Personalized Energy
What’s an Olympic-sized pool of water, the Sun, and an artificial leaf have in common? The solution to the worlds energy problems! Dr Daniel Nocera (lab, wikipedia) has created an “artificial leaf” that when immersed in water and illuminated by sunlight breaks water into hydrogen and oxygen.
Dr Nocera says that one pool of water contains enough energy (by rearranging its bonds) to more than satisfy our present energy demands. He envisions a energy revolution where we personally create our own energy using the artificial leaf. No more meters… No more centralized electricity production… No more grid…
Video: Dan Nocera: Personalized Energy
Video: Sustainocene: Harvard Leads a New Epoch for Humankind
Video: Dr. Daniel G. Nocera – A Solution to the Global Energy Challenge
Video: The Artificial Leaf
More YouTube videos here.
List of patents by Prof Nocera.
oOo
The Fourth Phase of Water
States of matter… We’ve been taught that there are three: solid, liquid, and gas (some also add plasma). A researcher and his team in Seattle have added a fourth for water called an exclusion zone. A nether world between solid and liquid that exhibits amazing properties.
Dr Gerald Pollack defines this fourth phase, this exclusion zone (EZ), as “the unexpectedly large zone of water that forms next to many submersed materials, got its name because it excludes practically everything. The EZ contains a lot of charge, and its character differs from that of bulk water.”
An exclusion zone is deceptively easy to create. Whenever water comes into contact with a hydrophilic (water loving) surface a EZ forms. The amazing thing about this is that within the EZ any impurities are squeezed out, plus an electrical potential is created. Even more amazing is the fact that infrared radiation (sunlight) adds energy to the EZ causing it to expand and the electrical gradient to increase.
Essentially he’s identified natures technique for purifying water and making electricity from the sun. Wow!
Dr Pollack has written a book, The Fourth Phase of Water and you can preview some sample chapters here.
Here is a presentation Dr Pollack did on electrically structured water earlier this year: Part 1, Part 2.
Here’s a TEDx talk on the Fourth Phase of Water.
Dr Pollack’s web site and some links to this research are here and here.
Here are some links to patents he’s authored:
Method and system for generating electrical energy from water
<http://www.google.com/patents/US20120067390>
Separating components of aqueous mixtures, suspensions, and solutions
<http://www.google.com/patents/US7819259>
<http://www.google.com/patents/US7793788>
Method and apparatus for collecting fractions of mixtures, suspensions, and solutions of non-polar liquids
<http://www.google.com/patents/US20110036780>
Method and apparatus for generating a fluid flow
<http://www.google.com/patents/US20110097218>
Membrane-electrode assembly for polymeric membrane fuel cell
<http://www.google.com/patents/US20020058173>
oOo
Brown Bag at the Movies – Selected technical topics(30)
For this installment of Brown Bag at the Movies we will be viewing (abstract below):
- Stuff Developers Say 1:48
- F-RAM-Based Semiconductor Solutions from Ramtron 6:53
- Split-Cycle Four-Stroke Engine from Scuderi Group – SAE 2012 7:13
- Programming For The Rest Of Us – Intel 2012 ISEF 2:27
- Intelligent Self-Assembling Systems Using Robotic Cells – Intel 2012 ISEF 6:48
- SparkFun Electronics and Open Source Hardware 2:36
- Two-Piston Single-Cylinder Engine from Pinnacle Engines – SAE 2012 6:30
- Rotating Rotary Engines from Doyle Rotary Engine – SAE 2012 6:06
- The Grail Engine from Grail Engine Technologies – SAE 2012 5:23
- Touring the International Space Station with NASA – ISS 2012 9:02
- The James Webb Space Telescope from Northrop Grumman – ISS 2012 13:47
- GPS Satellite Command, Control and Simulation from Braxton – ISS 2012 7:38
- Common Operational Environment Solutions from Kratos – ISS 2012 7:22
06-19-2012 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
Brown Bag at the Movies – Selected technical topics(29)
For this installment of Brown Bag at the Movies we will be viewing (abstract below):
- Google Project Glass: The Vision 2:30
- Google Project Glass: The Reality 0:46
- Code Hero: This Game Teaches You How to Make Games 21:48
- The Next Generation: How DARPA Democratizes Design 25:04
- 4 lessons from robots about being human 17:44
- A reality check on renewables 18:48
06-05-2012 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
Brown Bag at the Movies – Selected technical topics(28)
For this installment of Brown Bag at the Movies we will be viewing (abstract below):
- Asteroid Mining Mission Revealed by Planetary Resources, Inc. 3:15
- 404, the story of a page not found 4:08
- Tracking the trackers 6:40
- The Secrets of James Dyson, Inventor Extraordinaire 28:24
- Ian Dunbar on dog-friendly dog training 14:42
- The mathematics of history 4:26
05-22-2012 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
Brown Bag at the Movies – Selected technical topics(27)
For this installment of Brown Bag at the Movies we will be viewing (abstract below):
- Google container data center tour 6:37
- Which Way Next? with Guest Peter Diamandis, Abundance author 53:56
05-08-2012 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
Brown Bag at the Movies – Selected technical topics(26)
For this installment of Brown Bag at the Movies we will be viewing (abstract below):
- A garden in my apartment 7:53
- How games make kids smarter 16:41
- John Cleese on Creativity 36:10
04-24-2012 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
Brown Bag at the Movies – Selected technical topics(25)
For this installment of Brown Bag at the Movies we will be viewing (abstract below):
- The missing link to renewable energy 15:15
- From mach-20 glider to humming bird drone 25:02
- Let’s transform energy — with natural gas 19:43
04-10-2012 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
Brown Bag at the Movies – Selected technical topics(24)
For this installment of Brown Bag at the Movies we will be viewing (abstract below):
- How to break habits 3:38
- How Containerization Shaped the Modern World 4:47
- How Pandemics Spread 8:00
- Yup, I built a nuclear fusion reactor 3:33
- 60 Minutes – Khan Academy: The future of education? 13:27
- Treating cancer with electric fields 15:36
- Hack the planet with Code Hero and Makerhoods 5:39
- The $8 billion iPod 5:11
03-27-2012 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
Brown Bag at the Movies – Selected technical topics(23)
For this installment of Brown Bag at the Movies we will be viewing (abstract below):
03-13-2012 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-