Geothermal energy in IEA’s 450 Scenario

Posted on June 15, 2011 by Rolf Schuttenhelm

Geothermal energy (electricity and heat energy) have to –at least– increase ten- to twentyfold over 4 decades as part of the big 450 mission.

Recycling waste heat to power your car

Posted on June 12, 2011 by Jorn van Dooren

If global warming has achieved one thing, it is that more and more people are aware of their energy usage and many of us frown upon the blatant waste of energy by others. That is why switching from the common … Continue reading →

New graphene production methods open new scale-up possibilities

Posted on June 8, 2011 by Jorn van Dooren

2004 was the birth year of the new material called graphene. Graphene can be created in various methods in the lab, but the scale-up has remained a challenge for scientists. Additionally, graphene remains suspended in solution, which further limits its … Continue reading →

2010 brought CO2 record – 450 Scenario does not allow any further growth

Posted on May 30, 2011 by Rolf Schuttenhelm

We really thought we had all the climate records for 2010 neatly piled, but had all forgotten about this one. Deforestation and other land use changes excluded, simply burning fossil fuels in 2010 we emitted 30,600,000,000 tonnes of CO2. That’s … Continue reading →

New solar sheets 4.5 times as efficient as regular panels

Posted on May 17, 2011 by Rolf Schuttenhelm

If you want to get the most out of the Sun, don’t use photovoltaic collection, but simply let the sunrays bake something really black – and then harvest that heat.

New organic aerosol science on the horizon

Posted on March 27, 2011 by Cat Scott

An estimated 68,000 barrels of oil were released to the sea surface every day during the five month long leak – in addition to large amounts of methane. The environmental disaster that was the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill in … Continue reading →

Proteins as a base for biorefining and biofuel

Posted on March 11, 2011 by Jorn van Dooren

Researchers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, in Los Angeles have developed a way to utilise proteins, one of the most abundant biomolecules in the world, as a raw material for biorefining and biofuel production. … Continue reading →

Methane breakdown in Gulf suddenly 3,000 times slower

Posted on February 22, 2011 by Rolf Schuttenhelm

Despite a bloom in methane-consuming bacteria – and despite us saying last month all BP methane had been eaten – in fact the spilled gas is still present in large quantities, underwater.

Will moly be the end of Silicon Valley?

Posted on February 10, 2011 by Jorn van Dooren

The discovery of the revolutionary material called graphene, made from simple pencil lead and the process of removing the atoms with scotch tape, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010. It was not just the fact that this … Continue reading →

Saudi Arabia may have 40 percent less oil

Posted on February 8, 2011 by Rolf Schuttenhelm

Bits of Science

Bits of Energy