Harnessing Energy from Natural Motions

Scientists have been havesting electricity from the motions of everyday life for years, but efficiencies and methods to capturing energy is limited. The success of these devices is limited because they can only perform well under a narrow band of frequenies. The strategy is to develop a device that can convert a range of vibrations by using magnets to 'tune' the banwidth of the experimental device. The potential of the new approach surpasses conventional linear devices.

Reference:
Samuel C. Stanton, Clark C. McGehee, and Brian P. Mann. Reversible hysteresis for broadband magnetopiezoelastic energy harvesting. Applied Physics Letters, 2009; 95 (17): 174103 DOI: 10.1063/1.3253710

Turning Seawater into Jet Fuel

Due to climate change and oil shortage, the US Navy is experimenting with making jet fuel from seawater by the process making kerosene-based jet fuel from unsaturated short-chain hydrocarbons in seawater. Extraction of carbon dioxide in the water and combining it with hydrogen - a variant of the chemical reaction called 'Fischer-Tropsch process'. The goal is to produce as little unwanted methane through this process, the main concern. Other issues include the need to use a carbon-neutral energy source and process consumes more energy than the fuel it produces.

Reference: slashdot.org