August 29, 2008

DOE Announces Up to $7 Million for Technology Commercialization Acceleration

WASHINGTON – DOE Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy John Mizroch today announced the availability of up to $7 million to accelerate the movement of clean energy technologies from DOE’s world-class national laboratories to the marketplace. The funding will help post-research technologies move toward commercial viability by providing pre-venture capital funding for activities such as prototype development, demonstration projects and market research.

Intel cuts electric cords with wireless power system

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – Intel on Thursday showed off a wireless electric power system that analysts say could revolutionize modern life by freeing devices from transformers and wall outlets. Intel chief technology officer Justin Rattner demonstrated a Wireless Energy Resonant Link as he spoke at the California firm's annual developers forum in San Francisco.

UChicago researchers pursue grasses as Earth-friendly biofuel

ARGONNE, Ill.—At a small site on the Batavia campus of Fermilab, ecologist Julie Jastrow of Argonne National Laboratory pushes the scientific frontier in a new and exciting way: She watches the grass grow.

As part of an effort to develop a new collection of alternative fuels, Jastrow and her colleagues from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago have planted seven different combinations of native Midwestern prairie grasses on the 13-acre site at Fermilab's campus.

Monash team learns from nature to split water

An international team of researchers led by Monash University has used chemicals found in plants to replicate a key process in photosynthesis paving the way to a new approach that uses sunlight to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.

The breakthrough could revolutionise the renewable energy industry by making hydrogen – touted as the clean, green fuel of the future – cheaper and easier to produce on a commercial scale.