As if turning grapes into wine wasn’t enough, now wineries are aiming to transform their waste into fuel.

The first example of a new renewable method for generating hydrogen fuel from wastewater is now operating at a California winery. The refrigerator-sized generator takes waste from the Napa Wine Company in Oakville, Calif., and feeds it to microbes inside. With the aid of a little electricity, these naturally occurring bacteria break the organic material in the wastewater into hydrogen gas.

There is a lot more energy locked in the wastewater than is currently used to treat it, explained researcher Bruce Logan, an environmental engineer at Penn State University. Eventually, the winery would like to use the hydrogen to run vehicles and power systems.
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Ever wonder how sharks stay so squeaky clean, while whales and other sea creatures attract barnacles and other critters? That smooth skin inspired Sharklet Technologies, which based a new bacteria-busting film on it. And the navy’s going to put it on their boats.

Researchers have been designing products inspired by or flat-out aping mother nature for years, a process called biomimicry. Sharklet Technologies is the latest to employ biomimicry, having studied the pattern of shark skin and printed it on a thin film in order to repel smaller bugs—bacteria.

Popular Science notes that the film, which is covered with microscopic diamond-shaped bumps, is the first “surface topography” proven to keep the bugs at bay. In tests in a California hospital, for three weeks the plastic sheeting’s surface prevented dangerous microorganisms, such as E. coli and Staphylococcus A, from establishing colonies large enough to infect humans.

The Office of U.S. Naval Research is just one partner using the technology, having announced new hull coatings for Navy ships based on the substance, which should cut fuel use and protect the environment.

President Obama visited the small town of Arcadia, Florida today, population 6, 671, to tout solar energy and efforts of the Economic Recovery Act to bring jobs to Florida, but Republicans on the hill say the President’s proposals for energy and in particular solar energy, won’t do enough for the 11.2% unemployed people in Florida.

<pThe President visited DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy center, billed as the largest solar photovoltaic center in the country. The company's 90,500 solar panels are able to generate about 42,000 megawatt hours each year, but the project cost $150 million to build and only provides power to 3,000 homes, prompting critics to say the administration doesn't have an overall energy strategy.

Washington Representative Doc Hastings, the Ranking Member on the House Natural Resources committee said it’s not nerves that are causing pause on Capitol Hill. It’s the plan itself, and the taxes it will impose on Americans that are the real problem. “Another day, another empty promise from the President to support ‘comprehensive’ energy development,” he told Fox News.

For more, read the full post on Row 2, Seat 4.

Finalists were just announced for the California Cleantech Open, an influential national contest to pair emerging projects in need of financing with those valuable dollars. And the ideas to come out of it are, as always, intriguing.

Treehugger.com has the complete rundown, worth perusing for the scope of fascinating ideas. One worth pausing to think about is Micromidas, a Californian startup that aims to convert the carbon in organic wastewater into bio-plastics that can be used just like conventional plastics.

The company claims that “by applying a naturally occuring microbial phenomena, we convert the carbon in organic wastewater into polyhydroxylalkanoate (PHA), a family of high-performance, highly marketable biodegradable plastics. Our process consumes carbon and other nutrients from the waste stream that would have to undergo costly processes such as incineration or chemical treatment.”

The winner of the contest will be announced on November 17th, but each of the six finalists has already won a prize worth $100,000.

It’s not unusual to catch a whiff of french fries and fried chicken drifting through the halls of East Burke High School in Connelly Springs, North Carolina. But you might be surprised to find out that the smell of fried food isn’t always coming from the high school cafeteria. East Burke Teacher Bob Smith and his 12th grade science students are processing used grease and turning it into biodiesel in the school’s science lab. What once was used by local restaurants to fry up fish, chicken and french fries can actually be processed and poured into the gas tanks of the district’s school buses. Mucheng Yang, a 12th Grader at East Burke High School, thought using grease to make fuel for buses would never work.

“It has been fun doing this,” Yang says. “The best part is making biodiesel and putting it in the bus and see it go off. It’s just a good thing and an amazing thing to see that happen.”

The process sounds complex to those who may not have a background in science. The oil is heated and poured into a simple kitchen blender where it is mixed with a compound that changes the molecular structure of the grease. The chemical mixture is then mixed or washed with water several times and the result is a yellow liquid that can be used to power the diesel engines of school buses.

“In the beginning the students wanted to call this ‘The French Fry Bus.’ But once you break down the grease from the local restaurant, the odor is gone because chemically you have made a different compound called biodiesel,” Smith says. “So it has no odor and we named it the magic fuel bus.”
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