[ExI] Energy hints

[BillK]

On 3/3/10, Stefano Vaj wrote:
> Yes. Personally, I am a staunch fan, in the order, of some kind or
>  other of fusion, of space-based solar power, and of very deep
>  geothermy.
>
>


A conference put on by the new Advanced Research Projects Agency for
Energy (ARPA-E) 01-03 March 2010 was packed with companies exhibiting
intriguing approaches to clean energy.

See:
<http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10463851-54.html>
and
<http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/energy/24883/>

Some highlights:
Transonic Combustion, based in Camarillo, CA, has developed a gasoline
fuel injection system that can improve the efficiency of gasoline
engines by 50 to 75 percent, beating the fuel economy of hybrid
vehicles.

American Superconductor, of Devens, MA, is developing massive 10
megawatt wind turbines that are only possible with the use of
extremely lightweight superconducting generators. (Today's turbines
typically generate around 2 to 3 megawatts.)

A group out of Michigan State University is developing a natural gas
electricity generator for use in hybrid vehicles. The goal: give
natural gas cars the same driving range as conventional gasoline cars,
making way for their wide adoption.

Oscilla Power, based in Salt Lake City, UT, plans to start testing a
novel wave power generator. Wave power is notoriously difficult to
harness because of the damage waves can cause to mechanical systems.
Oscilla has found a way to use an inexpensive iron-aluminum alloy to
generate electrical current, without the need for any moving parts.

Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), spun out of Xerox PARC, is
developing a new form of refrigeration that could be three times as
efficient as existing forms. It's based on thermoacoustics, a
technology that works for cooling at extremely low temperatures (such
as for liquefying gases), but hasn't been used for cooling at room
temperature (what you need for household refrigeration). The company
thinks it's found a way around previous limits to the technology.

FloDesign Wind Turbines has already received a Department of Energy
grant to further develop a wind turbine that uses principles of jet
engines to improve turbine performance.

Start-up MTPV, which was spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, is seeking to commercialize a technology for converting
heat into electricity. The idea is to use waste heat from industrial
processes, such as making glass or steel, to make electricity. A
prototype thermophotovoltaic system uses a chip sandwiched with a
traditional solar cell. Heat makes one layer "glow" electromagnetic
energy that is then converted into electricity using a photovoltaic
cell,

Xtreme Energetics is building a solar concentrator that uses glass to
concentrate light onto a solar cell to boost the output.

Makani Power is developing a system for capturing wind energy at high
altitudes. The vision is to put 35-meter-long tethered blades only
slightly higher than land wind turbines. Using a "kite" approach
provides more area to deploy wind power devices while using less
material.

Plasma Kinetics is looking to further develop a system that uses disks
made mostly from magnesium to store hydrogen molecules. About 10,000
of these disks, which would take up about as much space as a car back
seat, would allow for a driving range of over 200 miles

Planar Energy, based in Orlando, Fla., is developing a method for
manufacturing batteries from thin metal films, which does away with
the traditional liquid electrolyte.

FastCap Systems and other companies are working on ultracapacitors.
These storage devices can't hold as much electrical energy as
batteries, but they are able to rapidly discharge and they last longer
than chemical batteries. FastCap Systems' design uses a "shag carpet"
of nanotubes to store energy placed on top of a  conductive substrate

General Compression has designed a system that compresses air using
wind turbines and pumps it underground. When power is needed, the
compressed underground air is released into a gas turbine to make
electricity.
-------------------------

Lots more ideas asking for funding at the summit!


BillK