The road ahead »

photo credit: mujitra (´・ω・)
The world’s carmakers have mapped out their route to a greener future
THERE is nothing like high oil prices, panic-selling of big cars and the prospect of swingeing new penalties on carbon-spewing vehicles to concentrate the minds of the world’s carmakers. In less than two years something remarkable has happened. Technologies once [...]

Algae: Biofuel Of The Future? »

Image via Wikipedia
In the world of alternative fuels, there may be nothing greener than pond scum.
Algae are tiny biological factories that use photosynthesis to transform carbon dioxide and sunlight into energy so efficiently that they can double their weight several times a day.
As part of the photosynthesis process algae produce oil and can generate [...]

Possible Fix For Global Warming? »

photo credit: BrokenBat
Environmental Engineers Use Algae To Capture Carbon Dioxide
Engineers have designed a simple, sustainable and natural carbon sequestration solution using algae. A team at Ohio University created a photo bioreactor that uses photosynthesis to grow algae, passing carbon dioxide over large membranes, placed vertically to save space. The carbon dioxide produced by the [...]

Consumer fuel cells »

photo credit: fingle
In search of forever
As a source of power for cars, fuel cells have been a disappointment. For laptops and mobile phones, they are just about to take off.
METHANOL is nasty stuff. Careless distillation in many a backwoods still has caused it to blind the imbibers of “alternative” alcoholic drinks. Yet it has [...]

40 Million Acres of Rain Forest for the Greenest Bidder »

photo credit: teejaybee
The other day I went to a meeting to hear Harrison Ford talk about saving the rain forests and ended up listening to a man who has a rain forest to save: Guyana’s president, Bharrat Jagdeo.
The occasion was the announcement of a new campaign to protect the world’s rain forests, Guyana’s included, [...]