Here First - Science and Technology Blog

These 19 contiguous areas show roughly what would be a reasonably responsibility for various areas around the world. They would be further divided many times. A new discovery in solar power may change the world as we know it. A new very-small solar-powered sensor can fit on the face of a penny and barely cover up the date.

Joule Biotechnologies Inc.’s secret ingredient - a designed organism - looks like green Jell-O before it’s refrigerated. The unknown organism consumes sunlight and carbon dioxide, then sweats ethanol. The 2-year-old compan said that one day soonin the near future its SolarFuel could be used to power cars all around the world. It seems that the the mysterious fuel-making organism has a green color, but it is not algae. Chief executive Bill Sims and cofounder David Berry did provide a peek at the Joule process, while dodging persistent inquiries about the mysterious fuel-making organism. “We are converting sunlight to liquid energy,’ Sims explained. The goal is to make an environmentally-friendly fuel that can compete with $50-a-barrel fossil fuels Jeremy Martin, a senior scientist in the clean vehicles program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, is shure the organism is almost certainly a plant. Read more here

This solar-powered phone from Samsung is the holy green grail of gadgets for eco-fans. It seems that Samsung has finally delivered on this promise with their brand new Blue Earth phone. The phone stands to it's name. Blue Earth is a gorgeous green touch phone that has a full solar panel on its back which can generate enough power to charge the phone. The phone is small enough to fit in your pocket! But this was not enough for Samsung. They are going above and beyond to achieve what they hope is the greenest phone on the market. The body of the phone is made out of recycled water bottles and has no brominated flame retardants, beryllium and phthalates - all incredibly toxic substances. The charger also meets high standby mode energy efficiency ratings.   The device is set to be energy efficient, with a new user interface making it easy to activate the phone’s energy saving mode. Blue Earth also include CO2 emissions calculator, a pedometer and Samsung is aiming for minimal packagi...

For the first time in US, a company has developed an efficient battery solution to storing wind power. This is a clear answer to critics that claimed turbines are unreliable. Xcel Energy ’s “Wind-to-Battery” project is currently being tested on a Minnesota wind farm. The company believes that the 80-ton battery will power 500 homes for 7 hours when fully charged . The battery’s 20 50-kilowatt modules together are roughly the size of two semi- trailers and can store 7.2 megawatt-hours of electricity. “Energy storage is key to expanding the use of renewable energy,” said Dick Kelly, Xcel Energy Chairman, President and CEO. “This technology has the potential to reduce the impact caused by the variability and limited predictability of wind energy generation. As the nation’s leader in distributing wind energy, this will be very important to both us and our customers.” Photo Credit: Ryan McD on Flickr under Creative Commons license.