News tagged with waste
Turning heat to electricity... efficiently
Nov 18, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (62) |
9
(PhysOrg.com) -- In everything from computer processor chips to car engines to electric powerplants, the need to get rid of excess heat creates a major source of inefficiency. But new research points the way ...
Nuclear fusion-fission hybrid could contribute to carbon-free energy future
Jan 27, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (37) |
21
Physicists at The University of Texas at Austin have designed a new system that, when fully developed, would use fusion to eliminate most of the transuranic waste produced by nuclear power plants.
Can Recycling Be Bad for the Environment?
Jul 14, 2009 |
3.2 / 5 (31) |
27
(PhysOrg.com) -- By now, nearly everyone knows that it is important to recycle. It helps the environment. Even my six-year-old knows that. But what if it doesn't? While it seems pretty straightforward, in ...
Tiny super-plant can clean up animal waste, be used for ethanol production
Apr 07, 2009 |
5 / 5 (16) |
11
Researchers at North Carolina State University have found that a tiny aquatic plant can be used to clean up animal waste at industrial hog farms and potentially be part of the answer for the global energy ...
Solar-powered LED light made of bottles
Electronics / Consumer & Gadgets
Jan 20, 2009 |
3.3 / 5 (23) |
7
(PhysOrg.com) -- The Solarbulb, a new lighting gadget from miniWIZ, doesn't exactly come with all parts included: you have to add your own water or soda bottle. The LED Solarbulb screws onto just about any ...
Crashing the size barrier
Nov 18, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (15) |
6
Like surfers on monster waves, electrons can ride waves of plasma to very high energies in a very short distance. Scientists have proven that plasma acceleration works. Now they're developing it as a way to ...
New technique makes corn ethanol process more efficient
Sep 04, 2008 |
4.1 / 5 (15) |
2
(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis are proposing to borrow a process used in breweries and wastewater treatment facilities to make corn ethanol more energy efficient. They are ...
MIT slows concrete creep to a crawl
Jun 16, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (12) |
3
MIT civil engineers have for the first time identified what causes the most frequently used building material on earth — concrete — to gradually deform, decreasing its durability and shortening the lifespan of infrastructures ...
'Catastrophic' e-waste fuels global toxic dump
Nov 13, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (12) |
0
A "catastrophic accumulation" of dozens of millions of tonnes of "e-waste" from computers, cellphones and television sets is fuelling a global pile of hazardous waste, an international body warned Friday.
Breakthrough made in energy efficiency, use of waste heat
Apr 01, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (12) |
4
Engineers at Oregon State University have made a major new advance in taking waste heat and using it to run a cooling system - a technology that can improve the energy efficiency of diesel engines, and perhaps some day will ...
US army to be powered by waste
Oct 12, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (11) |
9
(PhysOrg.com) -- Defense company Qinetiq has been awarded a contract to supply the US army with a system that generates electricity from garbage.
Green Ideas: Making Concrete from Rice
Jul 21, 2009 |
3.1 / 5 (13) |
7
(PhysOrg.com) -- Concrete accounts for about 5% of all human-related CO2 emissions. The fact that we use so much cement in building could mean that the issue becomes even more pronounced in the future. Bu ...
Fuel from food waste: bacteria provide power
Biology /
Jul 17, 2008 |
4 / 5 (9) |
0
Researchers have combined the efforts of two kinds of bacteria to produce hydrogen in a bioreactor, with the product from one providing food for the other. According to an article in the August issue of Microbiology Today, this t ...
Study Finds that Styrofoam Increases Biodiesel Power Output
May 04, 2009 |
2.7 / 5 (11) |
9
(PhysOrg.com) -- By dissolving polystyrene packing peanuts in biodiesel, scientists have found that they can boost the power output of the fuel while getting rid of garbage at the same time.
Scientists discover historic sample of bomb-grade plutonium
Chemistry / Analytical Chemistry
Feb 26, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (6) |
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists in Washington state are reporting the surprise discovery of the oldest known sample of reactor-produced bomb-grade plutonium, a historic relic from the infancy of America’s nuclear weapons program. ...
