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[breyn-i-keyn] Brainstorming on a Higher Level

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Archive for August 23rd, 2008

4000 Megawatts of US Geothermal Power in Development, Sector Has Grown by 20% This Year

photo: Calpine
There’s been a good deal of geothermal energy news in the past few weeks—less than solar and wind perhaps, but that’s more a function of publicity and popularity rather than the potential of the resource—and the latest US Geothermal Power Production and Development Update from the Geothermal Energy Association shows just how much geothermal […]

Pizza Oven + Inkjet Printer + Nail Polish = Solar Cell?!

Solar Power for Developing Countries
Nicole Kuepper, a 23 years old PhD student and lecturer in the school of photovoltaic and renewable energy engineering at the University of NSW, might have just found a way to make the world a better place. Her patented technology isn’t quite as simple as the title of this post would […]

Intel’s Next CPU To Include Dedicated ‘Power Control Unit’ to Save Power

Making more Power-Efficient Computer Processors
Efficiency and power management are all the rage these days in the IT world. Novel ways of cooling data centers, virtualization and consolidation, etc. The hardware itself has also gotten better in the past few years (for example, desktop and server CPUs now have many of the features that used to […]

Common Pre-Term Labor Drug May Increase Fetal Risk from Common Pesticides

According to researchers at Duke University Medical Center there’s a significant chance that a drug commonly prescribed to halt pre-term labor and stave off premature birth might leave the brains of children susceptible to other chemicals widely present in the environment. And with 20% of all pregnancies in the U.S. encountering pre-term labor and 1 […]

A Special Peek Inside Nissan’s Battery R&D Laboratory

This is Where the Magic Happens
When it comes to plug-in hybrids and electric cars, power storage is the key. It’s the main puzzle that needs to be solved. How to store as much power as possible, as safely as possible, and as inexpensively as possible (fast recharge capability is a bonus).
Nissan’s Future Might Come from […]

A Better Vision for the Southwest’s Energy Future

We have a vision for the Southwest that involves solar panels and windmills — a future of clean-energy generation and green jobs, not the smokestacks, pollution, and health problems that accompany a coal-fired power plant. However, that vision got a bit hazy recently when the U.S. EPA issued an air quality permit for construction of […]

China’s Powerful New Emission-Killing Trains

They won’t look much different, but the first of 300 fuel-efficient locomotives are about to hit China. Using a lighter weight design, the China Mainline Evolution Series locomotive by GE achieves a peak output of 6,250-horsepower, which is 40% more power than the top-of-the-line Evolution locomotives currently being used in North America. At the same […]

NOOO! Honda Fit Hybrid Not Coming to United States

No Hybrid Fit for You
The people at ABG had a chance to ask Honda spokesperson Sage Marie about when the Honda Fit hybrid would be available in the US. The disappointing answer was that it wouldn’t be sold in the US, at least not for a while.
The Business Case
Honda probably has good business reasons for […]