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Are hamsters the next step in resolving our energy crisis? A group of rodent transit enthusiasts decided to test their new invention, the Hamster-Powered Submarine (HPS), and film the vehicle's maiden voyage. More »
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Splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen is generally considered a fantastic way to get a renewable power source. The problem is how exactly you go about splitting the water. Current methods require some power input in order to kickstart the reaction, reducing its effectiveness as a sustainable power source, since power needs to flow continually in to the system. But a new technique could meld together a number of other methods and produce constant, carbon-neutral hydrogen from two things we have in abundance: fouled water and seawater. More »
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Biofuels are made from carbohydrates and fats in corn and other feedstock. This is a wasteful process because it leaves behind all the protein, a far more abundant substance. As a result, one of the big questions for alternative energy researchers is how we can pull biofuel from protein. Especially because proteins are also present in industrial waste products from agricultural processing - things like corn husks, for example. Imagine if you could take corn husks and turn them into gas. Well, now we're one step closer. More »
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Wind is a clean, renewable energy source, but there isn't nearly enough of it down here on the ground. But high in the sky, there are furious jet streams of powerful wind just waiting to be harvested by floating turbines. More »
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John Denver proclaimed it "almost heaven", but a group of geoscientists are implying it's a little more like the opposite.  Most of the rest of the world doesn't think of West Virginia as a hot spot, but it is. More »
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Biofuels like ethanol could help us reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, but growing crops for ethanol involves using up huge swaths of valuable farmland. Now we might have a solution - thanks to some re-engineered yeast. More »
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There's electricity in the air all around us, formed as water vapor comes into contact with dust particles. For centuries scientists have dreamed of tapping into this source of power - and we finally might be able to do it. More »
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A revolutionary new fuel cell could take in urine and produce electricity and clean water. It might sound silly, but a prototype already exists, and it could provide the unlikeliest possible solution to third world energy and clean water problems. More »
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While the city of Stockholm is burning bunnies to power its homes, the human cremation process could soon provide an alternative energy of its own. A UK crematorium is looking into a new technology to recapture energy from human cremation. More »
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The Holiday Season is officially on us again, and that can mean only one thing that isn't watching Christmas In Connecticut over and over again: Time to think about gift-giving (and getting). Where better to start than with toys? More »
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We've seen lamps that run on human blood and examined robots that eat corpses for fuel. Sweden is already using flesh-based biofuel, but it's not humans they're using to heat their homes; it's rabbits. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5382121&view=rss&microfeed=true Milan Karki, an 18 year-old from a rural village in Nepal, has invented a type of solar panel that replaces expensive silicon with cheap, easily replenished human hair. Melanin, the pigment in human hair acts as a conductor for solar energy, and hair, unlike silicon, can be easily replaced, giving the panels a longer lifespan. The devices are also considerably cheaper than commercially available solar panels, costing £23 to make (and considerably less if mass-produced). Karki hopes his hairy invention will help bring electricity to remote populations. [Times Online via Slashdot] More »
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Purely electric cars may be green, but it's tough to find a parking place close enough to an electrical outlet. But one designer has come up with the perfect solution: solar-powered sculptures that charge your car while you park. More »
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According to a 2006 report from MIT, enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) are one of the most unfairly overlooked form of alternative energy in the United States. They're far cheaper than clean coal, indigenous, highly sustainable, and produce just about zero carbon dioxide; in fact, EGS have virtually no emissions. For the laypeople who can't yet grasp the promise of this new technology — especially those who might happen to have a few hundred million dollars up their sleeves for funding science projects — Molika Ashford of Popular Science explains it all with a piece of visual journalism. More »
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When peak oil means you're paying more to power up your computers than you are for rent, it's time for Energy Ball. Developed recently by Swedish company Home Energy, these cool-looking devices are designed to work in low winds and make very little noise. That makes them perfect for home use, as well as in giant wind turbine farms. But how do they work with that weird spherical shape? More »
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Whales have given us a reliable source of energy for centuries: oil for our lamps, wax for our candles, and of course margarine. All that's required to harvest these lovely fuels is wholesale slaughter of the harmless creatures, and that's starting to go out of fashion, mostly because the whales were starting to go out of existence. But Frank Fish and fellow engineers at WhalePower have a come up with new way of harnessing energy from whales: designing wind turbines that mimic the contours of the pectoral fins of humpback whales. Doing so has made for blades that are quieter, more efficient, and operate reliably at low wind speeds. More »
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One of the most terrifying, destructive forces in nature may help keep your lights on. Louis Michaud, a retired engineer living in Ontario, Canada thinks he's created a tornado-powered generator. First, he'll create a raging tornado inside a massive cylindrical arena 100 meters high by pumping hot air into it at the base. Using intake tunnels lining the bottom of the arena, he calculates one of his Atmospheric Vortex Engines (AVE) could generate 200 megawatts of energy, or enough to power a small city. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5020271&view=rss&microfeed=true One of the most well-respected climatologists in the world, James Hansen was pissed off about global warming way before it was cool to be 'green' — like, 1988. He's such a baddass that in 2006 he took on his employer, NASA, and the Bush Administration, publicly accusing them of supressing his research, which provided damning evidence that humans were causing global warming. But he's far from finished. Today marks the 20th anniversary of his climate crusading, and in a speech before Congress today he's planning to ask lawmakers to send the CEOs of oil companies to jail for spreading lies about climate change. More »
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Nuclear power is the other alternative energy - cleaner than biomass, and less retarded than ethanol. Sure there's that pesky problem of nuclear waste, but that's not stopping a union of European, Asian, and United States task forces from working on the next generation of nuclear power plants, that will look something like this on the inside (this is a Trigia research nuke power reactor, designed by Freeman Dyson). And here's the cool part. Many new, generation IV nuclear reactors will be virtually waste-free. Want to see some of the prototype generation IV nuke power plants? More »
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