Energy
Lightning in Humid Regions Could Be Harvested for Energy
By Duncan Geere, Wired UK
Move over solar, wind and wave power — there’s a new renewable on the block. Researchers are experimenting with devices that can pull electricity from the air.
For centuries, scientists have been fascinated by the idea of harnessing the power of thunderstorms. Nikolai Tesla experimented extensively with the topic, but significant understanding of the field of atmospheric electrodynamics has until recently proved elusive.
Can fuel cells power the future?
Justin Sullivan / Getty Images file
A reporter photographs an installation of "Bloom Box" energy servers at eBay's headquarters in San Jose, Calif., during the unveiling of the fuel-cell system in February. Other ventures are getting into the fuel-cell field as well.
An electricity-generating fuel-cell system known as the Bloom Box sparked a huge buzz in the energy debate six months ago - and since then, still more ventures have surfaced to promise better living through chemistry. Will future fuel cells make good on those promises? We should know in the next couple of years.
Gulf’s Depths Probably Still Clogged With Oil
Oil released during the Deepwater Horizon disaster and suspended deep underwater appears to be breaking down more slowly than expected, suggests a new study. The greatest damage may ultimately be in the deep sea rather than the shorelines, a catastrophe in a black box.
During the last two weeks of June, researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute tracked a mile-long, 650-foot-thick plume of crude oil hydrocarbons as it oozed southwest of the blown well at a depth of about 3,000 feet. It was not the only such plume, nor necessarily the largest. Its behavior may give some indication of what is happening elsewhere, to oil still suspended in the ocean — a fate possibly shared by most of the spilled oil.
Iceland Considers Humanoid Pylon Design to Carry Electricity
By Duncan Geere, Wired UK
An architecture and design firm called Choi+Shine has submitted a design for the Icelandic High-Voltage Electrical Pylon International Design Competition which proposes giant human-shaped pylons carrying electricity cables across the country’s landscape.
Photoshop of Horrors: Wired Readers Show BP How It’s Done
Help BP Learn How to Use Photoshop
Apparently BP can no longer afford to employ people with even remotely reasonable Photoshop skills. As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, the company has admitted to (poorly) altering photos of its clean up operations in the Gulf of Mexico that were released to the public.
Supercars with style
X Prize Foundation
Illuminati Motor Works' Seven has its gull-wing doors open while parked at the Michigan International Speedway.
X Prize cars back on track
X Prize Foundation
Vehicles fielded by the Spira, FVT Racing and X-Tracer teams roll down the Michigan International Speedway track in May during an X Prize run aimed at testing the cars' durability. Click here for a slideshow featuring X Prize vehicles.
Oil Spill On Track to Reach Atlantic No Later Than October
BOULDER, Colorado — Oil gushing from the Deepwater Horizon site in the Gulf of Mexico will reach the Atlantic Ocean within six months, says oceanographer Synte Peacock. Exactly when is all down to an eddy that broke off of the infamous Loop Current southwest of Florida on June 12.
BP’s “Nightmare” Well: Internal Documents Uncover Negligence
In an email written six days before the Deepwater Horizon explosion, a BP engineer called the well a “nightmare.” The email was released Monday by the House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment, one of many company documents describing the risky, cost-cutting decisions that preceded the disaster.
“This has been a nightmare well which has everyone all over the place,” wrote BP engineer Brian Morel to a colleague. Morel wanted the company to use a “liner,” or a sheath around the well that would keep gas from surging up the pipes and possibly exploding.
