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09 Dec 09

Scientists Looking for Cure to Alzheimer's Invent Self-Cleaning Solar Panels : TreeHugger

  • A group of researchers under prof. Ehud Gazit (pictured above) at the Tel Aviv University were looking for a cure for Alzheimer's Disease when they discovered a new way to get peptides to self-assemble at high-temperatures in a vacuum. The resulting structure, pictured above, had some interesting physical properties that could make it useful not only for solar energy production, but also for electric car batteries. Read on for more details.
18 Nov 09

Barack Obama and Hu Jintao Announce US-China Electric Vehicles Initiative : TreeHugger

    • According to the U.S. Department of Energy (pdf), the initiative will include:



      • Joint standards development. The two countries will explore development of joint product and testing standards for electric vehicles. This will include common design standards for plugs to be used in electric vehicles, as well as common test protocols for batteries and other devices. Each country currently has extensive literature and data on its own standards. Making this information mutually available and working towards common standards can help facilitate rapid deployment of electric vehicles in both countries.

      • Joint demonstrations. The Initiative will link more than a dozen cities with electric vehicle demonstration programs in both countries. Paired cities will collect and share data on charging patterns, driving experiences, grid integration, consumer preferences and other topics. The demonstrations will help facilitate large-scale introduction of this technology.

      • Joint technical roadmap. A US-China task force will create a multi-year roadmap to identify R&D needs as well as issues related to the manufacture, introduction and use of electric vehicles. The roadmap will be made widely available to assist not just US and Chinese developers, but also the global automotive industry. It will be updated regularly to reflect advances in technology and the evolution of the marketplace.

      • Public awareness and engagement. The United States and China will develop and disseminate materials to improve public understanding of electric vehicle technologies. Building on the success of the first-even US-China Electric Vehicles Forum in September 2009, the United States and China will sponsor the event annually, alternating between the two countries. The Forum will bring together key stakeholders in both countries to share information on best practices and identify new areas for collaboration.

11 Nov 09

5 Ways the US Military is Greening Up Its Act - From Solar-Powered Bases to Barnacle-Clearing Robots : TreeHugger

05 Nov 09

Proposed 150 MW Solar Plant Would Store 7 Hours of Sun's Energy in Molten Salt : TreeHugger

  • The problem with solar power plants is, of course, that they're rendered useless on cloudy days and at night. But news broke a while back that a process of storing solar energy in molten salt was being considered to help make solar power plants more commercially viable. Now, it looks like that technology is about to be put into action: a California company has filed an application to build a 150 megawatt solar plant that will store 7 hours worth of the sun's energy in molten salt--allowing it to provide power nearly around the clock.
27 Oct 09

Get Smart: Team Obama’s $3 Billion Smart Grid Push - Environmental Capital - WSJ

  • Finally, some government money for the missing link in the energy equation: The transmission grid.





    Associated Press

    Build it and he will come



    President Obama announced today details of his administration’s $3.4 billion push for the “smart grid,” a two-pronged effort to make the existing electricity network more reliable and start introducing fancy new technology to make it more efficient and user-friendly.

Chart: How the ‘Darpa for Energy’ Is Slicing Its $150-Million Pie | Wired Science | Wired.com

  • “Darpa for energy”
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26 Oct 09

That's Impossible: Politics from Taiwan

  • So they say. The report, in which China Times quotes unnamed military sources, claims that Taiwan's military has rented access to a privately-owned high quality satellite to spy on China, and has been doing so for years now. The data is extensive, including photos showing detail down to 0.6m, and allows Taiwan to maintain real time understanding of China's troop and equipment movements.
  • The article implies that the US must know about and be passively allowing Taiwan to maintain this contract, otherwise, the report alleges, the Taiwanese officials involved wouldn't have gotten visas to go to the US in the process of dealing with this satellite company

Climate change and warfare: Cool heads or heated conflicts? | The Economist

  • The chart shows the correlation between the number of conflicts and the average temperature during most of the second half of the millennium, the period for which the data are best. Until the mid-18th century, this correlation is continuously and significantly negative (the line remains close to the 95% confidence level, suggesting there is only one chance in 20 that it is an accidental, random effect). In other words, lower temperatures mean more wars. Then, suddenly, the negative correlation vanishes. The line goes into positive territory, but not enough to be statistically meaningful. The inverted correlation between temperature and conflict has therefore disappeared.
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22 Oct 09

The risks of the C.I.A.’s Predator drones : The New Yorker

  • The C.I.A. remotely launched two Hellfire missiles from the Predator, and Mehsud and eleven others died. There was no controversy when, a few days after the missile strike, CNN reported that President Barack Obama had authorized it. However, there was widespread anger after the Wall Street Journal revealed, at about the same time, that during the Bush Administration the C.I.A. had considered setting up hit squads to capture or kill Al Qaeda operatives around the world.
  • The Predator program, as it happens, also uses private contractors for a variety of tasks, including “flying” the drones. The U.S. government runs two drone programs. The military’s version, which is publicly acknowledged, operates in the recognized war zones of Afghanistan and Iraq, and targets combatants in support of U.S. troops stationed there. The C.I.A.’s program is aimed at terror suspects around the world, including in places where U.S. troops are not based. The program is classified as covert, and the C.I.A. declines to provide any information to the public about where it operates, how it selects targets, who is in charge, or how many people have been killed.
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09 Oct 09

The redefinition of air power (Thomas P.M. Barnett :: Weblog)

  • Key points: no personnel lost and drones deliver great results at about 1/20th the cost of jets, according to the Israelis.
  • The spectacular benefit is the loitering capacity ("persistent stare" means you can find needles in haystacks because you can watch them being built) yielding real-time operational intell.
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07 Oct 09

General Electric: Tear Down That Wall! The Green Tariff Wall, That Is - Environmental Capital - WSJ

  • Embracing protectionism, after a fashion, is shaping up as one way to pass climate legislation and start saving the planet.
  • Wrong move, says General Electric
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