Sustainable Energy, USA and worldwide

Student research leads to method for developing clean hydrogen fuel

Japanese car giants team up on green engines

Indonesian island hopes to spark green power revolution

Thanks for all these cool science stories btw, rcmctagg.

You're welcome.

I recall that one of the Canary Islands is also (was also?) trying to achieve the same thing. I don't remember if they succeeded.

Somebody's looking to online crowdfunding to help launch a fusion power project.

200K seems like an awful small amount. With backing from solid scientists, it seems like an amount that could be raised in an instant through conventional venture capital means.

""To date, the bulk of fusion research has been channelled towards a plasma containment and stabilization method. This is the approach used by ITER's tokamak reactor, the cost of which could exceed US$13.7 billion before it's online in the year 2027 (barring further delays). Researchers at LPP Fusion, in a project partially financed by NASA-JPL, are working in a different direction: focus fusion, which focuses the plasma in a very small area to produce fusion and an ion beam which could then be harnessed to produce electricity. It is small enough to fit in a shipping container, can double as a rocket engine, and would cost US$50 million to produce the working 5 MW prototype. To reach the next hurdle and demonstrate feasibility, LPP Fusion has started an Indiegogo campaign to raise $200K."

They are trying to raise seed money toward a 50 million dollar research project. Depending upon how they pace their project milestones (what they can show for the first 200K) they might make it. That's how Google got started, after all (not crowdfunding, but with a relatively small initial investment).

It looks like it's a proof-of-concept project, rather than research.

I think this one has a lot of potential: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/solar-roadways

Here's the main site. Interesting concept, but they are not able to estimate how much their hexagonal panels will cost.

Do they mention anything about how they'll be kept clean? Obviously they'll be waterproof, but it seems like they'd get covered in enough dirt to reduce their efficiency pretty quickly.

I doubt it. Consider normal highways that we have right now, they aren't actually very dirty.

Well we already have street sweepers in.most towns, maybe just run them one a day instead of every month or so.

Their pilot test is going to be a parking lot, so I guess we'll find out.

'Home-made' electricity creating buzz in Germany

This is absolutely nothing new: the Germans have been going off the grid for decades. But renewable definitely have gotten a boost since Germany decided to do away with them nuka-plants.

So have Germany's coal plants.

Well, yeah; until the renewables grow enough, you need the combustion plants to make up the difference. But nukies stifle renewable growth because of the way they constantly generate the same amount of energy and can't adjust for demand. Combustion plants, on the other hand, stimulate it, because renewables are so much cheaper in comparison. I've been involved in developing immense new offshore turbines with High Voltage DC transmission. There's going to be some massive increases in that department, mark my words.

Although I'm rather miffed that these mega-projects are very much a big-government/big-business thing, which is alienating to pretty much everyone. Manageable-sized, citizen-controlled projects are much more my cup of tea.

Dutch company launches new-generation urban wind turbines

That's one heck of a cool design.

Big on wind turbines, the Dutch are. Hope it works out for them. Actually, I don't; the ocean is the only thing that keeps them at bay.◊

Well, something more to add to my worldbuilding project.

@Handle: "I've been involved in developing immense new offshore turbines with High Voltage DC transmission."

Very interesting. Can you say any more about that? Is this your new job?