Solar Energy…as Cheap as Growing Grass?

Doctors in various fields have been telling us that solar energy is the way to go. But, up until this point, changing our way of lives to using solar energy would have been too expensive for most of us to handle. Nanotechnology researchers are bringing about a revolution when it comes to solar energy, wanting every household to be a part of it.
California Institute of Technology professor Nate Lewis is helping bringing about the change. He's working on nanoscale materials that will mimic the makeup of grass and photosynthesis as a way to capture and store the energy of the sun.

Professor Lewis and his team are trying to find ways to put nanoparticles into things we need around the house, like paint on the walls and the roof tiles of the house.

Dr. Lewis says, "More energy from the sun hits the earth in an hour than all the energy consumed by human beings on our planet in an entire year. So, if we are going to find an efficient, environmentally-friendly substitute for fossil fuels, it makes sense to exploit the sun. Nanotechnology offers us a way, in principle, to make very cheap materials-like the paint you buy at Home Depot-act as solar cells and batteries."

This is very interesting, and the possibilities are seemingly endless. This ground-breaking technology could someday power our laptops, cell phones, and even our cars! This is something to think about folks.

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Eco house opens to public

Improvements included insulating the walls externally, fully insulating the loft and replacing windows with high performance double glazing in wooden frames.

The heating system was also fitted with the environment in mind, with a space and water heater, both fed by a large water thermal store tank.

This is maintained at a temperature of 45C by a combination of solar and heat pumps - costing £3,100.

Heat pumps are electrically powered compressors that extract heat from the local environment and concentrate it at the temperatures needed for heating. Normally this would work from a ground water source, but the Hammonds' system draws its heat from the nearby River Thames.

The couple also replaced large areas of the roof with solar panels above the south-facing side and rear of the kitchen - at a cost of £3,600.

Mr Hammond said it would be unrealistic to expect people to do all the work in one go as he had.

He said: "It is expensive, but if people carry out little jobs when they are doing work, they can do it bit by bit. The savings you make in the long run far outweigh the cost of the work, provided you have it done by qualified builders."

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Ice withdrawal 'shatters record'

Arctic sea ice shrank to the smallest area on record this year, US scientists have confirmed.

The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) said the minimum extent of 4.13 million sq km (1.59 million sq miles) was reached on 16 September.

The figure shatters all previous satellite surveys, including the previous record low of 5.32 million sq km measured in 2005.

Earlier this month, it was reported that the Northwest Passage was open.

The fabled Arctic shipping route from the Atlantic to the Pacific is normally ice-bound at some location throughout the year; but this year, ships have been able to complete an unimpeded navigation.
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Climate change clues emerge from swamp

An ancient British bog that pumped out high amounts of greenhouse gases during a period of global warming 55 million years ago may offer clues about future climate change, said researchers.

An analysis of sediments from the bog suggests that global warming caused methane emissions to rise in the wetlands, which in turn sent temperatures there even higher, said the researchers.

Scientists are interested in this period because the Earth warmed fairly quickly as increased amounts of carbon dioxide entered the atmosphere at a pace similar to what is happening today, said Richard Pancost, a geochemist at Bristol University, who led the study.

Greenhouse gases such as methane and carbon dioxide are widely blamed for global warming. Scientists say average temperatures will rise by 2-6C by the end of the century, causing droughts, floods and violent storms.

"It is in the same ballpark of what we have done over the past 100 years and what we might do over the next 100 years," said Dr Pancost.
The team analysed sediments taken from a wetland in southeast England that was unearthed during construction of a rail link between London and Paris.

This section of exposed rock offered a clear sediment record of changes in vegetation and indicated how global warming affected the area tens of millions of years ago, said Dr Pancost.

The researchers looked at molecular fossils that came from bacteria and found that, as temperatures rose, the organisms switched to a diet of methane - probably because there was more of it around, said Dr Pancost.


"Methane is a very powerful greenhouse gas," he said.

"So if the processes at [the bog] were widespread, then the increase in methane emissions could have caused further warming, amplifying the climate change at this time."

The bog became part of a vicious cycle; warmer temperatures caused higher emissions of methane and drove temperatures even higher, he said.

"The main event made it warmer and wetter. What we are talking about is a response to the system."

The researchers, who published their findings in the journal Nature, cautioned that the data was only from a single site but said it nevertheless shows how some ecosystems might respond to rapid climate change in the future.


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