The first artifical leaf

This says it all.. "Scientists today claimed one of the milestones in the drive for sustainable energy - development of the first practical artificial leaf."

"The key to this breakthrough is Nocera’s recent discovery of several powerful new, inexpensive catalysts, made of nickel and cobalt, that are capable of efficiently splitting water into its two components, hydrogen and oxygen, under simple conditions. Right now, Nocera’s leaf is about 10 times more efficient at carrying out photosynthesis than a natural leaf."

The 'leaf' is a silcon wafer around the size of a playing card, and floats in a pool of water. A catalyst is placed on either side, and as the silicon absorbs sunlight the energy is transferred to the catalysts which split the water into separate molecules of hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen can then be used as a fuel cell to create electricity. This breakthrough allows for a source of cheap clean energy. 

Travelling Wave Reactor

While the Thorium Fuel Cycle is touted as a potential safe fission energy source, Freakonomics are examining the development of a new class of nuclear reactor. This is one of the projects Bill Gates has been working on since leaving Microsoft.

"TerraPower’s traveling wave reactor (TWR) will offer a path to zero-emission, proliferation-resistant energy that produces significantly smaller amounts of nuclear waste than conventional nuclear reactors"

Thorium as a potential nuclear reactor

Thorium, a pure white silvery metal is being developed in China as a safe nuclear reactor. The Thorium fuel cycle has a perfect overheating safety feature; “If it begins to overheat, a little plug melts and the salts drain into a pan. There is no need for computers, or the sort of electrical pumps that were crippled by the tsunami. The reactor saves itself,” says ex Nasa scientist Kirk Sorensen from Teledyne Brown.

Where do good idea's come from?

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Brilliant short animation showing how ideas are formed, watch to see where technology innovation comes from. "Chance favours the connected mind."

Ferrari 599 EV Hybrid

Ferrari 599, the ultimate supercar engine, goes electric:

Porsche Boxter full EV prototype

Porsche have two hybrid vechicles, including a 918 Spyder but today they announced the prototype Boxter EV:

Not for retail sale, a 'rolling labotory' it will be interesting to see what the other supercar manufacturers come up with.

The Great Energy Challenge

National Geographic are running a special series of articles titled The Great Energy Challenge. The site has a huge range of news, web apps and video so you can explore the issues, encouraging you to alter personal behaviour to effect global change.

One very interesting article is Going "All The Way" With Renewable Energy which posits the true issue is (lack of) political will:

"Worldwide production of the rare earth mineral neodymium would have to quintuple to supply the millions of wind turbines needed to power a 100 percent renewable future, two researchers say. They view political will as a bigger stumbling block than any materials bottleneck."