http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Running two computer models in tandem, scientists from the University of New Hampshire have detailed for the first time how thermoelectric power plants interact with climate, hydrology, and aquatic ecosystems throughout the northeastern U.S. and show how rivers serve as "horizontal cooling towers" that provide an important ecosystem service to the regional electricity sector—but at a cost to the environment. http://phys.org/news285852995.html Space & Earth Mon, 22 Apr 2013 12:36:42 EST news285852995 Hydroelectricity is an established power-generation technology with over 100 years of commercial operation. Hydroelectricity is produced when moving water rotates a turbine shaft; this movement is converted to electricity with an electrical generator. http://phys.org/news285492467.html Technology Thu, 18 Apr 2013 09:00:02 EST news285492467 Wind farms added a record 44.7 gigawatts of electricity production last year, increasing capacity 19 percent to 282.5 gigawatts, the Global Wind Energy Council said Monday. http://phys.org/news279806290.html Technology Mon, 11 Feb 2013 11:58:22 EST news279806290 Finnish electricity company TVO said on Monday that an EPR nuclear reactor being built by Areva and Siemens may not be ready until 2016, contradicting Areva's claims that it would be completed in 2014. http://phys.org/news279799010.html Technology Mon, 11 Feb 2013 10:10:02 EST news279799010 Hydrogen has tremendous potential as an eco-friendly fuel, but it is expensive to produce. Now researchers at Princeton University and Rutgers University have moved a step closer to harnessing nature to produce hydrogen for us. http://phys.org/news278788852.html Chemistry Wed, 30 Jan 2013 17:21:15 EST news278788852 Schemes that aim to regulate greenhouse gas emissions can limit consumers' attempts to reduce their carbon footprints, according to an economist at the University of East Anglia (UEA). http://phys.org/news278677119.html Space & Earth Tue, 29 Jan 2013 19:00:01 EST news278677119 Energy production must shift from fossil fuels to renewable sources within four decades to avoid the most damaging consequences of climate change, a government report has found. http://phys.org/news273144640.html Technology Mon, 26 Nov 2012 09:30:50 EST news273144640 Slovenia preventively shut down production Sunday at its only nuclear power plant after a steep increase in the flow of the Sava river used for cooling the system, the Krsko nuclear plant said in a statement. http://phys.org/news270654188.html Technology Sun, 28 Oct 2012 15:20:01 EST news270654188 Bulgaria's car-packed capital Sofia has set an EU example in the fight against greenhouse gas emissions by installing its first state-of-the-art solar-powered charger for electric cars, the project's managers said Wednesday. http://phys.org/news269701328.html Technology Wed, 17 Oct 2012 14:02:16 EST news269701328 Environmental campaigners Greenpeace urged China Tuesday to review plans for a huge expansion in coal mines and power plants, warning of a water crisis in the country's already arid north. http://phys.org/news264158968.html Space & Earth Tue, 14 Aug 2012 10:29:36 EST news264158968 Energy storage systems are one of the key technologies for the energy turnaround. With their help, the fluctuating supply of electricity based on photovoltaics and wind power can be stored until the time of consumption. At Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), several pilot plants of solar cells, small wind power plants, lithium-ion batteries, and power electronics are under construction to demonstrate how load peaks in the grid can be balanced and what regenerative power supply by an isolated network may look like in the future. http://phys.org/news263730944.html Technology Thu, 09 Aug 2012 11:35:55 EST news263730944 Innovation in computing will be essential to finding real-world solutions to sustainability challenges in such areas as electricity production and delivery, global food production, and climate change. The immense scale, numerous interconnected effects of actions over time, and diverse scope of these challenges require the ability to collect, structure, and analyze vast amounts of data. http://phys.org/news260190198.html Space & Earth Fri, 29 Jun 2012 12:03:38 EST news260190198 The University of Minnesota has launched a startup that will provide renewable energy more economically than existing alternatives while reducing harmful carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel combustion such as from coal-burning power plants. Heat Mining Company LLC will use sequestered carbon dioxide rather than water to extract heat from deep underground and use this thermal energy to generate electricity. The use of carbon dioxide(CO2), rather than water, allows electricity to be provided from many more sites than would be possible with conventional water-based systems and does it more economically. http://phys.org/news254052187.html Space & Earth Thu, 19 Apr 2012 11:20:01 EST news254052187 In 2009, when the United States fell into economic recession, greenhouse gas emissions also fell, by 6.59 percent relative to 2008. http://phys.org/news249561041.html Space & Earth Mon, 27 Feb 2012 10:30:48 EST news249561041 Electric cars have been heralded as environmentally friendly, but findings from University of Tennessee, Knoxville, researchers show that electric cars in China have an overall impact on pollution that could be more harmful to health than gasoline vehicles. http://phys.org/news248352320.html Space & Earth Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:45:31 EST news248352320 American energy use went back up in 2010 compared to 2009, when consumption was at a 12-year low. The United States used more fossil fuels in 2010 than in 2009, while renewable electricity remained approximately constant, with an increase in wind power offset by a modest decline in hydroelectricity. There also was a significant increase in biomass consumption, according to the most recent energy flow charts released by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. http://phys.org/news240074805.html Technology Wed, 09 Nov 2011 15:27:20 EST news240074805 (PhysOrg.com) -- With the push for creating green energy, giant windmill farms are becoming more and more common for electricity production. However, the National Weather Service and the United States Air Force say these wind farms are creating much more than energy and are making their jobs more difficult when it comes to detecting storms and keeping aircraft safe. http://phys.org/news239974959.html Technology Tue, 08 Nov 2011 12:30:01 EST news239974959 With the world’s energy needs growing rapidly, can zero-carbon energy options be scaled up enough to make a significant difference? How much of a dent can these alternatives make in the world’s total energy usage over the next half-century? As the MIT Energy Initiative approaches its fifth anniversary next month, this five-part series takes a broad view of the likely scalable energy candidates. http://phys.org/news238743220.html Technology Tue, 25 Oct 2011 06:33:56 EST news238743220 While they may have similar environmental aims, the Swedish electricity market's two policy instruments -- tradable green certificates and carbon emissions allowances -- are not easy bedfellows. Although straightforward at first glance, the green certificate system turns out, on closer inspection, to be highly complicated and extremely obscure in terms of its effects, especially when combined with carbon emissions allowances. Such is the opinion of Anna Widerberg, economics researcher at the University of Gothenburg, in her recently presented thesis on how the two policy instruments together affect the Swedish electricity market. http://phys.org/news236957972.html Other Sciences Tue, 04 Oct 2011 14:39:40 EST news236957972 (PhysOrg.com) -- Over 80% of the worlds energy demands continue to be met with fossil fuels. The environmental problems associated with this, such as global warming, are well-known. The efficient supply of energy based on renewable resources is becoming more pressing. Hydrogen technology, which involves the production of hydrogen from biomass for use in electricity production in fuel cells, is a very promising approach. http://phys.org/news236434369.html Chemistry Wed, 28 Sep 2011 13:40:01 EST news236434369 The biggest European automaker, Volkswagen, plans to invest almost one billion euros ($1.44 billion) in renewable energies over the coming years, a press report said on Friday. http://phys.org/news233552644.html Technology Fri, 26 Aug 2011 04:44:17 EST news233552644 The European Union on Tuesday tightened rules on the disposal of radioactive waste with strict conditions on exporting it outside EU borders. http://phys.org/news230277185.html Technology Tue, 19 Jul 2011 06:53:17 EST news230277185 French state-owned energy group Areva announced Tuesday that it had won a bid to participate in an Australian solar energy programme. http://phys.org/news227882835.html Technology Tue, 21 Jun 2011 13:47:27 EST news227882835 The small German port of Cuxhaven is betting its future on North Sea wind, promoting itself as a base for new offshore wind farms as the country embarks on a bid to scrap nuclear power. http://phys.org/news227165779.html Technology Mon, 13 Jun 2011 06:47:52 EST news227165779 Two University of Minnesota Department of Earth Sciences researchers have developed an innovative approach to tapping heat beneath the Earth's surface. The method is expected to not only produce renewable electricity far more efficiently than conventional geothermal systems, but also help reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) -- dealing a one-two punch against climate change. http://phys.org/news226571821.html Space & Earth Mon, 06 Jun 2011 09:37:17 EST news226571821 (AP) -- A federal judge on Friday refused to order a cut in flows from the Grand Coulee Dam that threaten millions of fish raised in pens downstream in the Columbia River. http://phys.org/news225776656.html Biology Sat, 28 May 2011 04:45:37 EST news225776656 Big cities like New York, London and Shanghai send less pollution into the atmosphere per capita than places like Denver and Rotterdam, said a study released Tuesday. http://phys.org/news215240261.html Space & Earth Wed, 26 Jan 2011 05:50:04 EST news215240261 Debt-hit Greece plans to build the world's largest solar park over depleted coal mines in the northern city of Kozani, Prime Minister George Papandreou said this week. http://phys.org/news214847528.html Technology Fri, 21 Jan 2011 15:52:18 EST news214847528 (AP) -- Some of the country's largest emitters of heat-trapping gases, including businesses that publicly support efforts to curb global warming, don't want the public knowing exactly how much they pollute. http://phys.org/news207461491.html Space & Earth Thu, 28 Oct 2010 05:14:51 EST news207461491 Physicists at Rutgers University have discovered new properties in a material that could result in efficient and inexpensive plastic solar cells for pollution-free electricity production. http://phys.org/news205935947.html Nanotechnology Sun, 10 Oct 2010 13:26:05 EST news205935947