Green Options » Platinum

Polaris, ARPA-E Pump Money Into Nocera’s Breakthrough in Biomimic Photosynthesis

Susan Kraemer — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:53:55 +0000

Daniel Nocera’s Sun Catalytix was one of the 37 ARPA-E awardees last month with a $4.1 million vote of confidence from the Nobel prizewinner-driven Department of Energy. Now Polaris Venture Partners has just added $1 million to its earlier $2 million investment in the MIT spin-off to bring their total investment to $3 million.

Nocera’s work first burst on the world in 2007 with his work in figuring out how to ape the process of photosynthesis to create cheap solar energy stored as fuel. Nocera’s research, which was published last year in Science has been called the most important single solar energy discovery of the century.

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Full Cycle Energy Joins Race for Non-Platinum Fuel Cells

Tina Casey — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 20:47:50 +0000

The California startup Full Cycle Energy is on a roll, hopscotching over its own platinum nanotube-based fuel cell to develop a new fuel cell that ditches platinum entirely. The implications for widescale adoption of sustainable fuel cells are huge, because until now platinum has been a major stumbling block. Platinum is the go-to material to make fuel cell catalysts, but its high cost and finite availability have limited the potential for fuel cells to break into the mass market - until now. Full Cycle Energy is one among a number of companies experimenting with new alternatives to platinum that could make fuel cells significantly more affordable in the future.

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Eco-Friendly Rail for Disneyland and Anaheim

Zachary Shahan — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 20:00:08 +0000

A model of clean technology and green building, a rail center planned for Anaheim, CA in 2013 will also provide a link to Disneyland. Taking design cues from NYC’s Grand Central Station, the building will also be a centerpiece of Anaheim and a site to see in itself.

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New Hydrogen Fuel Catalyst Discovered

Michael Ricciardi — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 20:42:51 +0000

Hydrogen (H) fuel cell technology could perhaps become the cleanest form of energy, both in terms of generating the gas and in terms of combustion products (which are just heat and water). The biggest problem has been making the process of H generation clean, efficient, and cheap, as the current, main source of H gas is coal.

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South Africa Boosts Research into Fuel Cells and Hydrogen

Joshua S Hill — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 16:45:18 +0000

The South African government has announced plans to increase spending into the research of hydrogen and fuel cell technology over the next three years. They believe that, with the country’s metal rich resources, an increase in research could create more manufacturing and more income for the country.

The government announced to spend ZAR 400 million, which equates to roughly $49 million USD.

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Showing the Green Building Process

Philip Proefrock — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:22:10 +0000

What does it look like to build a house with lots of green features? We see pictures of the finished buildings, and we read about the features that make them green. We know about the importance of good insulation and reducing electrical loads and choosing efficient equipment. But what does it look like while it all goes together?

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Green Building Mandates

Philip Proefrock — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:08:13 +0000

Governments are beginning to mandate green building for some new construction, and that ought to be a cause for celebration. But because of the way these requirements are made, the possibility of problems arising when a building does not meet a required level of green building could lead to legal difficulties and lawsuits.

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Trendy Thieves Eye Used Grease, Metals

Shirley Siluk Gregory — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:38:07 +0000

Rising prices for everything from copper and platinum to flour, gas and cooking oil are creating new markets for trend-minded thieves across the U.S.

With gasoline prices in the U.S. breaking new records weekly, for example, law enforcement officials are seeing more cases of cooking grease thefts from fast-food establishments and other restaurants. Why used grease? Because cooking oil can be converted into biodiesel fuel that can be sold at a cool profit.

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New Levels of LEED

Philip Proefrock — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:58:00 +0000

A new top-level LEED classification called Unobtanium is being proposed to replace the currently proposed Protactinium level, leading to a possible schism in the growing green building rating system. Whether Protactinium or Unobtanium becomes the new top-level of the LEED rating system…?

Earlier this year, officials proposed a new level of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) that is higher than the current top-end Platinum rating. The new Protactinium level introduces more stringent requirements to ensure the purity of the design team and to verify their worthiness to obtain such a noble rating for their building.

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