Living Power: Renewable Power Generation from Animals and Humans



Generating electricity from biomass is stepping to the forefront of commercial power generation and Netherlands’ chicken-manure power plant, which started working around September 2008, stands as the largest biomass power plant in the world – supplying renewable electricity to nearly 90 thousand households. And yet more fascinating is the pursuit of developing renewable power projects that are modeled on the generation of electricity from the body of living organisms. The technologies are still in their infancy but whatever results have been obtained, thus far, are no less than amazing.

Of all the animals, studied for producing electricity in or on their bodies, none has come so stunning to the scientists as the electric eel. With its thousands of electrocytes (electricity-producing body cells), a large electric eel can generate an electric potential of about 600 volts – enough to stun a horse. Yale University researchers, in collaboration with nanotechnology engineers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), are working on developing artificial cells that would generate renewable power for medical implants and charging other small devices. The findings of these researchers, as published in Nature Nanotechnology (October 2008), show that the artificial cells modeled on electric eels’ electrocytes can be improved to produce up to 40% more electrical energy in a single pulse as compared to an eel’s natural electrocyte.

(more…)

Tweet This Post 

The Red will Save the Dead – Israel-Jordan Peace Canal Project



The Israel-Jordan Peace Canal project is back in news as engineering studies find it more feasible to build a canal leading water from the Red Sea through the Jordanian desert to the Dead Sea in order to save the shrinking Dead Sea waters from drying put completely. If approved, it will be reckoned as the world’s biggest desalination plant.

It was in 1885 when William Allen first proposed using the Dead Sea as a ‘new route to India’ instead of using the Suez Canal. Connecting the Red Sea to the Dead Sea was later conceived by a British military engineer as a project for hydropower generation. After considering the Mediterranean Sea as the Dead Sea’s ‘savior’ for decades – intermittently – experts are now turning to the Red Sea for replenishing Dead Sea’s shrinking waters via a would-be canal of 168 km length. The canal will save the shrinking Dead Sea from drying out completely. Currently, the water level of the Dead Sea is 420 meters below sea level and remains the lowest point on earth.

(more…)

Tweet This Post 

Clean Coal Technologies



When it comes to coal and environment, the issue is more of availability and affordability, and that is what keeps coal from being stricken out of the energy sources list in our times. Generally considered as a big threat to the environment, coal is known to release large quantities of carbon dioxide in the air, adding to the problem of greenhouse effect (global warming), when it is converted to electric power. But coal power generation also gives out other harmful emanations like oxides of sulfur and nitrogen.

Still, coal is, so far, the cheapest solution for the problem of generating electric power on a large scale. In the US alone, it currently accounts for over half of the total amount of electric power generation. Wind power, on the other hand, is less than one per cent of the total power generated in the US. In developing countries, replacing coal with alternative sources of power is, at this time, next to impossible due to technological and cost issues. For environmental friendly approaches to power generation, there is hardly any other choice than focusing on clean coal technology.

(more…)

Tweet This Post 

Leonardo Di Caprio and his Eco Green Lifestyle



Leonardo Di Caprio is one of Tinseltown’s most sought after actors.  He has come a long way indeed from his fresh faced days as “Jack” in Titanic.  Today Di Caprio is not only an Oscar nominated actor but also an outspoken environmentalist.

To show the world his commitment to sustainable and eco friendly living, he has purchased an eco friendly apartment in New York’s Riverhouse complex.  He has also traded in is hybrid Toyota Prius for a Tesla Roadster, his first sports car.

(more…)

Tweet This Post