As of May 1, Block Island, Rhode Island, became the first U.S. location powered by an offshore wind farm, eliminating the need for a diesel plant that burned about one million gallons of fuel annually. The project aims to demonstrate offshore wind's potential and provide residents with cleaner energy and more predictable electric bills.
Researchers at AMOLF have developed green solar panels using silicon nanopatterns that reduce power output by about 10 percent while offering a consistent color from most angles. The method, published in Applied Physics Letters, could make solar panels more attractive for buildings and lead to red and blue versions.
MIT researchers Xiao-Yu Wu and Ahmed Ghoniem developed a lanthanum-calcium-iron oxide membrane that separates oxygen from carbon dioxide at 990 degrees Celsius, producing carbon monoxide for fuel and chemicals. The system could offer power plants a revenue stream while reducing emissions.
Stanford researchers have developed a sodium-based battery that stores the same energy as lithium-ion at less than 80 percent of the cost. The design uses sodium and myo-inositol, an organic compound derived from rice bran or corn-milling byproducts, though volumetric energy density remains untested.
A solar pilot project in Kuujjuaq, Nunavik, saved over 400 liters of diesel between September and October, generating 1,100 kWh of electricity. The $560,000 project, managed by Makivik Corporation, is collecting 12 months of data to assess solar viability in Arctic conditions.
China has built the world's largest floating solar farm on a former coal mine lake in Anhui province, with 166,000 panels and 40 megawatts of capacity. The project reflects China's solar boom and its effort to shift away from polluting energy sources, though coal remains dominant.
China announced the discovery of Changesite-(Y), a phosphate mineral found in lunar basalt samples from the Chang'e-5 mission, and approved three additional uncrewed Moon missions over the next decade. The mineral is said to contain helium-3, an isotope some believe could serve as a future energy source.
Virginia Tech paleontologists have named a newly discovered ancient amphibian Funcusvermis gilmorei, or 'funky worm,' after the Ohio Players' 1972 song 'Funky Worm.' The fossil, found in Arizona's Petrified Forest National Park, is the oldest caecilian ever discovered and helps fill an 87-million-year gap in the caecilian lineage.
Researchers have identified four new species of walking sharks, bringing the known total to nine. The sharks, which use their fins to crawl across coral reefs and briefly on land, are the most recently evolved sharks known to science, according to a study published Tuesday in Marine and Freshwater Research.
The White House's proposed 2018 budget would cut EPA funding from $8.2 billion to $6.1 billion and reduce staff from 15,000 to about 12,000. The Office of Research and Development could lose up to 42 percent of its budget, while grants to states and air and water programs face potential 30 percent reductions.
