiled potatoes

admin — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 09:50:33 +0000

There are some people who can apply the breakthrough made by scientists at the Yissum Research Development Company Ltd., A company whose function is to commercialize technology research Hebrews University in Jerusalem.

The company introduced a battery of organic research findings by researchers at the University Hebrews that made from potatoes and has been getting special treatment in order to improve its ability to connect the oxidation and reduction in galvanic cells or so-called salt bridge.

Professor Haim D. From Robert H. Rabinowitch Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, Alex Golberg research students from the School of Computer Science and Engineering, both from the Hebrews University, together with Professor Boris Rubinsky of the University of California at Berkeley, is basically intended to study the electrolytic process that occurs in living organisms to applied to the various applications.

In their research they found that the use of zinc and copper mounted on a boiled potato to produce electricity for up to 10 times more than potatoes that is not boiled. From the results of cost analysis, the potatoes battery can five to fifty times cheaper than commercial 1.5 volt battery.

If you are interested to try it, please do a little experiment with various kinds of tubers or fruits, because according to the researchers it can produce electricity with all necessary conditions that given special treatment in advance in order to generate electricity.

Saving renewable energy surplus into methane gas

admin — Wed, 26 May 2010 16:32:34 +0000

Every year the power plant which utilizes the potential of renewable energy such as solar and wind increased in the megawatt scale. But unfortunately until now the media storage of surplus energy that produced by renewable energy power plants still has not find the technology. Battery until now is still the main alternative, but the high price and limitations of rechargeable cycle is a certain constraint which is still looked for completion by scientists.

Switching from the battery, researchers in Germany have discovered a new method to store excess electricity production from renewable energy generation. If the gas usually burned to generate electricity, then the process is reversed. Excess electrical energy converted into synthetic natural gas.

These methods were developed by the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research (ZSW) in Baden-Württemberg, Germany and working with the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Technology and Energy Systems (IWES) and Diesel Fuel Technology, an Austrian company who is responsible in preparing for implementation in the industry.

The process that is used for conversion is still relying on electrolysis with methanization, namely the process of mixing between hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Results of chemical reactions that occur is synthetic methane. The advantage is that methane gas can be mixed with gas and then funneled into the gas distribution pipeline infrastructure that exists, without the need of creating a separate infrastructure.

A system for testing purposes has also built in facility of Solar Fuel Technology in Stuttgart and successfully operate as expected. The larger systems plan will be built and produce power up to 10MW.

More efficient energy using solar energy cells

admin — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 14:44:37 +0000

The Uses of solar cells as an energy source for vehicle in the Shell Eco-marathon competition 2010 in America proved more frugal. Among the 48 participants with a variety of vehicle types of conventional or alternative fuels, solar cell vehicle that design by student at Purdue University from the State of Indiana, United States, proved to be most efficient with a mileage equivalent to 1933.5 kilometers per liter of gasoline.

Traveled distance of 1933.5 kilometers per liter is calculated equivalent to 4548 miles per gallon (mpg) targeting 4913 mpg mileage. The participation of SEM for the third time believes that solar cell energy source capable of becoming an alternative fuel vehicle in the future.

In Asia or other tropical regions with abundant sunshine, solar cells should be further developed. At the same categories for gasoline-fueled vehicle types reach the distance to 1057.5 kilometers per liter.

In SEM America in 2009, a team from Laval University is a winner with a distance of 1172.2 kilometers traveled per liter. Category use of hydrogen fuel at American SEM 2010 achieve the distance equivalent to 331.99 miles per gallon of gasoline. For the category of urban concepts, student team Mater Dei High School Indiana became the winner with a gasoline-fueled vehicles. The distance reached 185.87 kilometers per liter.

SEM American venue in 2010 in Houston is the first time using public facilities such as highways circling the city park Discovery Green, Houston. Shell Party rate, this is the inspiration for the next administration. Competition on the highway has become the most tangible demonstration to launch and create innovations for vehicles with priority given to energy efficiency.

Facebook contribution for CO2 emissions

admin — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 17:39:03 +0000

Facebook, one of the major social networking site that is currently growing rapidly, a few time ago announced plans to build large data centers in Oregon, USA. What is interesting is that all servers using the servers efficient plan in terms of consumption of electric energy to serve the millions of people communicate with each other, one of them is you.

Though seen with the use of environmentally friendly energy-efficient servers, but not enough for a data center, including one who consumes large amounts of electricity for the servers, cooling systems, and backup power device to be environmentally friendly, because the resources and processes which occurs at power plants must also environmentally friendly.

For those of you who feel concerned with the environment, there is one thing you can possibly make use of considerations with your facebook account. Because, based on information from Greenpeace, Facebook will rely on electricity supply for its data center from power plants that burn coal and increase carbon emissions to join the millions of tons of CO2 that have been scattered in the atmosphere beforehand.

PacifiCorp, an electric company of choice for Facebook to electricity supply, is a company which amounted to 83% of the electricity it generates comes from burning coal, geothermal and natural gas.

It remains unclear what underlies Facebook also choose to add the CO2 released into the atmosphere by selecting PacifiCorp. Presumably because of the cost of the power plant provides the best option for Facebook to grow more quickly by investing a lightweight.

Solar energy through The Island Solar

admin — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 15:53:46 +0000

More sunlight shining on the ocean rather than land. This is one of the reasons why the ice in the north and south poles are not expected to melt quickly on the current scale. All because the ice has been a sort of giant reflective glass so that sunlight can be reflected back into space so that the earth is not too hot. The problem is when the ice melts and the ocean is higher, the sun will be absorbed by the oceans, so that ocean temperatures also increased. With rising sea temperatures also accelerate the melting of ice.

What if we could take the benefit from the beam of sunlight that fell into the sea? United Arab Emirates state is planning this collaboration with CSEM to create a prototype of a solar island in the desert first. Only one-tenth of the prototype that will be implemented.

Workings method of the Island Solar is hot sunlight that is absorbed by the solar panels will be used to heat water that will rotate the turbine for electricity. In addition, Island Solar can be used for desalination of sea water by evaporation.

This is interesting also because the sun is mostly found around the equator. Some country in the middle of the equator can learn from the UAE to be implemented. Moreover, the sea is very large. Maybe it can also combine with wave power later. The more increase and sophisticated technology so that we must be able to get benefits from these technologies.

Solution for mass transport using solar energy

admin — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 16:24:17 +0000

A remarkable achievement! A ship named Sun21 finally docked in New York City after spending 6 months to sail from the city in Basal, Switzerland. Incredibly, this ship does not use fuel at all. Not only motor boat but all the equipment on board such as computers, radar and navigation systems, radios, satellite phones, video cameras, up to an electric toothbrush using energy generated from solar panels installed on the ship. Retrieved from 48 solar panels solar power with the capability to produce 214 watts per panel at its peak. So the total could produce 10.272 watts of energy. During his journey along the 11.300 km across the Atlantic, the ship around 2000 KwH Sun21 produce solar energy. Sun21 vessel weighs approximately 12 tons with a length of 14 meters.

Jakarta City is the trying to improve the canal system of the west and east so that the river channel that break the city can be used for new alternative transport system that is to the vessels of water. This ship is expected to be a new tool for many people to travel. Because these vessels do not require high speed, then I guess the research to use solar power as alternative energy needs to be done. The vessel is also not make pollute the rivers.

Not only in Jakarta, but all river transportation will also be tested with this solar-powered transportation. Moreover, Developed country needs quite large water transport infrastructure. Starting from the transport of passengers and goods on the river, strait, lake, and sea. If we have to use fuel oil for all these needs, then we are depend to world oil prices that is higher. Even if not replaced with Biodiesel, it will still be many problems except for using raw material Biodiesel Tree Distance. Indeed the price of solar panels at the moment still quite expensive, but with the advanced research and constantly growing world demand (90% of respondents in the United States are now choosing to use solar panels for the construction of new houses) then the price is becoming increasingly cheap. See for example the computer in the past is not ungodly expensive, and now with a much larger force could be affordable by many people. If we complete water transport infrastructure and affordable, many country could be more advanced and united.

Renewable energy of Smart Grid to reduce carbon emissions

admin — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 16:49:09 +0000

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), one research institute under the Ministry of Energy of the United States, recently published results of research on the influence of the transmission network use of intelligent (smart grids) on carbon emissions and energy. The influence of these two objects are made directly by the use of new technologies and indirectly by making renewable energy and efficiency programs more affordable and potentially larger.

According to the report which received funding from the program of research and development of smart grid by the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, to optimize the use of smart grid, the United States could reduce emissions 442 million metric tons carbon equivalent emissions released by 66 coal power plants which generate electricity for 70 million homes.

The report also explained that the nine mechanisms that might reduce carbon emissions has been analyzed, and recommendations is to conduct advanced research in the sector in the coming times. Some mechanisms do not show significant results, while others show the possibility to reduce the energy of 3%. When combined, the ninth such a mechanism could reduce the carbon up to 12%, even more, obviously Rob Pratt, PNNL scientists. The estimate is based on the assumption that the use of smart grid has reached 100%.