Resource World Magazine

alternative e n e r g y r evi ew Developments in Alternative Energy NEW SYSTEM TO FERRY PASSENGERS IN PERSONAL PODS AROUND TEL AVIV According to The Times of Israel, a group of engineers and dreamers are hoping to ease Tel Aviv's notorious traffic by creating a mass transport system of magnetically levitating pods. The city recently hired US consultants Jenkins Gales & Martinez to get the project started. The futuristic-looking system of pods tethered to monorail tracks, which uses magnets to reduce friction, was co-developed by engineers from NASA's Ames Research Center and the privately held SkyTran company, which will place what it calls a "Physical Internet" in the city. According to the planners, the SkyTran will provide a cheaper, faster, environmentally friendly and comfortable alternative to cars and buses, which are the main cause for congestion and pollution in the country's metropolitan area. The system will ferry passengers in personal pods around the city, much like a taxi, but will charge a fare closer to that of a bus. Passengers will able to order rides via a smartphone application. No timetable has been reported for the project HARVARD STUDENT DEVELOPS HUMANPOWERED GRINDSTONE FOR ELECTRONIC WASTE Harvard University undergraduate Rachel Field, an engineering sciences major, devoted her senior thesis project to developing Bicyclean, a pedal-powered grindstone that pulverizes circuit boards inside a polycarbonate enclosure, capturing the dust. According to Harvard's online newsletter, Field was moved to create Bicyclean when she observed impoverished people working in the slums of Accra, Ghana, burning broken electronic parts that were discarded and dumped by wealthier nations to extract the metal com58 www.resourceworld.com ponents. Workers inhaled toxic smoke and unwittingly leached heavy metals into a nearby river, while eking out a living. Field created a rational list of goals and constraints. "I thought, well, what do I not want them to do? I don't want people to be directly exposed to toxins, and if that's one of the parameters then I don't want people to have to use heat. I want this to be something that people can afford and build from materials that are already available to them." Bicycle parts are ubiquitous and universal, portable, relatively inexpensive, and – of course – human powered. Field will return to Ghana to test a second-generation prototype and to seek non-profit status for the endeavor, a significant milestone in a project she was afraid might fall by the wayside after graduation. CANADA'S GEOTHERMAL ENERGY COMING TO A BROADER MARKET Borealis GeoPower, a private Canadian corporation focused on developing high temperature geothermal energy projects, has recently received investment from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) for a geothermal exploration project. The Canadian Geothermal Association has estimated that there is 5GW worth of readily accessible, high temperature geothermal, resources in Canada. It is a renewable source of power and heat, with little to no emissions. With the investment from SDTC, Borealis GeoPower is better positioned to bring the geothermal technology it develops to a broader market. MOVABLE SOLAR ARRAY PREDICTED TO PROVIDE SOLAR CAR WITH MORE POWER A team from Cambridge University has developed a solar car – the "Resolution" solar racer. What makes the Resolution special is an array of moving solar panels that tracks the path of the sun as the car by Jane Bratun is driven. This moveable array is predicted to provide the car with up to 20% more power than a traditionally mounted solar array. Resolution isn't named for its high-resolution solar cells; it's named after the HMS Resolution, which was one of England's early exploration ships. The team explains their naming choice. Resolution is named after the HMS Resolution, in which Captain Cook made his second voyage of exploration to the South Pacific to search for the fabled Terra Australis. This ship was the successor to HMS Endeavour, which makes the name particularly appropriate for us. It performed some remarkable feats, becoming the first ship in the world to cross the Antarctic Circle, exactly 240 years ago (in 1773) setting a record for the furthest southern latitude ever explored. "Resolution is a name that reflects our spirit of adventure, exploration and determination." BIOFUELS POISED TO REPLACE PETROLEUM-BASED FUELS Researchers at the University of Michigan report that Isobutanol, a high-performance biofuel that closely matches the properties of gasoline, can be produced from waste plant materials through the combined actions of a common fungus and common bacteria. When paired, the fungus Trichoderma reesei, and the bacteria Escherichia coli, can effectively create the biofuel isobutanol from materials such as cornstalks and plant leaves. The researchers think that the same principle used to produce the biofuel could be used to produce other useful chemicals, such as plastics. "We're hoping that biofuels made in such an efficient way can eventually replace current petroleum-based fuels," stated Xiaoxia "Nina" Lin, assistant professor of chemical november 2013

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