Wallenius Lines, a Swedish owned car carrier vessel is testing a fuel cell for auxiliary power.  Fuel cells are clean power sources - in this case fueled by methanol (alcohol).  Wallenius Lines has a major commitment to being green (using non toxic paint to reduce barnacle drag, handling bilge water carefully, reducing impact overall, etc.) and this is the next step in the journey.


"Wärtsilä’s WFC20 fuel cell ... onboard the ’Undine’,  ... is the first of its kind in the world ... during the test period provide auxiliary power to the vessel while producing close to zero emissions...."

Methanol can be made from biomass so can be a renewable fuel ... in addition to providing clean power.  The trails started in May 2010 and extend until November 2010.



Via:  Wallenius Lines  LINK

Bloom Energy Server - Lower Cost Fuel Cells

"The Bloom Energy Server ... is certainly interesting for its packaging, deep-pocketed backers, big brand customer names/testimonials and potential to provide clean energy, but its major technological innovation appears to resolve a problem that have long made fuel cells uneconomical. ... runs on Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs) which convert natural or biogas into electricity."

" ... company ... reportedly attracted ... backing from Silicon Valley venture capital firms such as Kleiner Perkins ... Energy Servers have been toiling away since the mid-2008 at ... Google and eBay. ..."

" ... its key component is made from sand. ... sand is cheap and plentiful ... Historically, the gating component in a hydrogen fuel cell, the most common type of fuel cell, has been platinum, which drives up the cost and makes them expensive to mass produce."

" ... been able to commercialize the technology and besides Google and eBay, get customer commitments from the likes of Staples, Walmart, Coke and Bank of America. ... proves that the Energy Server actually works. ..."

Via: SmartPlanet LINK

Blood Science Offers Possible Carbon Capture Route

United Technologies is looking at how blood captures CO2 to see if this has potential for larger scale carbon capture / sequestration.  One targeted industry is coal-fired power plants.

"Blood cells in all breathing creatures are constantly capturing carbon dioxide and moving it someplace better--just what coal-fired power plant operators may soon have to do witComposeh all the carbon dioxide produced by burning coal."

" ... trying to develop industrial blood--a synthetic version of the enzyme that blood uses to capture CO2 ... best known chemistry for CO2 management ... "

"Current carbon capture approaches use chemicals ... system has to be huge and the process requires a pile of heat, which means a pile of energy and therefore a pile of cash. The cost of electricity from a coal-fired plant is projected to rise 80% in order to pay for a 90% reduction in CO2."

" ... envisions a simpler, cheaper system involving membranes that sift carbon dioxide out of the flue gas ...  hopes to do is dope the membrane with a substance based on the enzyme that blood uses to capture CO2, called carbonic anhydrase."c--are also working to develop carbon capture devices based on carbonic anhydrase.


Via:  Forbes LINK