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Casio Develops World's Smallest Fuel Cell for Laptop PCS

Casio Computer Co. (TSE:6952) has developed the world's smallest fuel cell for use in laptop personal computers, and plans to market it in 2007. The polymer electrolyte fuel cell, which is being developed for use in automobiles and home appliances, has been miniaturized to almost the same size as a conventional lithium ion battery. Its capacity is almost four times higher than that of a conventional battery, and it can power a typical laptop computer for eight to 16 hours. The unit features a device that extracts hydrogen from methanol and sends the hydrogen to the main fuel cell. Casio, working jointly with Akira Igarashi, an engineering professor at Kogakuin University, succeeded in making the device as small as a 500 yen coin so that the entire unit would fit in a laptop PC. The device that extracts hydrogen reaches very high temperatures, but Casio solved this problem by wrapping it in a heatproof case, among other methods. Fuel cells that use methanol are also under development, but they require pumps to handle liquid methanol, making the entire unit too large to be used in laptops. Under current law, methanol is treated as a dangerous substance because it is flammable. […]

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Sumitomo Electric First to Mass Market Superconductive Wire

Reuters reports that Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd (Tokyo:5802.T) announced plans to mass market superconductive wire. The company plans to be the first to begin mass production of cost-competitive, superconductive wire capable of transmitting 130 times the electricity deliverable by a normal copper wire. The company claimas the breaktrough will have cost saving implications for the power industry and can be used in machinery, motors and transformers used in trains and ships. A superconductor is a material that is a perfect conductor of electricity when it is cooled to a super-cold minus 120 degrees Celsius (minus 184 Fahrenheit). At very low temperatures, the material theoretically loses all resistance to electrical current. Its application is currently limited to a modest niche field, such as medical diagnostics. While scientists and global wire cable makers are competing to develop the technology, no company has brought a product to the market, said Yutaka Saeki, a spokesman at Sumitomo Electric. "We hope the product will help boost industrial applications of superconductivity wire and other products," Saeki said. Researchers have said that the market for such products could be worth tens of billions of dollars by 2020. Employing know-how called "high-temperature superconductivity technology", Japan's biggest electric cable […]

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Excited Nanocrystals Yield More Solar Power

University of California scientists working at Los Alamos National Laboratory have demonstrated a process that could lead to a new generation of solar cells producing up to 35 percent more electrical output than current solar cells. Today the most efficient solar cells known convert sunlight to electricity at 32 percent efficiency. In a paper published April 30 in the journal "Physical Review Letters," scientists Richard Schaller and Victor Klimov describe their observations of high efficiency carrier multiplication in nanoparticles of less than 10 nanometers in diameter made from lead and selenium (PbSe nanocrystals). A nanometer equals one billionth of a meter. Schaller and Klimov showed how semiconductor nanocrystals respond to photons by producing multiple electrons. This increase in the number of electrons being produced can lead to a greater electrical current output from solar cells. Exposed to light at the green-blue end of the spectrum, the nanocrystals reacted to absorbing solar photons by producing twice the electrons of conventional bulk semiconductors through a process known as carrier multiplication, the scientists found. The basic operation of solar cells has remained unchanged over the past 40 years. The absorption of a photon by the solar cell material generates a single exciton – […]

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Alberta: First Canadian Province to Charge E-Recycling Fee

Alberta is launching Canadas first provincial electronics recycling program this year and will charge an advance recycling fee of up to $45 on electronics sold in the province to divert the amount of electronic waste going to its landfills. The fees, which start Oct. 1, range from $5 to $45, depending on the product. Electronics retailers will tack on an additional $5 for laptop computers, while television sets 46 inches and larger will command the maximum $45 fee. The fee will cover the collection, transportation and recycling of obsolete electronics as well as an educational program. The province, which announced the program May 6, also will begin collecting and recycling electronic waste Oct. 1 through drop-off points and recycling events. The Alberta Recycling Management Authority, a nonprofit entity, will manage the program. The province estimates Alberta residents will discard more than 190,000 television sets and 90,000 desktop computers this year.

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Partnership Forms for 30 MW Canadian Wind Farm

Enbridge has joined Suncor Energy Products and EHN Wind Power Canada as an equal partner in the estimated Cdn$48 million (US$34.7 million) Magrath Wind Power Project in southern Alberta. The project is Enbridge's second wind power investment, the first being the SunBridge project in southwestern Saskatchewan that is a 50/50 partnership with Suncor. The Magrath project, currently under construction, will consist of 20 1.5-megawatt (MW) wind turbines scheduled to come on line by late 2004 with a total capacity of 30 megawatts of electrical power. Enbridge will pay one-third of the costs for a one-third interest in the project. Enbridge will also contract to purchase one-third of the power output of the project for its Enbridge Pipelines system. This will represent approximately 13% of Enbridge Pipelines' total power requirement in Alberta. Participation in the Magrath project is consistent with Enbridge's strategy of pursuing renewable energy to expand the company's product line, and further positions the company to become a significant player as the wind energy industry develops. It is also consistent with Enbridge's commitment to sound environmental stewardship. As a transporter of energy, Enbridge operates, in Canada and the U.S., the world's longest crude oil and liquids pipeline system. The […]

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