Yuan Kou at Peking University in Beijing, China, and his team have come up with a lignin breakdown reaction that more reliably produces the alkanes and alcohols needed for biofuels. The yield is twice as high as previous work. Under ideal conditions, it is theoretically possible to produce monomers and dimers in yields of 44 …
Here is 16 page briefing from the Carnegie Endowment by Albert Kiedel on the economic rise of China UPDATE: The British Telegraph has an interesting series of articles on life in China now The very conservative projection described in the table above already underestimates China’s economy. It has China at $4 trillion on an exchange …
Falcon HTV-3X The Blackswift Hypersonic program may not get fully funded for the $750 million that it needs, but the program has a lot of interesting technology and innovations for greater efficiency. This technology and innovations are discussed below. Making a scramjet rocket would be a better program to fund for space access. A scramjet …
Enhanced geothermal systems (EGS), also sometimes called engineered geothermal systems, offer great potential for more than 100 GW of geothermal power which 40 times more than present geothermal power. Sandia national labs indicates ultimately geothermal global resources amount to 50,000 times the energy of all oil and gas resources in the world. Ormat Technologies (775 …
Giant solar energy balloons floating high in the air may be a cheap way to provide electricity to areas lacking the land and infrastructure needed for traditional power systems. Solar balloons, designed by a team from the Technion Institute of Technology, could be used to harness the sun’s energy in those remote areas. However, the …
Spinal cord damage blocks the routes that the brain uses to send messages to the nerve cells that control walking. Until now, doctors believed that the only way for injured patients to walk again was to re-grow the long nerve highways that link the brain and base of the spinal cord. For the first time, …
People suffering with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may find that combining two currently available medications halves their risk of death within two years as well and improves their overall health status and quality of life. The conclusion is drawn from the first human trial to compare treatment of COPD with a combination of salmeterol …
Basjoos modified the body of his 1992 honda civic so that it gets 95 mpg at 65 mph Cargo area inside boatail, extending the interior of the car into the boattail added 20cu ft to the interior space. Also there is a hidden compartment under the new load floor in the boattail. The front of …
Iraq is producing 2.3 million barrels of oil a day, up from 1.9 million at the outbreak of war in 2003 and substantially higher than January this year, when it dipped to a low of 1.7 million barrels. Although a trillion or so dollars was spent and more trillions will be spent, there seems the …
The World Bank has updated 1986 pricing data for China to 2005 pricing data and reduced by 40% the purchasing power parity size of China’s economy. Under the old calculation, China had a GDP of $8.8 trillion, about 15% of global GDP of $59 trillion. According to the new calculation, China’s economy shrank by 40% …
Duke Energy today submitted a combined construction and operating license (COL) application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a proposed two-unit nuclear station in Cherokee County, S.C. The proposed two-unit William States Lee III Nuclear Station will have a capacity of 2,234 megawatts. It is the first new COL with a new site …