Innovations

Engine Could Provide Energy for Hybrid Vehicles

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:27:33 -0500

Engineers are looking at an alternative to hydrogen fuel cells or conventional engines in hybrid vehicles, an efficient design called a free-piston engine. As Technology Review explains, a free-piston engine has no mechanical connection between the piston and the crankshaft, which reduces friction and makes for a more efficient engine. In fact, researchers believe it could be far more efficient in producing electricity than either conventional generators or newer fuel-cell technology.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Skyscraper Farms Could Save Energy

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 01:00:00 -0500

South African Boer goats chews on tough weeds to clear a steep hillside lot in downtown Los Angeles. In the future, maybe the livestock will be inside the skyscrapers. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)

Instead of spending all that energy to plant and plow fields and then truck the produce from the country to the city, why not grow food right in a city, in a glass tower with different floors for different crops and livestock? A Columbia University professor tells Scientific American that such "vertical farming" would bring fresh food to urban dwellers with less fuel expended on shipping, and would allow farmers to heat or cool the environment as needed to grow crops all year round.'

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Auction Sets Carbon Emissions at $3.07 per Ton

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:51:22 -0500

The country's first auction of emissions permits set the price of releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere at $3.07 per ton. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a consortium of 10 states in the Northeast, held the first U.S. cap-and-trade auction last week and announced the results today, the Associated Press reports. Under the program, companies buy permits to emit a certain amount of greenhouse gases, and if they reduce their emissions they can sell the permits to other companies for a profit.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Bacteria Can Produce Plastic

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 11:15:58 -0500

Not all of the fossil fuel we use goes to power our cars or heat our homes: Some is used to make plastic. The Discovery Channel tells us that researchers at Genomatica, a company in San Diego, CA, say they've developed bacteria that make an important ingredient of the plastic that's used in products from Spandex to car bumpers. The company says it can go into production as early as next year, and that its product will be cheaper even if the cost of oil drops as low as $50 a barrel.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

A Different Digital Divide: Age

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 01:00:00 -0500

By Mark Stencel, CQ Columnist

The child of a science writer I know once hopped into her mother's lap and took control of the family computer. My friend was amazed to watch her daughter, who was 3 at the time, use the wheel on the mouse to scroll down the screen. "Oh," the science writer said, "that's what that does!"

Perhaps John McCain has felt just that kind of wonderment this year, as his staff and family have taught the 72-year-old Arizona senator how to browse the Web and read his daughter Meghan's campaign blog. The Republican nominee has described himself as a technological "Neanderthal" and computer "illiterate." And now his Democratic opponent has turned those comments into a campaign ad that paints McCain as "out of touch."

NASA Reauthorization Passes, Astronauts to Return to the Moon

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 17:40:43 -0500

By Kathryn A. Wolfe, CQ Staff

The House cleared a NASA reauthorization Saturday by voice vote, just one month shy of its 50th anniversary. .

The measure would reauthorize the space agency for one year at an authorized funding level of $20.2 billion. The bill embraces the agency's plan to send astronauts back to the moon in preparation for future missions to Mars and would designate $1 billion for accelerate development of a spacecraft to replace the current shuttle fleet.

Digitizing Health Records Still a Challenge

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 10:00:00 -0500

Healthcare could be dramatically improved if every doctor a patient ever saw had access to all that patient's health records, which could happen if the records were all digital. But only 15 to 18 percent of U.S. doctors use electronic records, partly because of the upfront costs of going digital. Technology Review talks to Karen Bell, who's in charge of promoting digital records at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, about what the problem is.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Boeing Begins Jet Biofuel Initiative

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:00:00 -0500

Aircraft manufacturer Boeing has teamed up with 10 airlines, including Air France, Continental, and Virgin Atlantic, to form a Sustainable Aviation Fuel Users Group. Flightglobal reports that the group will look for ways to make renewable jet fuel, with the goal of at least partially replacing fossil fuel used in airplanes with biofuel by 2013. Boeing is funding two studies on making jet fuel from algae or the plant jatropha, being done at the Natural Resources Defense Council and Yale.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Obama Releases Science Funding Plan

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 13:46:36 -0500

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has released an 11-page "plan for science and innovation." Nature reports that the plan calls for doubling the funding of the National Institutes of Health over 10 years, and spells out science policies in more specific details than had been released previously.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Google to Fund "World-Saving" Ideas

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 10:45:41 -0500

Google has announced a project to solicit ideas that can have a positive impact on humanity, and to fund those it deems most promising. The project, dubbed 10^100 (10 to the hundredth power), will dole out up to $10 million to the winning idea or ideas. As CNN reports, Google is open to any sort of idea that helps people in some way, from providing food and shelter to promoting clean energy.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Is a New Icebreaker on the Horizon?

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 01:00:00 -0500

By Caitlin Webber, CQ Staff

A Senate Democratic economic stimulus plan unveiled Thursday would provide the Coast Guard with $925 million for the construction of a new polar ice-breaking ship.

Will this icebreaker be a ship of the past?

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Appropriations Chairman Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., promote building a new icebreaker to bolster the U.S.'s stake in the oil-rich polar region, among other energy and environmental measures in their $56.2 billion plan.

Obama Addresses Questions About Science

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 13:56:03 -0500

The British science journal Nature posed 18 questions related to science and policy to the two presidential candidates, but received written answers only from Democrat Barack Obama. Nature prints his answers, along with statements on the topics from Republican John McCain when they could be found from other sources. Among the issues: appointing a science advisor, how to address climate change, and what to teach children about evolution.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

House Paves the Way for Hybrid Trucks

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 02:00:00 -0500

By Kathryn A. Wolfe, CQ Staff

The House passed a bill Wednesday designed to spur the development of plug-in hybrid utility and delivery trucks.

The measure , which passed by voice vote, would create a competitive grant program at the Energy Department to help businesses research, develop and ultimately sell these vehicles.

Game Hopes to Predict the Future and Fix It

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 20:10:06 -0500

A new online game called Superstruct started running this week, and challenges players with "superthreats" such as disease pandemics, refugees displaced by global warming, and evil computer hackers, that threaten civilization. As Discover magazine reports, the game, from the Institute for the Future, hopes to harness the so-called wisdom of crowds to predict doomsday scenarios and come up with ways to deal with them.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Solar Panels Enter Black Market

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 13:46:29 -0500

Solar panels are becoming increasingly popular, with thieves who resell them on eBay, according to the New York Times. Although no one's compiled statistics, police departments in California say they're seeing a rash of such crimes. Outside of California, where fewer panels have been installed, thefts are rarer, but growing, the paper says.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com