Plant Gene Mapping May Lead to Better Biofuel Production

sea-maid submitted, created time 10 months 3 weeks (www.sciencedaily.com)

By creating a family tree of genes expressed in one form of woody plant and a less woody, herbaceous species, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have uncovered clues that may help them engineer plants more amenable to biofuel production.

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Scientists publish complete genetic blueprint of key biofuel crop

piggy submitted, created time 1 year 1 month (www.eurekalert.org)

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Genome Institute (JGI) and several partner institutions have published the sequence and analysis of the complete genome of sorghum, a major food and fodder plant with high potential as a bioenergy crop. The genome data will aid scientists in optimizing sorghum and other crops not only for food and fodder use, but also for biofuels production. The comparative analysis of the sorghum genome appears in the January 29 edition of the journal Nature

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Politics: New U.S. economic plan makes science a priority

Darkfrog submitted, created time 1 year 2 months (www.nature.com)

The U.S. Congress has passed legislation on an $825 billion economic stimulus plan, setting aside massive sums for scientific research, most notably basic research, infrastructure and clean energy. This was coordinated with President-elect Obama's transition team.

$1.5 billion is set aside for universities with other large sums meant for the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy and National Institutes of Health.

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Engineered bacteria create high-energy biofuel

sea-maid submitted, created time 1 year 2 months (www.sciencenews.org)

Researchers have designed an entire molecular assembly line in bacterial cells that pieces together a kind of alcohol that isn’t normally made by known living organisms. This alcohol could serve as a biofuel that, unlike ethanol, has a high energy density and could be used in gasoline and jet fuel

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Surgeon uses human fat to run his cars

sea-maid submitted, created time 1 year 2 months (www.independent.co.uk)

A leading Beverly Hills plastic surgeon claims to have found an environmentally friendly way to combine two of America's great obsessions – after converting his 4x4 to run on fat removed from clients during liposuction operations.

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Mapping Renewable Energy, Rooftop by Rooftop

sea-maid submitted, created time 1 year 2 months (www.time.com)

The sun shines on everyone — but not in equal measure. That reality has long slowed the spread of solar power. Depending on where you live in the country — or even where you live in your city — the same array of photovoltaic solar panels can produce enough electricity to power your house with watts to spare, or barely cut a nickel from your utility bill. It all comes down to the precise amount of sunlight that hits your roof

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Nobel physicist to run energy agency

sea-maid submitted, created time 1 year 3 months (www.nature.com)

By choosing Nobel-prizewinning physicist Steven Chu to head the Department of Energy (DoE), US President-elect Barack Obama has sent a clear message: solving climate issues in a world dependent on fossil fuels will depend on science coming up with new energy technologies.

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Solar energy hits new efficiency record

Darkfrog submitted, created time 1 year 3 months (www.nature.com)

The biggest problem with solar panels and solar cells, more than the expense of making them, has been that they just don't create as big of a return as fossil fuels.

Luminescent solar contractors (LSCs) look like glass panels with colored edges (although this might be artists' license). They are embedded with light-absorbing dyes to catch photons. When the photons are re-emitted, they bounce around inside the glass by total internal reflection (the same principal used in fiber optics) and eventually hit the solar cells mounted along the edges of the panel

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Damming doesn't hurt salmon? Something is fishy, scientists say.

Darkfrog submitted, created time 1 year 4 months (www.nature.com)

Damming rivers is an environmental conundrum. On the one hand, hydroelectric power provides clean, relatively reliable energy. On the other, damming rivers can endanger fish populations ...or can it? A recent study performed on the dammed Columbia River and undammed Fraser River suggests that perhaps the smolts are all right.

Salmon travel the rivers at two points in their lives: first, they must find their way downriver to the ocean as smolts (juveniles) and second, they must find their way back upstream to the spawning grounds in the last stage of their lives

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Alternative energy: Nuclear power makes a comeback

Darkfrog submitted, created time 1 year 4 months (www.nytimes.com)

Unlike countries such as France, which maintained a strong tradition of nuclear power throughout the latter twentieth century, the United States has not had an uncancelled commission for a nuclear power plant since 1973. The Arab oil embargo of that decade, as well as the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl disasters, changed the economic and political climate in such a way that made nuclear plants less economically and politically viable.

Still there are over one hundred nuclear power plants in the greater U.S. that have remained in operation all these years

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Wind Turbines Don't Make Birds Fly the Coop

sea-maid submitted, created time 1 year 5 months (sciencenow.sciencemag.org)

A study finds that, despite concerns, offshore wind farms are largely not harmful to seashore or migrating birds. The presence of wind farms affected only one in twenty-three species. Although researchers warn not to extrapolate these results to inland birds, there seems to be little fear. The article mentions, in passing, that the wind farms are, however, dangerous to bats.

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Carbon-free energy? Already in progress, says Nature.

Darkfrog submitted, created time 1 year 7 months (www.nature.com)

Here, Nature magazine gives an overview of the several different means of generating electricity without releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Increasing the efficiency of existing fossil fuel systems is also given its due.

Once again, we see why Nature is at the very top of science writing. Take a look at this:

"The fact that hydroelectric systems require no fuel means that they also require no fuel-extracting infrastructure and no fuel transport

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U.S. retailers chase a solar panel deadline

Darkfrog submitted, created time 1 year 7 months (www.nytimes.com)

U.S. retailers might consider floor space to be the number one claim on their attention, but they're finally putting those big, flat roofs to work toward the bottom line. No, they're not doing cheery rooftop displays of their merchandise; they're installing solar panels. If they do so before December 31 of this year, they will receive a generous tax write-off.

So far, the big chains like Wal-Mart, Kohls, Whole Foods, and Safeway have outfitted about one in ten stores with rooftop solar panels, but we can expect more if Congress renews their offer for 2009 and beyond

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Nature examines thin-film and other solar cells

Darkfrog submitted, created time 1 year 7 months (www.nature.com)

There are a few different varieties of solar cell on the market and in development, but they've all got their ups and down. Traditional solar cells are now an established technology, but they are very expensive to make and their efficiencies don't top 22%. Other, newer types of solar cells (with one exception) are even less efficient, but they are much less troublesome to mass-produce. Some types of solar cells can even be woven into cloth.

As always, I'm a fan of Natures whole-picture approach. The practical, hopeful and economic aspects of this project all get their treatment.

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Enzyme structure reveals key ingredients for making hydrogen