• Sugars to be converted directly into gasoline

    Shell, Virent in effort to convert plant sugars directly into gasoline and gasoline blend components; sugars can be sourced from non-food sources such as corn stover, switch grass, wheat straw, and sugarcane pulp, in addition to conventional biofuel feedstock like wheat, corn, and sugarcane

  • Breakthrough: Dramatic increase in thermoelectric efficiency achieved

    Two hundred years ago scientists discovered the thermoelectric effect: Certain materials can convert heat into electricity and vice versa; trouble is, most materials which conduct electricity also conduct heat, so their temperature equalizes quickly; until now: Boston College, MIT researchers solve this vexing problem

  • New material captures carbon dioxide

    Georgie Tech researchers developed material which captures CO2 from the chimneys of coal-fired power plants and other generators of the greenhouse gases

  • Converting CO2 into fuel

    Scientists suggest mimicking the photosynthetic system of green plants to address the twin needs of readily available fuel and a clean environment: Reacting carbon dioxide with water, two of the major components used to extinguish fire, and turning them into a fuel

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  • Aussie-Chinese collaboration on clean coal

    Australia, China in collaborative clean coal effort; the goal is to hone the post combustion capture (PCC) process, which uses a liquid to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from power station flue gases

  • Toshiba establishes U.S. unit to promote its nuclear power business

    Rising oil prices and worries about the environment have renewed interest in nuclear power generation; more than 30 new nuclear plants will be built in the United States in the coming years; Toshiba plans to benefit from this trend

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  • Study: Costs of solar panels far exceeds benefits

    There is growing interest in solar power, but the cost of solar panels still exceeds their benefits, a University of California economist says; even under the most extreme assumptions — a 5 percent annual increase in electricity costs and 1 percent interest rate — the cost of solar PV is about 80 percent greater than the value of the electricity it will produce

  • Solar energy conversion breakthrough

    Scientists say that sunlight falling on only 9 percent of California’s Mojave Desert could power all of the U.S. electricity needs — if the energy could be efficiently harvested; this is a big “if,” since current-generation solar cell technologies are too expensive and inefficient for wide-scale commercial applications; Northwestern University researchers show a way to increase solar cell efficiency

  • U.K. energy company to demonstrate its oxyfuel technology

    Oxyfuel combustion is the process of firing a fossil-fueled power plant with an oxygen-enriched gas mix instead of air; oxyfuel combustion produces a CO2-rich flue gas ready for sequestration

  • Utility plans first U.S. coal-fired plant to capture CO2

    Tenaska proposes a new 600-megawatt, coal-fired power plant in Texas which would be the first to capture and store carbon dioxide emissions underground

  • King coal, III: DOE makes case for FutureGen restructuring

    The Department of Energy restructures its approach to FutureGen — the ambitious plan to develop clean coal technology which produces hydrogen and electricity and mitigates greenhouse gas emissions

  • King coal, II: Administration restructures approach to clean coal funding

    DOE restructures FutureGen approach; under the new plan, DOE’s investment would provide funding for no more than the carbon capture and storage (CCS) component of the power plant — not the entire plant construction; the original 2003 FutureGen concept called for the federal government to cover 74 percent of the cost of the entire project; DOE requests $648 million in FY2009 budget for coal research, development, and deployment

  • King coal, I: U.S. ends FutureGen funding; clean coal future unclear

    The Bush administration, as part of a new approach to producing clean cole, has ended government participation in the FutureGen project; government says that the private sector can now pick up the tab; the administration unfolds new clean cole initiatives

  • North Sea oil rig evacuated after bomb alarm

    More than 500 North Sea oil rig workers evacuated by helicopters after false alarm about an explosive device; bomb-disposal team dispatched

  • Spain to explore oil reserves on its east coast

    Spanish oil company signs up a leading Norwegian engineering company to do infrastructure work for to oil exploration projects off the east coast of Spain