Smokestash Industry: ARPA-E Seeks Breakthroughs in Carbon Capture Technology

WASHINGTON–Every second, our bodies capture carbon dioxide in our tissues, transport it via the blood, and dump it in the lungs from where it is exhaled. This unconscious process is yet another way humans contribute to the accumulation of the greenhouse gas in the atmosphere–albeit in a minuscule volume compared with burning fossil fuels . The key to this metabolic process is an enzyme called carbonic anhydrase and it’s efficiency at capturing and releasing CO2 is what human engineers want to mimic at the power plant scale. [More]

Can greener gadgets save us from e-waste?

One laptop per child seems a simple slogan, chock full of benefit. What could go wrong when you put the power of the Internet and solar cells into the hands of children in the developing world? After all, not only does it train the global underclass in the tools of modern production, it also unleashes a creativity that may allow them to leapfrog the old, dirty, industrial development that has fouled the planet. [More]

Where Will the U.S. Get Its Electricity in 2034?

Cleaner coal , nuclear , solar , wind : these are some of the options for power generation to feed the U.S.’s electric power requirements. That need is expected to grow by 30 percent during the next 25 years, according to the Energy Information Administration , even with a slew of energy-efficiency measures and improvements to the grid infrastructure that delivers the electricity. But the primary source of electricity in 2034, according to a new projection from consulting firm Black & Veatch, will be natural gas. It is the fossil fuel with the least greenhouse gas impact on the atmosphere–burning it releases 43 percent less CO2 than burning coal–and looks set to increase its share of the electricity market, even with looming regulations to restrain climate-changing emissions. And there’s this boost, too: new, vast reserves of natural gas found in places like the Marcellus Shale Formation, which stretches from West Virginia to New York State. [More]

Germany Floats New Plans to Keep Hydrogen-Powered Cars in the World’s Transportation Mix

It’s amusing to reduce the development of next-generation electric- or hydrogen-powered cars to a binary paper-versus-plastic decision, but the companies making these cars and the infrastructure to support them are hoping there will be room for both. Hydrogen cars, in particular, have had a bumpy road thus far–the Obama administration has been at odds with Congress over whether to fund hydrogen fuel-cell research. Meanwhile, the first commercial models are not expected to hit the road until 2015, a few years after their hybrid and all-electric counterparts . [More]

The Power to Persuade (preview)

“Nothing is so unbelievable that oratory cannot make it acceptable.” –Marcus Tullius Cicero

[More]

Next Page »