http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. (PhysOrg.com) -- A new type of natural-gas electric power plant proposed by MIT researchers could provide electricity with zero carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere, at costs comparable to or less than conventional natural-gas plants, and even to coal-burning plants. But that can only come about if and when a price is set on the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases - a step the U.S. Congress and other governments are considering as a way to halt climate change. http://www.physorg.com/news179058845.html Technology Thu, 03 Dec 2009 10:34:39 EST news179058845 After wind, sun, currents and tides, a company is preparing to make clean electricity by harnessing another natural phenomenon, the energy-unleashing encounter of freshwater and seawater. http://www.physorg.com/news178183113.html Technology Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:19:14 EST news178183113 Lehigh University's Energy Research Center (ERC) has been awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to develop methods of recovering and reusing the heat that would be generated by the carbon-dioxide (CO2) compression process in a carbon capture system. The goal of the research project is to facilitate carbon capture and sequestration, or storage (CCS), and thus limit the amount of CO2, a greenhouse gas, emitted into the atmosphere by coal-fired power plants. http://www.physorg.com/news177940311.html Space & Earth Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:54:44 EST news177940311 (PhysOrg.com) -- Energy adviser and former Honeywell executive Maxine Savitz says there are enormous energy savings available through increased efficiency, as much as 30 percent by 2030. http://www.physorg.com/news177845679.html Technology Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:35:02 EST news177845679 The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced plans to fund research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Engineering on technologies that would help reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the capture and permanent safe storage, or sequestration, of carbon dioxide (CO2). The project is in collaboration with Southern Company, the parent company of Alabama Power. http://www.physorg.com/news176997779.html Space & Earth Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:04:06 EST news176997779 The Environmental Protection Agency will put controls on the emissions of hazardous pollutants such as mercury from coal-fired power plants for the first time by November 2011, according to an agreement announced Friday to settle a lawsuit against the agency. http://www.physorg.com/news175808274.html Space & Earth Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:50:02 EST news175808274 (AP) -- Nuclear energy, once vilified by environmentalists and facing a dim future, has become a pivotal bargaining chip as Senate Democrats hunt for Republican votes to pass climate legislation. http://www.physorg.com/news175695857.html Space & Earth Sun, 25 Oct 2009 13:26:57 EST news175695857 Hong Kong air pollution has equalled a record high registered in 2000, triggering a warning for people with heart or respiratory illnesses, according to the Environmental Protection Department. http://www.physorg.com/news175584513.html Space & Earth Sat, 24 Oct 2009 07:20:02 EST news175584513 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new system from an Italian company uses weather satellite data to estimate the potential of solar cell power plants and monitor their performance. The approach helps to give a faster return on investments in clean solar energy. http://www.physorg.com/news174915151.html Technology Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:50:01 EST news174915151 (PhysOrg.com) -- A team of four chemists at the University of Rochester have begun work on a new kind of system to derive usable hydrogen fuel from water using only sunlight. http://www.physorg.com/news174758967.html Chemistry Wed, 14 Oct 2009 17:10:54 EST news174758967 (AP) -- Proposed regulations would require power plants, factories and refineries to reduce greenhouse gases by installing the best available technology and improving energy efficiency whenever a facility is significantly changed or built. http://www.physorg.com/news173593742.html Space & Earth Thu, 01 Oct 2009 06:00:01 EST news173593742 (PhysOrg.com) -- Amid calls for transformative change in the world`s energy supply, Harvard chemist Ted Betley is taking a back-to-basics approach and examining the mother of all energy supplies -- photosynthesis -- for clues to how nature runs a power plant. http://www.physorg.com/news173541038.html Chemistry Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:51:20 EST news173541038 Toshiba Corporation today announced that it has completed construction of a pilot plant to support development and validation of its carbon capture technology. Final commissioning testing prior to plant operation was completed and research and test operation will formally commence today. The pilot plant is located in Sigma Power Ariake Co. Ltd.'s Mikawa Power Plant, in Omuta City, Japan. http://www.physorg.com/news173429638.html Technology Tue, 29 Sep 2009 08:20:07 EST news173429638 "Salt-loving algae could be the key to the successful development of biofuels as well as being an efficient means of recycling atmospheric carbon dioxide", Professor John Cushman of the University of Nevada told the Society for General Microbiology meeting at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, today (10 September). http://www.physorg.com/news171781380.html Biology Thu, 10 Sep 2009 06:30:02 EST news171781380 An ambitious project was unveiled in Germany on Wednesday to install mini gas-fired power plants in people's basements and produce as much electricity as two nuclear reactors within a year. http://www.physorg.com/news171700298.html Technology Wed, 09 Sep 2009 07:32:11 EST news171700298 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new study on how technology could help to regulate climate change has studied hundreds of ideas, and selected three considered practical and able to be implemented quickly. The report's authors propose the construction of forests of artificial trees and installing tubes of algae on the sides of buildings to absorb carbon dioxide. They also proposed painting the roofs of buildings white to keep the Earth cool by reducing the amount of solar radiation absorbed. http://www.physorg.com/news170664833.html Technology Fri, 28 Aug 2009 07:54:38 EST news170664833 (PhysOrg.com) -- As the world's oil supply continues to dry out every day, the question of what will replace oil and other fossil fuels is becoming more and more urgent. According to the World Coal Institute, at the present rate of consumption, coal will run out in 130 years, natural gas in 60 years, and oil in 42 years. Around the world, researchers are investigating alternative energy technologies with encouraging progress - but the question still remains: which source(s) will prove to be most efficient and sustainable in 30, 50, or 100 years from now? http://www.physorg.com/news170326193.html Technology Mon, 24 Aug 2009 09:50:47 EST news170326193 (PhysOrg.com) -- Exposure to dust and river sediment containing toxic metals and radioactivity from a coal ash spill at the Tennessee Valley Authority`s Kingston power plant last December could pose risks to local communities and aquatic ecosystems, according to a new study led by Duke University scientists. http://www.physorg.com/news169830622.html Space & Earth Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:10:01 EST news169830622 The Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has developed a reusable organic liquid that can pull harmful gases such as carbon dioxide or sulfur dioxide out of industrial emissions from power plants. The process could directly replace current methods and allow power plants to capture double the amount of harmful gases in a way that uses no water, less energy and saves money. http://www.physorg.com/news169810723.html Chemistry Tue, 18 Aug 2009 10:39:30 EST news169810723 A new generation of inexpensive programmable thermostats with the capacity to communicate may provide a simple and versatile tool for addressing California`s complex, billion-dollar summer peak energy demand problems. Engineering professor David Auslander -working with utility companies, engineers and policy wonks -has created a new set of design rules for the programmable communicating thermostat (PCT) that could help pave the way for greater energy efficiency in homes. http://www.physorg.com/news169311648.html Technology Wed, 12 Aug 2009 16:10:01 EST news169311648 (AP) -- "Cash for clunkers" could have the same effect on global warming pollution as shutting down the entire country - every automobile, every factory, every power plant - for an hour per year. That could rise to three hours if the program is extended by Congress and remains as popular as it is now. http://www.physorg.com/news168693300.html Space & Earth Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:40:01 EST news168693300 Americans used more solar, nuclear, biomass and wind energy in 2008 than they did in 2007, according to the most recent energy flow charts released by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The nation used less coal and petroleum during the same time frame and only slightly increased its natural gas consumption. Geothermal energy use remained the same. http://www.physorg.com/news167316045.html Technology Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:50:05 EST news167316045 (AP) -- China said Friday it will strictly monitor the government's economic stimulus package for projects that cause pollution, addressing worries that officials would ignore the environment in an effort to maintain China's high economic growth rates. http://www.physorg.com/news163396026.html Space & Earth Fri, 05 Jun 2009 04:47:33 EST news163396026 (AP) -- A decision involving the iconic polar bear could determine whether protecting endangered species might also help save the earth from global warming. http://www.physorg.com/news160983691.html Biology Fri, 08 May 2009 06:42:08 EST news160983691 (PhysOrg.com) -- Gas power plants could be cheaply retrofitted to generate hydrogen as well as power, chemists say in Green Chemistry, a Royal Society of Chemistry journal. http://www.physorg.com/news159706128.html Chemistry Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:49:14 EST news159706128 (AP) -- The Environmental Protection Agency concluded Friday that greenhouse gases linked to climate change "endanger public health and welfare," setting the stage for regulating them under federal clean air laws. http://www.physorg.com/news159190717.html Space & Earth Fri, 17 Apr 2009 12:39:04 EST news159190717 Chinese and Russian cyber-spies have hacked into the US electricity grid and inserted programs that could be used to disrupt the system, a report said Wednesday. http://www.physorg.com/news158409303.html Technology Wed, 08 Apr 2009 11:35:26 EST news158409303 Dear EarthTalk: If you have an electric or plug-in hybrid car, you're paying for electricity rather than gasoline all or most of the time. How does that cost compare to a gas-powered car's cost-per-mile? And since the electricity may be generated from some other polluting source, does it really work out to be better for the environment? (Kevin DeMarco, Milford, Connecticut) http://www.physorg.com/news157618076.html Space & Earth Mon, 30 Mar 2009 07:48:37 EST news157618076 (PhysOrg.com) -- Is wood the new coal? Researchers at North Carolina State University think so, and they are part of a team working to turn woodchips into a substitute for coal by using a process called torrefaction that is greener, cleaner and more efficient than traditional coal burning. http://www.physorg.com/news156000919.html Technology Wed, 11 Mar 2009 14:35:56 EST news156000919 Geothermal energy is increasingly contributing to the power supply world wide. Iceland is world-leader in expanding development of geothermal utilization: in recent years the annual power supply here doubled to more than 500 MW alone in the supply of electricity. And also in Germany, a dynamic development is to be seen: over 100 MW of heat are currently being provided through geothermal energy. http://www.physorg.com/news154960844.html Space & Earth Fri, 27 Feb 2009 12:41:47 EST news154960844