Inventor Jon Bohmer with the oven he has made out of a cardboard box.

Story Highlights

• Inventor Jon Bohmer has created a $5 oven made out of cardboard boxes
• Design uses 2 boxes, and an acrylic cover that lets in sun’s rays and traps them
• Award-winning oven has gone into production in a factory in Nairobi

By Saeed Ahmed
CNN

(CNN) – When Jon Bohmer sat down with his two little girls for a simple project they could work on together, he didn’t realize they’d hit upon a solution to one of the world’s biggest problems for just $5: A solar-powered oven.

The ingeniously simple design uses two cardboard boxes, one inside the other, and an acrylic cover that lets in the sun’s rays and traps them.

Black paint on the inner box, and silver foil on the outer one, help concentrate the heat. The trapped rays make the inside hot enough to cook casseroles, bake bread and boil water.

What the box also does is eliminate the need in developing countries for rural residents to cut down trees for firewood. About 3 billion people around the world do so, adding to deforestation and, in turn, global warming.

By allowing users to boil water, the simple device could also potentially save the millions of children who die from drinking unclean water.

Bohmer’s invention on Thursday won the FT Climate Change Challenge, which sought to find and publicize the most innovative and practical solution to climate change.

"A lot of scientists are working on ways to send people to Mars. I was looking for something a little more grassroots, a little simpler," Bohmer said Thursday.

Bohmer, a Norwegian-born entrepreneur based in Kenya, said he also had been looking at solutions "way too complex, for way too long."

"This took me about a weekend, and it worked on the first try," Bohmer said. "It’s mind-boggling how simple it is."

The contest was organized by the Forum for the Future — a sustainable development charity — and the Financial Times newspaper. Among the judges were British business magnate Richard Branson and environmentalist Rajendra Pachauri. The public also voted on the finalists.

Bohmer’s invention beat about 300 other entries, including a machine that turns wood and other organic material into charcoal, wheel covers that make trucks more fuel efficient by reducing drag, and a feed supplement for livestock that reduces the methane they emit by 15 percent.

Bohmer named his invention the Kyoto Box, after the international environmental treaty to reduce global warming.

The box can be produced in existing cardboard factories. It has gone into production in a factory in Nairobi, Kenya, that can churn out about 2.5 million boxes a month.

Bohmer has also designed a more durable version, made from recycled plastic, which can be produced just as cheaply.

He envisions such cardboard ovens being distributed throughout rural Africa.

"In the West, we cook with electricity, so it’s easy to ignore this problem," he said. "But half the world’s population is still living in a stone age. The only way for them to cook is to make a fire.

"I don’t want to see another 80-year-old woman carrying 20 kilos of firewood on her back. Maybe we don’t have to."

Via CNN

Anne Trafton, News Office
July 31, 2008

In a revolutionary leap that could transform solar power from a marginal, boutique alternative into a mainstream energy source, MIT researchers have overcome a major barrier to large-scale solar power: storing energy for use when the sun doesn’t shine.

Click To Play

Until now, solar power has been a daytime-only energy source, because storing extra solar energy for later use is prohibitively expensive and grossly inefficient. With today’s announcement, MIT researchers have hit upon a simple, inexpensive, highly efficient process for storing solar energy.

Requiring nothing but abundant, non-toxic natural materials, this discovery could unlock the most potent, carbon-free energy source of all: the sun. “This is the nirvana of what we’ve been talking about for years,” said MIT’s Daniel Nocera, the Henry Dreyfus Professor of Energy at MIT and senior author of a paper describing the work in the July 31 issue of Science. “Solar power has always been a limited, far-off solution. Now we can seriously think about solar power as unlimited and soon.”

Inspired by the photosynthesis performed by plants, Nocera and Matthew Kanan, a postdoctoral fellow in Nocera’s lab, have developed an unprecedented process that will allow the sun’s energy to be used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen gases. Later, the oxygen and hydrogen may be recombined inside a fuel cell, creating carbon-free electricity to power your house or your electric car, day or night.

The key component in Nocera and Kanan’s new process is a new catalyst that produces oxygen gas from water; another catalyst produces valuable hydrogen gas. The new catalyst consists of cobalt metal, phosphate and an electrode, placed in water. When electricity – whether from a photovoltaic cell, a wind turbine or any other source – runs through the electrode, the cobalt and phosphate form a thin film on the electrode, and oxygen gas is produced.

Combined with another catalyst, such as platinum, that can produce hydrogen gas from water, the system can duplicate the water splitting reaction that occurs during photosynthesis.

The new catalyst works at room temperature, in neutral pH water, and it’s easy to set up, Nocera said. “That’s why I know this is going to work. It’s so easy to implement,” he said.

‘Giant leap’ for clean energy

Sunlight has the greatest potential of any power source to solve the world’s energy problems, said Nocera. In one hour, enough sunlight strikes the Earth to provide the entire planet’s energy needs for one year.

James Barber, a leader in the study of photosynthesis who was not involved in this research, called the discovery by Nocera and Kanan a “giant leap” toward generating clean, carbon-free energy on a massive scale.

“This is a major discovery with enormous implications for the future prosperity of humankind,” said Barber, the Ernst Chain Professor of Biochemistry at Imperial College London. “The importance of their discovery cannot be overstated since it opens up the door for developing new technologies for energy production thus reducing our dependence for fossil fuels and addressing the global climate change problem.”

‘Just the beginning’

Currently available electrolyzers, which split water with electricity and are often used industrially, are not suited for artificial photosynthesis because they are very expensive and require a highly basic (non-benign) environment that has little to do with the conditions under which photosynthesis operates.

More engineering work needs to be done to integrate the new scientific discovery into existing photovoltaic systems, but Nocera said he is confident that such systems will become a reality.

“This is just the beginning,” said Nocera, principal investigator for the Solar Revolution Project funded by the Chesonis Family Foundation and co-Director of the Eni-MIT Solar Frontiers Center. “The scientific community is really going to run with this.”

Nocera hopes that within 10 years, homeowners will be able to power their homes in daylight through photovoltaic cells, while using excess solar energy to produce hydrogen and oxygen to power their own household fuel cell. Electricity-by-wire from a central source could be a thing of the past.

The project is part of the MIT Energy Initiative, a program designed to help transform the global energy system to meet the needs of the future and to help build a bridge to that future by improving today’s energy systems. MITEI Director Ernest Moniz, Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics and Engineering Systems, noted that “this discovery in the Nocera lab demonstrates that moving up the transformation of our energy supply system to one based on renewables will depend heavily on frontier basic science.”

The success of the Nocera lab shows the impact of a mixture of funding sources – governments, philanthropy, and industry. This project was funded by the National Science Foundation and by the Chesonis Family Foundation, which gave MIT $10 million this spring to launch the Solar Revolution Project, with a goal to make the large scale deployment of solar energy within 10 years.

Via MIT News

Daniel G. Nocera, the Henry Dreyfus Professor of Energy at MIT, has developed a simple method to split water molecules and produce oxygen gas, a discovery that paves the way for large-scale use of solar power

MIT researchers have developed a new catalyst, consisting of cobalt metal, phosphate and an electrode. When the catalyst is placed in water and electricity runs through the electrode, oxygen gas is produced. When another catalyst is used to produce hydrogen gas, the oxygen and hydrogen can be combined inside a fuel cell, creating carbon-free electricity to power a house or an electric car, day or night.

Graphic / Patrick Gillooly, MIT

With Daniel Nocera’s and Matthew Kanan’s new catalyst, homeowners could use their solar panels during the day to power their home, while also using the energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen for storage. At night, the stored hydrogen and oxygen could be recombined using a fuel cell to generate power while the solar panels are inactive.

El edificio de Standard Refrigeration, en Caguas, es la estructura más amigable al ambiente y eficiente en la Isla. Posee la certificación platina del US Green Building Council y de Energy Star. En la foto, su vicepresidente, Carlos E. Pacheco, y la ingeniera Neysa Sánchez. (Ramón Tonito Zayas/END).

Por Sandra Morales Blanes / end.smorales@elnuevodia.com

Desde afuera, su fachada parecería la de un edificio común, pero una vez uno se adentra y comienza a observarlo bien, no tarda mucho en darse cuenta de que está en la edificación más amigable al ambiente y eficiente que existe en Puerto Rico.

Y no es de extrañar. La estructura, de 12,000 pies cuadrados, es la única en la Isla que cuenta con una certificación del U.S. Green Building Council, cuyo sistema LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Rating System), promueve el diseño y la construcción de estructuras eficientes con un impacto mínimo al medio ambiente.

Se trata de las nuevas oficinas de la compañía Standard Refrigeration, una empresa local dedicada a la fabricación de conductos para aires acondicionados así como a la ingeniería mecánica y eléctrica dentro de la industria de la construcción.

El sistema LEED

Es un sistema de clasificación voluntario que persigue la sustentabilidad de  estructuras. Proporciona créditos por rendimiento en seis categorías; tiene siete prerrequisitos obligatorios y ofrece hasta un máximo de 69 puntos voluntarios.

Para obtener una certificación es necesario  obtener al menos 26 puntos. Estos se pueden lograr a través de equipos eficientes que generen ahorros de energía y consumo de agua, entre otras alternativas recomendadas. Para más información, puede acceder a www.usgbc.org.

Las instalaciones de Standard Refrigeration, que fueron trasladadas hace dos años de Guaynabo hasta la carretera PR-1 que conduce a Caguas, no fueron contempladas como un desarrollo verde. Pero uno de los socios de la compañía, Juan Sánchez Quintana, comenzó a visualizarlo de esa forma y a educar a sus colegas hasta convencerlos.

El proceso para lograr la certificación tomó cerca de un año. La construcción inició en 2005, ya en enero de 2006 pasaron a ocuparla y poco después lograron cumplir con un total de 52 puntos, de los 69 que establece LEED para edificios verdes de nueva construcción. Ello le mereció la certificación platino, que es la máxima que se otorga.

La eficiencia y sus beneficios

Pero ¿qué es lo que tiene este edificio diferente a los demás y qué han logrado sus dueños con su funcionamiento?

Para empezar, todo su sistema sanitario es low flow, lo que significa que utiliza una mínima capacidad de agua para funcionar. Y no opera con agua potable, sino con una cisterna con capacidad para 40,000 galones, que se nutre de la lluvia que cae durante el año sobre el techo del taller de conductos, aledaño a las oficinas administrativas.

“Tenemos un sistema de plomería que lleva agua de lluvia a todos los inodoros y urinales”, dijo la ingeniera Neysa Sánchez. Agregó que lo único que opera con agua potable son los lavamanos, fregaderos y duchas. Pero apuntó que todos tienen sensores para el control de consumo. Mientras que, como no había conexión sanitaria disponible, construyeron su propia planta de tratamiento de aguas usadas.

Con esos ajustes han logrado un ahorro de 50% en el consumo de agua potable, apuntó Carlos Pacheco, vicepresidente y socio de la empresa. Además, el edificio funciona con un solo aire acondicionado, hecho por la propia compañía. Este tiene un abanico y filtros “sumamente eficientes” y lámparas ultravioletas para el control de bacterias.

Cada uno de los 30 empleados que laboran a tiempo completo en la empresa tienen control del aire acondicionado en su espacio, y la temperatura se pudiera describir como normal, ni muy fría ni muy caliente. En el caso del sistema de iluminación, opera por sensores y si no detecta movimiento en un lugar se apaga automáticamente, lo que se traduce en más ahorro.

“Ahora mismo, la luz la estamos pagando a alrededor de 25 centavos el kilovatio, y estamos consumiendo unos 5,000 kilovatios; eso son $1,250 de luz al mes. Si no hubiésemos hecho este green building y seguíamos funcionando como en el otro edificio, estuviera consumiendo unos 12,000 kilovatios o $3,000, mensuales”, señaló Pacheco, quien busca hacer del edificio uno 100% autosuficiente. A esos fines adquirió un sistema de paneles solares.

Pacheco subrayó que el costo de construcción del edificio fue de $700,000, y tras un análisis encontró que sólo con el ahorro energético podrían liquidar en 10 años la hipoteca de la edificación.

Otra característica del edificio es un sistema de manejo establecido para vigilar el funcionamiento de todos los elementos mecánico, eléctrico y de plomería. Con este se miden los “compuestos orgánicos volátiles”, como los posibles venenos que puedan entrar al sistema. Igualmente, el polvo, la temperatura y la humedad.

Pacheco indicó que, normalmente, en la mañana se disparan los niveles de estos compuestos, debido a los químicos que traen muchos empleados en su piel, como las fragancias.

Señaló que en la empresa no se permiten los retoques de perfume durante el día ni nada que altere la calidad del ambiente, por ejemplo las velas aromáticas. Mientras que a todo empleado se le requiere reciclar el papel y los materiales que utilizan.

“Aquí no hay bacterias”

Nilda Pizzini, quien lleva 46 años en el departamento de contabilidad, reconoció que al principio el personal requirió de mucha educación. “Aquí todo es reciclable. No se pueden usar sprays, no se puede barrer…”, señaló.

“Pero es fabuloso porque es para el beneficio de nosotros los empleados, aquí no hay bacterias”, agregó Pizzini, quien también recicla y, al igual que sus compañeros, tiene una caja asignada a esos fines.

Por su parte, Pacheco aseguró que no es difícil la construcción verde en la Isla ni tampoco tiene que ser necesariamente costosa. Aclaró que, en el caso de la empresa, los costos fueron menores porque siendo contratistas pudieron hacer gran parte del trabajo. Eso sí, reconoció que “da trabajo” y “consume mucho tiempo” la planificación.

“Pero no es porque sea difícil. Es que nosotros estamos acostumbrados a hacer las cosas de una sola manera y es la que venimos haciendo a lo largo del tiempo y la historia en Puerto Rico”, dijo en clara referencia a la construcción típica, sin pensar en cómo hacer de la misma una más eficiente, amigable al ambiente y autosuficiente.

El ingeniero apuntó que toda la materia prima, que se podría considerar como especial, con la que se desarrolló la estructura se consiguió en Puerto Rico.

Subrayó que la diferencia en precio no fue significativa.

“Esto ha sido una maravilla, los beneficios que hemos tenido por tener este edificio y la educación que hemos ganado sí es un beneficio y altamente recomendable para todo el mundo”, apuntó Pacheco, quien espera que su empresa sirva de motivación a otras compañías.

Vía El Nuevo Día

Cada uno de los 30 empleados que laboran para esta empresa, como Nilda Pizzini, tiene su propio contenedor para reciclar papel utilizado en la oficina. (Ramón Tonito Zayas/END).

Los lavamanos, fregaderos y duchas tienen censores para evitar el gasto innecesario de agua y no dependen de agua potable para funcionar, sino de la lluvia que cae a lo largo del año y que es almacenada en una cisterna. (Ramón Tonito Zayas/END).

En la foto, los ingenieros Neysa Sánchez y Carlos E. Pacheco muestran el sistema de plomería instalado en el taller de fabricación de conductos de Standard Refrigeration, para recopilar la lluvia que cae sobre su techo. (Ramón Tonito Zayas/END)

Cuentan, además, con un sistema de alcantarillado que filtra el agua de lluvia que cae sobre el área de estacionamiento, para evitar que aceites y otros contaminantes lleguen hasta la quebrada cercana, a donde finalmente llegará. (Ramón Tonito Zayas/END)

El pavimento en el estacionamiento es especial ya que tiene compuestos que permiten que el agua percole de manera que no se creen correntías de agua. Además, está pintado de blanco, lo que evita su calentamiento extremo. (Ramón Tonito Zayas/END)

La empresa promueve entre sus empleados el “car pool” para reducir el uso de combustible. Para ello provee a quienes lo practiquen los mejores espacios. (Ramón Tonito Zayas/END).

Catalyzing the vanguard of a design science revolution

Greetings Design Revolutionaries!

Bucky had it right. “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

That’s why we’re awarding a $100,000 prize each year for comprehensive solutions that radically advance human well-being and ecosystem health. The 2008 prize will be conferred June 23rd in NYC.

STEP UP TO THE BUCKMINSTER FULLER CHALLENGE.
JOIN THE VANGUARD OF THE DESIGN REVOLUTION.

Learn more at bfi.org and challenge.bfi.org

The 2009 Challenge begins this Fall. Stay tuned…

Via Buckminster Fuller Institute

We’ve been hearing about the boom in alternative energy research in Silicon Valley for a while now, but not so much in terms of actual marketable products. That may be changing, though, if Mountain View based Sol Focus is any indication.

Looking at the history of solar power, one of the biggest obstacles to its broad acceptance and application has been the high cost of manufacturing photovoltaic cells, and the relatively low output. Sol Focus has a solution that they think could revolutionize the industry, and it’s so obvious you have to wonder why it took so long. Rather than make a large panel of pricey semi-conductors, they use comparatively cheap aluminum and glass mirrors to concentrate sunlight onto a tiny chip of photovoltaic, both reducing the cost of the unit, and increasing the efficiency of electricity production.

According to the company’s website, these dished panels use 1/1000th the active material of a conventional panel, and will produce power as cheaply as conventional (fossil fuel) sources by 2010. As an added bonus, they also look much, much cooler than the typical shiny black slab, offering a gleaming sci-fi gorgeousness that we wouldn’t mind on our rooftop one bit.

Via Core77

Las alternativas de energía renovable más conocidas son la solar y la eólica, pero, además del sol y el viento, hay otro recurso rodeando a Puerto Rico que podría proveer electricidad: el agua, tanto a través de la fuerza de las olas o el cambio de temperatura en el océano como con las represas hidroeléctricas.

El profesor de Ingeniería Química de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Mayagüez (RUM), José Colucci, señaló que la costa Norte de la Isla tiene un oleaje alto y con buena frecuencia para producir energía, pero tienen que estudiarse aún los efectos ecológicos que tendría un sistema de energía en el área, así como si afectaría actividades como la pesca y el “surfing”. Indicó que para analizar la viabilidad de este proyecto, que se lleva a cabo en países como Inglaterra y estados como Oregon, se estarán colocando unas boyas que medirán la capacidad y el potencial del oleaje.

Asimismo, Colucci explicó que el caudal de los ríos en Puerto Rico es pequeño para considerarse producir energía a gran escala con la fuerza de la corriente, pero se pueden colocar turbinas para uso personal en fincas por las que crucen los ríos, siempre que se cuente con el permiso del Departamento de Recursos Naturales y se haya probado que no afecta aguas abajo.

Por su parte, el ingeniero Gerardo Cosme, de la empresa local Solartek, señaló que en Puerto Rico se han realizado estudios que indican que el área de Punta Tuna, en el Sureste, es un punto ideal para operar un sistema de energía oceanotermal, ya que tiene suficiente profundidad –unos 3,000 pies bajo el agua- a sólo dos millas de la tierra. Este sistema, que se coloca a más de 2,000 pies de profundidad, trabaja con las diferencias de temperatura en el océano, convirtiendo en electricidad la energía que produce el cambio entre las aguas cálidas de la superficie del mar y las frías de las profundidades. Cosme explicó que el ciclo de refrigeración con amoniaco que crea la fuerza para mover la turbina se logra instalando unas máquinas donde el agua de la superficie calienta el amoniaco hasta convertirlo en un gas que luego baja a un condensador donde el agua fría lo convierte otra vez en líquido para continuar el proceso. Un cable submarino transporta la electricidad generada.

Según Cosme, esta tecnología, conocida como OTEC, por sus siglas en inglés, no ha sido utilizada en la Isla, porque requiere una inversión de capital grande y los materiales de construcción que aguantan la hostilidad marina son difíciles de conseguir. Añadió que la energía oceanotermal, que se está utilizando en Hawai, sólo es viable para proyectos de producción a gran escala, y que el que se está estudiando podría generar energía comparable a la que brindan varias de las plantas de la Autoridad de Energía Eléctrica (AEE) combinadas.

Jorge Rodríguez, director ejecutivo de la AEE, informó que están analizando la viabilidad de un proyecto de energía oceanotermal en la costa entre Maunabo y Yabucoa, que proveería 75 megavatios de energía, con una fuente constante y renovable.

De otro lado, el presidente de la Unión de Trabajadores de la Industria Eléctrica y Riego (UTIER), Ricardo Santos, señaló que una opción para reducir los costos de energía de la Autoridad es rehabilitar las plantas hidroeléctricas que están abandonadas. Éstas producían un 2% de la energía del país y actualmente colaboran con menos del 1%. Santos considera que, rehabilitando los abastos de agua y utilizando las tecnología actuales, pueden llegar a producir un 4% de la demanda. “Esta energía es muy barata”.

¿Energía y agua potable?

Otro servicio básico por el cual el precio ha experimentado fuertes alzas es el agua para consumo. Colucci opinó que el costo de desalinizar el agua de mar es muy alto, pero podría considerarse la alternativa dado que hay muchos sectores que no cuentan con servicio de agua potable. Sin embargo, mencionó como puntos adicionales en contra que el agua tendría un sabor diferente y podría afectar la plomería metálica porque seguiría causando corrosión. Añadió que el problema del agua, en realidad, no es de abasto sino de distribución.

El profesor de Microbiología del RUM, Arturo Massol, afirmó que Puerto Rico cuenta con grandes abastos de agua, pero no son utilizados correctamente ni por el Gobierno ni por la ciudadanía. Explicó que las aguas subterráneas suplían hasta el 40% de la demanda de agua, pero se han cerrado más de 100 pozos –que brindarían 1,000,000 de galones diarios, una cifra mayor a la que provee el Superacueducto- a causa del desarrollo urbano desmedido y la sedimentación con basura. Massol, quien aprovecha el agua de lluvia para su uso en el hogar, mencionó que, con el cambio climático, los periodos de lluvia y sequía son más extensos, pero, aun así, habría suficiente agua para suplir la demanda si se maneja correctamente.

Vía El Vocero

Researchers have been unable to build an ideal “photonic crystal” to manipulate visible light, impeding the dream of ultrafast optical computers. But now, University of Utah chemists have discovered that nature already has designed photonic crystals with the ideal, diamond-like structure: They are found in the shimmering, iridescent green scales of a beetle from Brazil.

This inch-long beetle from Brazil accomplished a task that so far has stymied human researchers. University of Utah chemists determined the beetle glows iridescent green because it evolved a crystal structure in its scales that is like the crystal structure of diamonds. Such a structure is considered an ideal architecture for ‘photonic crystals’ that will be needed to manipulate visible light in ultrafast optical computers of the future. – Photo Credit: Jeremy Galusha

“It appears that a simple creature like a beetle provides us with one of the technologically most sought-after structures for the next generation of computing,” says study leader Michael Bartl, an assistant professor of chemistry and adjunct assistant professor of physics at the University of Utah. “Nature has simple ways of making structures and materials that are still unobtainable with our million-dollar instruments and engineering strategies.”

The study by Bartl, University of Utah chemistry doctoral student Jeremy Galusha and colleagues is set to be published later this week in the journal Physical Review E.

The beetle is an inch-long weevil named Lamprocyphus augustus. The discovery of its scales’ crystal structure represents the first time scientists have been able to work with a material with the ideal or “champion” architecture for a photonic crystal.

“Nature uses very simple strategies to design structures to manipulate light – structures that are beyond the reach of our current abilities,” Galusha says.

Bartl and Galusha now are trying to design a synthetic version of the beetle’s photonic crystals, using scale material as a mold to make the crystals from a transparent semiconductor.

The scales can’t be used in technological devices because they are made of fingernail-like chitin, which is not stable enough for long-term use, is not semiconducting and doesn’t bend light adequately.

The University of Utah chemists conducted the study with coauthors Lauren Richey, a former Springville High School student now attending Brigham Young University; BYU biology Professor John Gardner; and Jennifer Cha, of IBM’s Almaden Research Center in San Jose, Calif.

Quest for the Ideal or ‘Champion’ Photonic Crystal

Researchers are seeking photonic crystals as they aim to develop optical computers that run on light (photons) instead of electricity (electrons). Right now, light in near-infrared and visible wavelengths can carry data and communications through fiberoptic cables, but the data must be converted from light back to electricity before being processed in a computer.

The goal – still years away – is an ultrahigh-speed computer with optical integrated circuits or chips that run on light instead of electricity.

“You would be able to solve certain problems that we are not able to solve now,” Bartl says. “For certain problems, an optical computer could do in seconds what regular computers need years for.”

Researchers also are seeking ideal photonic crystals to amplify light and thus make solar cells more efficient, to capture light that would catalyze chemical reactions, and to generate tiny laser beams that would serve as light sources on optical chips.

“Photonic crystals are a new type of optical materials that manipulate light in non-classic ways,” Bartl says. Some colors of light can pass through a photonic crystal at various speeds, while other wavelengths are reflected as the crystal acts like a mirror.

Bartl says there are many proposals for how light could be manipulated and controlled in new ways by photonic crystals, “however we still lack the proper materials that would allow us to create ideal photonic crystals to manipulate visible light. A material like this doesn’t exist artificially or synthetically.”

The ideal photonic crystal – dubbed the “champion” crystal – was described by scientists elsewhere in 1990. They showed that the optimal photonic crystal – one that could manipulate light most efficiently – would have the same crystal structure as the lattice of carbon atoms in diamond. Diamonds cannot be used as photonic crystals because their atoms are packed too tightly together to manipulate visible light.

When made from an appropriate material, a diamond-like structure would create a large “photonic bandgap,” meaning the crystalline structure prevents the propagation of light of a certain range of wavelengths. Materials with such bandgaps are necessary if researchers are to engineer optical circuits that can manipulate visible light.

On the Path of the Beetle: From BYU to Belgium and Brazil

The new study has its roots in Richey’s science fair project on iridescence in biology when she was a student at Utah’s Springville High School. Gardner’s group at BYU was helping her at the same time Galusha was using an electron microscope there and learned of Richey’s project.

This microscopic image shows individual scales attached to the exoskeleton of the beetle Lamprocyphus augustus, and how the scales glow iridescent green because the fingernail-like material in the scales has a diamond-like crystal structure that reflects green light. University of Utah chemists are among researchers seeking to create a material with the same structure, which is considered ideal for future optical computers that would run at ultrahigh speeds on light rather than electricity. – Photo Credit: Michael Bartl

Richey wanted to examine an iridescent beetle, but lacked a complete specimen. So the researchers ordered Brazil’s Lamprocyphus augustus from a Belgian insect dealer.

The beetle’s shiny, sparkling green color is produced by the crystal structure of its scales, not by any pigment, Bartl says. The scales are made of chitin, which forms the external skeleton, or exoskeleton, of most insects and is similar to fingernail material. The scales are affixed to the beetle’s exoskeleton. Each measures 200 microns (millionths of a meter) long by 100 microns wide. A human hair is about 100 microns thick.

Green light – which has a wavelength of about 500 to 550 nanometers, or billionths of a meter – cannot penetrate the scales’ crystal structure, which acts like mirrors to reflect the green light, making the beetle appear iridescent green.

Bartl says the beetle was interesting because it was iridescent regardless of the angle from which it was viewed – unlike most iridescent objects – and because a preliminary electron microscope examination showed its scales did not have the structure typical of artificial photonic crystals.

“The color and structure looked interesting,” Bartl says. “The question was: What was the exact three-dimensional structure that produces these unique optical properties?”

The Utah team’s study is the first to show that “just as atoms are arranged in diamond crystals, so is the chitin structure of beetle scales,” he says.

Galusha determined the 3-D structure of the scales using a scanning electron microscope. He cut a cross section of a scale, and then took an electron microscope image of it. Then he used a focused ion beam – sort of a tiny sandblaster that shoots a beam of gallium ions – to shave off the exposed end of the scale, and then took another image, doing so repeatedly until he had images of 150 cross-sections from the same scale.

Then the researchers “stacked” the images together in a computer, and determined the crystal structure of the scale material: a diamond-like or “champion” architecture, but with building blocks of chitin and air instead of the carbon atoms in diamond.

Next, Galusha and Bartl used optical studies and theory to predict optical properties of the scales’ structure. The prediction matched reality: green iridescence.

Many iridescent objects appear that way only when viewed at certain angles, but the beetle remains iridescent from any angle. Bartl says the way the beetle does that is an “ingenious engineering strategy” that approximates a technology for controlling the propagation of visible light.

A single beetle scale is not a continuous crystal, but includes some 200 pieces of chitin, each with the diamond-based crystal structure but each oriented a different direction. So each piece reflects a slightly different wavelength or shade of green.

“Each piece is too small to be seen individually by your eye, so what you see is a composite effect,” with the beetle appearing green from any angle, Bartl explains.

Scientists don’t know how the beetle uses its color, but “because it is an unnatural green, it’s likely not for camouflage,” Bartl says. “It could be to attract mates.”

The study was funded by the National Science Foundation, American Chemical Society, the University of Utah and Brigham Young University.

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by the University of Utah

Via Biomimicry News

San Francisco has made solar energy a top priority with the passage of the Solar Energy Initiative Program – the largest solar energy subsidy program of any city in the United States. An annual budget of $3 million dollars will help create incentives for individuals and businesses to install solar photovoltaics systems with a $3,000 to $6,000 rebate available to individuals and a $10,000 rebate for businesses. On par with statewide programs, San Francisco’s Solar Energy Initiative Program is poised to make solar installations permanent fixtures in the city’s more sustainable skyline.

The program was approved last week by the San Francisco board of supervisors and only needs approval from Mayor Newsom, a strong proponent of the subsidy initiative. With funding in place, the city expects the program to be in progress within weeks resulting in the generation of 1.5MW of solar energy for San Francisco homes and businesses.

The initial approval is for a 10 year program with an annual budget of $3 million. A pilot program that will provide solar incentives to low-income residents and non-profit organizations is also ready to begin with $1.5 million in funding. Collectively, the subsidies set in place by San Francisco will provide means to drastically reduce the cost of solar on residential and commercial properties.

“Today, San Francisco has taken a big first step towards addressing climate change and becoming more energy independent,” said solar legislation co-sponsor, and San Fran Assessor-Recorder, Phil Ting. The ambitious, and now feasible, goal of San Francisco’s solar plan is to increase solar installations in the city from 660 to 10,000 over the next 10 years.

+ San Francisco Solar Subsidy

Via Inhabitat, Earth2Tech

It is claimed the Water Energy System (WES) developed by Genepax can generate power by supplying water and air to the fuel and air electrodes. The basic power generation mechanism of the system is similar to that of a standard fuel cell. The main feature of the new system is that it uses a membrane electrode assembly (MEA), which contains a material that breaks down the water to hydrogen and oxygen.

Though the company did not reveal any more detail the company president said that they had “succeeded in adopting a well-known process to produce hydrogen from water to the MEA”, similar to the mechanism that produces hydrogen by a reaction of metal hydride and water. However the company claims that compared with the existing method, the new process produces hydrogen from water for a longer time.

Genepax unveiled a fuel cell stack with a rated output of 120W and a fuel cell system with a rated output of 300W. The 300W system is an active system, which supplies water and air with a pump. In the demonstration, the company powered the TV and the lighting equipment with a lead-acid battery charged by using the system. In addition, the 300W system was mounted in the luggage room of a compact electric vehicle “Reva” manufactured by Takeoka Mini Car Products Co Ltd, and the vehicle was driven by the system.

In future Genepax intends to provide 1kw-class generation systems for use in electric vehicles and for residential applications. The production cost is presently about ¥2,000,000 (US$18,522), it estimated that it can be reduced to ¥500,000 ($5000) or lower if the company succeeds in mass production.

Via: ENN, TechOn, Fuel Cell Today, Electronics Infoline

]]> http://www.geoisla.com/2008/06/16/genepax-unveils-water-energy-fuel-cell-system/feed/ 0 http://www.geoisla.com/2008/06/13/peel-and-stick-solar-for-commercial-buildings/ http://www.geoisla.com/2008/06/13/peel-and-stick-solar-for-commercial-buildings/#comments Fri, 13 Jun 2008 18:47:26 +0000 rafaelmar http://www.geoisla.com/?p=757

Lumeta has developed what’s said to be the world’s first commercial-scale, “peel and stick” solar modules called Lumeta Power-Ply 380. The Power-Ply solar modules use adhesives to attach to the roof, making the system a cinch to install. The short video below shows two guys installing six modules on a roof in roughly 34 minutes — it seems so simple anyone could do it! Of note, the 4′ x 8′ modules don’t require roof penetrations or mounting systems, as opposed to most solar power systems. You may also note that the flat roof style installation sacrifices the optimal solar angle (and loses about 5% of the power production), but Lumeta is confident that the benefits to the peel and stick solar product outweigh the slight losses in production.

Via Jetson Green, Wired.