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Researchers work to shrink technology that harnesses sun's energy to both heat and coolEvery day, the sun bathes the planet in energy--free of charge--yet few systems can take advantage of that source for both heating and cooling. Now, researchers are making progress on a thin-film technology that adheres both solar cells and heat pumps onto surfaces, ultimately turning walls, windows, and maybe even soda bottles into climate control systems. On July 12, 2006, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) researcher Steven Van Dessel and his colleagues will announce their most recent progress--including a computer model to help them simulate the climate within...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - People will soon cool their homes with power from the searing desert sun, according to companies investing in a little-used solar technology. Deserts are becoming hot spots for solar thermal power in which futuristic troughs concentrate the sun's rays and create steam to run power-producing turbines at power plants. It is a different technology than rooftop solar panels. Tiny experimental plants built in the 1980s in California ran into problems when energy prices dropped. But as oil, natural gas and electricity costs soar, companies are racing to build commercial solar thermal plants that are the size...

Ancient Thermal City to Be Flooded in Turkey 23/06/2005The 1,800-year-old city of Allianoi will be flooded in November by the Yortanli Dam. [File] Archeologists, environmentalists and international NGOs are joining together to try to find a way to save an 1,800-year-old archeological site, due to be flooded this November by the waters from a new dam. By Allan Cove for Southeast European Times – 23/06/05 The world's oldest known ancient thermal city, Allianoi, stands to be flooded when the Yortanli Dam begins operation this November. Located in the very centre of the planned dam lake, it will be submerged under...

Finally - a breakthrough for oil? Craig Morris 06.12.2004 A conversation with Brian Appel of Changing World Technologies In 2003, Changing World Technologies made headlines in the United States and abroad with the announcement that it would be able to make oil out of just about anything. The company had been running a plant that processed seven tonnes of turkey offal per day into oil at a cost of around $15 per barrel. After a larger plant that processes 238 tonnes of turkey offal per day did not go into operation on time (due - the company says - to...

Link post: link provided to the thread in the FR chat section, where interested readers can view the images and post any commentary: Geology Pictures of the Week, October 24-31, 2004: Ghostly Gas, Bone Dry, Black Dragon's Caldron

I'm a big fan of hot springs and usually visit them purely for pleasure. But last month my soak at Chena Hot Springs was all business. Well, mostly. The Alaskan Geothermal Working Group's first "summit" at Chena focused on geothermal as a power source for Alaska. Over the two-day meeting the 75 participants learned a lot -- like how Iceland is now getting almost 20 percent of its electricity from geothermal. We also heard from Roy Mink, who heads the U.S. Department of Energy's Geothermal Technologies Division in Washington, D.C. He told us the DOE considers Alaska one of a...

Ask Umbra: Waste makes haste Grist Magazine - grist magazine 06.14.04 - For more environmental news and humor, sign up for Grist Magazine's e-mail list. Dear Umbra, What is thermal depolymerization? Ann Freehold, N.J. Dearest Ann, A polymer is a large group of linked molecules. We're made of polymers such as protein, eat polymers such as starch, and wear polymers such as leather and nylon. Thermal depolymerization is a heat-driven process that breaks down or transforms polymers into the shorter chains from whence they came: oil. Our planet's automatic transformation of dead dinosaurs and dead cavepeople and other organic matter...

<p>Caltech researchers have made a metallic glass-based foam that is stronger than traditional metal alloys, providing industry with a revolutionary lightweight material.</p> <p>Although bubbloy (bubble-alloy) is entering a crowded field of metallic foams, it has the advantage of a smooth plastic or glasslike consistency where others are grainy.</p>

DISCOVER Vol. 24 No. 5 (May 2003) Table of Contents Anything into Oil Technological savvy could turn 600 million tons of turkey guts and other waste into 4 billion barrels of light Texas crude each year By Brad Lemley Photography by Tony Law Gory refuse, from a Butterball Turkey plant in Carthage, Missouri, will no longer go to waste. Each day 200 tons of turkey offal will be carted to the first industrial-scale thermal depolymerization plant, recently completed in an adjacent lot, and be transformed into various useful products, including 600 barrels of light oil. In an industrial park in...

Closure of the western part of the Back Basin Trail within the Norris Geyser Basin Press Release http://www.nps.gov/yell/press/0362.htm On July 22, Yellowstone National Park issued a press release to inform the public that it would close the western part of the Back Basin Trail within the Norris Geyser Basin. This follows increased thermal output within this area including areas immediately adjacent to the trail, beginning on July 11. Norris is the hottest and most seismically active geyser basin in Yellowstone. Recent activity in the Norris Geyser Basin has included formation of new mud pots, an eruption of Porkchop Geyser...

Yellowstone National Park-- A five-year-old girl was burned after she fell into 160-degree water while playing with her brother near a geyser in Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone superintendent Suzanne Lewis says the Tucson, Arizona girl suffered minor burns to her legs and back when she fell from a boardwalk late yesterday afternoon. Lewis says the water was less than two inches deep but extremely hot. Her parents and an eyewitness administered first aid before the girl was treated and released from the Lake Clinic.

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 December 16 Night and Day in Melas Chasma on Mars Credit: Arizona State U., JPL, NASA Explanation: What types of terrain are found on Mars? Part of the answer comes from thermal imaging by the robot spacecraft 2001 Mars Odyssey currently orbiting Mars. The above picture is a superposition of two infrared images, a black and white image taken during Martian daylight and a false-color image taken...

WTVF (CBS) & WKRN (ABC) just broke into regular TV programming to report a major fire at the Thermal Transfer Plant in downtown Nashville. The plant burns garbage to heat and cool downtown Nashville businesses. The plant is between the Cumberland River and 1st Avenue near Riverfront Park. The only website I could find that speaks to this is WTVF's SkyCam high atop the Batman building. It is pointed towards the fire. Views from SkyCam show the building(s) fully engaged. One of the stations reported about 30 fire trucks had responded to the fire. The local Fox affiliate does a...

MITEE - A Miniature Nuclear Propulsion Engine Chemical rockets have reached their limits. The hydrogen/oxygen chemical rocket can only deliver a specific impulse of about 450 seconds. The specific impulse is a measure of the thrust delivered by the rocket per unit mass of propellant consumed. Increasing the specific impulse to 1000 seconds, which is possible with Nuclear Thermal Propulsion, enables the spacecraft velocity to be over 2 times greater than that for a hydrogen/oxygen rocket, for the same mass of propellant consumed. Sidebar 1 compares the IMLEO (Initial Mass in Low Earth Orbit) for hydrogen/oxygen rockets with those for...