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Researchers at Caltech and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have, in just two years, nearly doubled the number of materials known to have potential for use in solar fuels. They did so by developing a process that promises to speed the discovery of commercially viable solar fuels that could replace coal, oil, and other fossil fuels. Solar fuels, a dream of clean-energy research, are created using only sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide (CO2). Researchers are exploring a range of target fuels, from hydrogen gas to liquid hydrocarbons, and producing any of these fuels involves splitting water.

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — The Navy is hoping that online game playing will yield new ideas as the service seeks to reduce its exposure to the uncertainties of the global oil market. The Energy MMOWGLI — short for Massive Multiplayer Online Wargame Leveraging the Internet — calls on players to respond to a range of future scenarios where the Navy’s ability to respond to disasters and security threats is blunted by fuel shortage. The competition, which runs this week and is open to the public, comes out just as the Navy’s long-term plan for using alternative fuels has been...

In a study published March 30 in the journal Science, James Liao, UCLA's Ralph M. Parsons Foundation Chair in Chemical Engineering, and his team report a method for storing electrical energy as chemical energy in higher alcohols, which can be used as liquid transportation fuels. "The current way to store electricity is with lithium ion batteries, in which the density is low, but when you store it in liquid fuel, the density could actually be very high," Liao said. "In addition, we have the potential to use electricity as transportation fuel without needing to change current infrastructure." Liao and his...

* China eyeing "vastly superior" scale, Immelt warns * "I worry a little bit about us," Immelt says of U.S.* GE "all-in" on solar, sees potential $20 bln business By Scott MaloneNov 3 (Reuters) - General Electric Co's Jeff Immelt worries the United States may lose ground to China in the renewable energy sector because it is not prepared to invest in solar, wind and other technologies on the same scale.But the chief executive of the largest U.S. conglomerate said his company remains undaunted and will continue to work in the sector despite the recent bankruptcy of solar panel maker...

That's the latest from the Air Force, which has been running tests to see how its aircraft perform burning something other than straight jet fuel. The initiative is aimed not only at shrinking its carbon footprint and spurring alternative fuels development, but also at strengthening national security. Monday's alternative fuel test of the Global Hawk UAV was considered one of the most challenging yet for the Air Force. The drone that flies at high altitudes and low temperatures was one of the last that the Air Force needed to test in its current spate of trial runs before its fleet...

GM killed the beautiful electric street cars! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_NcwTbpIDQ You see them all over Europe; but who killed all the electric street cars in America? Answer: GM – The same people you bailed out this year with billions upon billions of free tax payer money! Criminal conspiracy chargers were pressed resulting in a fine of one dollar. Meanwhile, places that lost their street cars like LA, will need 150 billion to replace just a small portion of the electric street car system! How beautiful the world would be if the USA wasn’t run by elites who legally bribe their politicians. I...

Green Car Journal: As a 'Moon Shot,' the Electric Car is a Challenging Mission The race to deliver electric vehicles to the market is on and competition is heating up. But like the Apollo Program, success is likely to be measured over many years and will come at great cost. San Luis Obispo, Calif. (PRWEB) July 2, 2009 -- As we mark the 40th anniversary of successfully landing a man on the moon this month, it's interesting to note the many comparisons that position electric cars as the next 'moon shot.' There are synergies at work since, after all, the...

Speaking at the ECO:nonomics conference yesterday, John Doerr, Vinod Khosla, and Bryant Tongall said they're not interested in backing any companies working on algae biofuels. On the face of it, that makes sense. It's pond scum. However, algae was already used twice this year to fuel test flights of commercial planes. It was mixed with jatropha seed oil. But those test flights aren't enough to get major venture capitalists interested, even though Khosla said he looked at more than 100 algae biofuel companies. Environmental Capital: For Mr. Doerr of Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, the problem is algae itself. To...

The use of ethanol and other renewable fuels supposedly helps gasoline burn cleaner creating less pollution. It also reduces America's reliance upon foreign oil. Last Monday the Environmental Protection Agency increased the amount of renewable automobile fuels required to be sold in the United States next year from 7.8 percent to 10.2 percent of the 138.5 billion gallons of gasoline projected to be consumed. This mandate mainly directs that higher levels of ethanol be mixed with gasoline. The higher standard is required by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, a law that requires the increased use of renewable...

Once upon a time, ethanol was seen as the future of clean energy and as leading the U.S. to energy independence. That was 2004, but Wall Street wised up fast that ethanol was ready for a bust. So, in 2006 and 2007, when Wall Street firms started investing their own money in renewable energy companies, they left ethanol far behind. snip It is one of the few things Wall Street investment banks have gotten right lately, while private investors including Bill Gates and Richard Branson were bullish on ethanol as recently as January. We were thinking of this in reading...

Dubois County Herald By MIKE MORRIS Herald Staff Writer Water helps his fuel gauge As fuel prices climb, everything from natural gas to switchgrass has been mentioned as a potential power source for vehicles. But several local handymen aren't waiting on those changes - they're using water to boost fuel economy. If it sounds like a grade-school science fair project, that's fine with Jason Martin, who first extracted hydrogen gas from water in science class at Jasper High School. After all, it works. "It's going to be mainstream if it's not already," the Ferdinand resident said. "It's going to be...

AMHERST, Massachusetts — With gas and oil prices at an all-time high, the alternative solution for residents throughout Amherst and the country for energy is hemp. Gas prices recently broke the $3-a-gallon mark for the first time in the region, which has drivers and residents who rely on gas for their cars as well as oil for heat struggling. The thought of hemp production as a cheap alternative to oil and gas is appealing because it can be converted to “biomass” that is in turn converted to energy. “Biomass can be converted to methane, methanol, or gasoline at a fraction...

GOTEBORG, Sweden: Taking a road trip? Remember to visit the toilet first. This city is among dozens of municipalities in Sweden with facilities that transform sewage waste into enough biogas to run thousands of cars and buses. Cars using biogas created a stir when they began to be rolled out on a large scale at the start of the decade. The tailpipe emissions are virtually odorless, the fuel is cheaper than gasoline and diesel, and the idea of recovering energy from toilet waste appealed to green-minded Swedes. "When you're in the bathroom in the morning and you can see something...

<p>Europeans can buy cars that run on natural gas from at least eight automakers, but despite large reserves of the relatively inexpensive fuel in the United States, the federal government and states, including Massachusetts, are backing pricier biofuels as a way to lessen dependence on imported oil.</p>

Claims for Environment, Energy Use Draw Fire; Fighting on the Farm By LAUREN ETTER November 28, 2007; Page A1 Little over a year ago, ethanol was winning the hearts and wallets of both Main Street and Wall Street, with promises of greater U.S. energy independence, fewer greenhouse gases and help for the farm economy. Today, the corn-based biofuel is under siege. In the span of one growing season, ethanol has gone from panacea to pariah in the eyes of some. The critics, which include industries hurt when the price of corn rises, blame ethanol for pushing up food prices, question...

Is the solution to America's energy needs as simple as a trip to the beach? The idea is a fascinating one as a Florida man searching for a cancer cure may have stumbled onto a virtually limitless source of energy: salt water. John Kanzius of Sanibel Island, Fla., demonstrates how salt water burns after bombarded with radio waves from a machine he invented. (courtesy WPBF-TV) John Kanzius, 63, is a broadcast engineer who formerly owned several TV and radio stations, before retiring in Sanibel Island, Fla. Five years ago, he was diagnosed with a severe form of leukemia, and began...

We first saw negative effects of our global market meddling when 75,000 starving Mexicans began rioting... Now government subsidies for alternative fuels have caused a sobering increase in the cost of beer in Germany due to the unnatural shrinkage of barley production... The latest Stanford study, ignored by the mass media, proves the prevalence of increased pollution from ethanol...

Go to this website. http://gregvezina.com/ Watch the video on the website. This guy created a fuel called Hydrofuel which ran on ammonia and alittle nitrogen in the early 80s.

When Americans voted for George W. Bush in November 2000, they knew they were electing a man with deep ties to Texas oil. But six years later, a greener-sounding Bush is about to depart for a trip to Brazil, where he hopes to forge a biofuels partnership that officials believe could revolutionize America's fuel industry and transform its relations with Latin America. Critics suspect the president's biofuels conversion is only superficial, a late-in-the-day effort to build a less oil-splattered legacy. U.S. officials, though, talk of a new era of "ethanol diplomacy," capable perhaps one day of rivaling the petro-dollars muscle...

This week we’re going to refine the argument for natural gas as a comprehensive solution to high energy prices, energy pollution, and energy dependence upon foreign producers outlined in What Bush Can Do To Get Cheaper Gas. To summarize: the solution is for Bush to allow oil & gas companies to extract the vast amounts of NG we have within American boundaries, cut state residents in on the royalties, provide tax credits for folks to run NG in their cars, and before his presidency is over the equivalent cost of driving a car will be less than $1 a gallon....