Alternative energy: Nuclear power makes a comeback

Darkfrog submitted, created time 1 month 1 week (www.nytimes.com)

Unlike countries such as France, which maintained a strong tradition of nuclear power throughout the latter twentieth century, the United States has not had an uncancelled commission for a nuclear power plant since 1973. The Arab oil embargo of that decade, as well as the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl disasters, changed the economic and political climate in such a way that made nuclear plants less economically and politically viable.

Still there are over one hundred nuclear power plants in the greater U.S. that have remained in operation all these years

2 comments | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: nuclear energy nuclear plants nuclear power power energy politics alternative energy fuel power plants fossil fuels environmentalism

Turning Bacteria into Plastic Factories

jerry submitted, created time 2 months 1 week (www.sciam.com)

Plastics are one of the most versatile and useful things that can be made from expensive fossil fuels. ...except as of now, it's "that can be made from expensive fossil fuels and genetically engineered E. coli." A new company has found a way to produce polymers from genetically engineered microbes that feed on sugars, replacing fossil-fuel based processes.

The plastic in question is called butanediol, and the process has been in the works for some time. The trick was getting the bacteria to tolderate high levels of butanediol in the water. It's usually toxic.

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2 comments | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: fossil fuels polymers plastics engineered microbes economics alternative fuels genetic engineering

Biofuel blends not as green as they seem

wugongliang submitted, created time 8 months 2 days (environment.newscientist.com)

Despite their green intentions, buyers of blended biofuel may not be getting quite what they are paying for.

5 comments | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: fuels alternative energy energy agriculture alternative fuels biofuel production fossil fuels biodiesel biofuela

The Trouble with Biofuels

Deep-ocean vents are a source of oil and gas

sumsung submitted, created time 10 months 20 hours (www.nature.com)

Undersea thermal vents can yield unexpected bounty: natural gas and the building blocks of oil products. In a new analysis of Lost City, a hydrothermal field in the mid-Atlantic, researchers have found that these organic molecules are being created through inorganic processes, rather than the more typical decomposition of once-living material.

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Oil-eating bacteria make light work of heavy fuel

Eric wu submitted, created time 11 months 2 weeks (www.nature.com)

Researchers have worked out how natural bacteria deep within the Earth break down crude oil and produce methane. This knowledge could help with projects to encourage these bacteria to covert more oil, faster. And it could point towards a way to produce hydrogen — an even cleaner fuel — by using these natural fuel-processing plants.

1 comment | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: fuel cells energy hydrogen methane fossil fuels pollution oil ecology heavy fuel Oil-eating bacteria