Unexpected sources of energy that can save the world

Alternative forms of energy can be very... shall we say, strange. In General, prepare to be surprised.

1. Leaves табака

Everyone has heard about the magical transformation of the Queen of the fields into biofuel. But corn is in this sense a very bad raw (just trust me), so the science never ceases to touch flora, hoping for a miracle. And once it came even to tobacco. More precisely — to a genetically modified tobacco. The basic building blocks for the production of biofuels from plant starch and sugar, so naturally, increasing the number of green the other, it is possible to achieve an acceptable result. Agroengineer recently discovered that is able to modify the gene in tobacco to increase the production of starch to the eerie 700%, which will increase the yield of sugars (production of biofuels) by 500%. As a bonus, the method can be used for cultivation of food crops — for example, "our" sugar beet, which will then become scared "sharetotal".

 

2. Sugar батарейки

Recently, bioengineers have built a prototype "enzymatic fuel cell", which mimics the behavior of biological systems (e.g. plants), which converts glucose into energy. The result is batteries give more energy than lithium-ion batteries. In addition, they are biodegradable and reusable.

 

 

3. Jatropha куркас

This plant produces oil-rich seeds that are perfectly suited for the production of biodiesel, and feels wonderful on dry, sandy lands. That is, it does not claim to farmland, and therefore does not hurt food crops. Unfortunately, jatropha seeds do not germinate in poor soil as easily as an adult plant. So science is trying to genetically modify the culture to make it more suitable for fuel production. The result may be sverkhvysokie plant that will grow almost anywhere.

 

 

4. Algal машины

Unlike jatropha, which is thought source of fuel while only theoretically, microalgae ready to use. They grow in the ocean, and therefore does not compete with food crops. In addition, they produce more starch and sugars than of blue-green algae, the koi is also considered as an alternative energy source. So what's the problem? That decent yields of microalgae won't give up easily. Therefore, biotechnologists are persistently looking for ways genetic modification of these plants.

 

 

5. Супердрожжи

Biologist At vey (Na Wei) and his colleagues discovered that they could genetically modify the form of yeast to digest tough, fibrous xylose in plants. Usually this part of the plant is not used as it creates a toxic, acidic environment for microbes. But the improved yeast is able to digest xylose in the chemical components from which it is already possible to make biofuels. Such sverhdorogie, I think, would be very useful for turning plant waste into energy.

 

 

6. Artificial фотосинтез

The specialists of the California Institute of technology (USA) — large docks that they called artificial photosynthesis. Their goal is to produce a synthetic variant of the molecular mechanism used by plants to transform light and water into energy. The result looks like a solar panel enclosed in plastic casing: the latter is made of thin sheet membranes is true, composed of semiconductor materials. The water flowing through the device and "firing" his light, it is possible to produce liquid hydrogen or hydrocarbons. This solves the main problem of solar energy storage. Because the result is a liquid that can cherish using the already existing infrastructure.

 

 

7. Contents... канализации

It's time to talk about feces. Usual sources of biofuels, such as vegetable oil, it is necessary to grow and process (hell), which makes them much, much more than the contents of our gutters and highways. Semi-solid waste (let's call it so) can be used to create biofuel in several ways. One of the most common is gasification, when semi-solid waste (SW) is dried and heated with the release of gas that can be burned. But in South Korea, a process which heats the lipids inside to process them into biofuels. FOR heat in the reactor along with methanol and carbon dioxide to convert 98% of the lipids into biodiesel. This new process has output very cheap biodiesel, because there are so many... But still no investment for modernization of existing sewer systems can not do.

 

 

8. Urinanalysis we are affected by "this topic," let's think about other bodily fluids. So, human urine — an amazing food for microorganisms. Currently, as a potential sources of energy develops fuel cells in which microbes recycle urine into energy. In the future this technology will help process huge volumes of waste, leaving behind bipeds. And if you take into account the method of the previous domes, it is possible that our restrooms will receive two of the toilet for waste separation. However, all this has happened before: remember distcomp the Fremen?

9. Gelioelektrostantsii in space



Familiar to you! Powerful satellites carrying lightweight solar panels, soon really can become a reality. This will allow to drastically overcome the problem of dispersion of sunlight by the atmosphere. That is, we will get access to the most that neither is a pure helioenergy.

 

 

13. Fat alligators

You are unlikely to be surprised to learn that chemists from Louisiana decided to use the alligator fat as a source of biofuels. This fat a lot of lipid and hence it is ideal for conversion into fuel. In addition, the meat industry alligator "makes" a ton of fat as waste, so that energy just needs to pray for Louisiana crocodiles!

 

published

Source: brainswork.ru