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^#1

New reactor uses sunlight to turn water and carbon dioxide into fuel

Talk about a Eureka moment. Scientists at Sandia National Labs, seeking a means to create cheap and abundant hydrogen to power a hydrogen economy, realized they could use the same technology to "reverse-combust" CO2 back into fuel. Researchers still have to improve the efficiency of the system, but they recently demonstrated a working prototype of their "Sunshine to Petrol" machine that converts waste CO2 to carbon monoxide, and then syngas, consuming nothing but solar energy.

The device, boasting the simple title Counter-Rotating-Ring Receiver Reactor Recuperator (we'll go with "CR5") sets off a thermo-chemical reaction by exposing an iron-rich composite to concentrated solar heat. The composite sheds an oxygen molecule when heated and gets one back as it cools, and therein lies the eureka.

The cylindrical metal CR5 is divided into hot and cold chambers. Solar energy heats the hot chamber to a scorching 2,700 degrees, hot enough to force the iron oxide composite to lose oxygen atoms. The composite is then thrust into the cool chamber, which is filled with carbon dioxide. As it cools, the iron oxide snatches back its lost oxygen atoms, leaving behind carbon monoxide.

The same process can also produce raw hydrogen by pumping water rather than CO2 into the cool chamber. Hydrogen and carbon monoxide can then be blended into syngas, a replacement for current hydrocarbon-based combustibles like gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. While it's not a total solution for carbon emissions -- syngas, after all, burns right back into CO2 -- it is an alternative to sequestering carbon underground, where it benefits no one.

CO2 recycling could be used to trap waste carbon from factories and power plants and return that energy to productive use, rather than releasing it into the air, where it can cause problems science doesn't even yet fully understand. The next step for the team is to increase the process's efficiency to twice that of natural photosynthesis. A market-ready CR5 device is still more than a decade away, but the idea of taking our waste carbon and turning it directly back into fuel using nothing but abundant solar rays is tantalizing, to say the least.

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2009-11/co2-recycler-uses-sunlight-turn-waste-carbon-back-fuelTalk about a Eureka moment. Scientists at Sandia National Labs, seeking a means to create cheap and abundant hydrogen to power a... more

pjacobs51
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11 comments

6 hours ago

^#2

Man trapped in coma for 23 years was conscious for entire time

An engineering student thought to be in a coma for 23 years was actually conscious for the whole time. After a car crash left... more

richjm
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53 comments

12 hours ago

^#3

Adopted son traced biological parent to be Charles Manson

Matthew Roberts, now 41, was given up for adoption as a baby. Growing up in Rockford, Ill., he didn’t know he was adopted... more

TravG73
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32 comments

12 hours ago

^#4

American Music Awards 2009: Adam Lambert's Controversial Performance

Lambert, not to be outdone, wore a silvery suit, with spikes on his left shoulder, to belt out the titular first single from his... more

Rickharmon25
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15 comments

14 hours ago

^#5

Radiation leak investigated at Three Mile Island

LINK: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE5AM05B20091123 Federal officials are investigating a radiation leak at... more

HowdyDo
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5 comments

8 hours ago

^#6

Man happy with simple life in Utah cave

A 48-year-old man who has not used money in nine years and resides in a desert cave in Moab, Utah, said he loves his simple existence.

Vierotchka
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2 comments

2 hours ago

^#7

G.O.P. Considers ‘Purity’ Pact for Candidates

The battle among Republicans over what the party should stand for — and how much it should accommodate dissenting views on important issues — is probably going to move from the states to the Republican National Committee when it holds its winter meeting this January in Honolulu.

Republican leaders are circulating a resolution listing 10 positions Republican candidates should support to demonstrate that they “espouse conservative principles and public policies” that are in opposition to “Obama’s socialist agenda.” According to the resolution, any Republican candidate who broke with the party on three or more of these issues– in votes cast, public statements made or answering a questionnaire – would be penalized by being denied party funds or the party endorsement.

The proposed resolution was signed by 10 Republican national committee members and was distributed on Monday morning. They are asking for the resolution to be debated when Republicans gather for their winter meeting.

The resolution invokes Ronald Reagan, and noted that Mr. Reagan had said the Republican Party should be devoted to conservative principles but also be open to diverse views. President Reagan believed, the resolution notes, “that someone who agreed with him 8 out of 10 times was his friend, not his opponent.”

Hence the provision calling for cutting off Republicans who agree with the party on seven of 10 items. The resolution demands that Republicans support “smaller government, smaller national deficits and lower taxes,” denial of government funding for abortion, and “victory in Iraq and Afghanistan.” It calls on candidates to oppose amnesty for illegal immigrants and repealing of the Defense of Marriage Act.

The development is going to put pressure on Michael Steele, the party chairman, as he tries to maintain a balance between those in his party who have been saying the road to victory is to include divergent views, and those who say the party needs to embrace conservative principles that have been at its core.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/23/gop-considers-purity-resolution-for-candidates/?hpThe battle among Republicans over what the party should stand for — and how much it should accommodate dissenting views on... more

current89
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7 comments

4 hours ago

^#8

By Happy Accident, Chemists Produce a New Blue

"Blue pigments of the past have often been expensive (ultramarine blue was made from the gemstone lapis lazuli, ground up),... more

DeliaTheArtist
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2 comments

38 minutes ago

^#9

Al Gore's Current TV Calls Sarah Palin a 'Gun-Ho' and a 'TWILF'

Days after announcing another huge layoff, Al Gore's Current TV referred to former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as a... more

Nettle
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33 comments

16 hours ago

^#10

U.S. to Propose CO2 Cut at Copenhagen

WASHINGTON — The United States will propose a near-term emissions reduction target at the United Nations climate change summit in Copenhagen next month, a senior administration official said on Monday.

The Obama administration has so far resisted demands that it commit to a specific goal for reducing emissions, saying that it could not preempt Congress, where climate-change legislation has stalled.

The aide, in a White House briefing whose ground rules did not allow him to be identified, said that President Obama will present a “meaningful submission” in advance of the Copenhagen meeting in mid-December, taking the current legislative stalemate into account. Thus the announcement might present a range of possible reduction targets rather than a single figure, the official said.

The official also said the president would decide in the next few days whether to appear at the December climate meeting himself. The official repeated the president’s assertion that he would consider attending if his presence could be a useful impetus to a deal.

A second administration official said that Mr. Obama would have had a stronger hand at Copenhagen if Congress had already acted on climate change legislation, but the extended wrangling over a health-care overhaul got in the way.

Mr. Obama and leaders of a number of other major countries have said that the Copenhagen talks will not yield a comprehensive and binding treaty to address global warming. Instead, the representatives of more than 190 nations who will gather in the Danish capital are expected to produce an interim agreement that addresses the major issues without requiring ratification.

Mr. Obama said last week that the goal of the talks will be a global deal with “immediate operational effect,” including creation of an international fund to help poorer nations adapt to a changing climate.

The aim, Mr. Obama said during his trip to Asia, “is not a partial accord or a political declaration, but rather an accord that covers all of the issues in the negotiations,” including greenhouse-gas reduction, adaptation funding and transfer of energy-saving technology.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/24/science/earth/24climate.html?hpWASHINGTON — The United States will propose a near-term emissions reduction target at the United Nations climate change... more

current89
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0 comments

4 hours ago

^#11

Trashed Britain! - biggest drinkers in Europe!

British boozers down more alcohol than their European counterparts and consume some of the strongest drinks More than 27 per cent... more

CarolineS
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8 comments

13 hours ago

^#12

Gideon Levy - Israel's addiction to occupation

Levy: Israel is in a "coma" and needs outside help to get over its addiction to the occupation of Palestinian land.

Vierotchka
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1 comment

9 hours ago

^#13

A Brief History of Socialist Plots to End the American Way of Life.

Just a brief history for the na sayers.

kennymotown
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7 comments

3 hours ago

^#14

Warming's impacts sped up, worsened since Kyoto

Well ! 2012 seems to be just around the corner ...

Brazil617MA
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28 comments

22 hours ago

^#15

Fox News Threatens Pink Slips For On-Screen Errors | TPM LiveWire

Fair and balanced my ass. Looks to me they 100% errors against anybody else's agenda.

kennymotown
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5 comments

3 hours ago

^#16

Afghan provinces get millions to reduce poppies

U.S. on Monday agreed to hand out millions of dollars in development aid to provinces in Afghanistan that have eliminated or... more

TravG73
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4 comments

10 hours ago

^#17

Study: Sea level rise could cost port cities $28 Trillion

A possible rise in sea levels by 0.5 meters by 2050 could put at risk more than $28 trillion worth of assets in the world's... more

jeffissleeping
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0 comments

7 hours ago

^#18

Conspiracy of the century? Hackers 'Expose' Climate Change

Hackers have tried to prove global warming researchers are massaging the figures - after stealing sensitive emails from one of the... more

Jenime
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4 comments

6 hours ago

^#19

Guardian: Those who follow Sarah Palin are sowing the seeds of their own destruction

As the faithful wait in line in small towns across the country (some for more than a day) to see Sarah Palin on her book tour, the question of whether the US is deprived of a competent political class or gets the leadership it both deserves and truly desires seems as pertinent as ever.

On the one hand there is roughly between a quarter and a third of America that will clearly believe anything. That is the figure that strongly approved of George Bush's handling of the economy last year after the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the bailout. That same figure, in the immediate aftermath of hurricane Katrina, believed that Bush's response to the disaster was "about right", and still supports the war in Iraq.

That also happens to be approximately the same proportion of Americans who back Palin for president. Most data suggest the overlap is considerable. Palin's rise to prominence, from little-known governor to one of the most popular and arguably most charismatic Republicans in the country in just a year, has been startling. She had a thin record when she was picked to run as vice-president. Today, having quit the Alaska governorship mid-term and published a bestseller, only her wallet is thicker.

Her resignation speech was so rambling that you would have struggled to find a coherent sentence with an industrial-strength searchlight. "Let me go back to a comfortable analogy for me – sports," she announced. "I use it because you're naive if you don't see the national full-court press picking away right now: A good point guard drives through a full court press, protecting the ball, keeping her eye on the basket ... and she knows exactly when to pass the ball so that the team can win." This was not the answer to a hostile interview from the "liberal media elite" but a prepared speech of her own making.

It would be easy to discount her as just a media phenomenon who would go away if we stopped talking about her. That would be a mistake. It would be even easier to poke fun at her as just a small town hick who has blundered into the limelight with a nod, wink and a "you betcha". That too would be a mistake.

More...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/nov/23/palin-sowing-seeds-destruction-americaAs the faithful wait in line in small towns across the country (some for more than a day) to see Sarah Palin on her book tour, the... more