The facility is part of the Indo-US consortium—Solar Energy Research Institute for India and the United States (SERIIUS).

“The test bed was developed by a research group at the inter-disciplinary centre for energy research of the IISc as part of the consortium,” an institute statement said.

Funding was provided by the Indian government’s Department of Science and Technology under the Indo-US Joint Clean Energy Research and Development Centre programme.

The new-generation high-efficiency power plants with closed cycle CO2 as the working fluid have the potential to replace steam-based nuclear and thermal power plants, thus reducing the carbon foot print significantly, the IISc said.

“This breakthrough research could potentially be game changer for meeting the energy needs of the country in terms of higher efficiency and capacity at lower operating costs and size,” Vardhan said while speaking on the occasion.

While the current day’s thermal power plants would use steam to carry the heat and turn a turbine to generate power, the research makes use of supercritical CO2 (SCO2) instead of steam to generate more power.

Supercritical refers to the state of carbon dioxide above its critical temperature of 31 C and critical pressure of 73 atmospheres, which makes it twice as dense as steam.

“Besides increasing power generation and making the process more efficient, there are other advantages of using this new technology like making the power plants cheaper with lower operating costs,” the statement added.

IANS

Picture source: Alamy Image

The post Indian scientists develop test bed to generate clean energy appeared first on KT10.

It converts heat into electricity up to three times more efficiently than silicon—a semi-conductor material widely used in the electronics industry.

“The ability of our diode to convert heat into electricity is very large compared to other bulk materials currently used in electronics,” said physicist Yi Gu from Washington State University.

“In the future, one layer could be attached to something hot like a car exhaust or a computer motor and another to a surface at room temperature,” he added.

“The diode would then use the heat differential between the two surfaces to create an electric current that could be stored in a battery and used when needed.”

In the world of electronics, Schottky diodes are used to guide electricity in a specific direction.

They are made by attaching a conductor metal like aluminium to a semi-conductor material like silicon.

”When you attach a metal to a semi-conductor material like silicon to form a Schottky diode, there are always some defects that form at the interface,” said Matthew McCluskey, the study’s co-author.

“These imperfections trap electrons, impeding the flow of electricity. Gu’s diode is unique in that as its surface does not appear to have any of these defects,” McCluskey added.

This lowers resistance to the flow of electricity, making the device much more energy efficient.

IANS

Alamy Image

The post This device can turn heat into fuel source appeared first on KT10.

The handfish, which uses fins resembling hands to “walk” along the seabed, was the first marine species in the world to be listed as critically endangered.

Csiro researcher Tim Lynch said discarded bottles were an ideal breeding location for the fish after their traditional breeding grounds were destroyed by man-made structures and pest species like seastars.

“The seastars can’t eat the bottles at least, and we often find spotted handfish hiding behind discarded bottles,” Lynch said.

Lynch said artificial habitats such as the bottles would be a large part of conservation efforts in the future.

The Csiro and Zoo Aquarium Association recently committed $63,000 to a project Lynch is involved in, which places plastic sticks in the Derwent river for the handfish to lay their eggs on.

Female handfish typically lay 200 eggs after breeding with a male which they then care for until they hatch.

Plans for a captivity breeding programme have been approved which would see a small population captured and propagated at aquariums in Melbourne and Hobart.

“Let people have a look at these things—hardly anyone has seen them,” Lynch said.

“They shouldn’t be a rare fish, they used to be very common. There should be a spotted handfish every five metres of so in good habitat.”

IANS

Picture courtesy: Alamy Image

The post Discarded bottles saving Australian fish from extinction appeared first on KT10.

The team which includes Carnegie Institution’s Ken Caldeira, Long Cao and Lei Duan of Zhejiang University, and Govindasamy Bala of the Indian Institute of Science used models to simulate what would happen if sunlight is scattered by particles at the same time as the cirrus clouds were thinned.

They wanted to understand how effective this combined set of tools would be at reversing climate change, both globally and regionally.

“As far as I know, this is the first study to try to model using two different geoengineering approaches simultaneously to try to improve the overall fit of the technology,” Caldeira explained.

Solar geoengineering (such as injection of sulfate aerosols into the stratosphere) has been proposed as a means to counteract this climate change by deliberately deflecting more sunlight from the earth’s climate system.

However, climate-modeling studies have shown that while this scattering of sunlight should reduce the warming caused by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, it would tend to reduce rainfall and other types of precipitation.

It has also been suggested that the earth could be cooled by thinning cirrus clouds. This would also reduce warming, but would not correct the increase in precipitation caused by global warming.

One method reduces rain too much. Another method reduces rain too little.

This is where the theoretical cocktail shaker gets deployed.

“We simulate climate effect of cocktail geoengineering that combines stratospheric sulfate aerosol increase and cirrus cloud thinning. Cocktail geoengineering can offset carbon dioxide-induced changes in global mean temperature and precipitation simultaneously,” the experts say in the study published in the Geophysical Research Letters.

The good news is the simulations showed that if both methods are deployed in concert, it would decrease warming to pre-industrial levels, as desired, and on a global level rainfall would also stay at pre-industrial levels.

However, while global average climate was largely restored, substantial differences remained locally, with some areas getting much wetter and other areas getting much drier.

“The same amount of rain fell around the globe in our models, but it fell in different places, which could create a big mismatch between what our economic infrastructure expects and what it will get,” Caldeira added.

“More complicated geoengineering solutions would likely do a bit better, but the best solution is simply to stop adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.”

IANS

Picture courtesy: Alamy Image

The post Researchers propose ‘cocktail geo-engineering’ to save climate appeared first on KT10.

This “first-of-its kind” facility was inaugurated by Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in Faridabad in the National Capital Region (NCR) on Saturday.

“In addition to generating emission data, the facility will also evaluate the fuel blends for energy-efficiency and engine durability,” it said.

On the occasion, Pradhan complimented the IOC scientists for developing a “nano-additised battery for use in e-rickshaws, with better efficiency and longer life than commercially available batteries.”

“The minister also lauded the efforts of Indian Oil R&D in commercialising Indane Nanocut—the industrial version of LPG for the metal-cutting industry.”

Pradhan hoped IOC would take a “quantum leap” in alternative and renewable fuel research arenas in the next 3-4 years, the statement added.

IANS

Picture source: Alamy Image

Picture used for illustrated purposes alone

The post India launches first R&D facility for high-end fuels, gas appeared first on KT10.

Researchers used naturally occurring pigment found in jamun as an inexpensive photosensitiser for Dye Sensitised Solar Cells (DSSCs) or Gratzel cells.

Gratzel cells are thin film solar cells composed of a porous layer of titanium dioxide (TiO2) coated photoanode, a layer of dye molecules that absorbs sunlight, an electrolyte for regenerating the dye, and a cathode.

These components form a sandwich-like structure with the dye molecule or photosensitizer playing a pivotal role through its ability to absorb visible light.

“The dark colour of jamun and abundance of jamun trees in IIT campus clicked the idea that it might be useful as a dye in the typical Dye Sensitised Solar Cells (DSSC),” lead researcher Soumitra Satapathi, assistant professor at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee in Uttarakhand, told PTI.

Researchers extracted dyes from jamun using ethanol. They also used fresh plums and black currant, along with mixed berry juices which contain pigments that give characteristic colour to jamun.

The mixture was then centrifuged and decanted. The extracted coloured pigment called anthocyanin was used as a sensitiser.

“Natural pigments are way economical in comparison to regular Ruthenium-based pigments and scientists are optimising to improve the efficiency,” said Satapathi, who is also a visiting professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell in the US.

“The increasing pressure on fossil fuels and concern of global warming has inspired continuous search for alternate energy,” said Satapathi

Uncertainty over the pace at which new large dams or nuclear plants can be built means strong reliance on solar power – an area where India has high potential and equally high ambition – to deliver on the country’s pledge to build up a 40 per cent share of non-fossil fuel capacity in the power sector by 2030, researchers said.

“In principle, we have a large social need for renewable energy especially solar energy. For quite sometime, our lab is actively engaged in low cost high efficiency solar cells production,” said Satapathi.

The research team, which includes Nipun Sawhney and Anubhav Raghav, is very optimistic that the process can easily be replicated for mass production of solar cells.

The simplicity and cost effectiveness of the overall fabrication process, widespread availability of fruits and juices, and ease of extraction of anthocyanin dyes render them novel and inexpensive candidates for solar cells application, researchers said.

The research was published in the Journal of Photovoltaics.—PTI

Image: Alamy

The post Jamun used to make low-cost solar cells appeared first on KT10.

The researchers from Stanford School of Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences describe a mathematical model for designing new materials for energy storage to reduce carbon emissions in the transportation and electricity sectors.

“The potential here is that you could build batteries that last much longer and make them much smaller,” said study co-author Daniel Tartakovsky.

“If you could engineer a material with a far superior storage capacity than what we have today, then you could dramatically improve the performance of batteries,” added Tartakovsky.

One of the primary obstacles to transitioning from fossil fuels to renewables is the ability to store energy for later use, such as during hours when the sun is not shining in the case of solar power.

Demand for cheap, efficient storage has increased as more companies turn to renewable energy sources, which offer significant public health benefits.

Tartakovsky hopes the new materials developed through this model will improve supercapacitors, a type of next-generation energy storage that could replace rechargeable batteries in high-tech devices like cellphones and electric vehicles.

“We developed a model that would allow materials chemists to know what to expect in terms of performance if the grains are arranged in a certain way, without going through these experiments,” Tartakovsky said in a paper published in the journal Applied Physics Letters.

“This framework also shows that if you arrange your grains like the model suggests, then you will get the maximum performance,” Tartakovsky added.—IANS

Image: Alamy

The post Model to up efficiency of high-power batteries developed appeared first on KT10.

The industry is rattled by Beijing’s proposal to require that electric cars make up 8 percent of every brand’s production as early as next year. Consumers are steering the other way: First-quarter SUV sales soared 21 percent from a year earlier to 2.4 million, while electric vehicle purchases sank 4.4 percent to just 55,929.

“It’s tough for someone with an EV to come and take away market share from SUVs,” said Ben Cavender of China Market Research Group.

The Shanghai auto show, which opens to the public on Friday, will showcase work on electric models meant to appeal to Chinese drivers who are wary of the unfamiliar technology’s reliability and cost.

The pressure for electrification in China is an added headache for automakers at a time when sales growth is slowing and competition heating up in a market they are counting on to drive global revenue.

Sales growth fell to 1.7 percent in March from last year’s 15 percent. SUVs made up 40 percent of sales, while sedan purchases fell 4.9 percent.

At the Shanghai show, the industry’s biggest marketing event this year, almost every global and Chinese brand plans to display at least an electric concept car, if not a model ready for sale, alongside its latest SUVs and sedans.

General Motors Co.’s Buick unit announced plans last month for Chinese sales of its Velite 5 gasoline-electric hybrid sedan. Buick also sells a hybrid LaCrosse in China.

This month, Ford Motor Co. said it will sell an all-electric SUV and a plug-in hybrid Mondeo Energi sedan in China. Ford’s joint venture with state-owned Changan Automobile Co. will manufacture the Mondeo.

Ford said by 2025 it plans offer electric versions of 70 percent of its models sold in China.

“We are prioritizing our electrification efforts on China to reflect its importance as a global electrified vehicle market,” Ford CEO Mark Fields said in a statement.

NextEV, a Shanghai-based startup, says it will display 11 vehicles in Shanghai from its all-electric NIO brand. They include the two-door EP9, a contender for the title of fastest electric car, with what the manufacturer says is a top speed of 194 mph (310 kph).

Volkswagen AG plans to announce its electric vehicle plans for China and unveil an electric concept car. Honda Motor Co. will show its new NeuV, a futuristic concept car the company has suggested might get an electric drivetrain.

Government planners see electric vehicles as a sector where China can lead, and a Cabinet technology development plan issued in 2013 calls for two of the top global brands in 2025 to be Chinese.

Hence the proposal, released in September, calling for electric or gasoline-electric hybrids to make up 8 percent of every automaker’s output next year. That would rise to 10 percent in 2019 and 12 percent in 2020.

Manufacturers failing to meet those targets could buy credits from companies that produce more electrics, helping to subsidize development.

People in the industry say manufacturers have warned Beijing those targets are too ambitious. News reports say regulators might have agreed to lower or delay them in an updated plan due out this year, but there has been no official confirmation.

China’s stand-out EV success so far is BYD Auto Co. It sells all-electric vehicles to taxi and bus fleets in China and abroad and gasoline-electric hybrid SUVs and sedans to Chinese consumers.

BYD Auto says last year’s sales rose 70 percent over 2015 to 100,183 vehicles. That would make it the biggest electric brand for a second year, with Tesla Inc. next at 76,230 vehicles sold.

Other Chinese brands offer plug-in electrics but most sold only a few hundred vehicles last year. That is partly because their vehicles cost up to 350,000 yuan ($50,000), or two to three times the price of equivalent gasoline models.

Even Great Wall Motors Ltd., which became China’s most profitable auto brand by making almost nothing but SUVs, has unveiled an electric compact sedan, the C30 EV, which looks almost comically small next to its hulking other vehicles. It has yet to say when sales will start.

Some brands promise a range of up to 200 kilometers (120 miles) on one charge. But industry analysts say that is too much money and too short a distance for most drivers, who have few places to recharge.

“The biggest worries for people buying an electric car are lack of convenience for charging and the miserable range most electric cars have,” said Zhang Xin, an independent auto industry analyst.

To ease such “range anxiety,” the Cabinet has ordered the state-owned power industry to step up installation of charging stations.

Government plans call for China to have 100,000 public charging stations and 800,000 private stations by next year, up from a total of 50,000 at the start of 2016. Longer term, the government wants a network that can support 5 million vehicles by 2020.

The government also is trying to nudge buyers toward electrics by exempting them from sales taxes and from license plate fees and lotteries imposed by Beijing, Shanghai and some other cities to curb congestion.

Aside from BYD, Chinese manufacturers are waiting to see what price regulators set for credits before deciding whether to buy them or develop their own technology.

“Even by 2020, it’s not going to be a profitable business,” said John Zeng of LMC Automotive.

“The industry has to prepare for the worst case,” said Zeng. “That means who you have to have all the technology ready in case you need it, but on the other hand they don’t want to commercialize it now, because it is not profitable.”—AP

Image: AP

The post China car dilemma: Beijing wants electric, buyers want SUVs appeared first on KT10.

Lack of electricity meant Atieno was at the mercy of commercial fish buyers and made little or no profit because she could not refrigerate her catch of tilapia and Nile perch.

Poor rural communities, like Muhuru Bay in western Kenya where Atieno lives, are often far from markets where they can sell their produce and lack basic infrastructure and electricity despite rapid electrification elsewhere in the country.

Atieno’s fortunes changed when British-based charity Renewable World joined forces with community groups and a private company to set up solar micro-grids, small local power networks not connected to the national electricity grid.

With a grant by British charity Comic Relief, fishing cooperatives in the area received solar freezers to chill their catch rather than having to resort to preserving it with smoke, a practice that makes the fish more chewy and harder to sell.

“With the deep freezers, we can store fish for up to four days while we source for a profitable market,” Atieno, a 43-year-old married mother of four and secretary to Ngore Mtakatifu Women Group, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

With its year-round sunshine, solar power is ideally suited to Kenya where electricity access surged to around 60 percent in 2016 from 27 percent three years before, according to government data, due to a drive to achieve universal access by 2020.

Remote areas such as the lakeshore settlements on Lake Victoria lag behind though, experts said.

“For a long time, some of these settlements along the lakeshore have been neglected,” said Herick Othieno, a solar energy expert at Maseno University in Kenya.

“It’s only recently that power started getting there,” said Othieno, who led the creation of Renewable Energy Solutions for the Lake Victoria Environment(RESOLVE) with Renewable World and its local partners.

Soil in the area is poor and hard to cultivate, leaving commercial fishing in Africa’s largest lake as one of the few alternatives to make a living.

Increasing access to solar power is helping to lift local people out of poverty by improving their income and sparking business opportunities beyond fishing, experts said.

COMMUNITY POWER

The Muhuru Bay community solar hub is one of six that RESOLVE established on the lakeshore, with their power capacity ranging from 1.5 to 2.0 kilowatt (KW) which can be expanded and support up to 50 connections.

Users pay a connection fee and are charged by the hour for using the technology as part of a pay-as-you go system for off-grid electricity that has become popular across Kenya and many other countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Thirty households are connected to the system in the Muhuru Bay area, managed by community organisation Ngore Renewable Energy and Auxiliary Project (REAP) and benefitting 1,400 people, including small businesses.

“We also have some running barber shops and phone charging businesses with the solar power,” said Lucas Okoth, REAP’s chairman.

The micro-grids installed by Renewable World are simple steel frame structures that hold the solar panels and a control box housing batteries, a charger and energy distribution systems.

Each grid has a smart meter connected to mobile phone-based money transfer service M-Pesa through which customers make their payments before they are transferred electronically to the solar hub’s bank account.

The fishermen have also been able to cut costs by using solar rechargeable lamps on their boats during night time fishing.

They now spend 200 Kenyan shillings ($1.94) a day, a quarter of what it used to cost them to fuel their fishing lamps with kerosene, said REAP’s Okoth.

Villager Lovis Odhiambo said his home is healthier since he has become a customer as he no longer has to use sooty and smokey kerosene lamps and his children are more comfortable studying at night thanks to solar lighting.

It is also cheaper – he used to spend 50 shillings a day on paraffin compared to the 200 shillings he now spends every month on solar power.

“The table cloths were always dirty with soot and the smoke was irritating to the eyes. Sometimes it felt like we were short of breath and the house would smell of the paraffin,” said Odhiambo.

A SOLAR “GRAVEYARD” NO MORE

The amount of solar energy captured into the national grid is currently negligible despite the government’s call for investments in renewable energy sources.

Kenya’s Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) identified high initial capital costs and low awareness of the potential opportunities and economic benefits offered by solar technologies as some of the reasons.

Some projects also fell into disrepair despite receiving large subsidies.

“In the past they used to say Africa was a ‘graveyard of failed solar projects’ because of all the 100 percent subsidised installations which broke down and never got fixed because no mechanism was put in place for operation and maintenance,” said Charlie Miller, director for national programmes at Power for All.

“That’s really starting to change now,” said Miller, whose coalition of more than 170 public and private organisations campaigns for universal energy access by 2030.—The Thomson Reuters Foundation

Image: The Thomson Reuters Foundation

The post Micro-grids powered by the sun boost fortunes of Lake Victoria fishermen appeared first on KT10.

“Until now, grass has mainly served as feed for animals. But apart from that, grass can also be used as biofuel. Due to its vast abundance, grass is the perfect source of energy,” said scientist Way Cern Khor from Ghent University in Belgium.

Khor investigated methods that can disintegrate and treat grass until it can be used as a fuel.

To improve its biodegradability, the grass was pretreated at first and then bacteria were added. They convert the sugars in the grass into lactic acid and its derivatives.

This lactic acid can serve as an intermediate chemical to produce other compounds such as biodegradable plastics (PLA) or fuels.

The lactic acid then was converted into caproic acid, which was further converted into decane which can be used in aviation fuel.

Although it might sound revolutionary, the scientists cautioned that there is still a lot to do before this becomes reality.

Right now the amount of biofuel that can be made from grass is still limited to a few drops. The current process is very expensive, and engines should be adapted to this new kind of fuel.

“If we can keep working on optimising this process in cooperation with the business world, we can come down on the price. And maybe in a few years we can all fly on grass!,” Khor said in a statement released by Ghent University.—IANS

Image: Alamy

The post Grass could power your future flight appeared first on KT10.