Carbon Sciences, Inc. (CABN), the developer of a breakthrough technology to recycle carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions into gasoline and other portable fuels, announced the development of certain process technologies that will allow for the production of gasoline, shorten the time to commercialization and reduce the system and operating costs of its CO2-to-Fuel technology.

The company’s current approach is an enzyme-based process used to transform CO2 into low-level fuels, such as methanol. Dr. Naveed Aslam, chief technology officer of Carbon Sciences, has now discovered a new and more cost efficient process to produce gasoline, a high-level fuel, from CO2. The key features of this breakthrough includes (1) the of use flue emissions directly from coal-fired power plants or industrial factories, eliminating the need for “clean” CO2, (2) the use of brackish water, eliminating the need for distilled freshwater as the source of hydrogen and reaction medium, (3) mild operating conditions, eliminating the need for capital intensive stainless steel equipment, and (4) a highly scalable system to transform large quantities of CO2 into gasoline for use in the existing transportation infrastructure.

Elaborating on the business implications of this new breakthrough, Byron Elton, CEO of Carbon Sciences, said, “We always wanted to produce high-level fuels, such as gasoline, but knew that additional steps would be required to reach this goal. Now, we have the way to go directly to gasoline.” Mr. Elton commented further, “The United Nations’ IPCC estimates that the cost of simply capturing CO2 for applications, such as underground sequestration or transformation into products, can range from $45 to $73 per ton of CO2. This cost is perhaps the single biggest economic barrier to any large-scale CO2 applications, such as carbon sequestration. However, by being able to use a raw CO2 flue gas stream in our CO2-to-Fuel technology, we are no longer dependent on the success or commercial availability of carbon capture systems. In addition, unlike biofuels based on growing plants to absorb CO2 from the air, our CO2-to-Fuel process is an industrial process that can produce fuel in minutes to hours, not months to years, to meet the demands of the world. These breakthroughs demonstrate why we continue to believe that Carbon Sciences is developing the most powerful and sustainable fuel technology in the world.”

Commenting on the development roadmap, Dr. Aslam stated, “We are very excited about these new processes. Our end-to-end CO2 to fuel system will have several modules. We have determined that one of these modules can function as a standalone system for use by a sizable part of the energy industry for the production of gasoline. Inquiries from potential strategic partners have further validated our decision to focus on this module. We are anticipating a shorter than normal development cycle for this module and are hoping to achieve commercialization in less than one year.”

www.carbonsciences.com

Sharp introduced solar-powered mobile phones into the Japanese market in 2009. These handsets have proven popular, reflecting a recent surge in the number of ecologically minded consumers.

The SH6230C is equipped with advanced technology originally developed in Japan, including Sharp’s proprietary solar cell module, a large 2.9-inch LCD screen, and a 5-megapixel autofocus camera. Given the increasing demand for the solar charging function, Sharp will bring the solar-powered mobile phones to the global markets.

Sharp will also introduce into the Chinese market two models (SH6220C and SH6228C) incorporating Memory LCD. The Memory LCD is a low-power-consuming display with high visibility under the daylight. The Memory LCD can display such information as the time and e-mail status at all times.

sharp-world.com

Two of the country’s leading flooring manufacturers, Altro and Polyflor, have launched the UK’s first vinyl flooring recycling take-back scheme.

The new industry-funded Recofloor scheme will increase the recycling of waste vinyl flooring in the UK. Through the scheme, safety flooring offcuts and smooth vinyl offcuts from the installation process will be recycled back into new flooring. Uplifted, or end-of-life material, will be used in the manufacture of traffic calming products, such as traffic cone and road barrier bases.

Axion Consulting is the agent for the Recofloor scheme, which has developed from a WRAP-funded (Waste & Resources Action Programme) trial to increase the collection and recycling of vinyl flooring.

As a free-standing industry scheme, the target now is to create a sustainable, cost-effective and efficient collection system. Waste flooring is accepted from all types of sources, from individual contractors to large construction projects.  Axion’s role involves co-ordinating and managing Recofloor collection systems.

Registered Recofloor participants will be provided with bulk bags which can be collected from site when filled with vinyl flooring, or they can drop off waste at one of 19 designated sites across the UK. Recofloor is keen to increase the number of drop-off sites across the UK and to recruit distributors to provide a drop-off point for vinyl flooring waste.

Recofloor Project Manager Jane Gardner, of Axion Consulting, said both manufacturers have invested a lot of time and cost into developing internal recycling processes for vinyl flooring and they feel the time is right to set up an industry collection scheme.

“We are very pleased that Altro and Polyflor, as founder

members of Recofloor, have made this huge commitment to the sustainability of vinyl flooring. It is a major achievement and an important step for the industry,” she says.

“Increasingly customers are keen to see their end-of-life flooring recycled. Recofloor participants benefit from compliance with Site Waste Management legislation and receive a ‘certificate of commitment’ to recycling. Providing their ‘green’ credentials can help them gain new contracts,” adds Jane.

According to Polyflor, its products have on average 25% recycled content. “This is great considering the vast number of ranges available and the volumes which are produced,” says Environmental Market Manager Sonia Baker. “In 2008, Polyflor manufactured and sold around 20 million square metres of vinyl flooring, with 12,005 tonnes of post industrial waste and 736 tonnes of post consumer waste being recycled back into new product. Through Recofloor, we are aiming to increase the amount of post consumer waste that is recycled back into our flooring, across all ranges.”

Richard Kahn, Chief Executive of Altro, comments: “At Altro, responsibility is at the heart of everything we do.  We constantly look at ways to reduce our environmental impact in both production processes and how the organisation is run. Thanks to the installation of the world’s first in-house safety flooring recycling system we have not sent any waste PVC to landfill since mid 2007, and now recycle 100% of our factory waste PVC.”

“The Recofloor scheme is the latest breakthrough in our recycling programme. Not only will this allow us to increase the amount of recycled content in our safety flooring products, it will also reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill, lower operating costs and offer contractors a tangible competitive advantage when tendering for projects.”

For more information, contact Axion ‘s Recofloor team on +44 161 355 7618

http://www.axionconsulting.co.uk/

The conditioning technology cleans and refines biomass-derived syngas so that it can be directly fired into internal combustion engines instead of natural gas to generate electricity. The technology will be packaged with Nexterra’s biomass gasification systems and internal combustion engines into modular CHP plants sized from 2 – 10 MWe. The new CHP System will be capable of achieving overall efficiencies up to 65% in cogeneration mode and over 30% in combined cycle mode. Future applications of conditioned syngas include conversion into biomethane and other synthetic fuels and chemicals.

“This is an important milestone for Nexterra and we are very pleased with the results,” said Dejan Sparica, Nexterra’s VP and Chief Engineer. “Trials conducted in the fourth quarter of 2009 verify that our combined gasification and conditioning technologies produce a clean, stable and consistent grade of syngas with more than 99% removal of tars and inorganics. The resulting syngas meets and exceeds the fuel specification for internal combustion engines. We will continue optimization and refinement of the process in 2010.”

“These are impressive results for Nexterra,” said John Hepburn, Vice President of Research and International for the University of British Columbia (“UBC”). “Over the past several years Nexterra has established itself as an international leader in biomass gasification. Their new CHP System has tremendous potential to help UBC, other campuses, communities and industry to achieve their green energy goals while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We look forward to collaborating with Nexterra to further develop the technology.”

The syngas conditioning technology is based on a closed-loop, thermal cracking and heat recovery process, which is designed to be simpler, cleaner, more reliable and lower cost than competing gas clean-up systems. Nexterra initiated development of the technology in 2007. Proof-of-concept testing was completed in 2008. The next step will be to operate a GE Jenbacher model 208 internal combustion engine on conditioned syngas in Q1 2010. This will be followed by full-scale demonstration projects. Nexterra will continue testing and optimization of the syngas conditioning technology process and the overall CHP System throughout 2010.

Nexterra has received funding assistance for development, testing and commercialization of the syngas conditioning technology and CHP System from the following: Sustainable Development Technology Canada, a not-for-profit corporation created by the Government of Canada, BC Bioenergy Network (BCBN), National Research Council of Canada – Industrial Research Assistance Program and Ethanol BC.

www.nexterra.ca

For further information, please contact :

Nexterra Systems Corp.

Annette Saliken

Director of Communications

Tel: 604.637.2507

Email: asaliken@nexterra.ca

Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) has awarded a project led by SunOpta BioProcess Inc. up to $5.5M in funding for the construction of a facility to demonstrate its integrated process that aims to produce both food grade xylitol ? a healthy sugar substitute ? and fuel grade cellulosic ethanol.

“Next-generation biofuel technologies are generating even greater environmental benefits and are also providing new economic opportunities through innovative co-products,” said the Honourable Lisa Raitt, Minister of Natural Resources. “The Government of Canada is pleased to support companies like SunOpta that are helping advance clean energy technology and provide a healthier environment for Canadians.”

“The generation of valuable co-products advances the economic opportunity created by the production of biofuels,” said SDTC President and CEO Vicky Sharpe. “Technologies like SunOpta’s that have both environmental and economic benefits help Canada achieve its biofuels objectives and build a bio-based economic sector, adding value to the agriculture and forestry industries.”

Using wood chips as feedstock, SunOpta’s technology is projected to decrease process water consumption by up to 75% compared to producing corn ethanol while retaining all of the life-cycle carbon benefits inherent to cellulosic ethanol. The proposed project involves the construction of a demonstration plant with a capacity to produce up to 620 tonnes of xylitol and two million litres of cellulosic ethanol per year.

“Successful commercialization of biofuel production technology relies upon capturing value from all of the major components in biomass feedstock. The SDTC funding will allow SunOpta BioProcess Inc. to demonstrate its integrated process technology to produce biofuels from cellulose, bioenergy from lignin, and xylitol, a natural alternative sweetener and value-added product produced from xylan,” commented SunOpta BioProcess Inc. President Murray Burke. “We are excited about the prospects of the integrated biorefinery technology, and believe that this strategy will lead to rapid commercialization of economically and environmentally sustainable biofuel operations, with concomitant benefits for Canadian economic vitality, environmental sustainability and energy security.”

The SDTC funding for SunOpta’s project will be leveraged with funding from members of its consortium, including Xylitol Canada and Emerald Forest Sugars Inc.

About SDTC

Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) is an arm’s-length foundation created by the Government of Canada which has received $1.05 billion as part of the Government’s commitment to create a healthy environment and a high quality of life for all Canadians. SDTC operates two funds aimed at the development and demonstration of innovative technological solutions. The $550 million SD Tech Fund™ supports projects that address climate change, air quality, clean water, and clean soil. The $500 million NextGen Biofuels Fund™ supports the establishment of first-of-kind large demonstration-scale facilities for the production of next-generation renewable fuels. SDTC operates as a not-for-profit corporation and has been working with the public and private sector including industry, academia, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the financial community and all levels of government to achieve this mandate. For more information, please visit www.sdtc.ca.

About SunOpta BioProcess Inc.

SunOpta BioProcess Inc. (SBI) is a leader in the design, construction and optimization of biomass conversion process technologies, equipment and facilities. With over 30 years experience in delivering biomass solutions worldwide, SBI combines its applications expertise with innovative, patented, and proprietary technologies to design and build equipment and processes to produce cellulosic ethanol, cellulosic butanol, xylitol, and other value-added products derived from lignocellulosic biomass. The company is currently supplying equipment and process technology to pilot and commercial demonstration cellulosic ethanol projects worldwide. SBI is an 86% owned subsidiary of SunOpta Inc. (NASDAQ: STKL; TSX: SOY).

Washington, D.C. — An innovative technology that could potentially help some coal-based power generation facilities comply with anticipated new mercury emissions standards was successfully demonstrated in a recently concluded milestone project at a Michigan power plant.

Under a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), WE Energies demonstrated the TOXECON^(TM) process in a $52.9million project at the Presque Isle Power Plant in Marquette, Mich. TOXECON is a relatively cost-effective option for achieving significant reductions in mercury emissions and increasing the collection efficiency of particulate matter while maximizing the use of coal combustion by-products.

The technology, which resulted from NETL research and was patented by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), involves the injection of sorbents between an existing particulate control device, such as an electrostatic precipitator, and a pulsed-jet baghouse, capturing pollutants before they are emitted into the atmosphere.

The sorbents collect in the baghouse along with the small amount of fly ash that escapes the primary particulate control. The baghouse provides excellent contact between gas and sorbent which results in high mercury-removal efficiency since the flue gas must pass through the dust cake of ash and sorbent on the bags in the baghouse. This configuration segregates the ash collected in the primary particulate control device (the precipitator) from the baghouse ash/sorbent mixture, enabling the ash collected in the primary particulate control device to continue to be sold for use in making concrete. Aside from the environmental benefits of recycling, fly ash is a vital ingredient in improving the performance of a wide range of concrete products; more than 12million tons of coal fly ash are used annually in concrete products in the United States.

During the 3-year demonstration period, the TOXECON technology removed more than 90 percent of the mercury contained in the flue gas from three 90-megawatt units firing subbituminous Powder River Basin coal. Annually, the process is expected to capture 97 pounds of mercury and 250 tons of particulate matter at the Presque Isle plant.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has indicated its intent to regulate mercury emissions from the Nation’s coal-based power plants. TOXECON technology will provide an approach for segments of the power-generating industry, especially those using western subbituminous coal, to achieve timely compliance with future mercury regulations. NETL says the process has application to an estimated 167 gigawatts of existing coal-fired capacity.

The technology is particularly important to the state of Michigan, which recently promulgated rules to reduce mercury emissions to protect its environment and, specifically, its inland lakes. The new rules require the state’s power plants to reduce mercury emissions by 90 percent by 2015.

The successful demonstration of the process, which received an R&D 100 Award as one of the 100 most significant new technologies of 2003, puts it in the position of being a leading mercury-control choice for western coals, especially in units that use a “hot-side” electrostatic precipitator located upstream of the power plant’s air preheater.

The project was part of DOE’s Clean Coal Power Initiative, a cost-shared collaboration between the Federal Government and private industry to increase investment in low-emission coal technology by demonstrating advanced coal-based power generation technologies prior to commercial deployment.

The project was administered by DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and NETL. WE Energies managed the project. Among We Energies’ team members, ADA-ES conducted the test program, Cummins & Barnard provided architectural and engineering services, Wheelabrator Air Pollution Control Inc. provided baghouse design and installation support, and EPRI served as technical advisor.

London, January 11, 2010 – The world took a big step closer today to a green and more sustainable communications future with the launch of Green Touch™, a global consortium organized by Bell Labs whose goal is to create the technologies needed to make communications networks 1000 times more energy efficient than they are today.

A thousand-fold reduction is roughly equivalent to being able to power the world’s communications networks, including the Internet, for three years using the same amount of energy that it currently takes to run them for a single day.

Today’s Green Touch press conference will be available via a video webcast at 2:30 p.m. GMT (3:30 p.m. CET/9:30 a.m. ET) through the following link: www.greentouch.org

Green Touch brings together leaders in industry, academia and government labs to invent and deliver radical new approaches to energy efficiency that will be at the heart of sustainable networks in the decades to come.  With its launch, the consortium also has issued an open invitation to all members of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) community to join forces in reaching this ambitious target.

“Truly global challenges have always been best addressed by bringing together the brightest minds in an unconstrained, creative environment. This was what we used when putting a man on the moon and is the same approach we need to implement to address the global climate crisis.  The Green Touch initiative is an example of such a response – bringing together scientists and technologists from around the world and from many different disciplines in an environment of open innovation to attack the problem from many different directions,” said Dr. Steven Chu, US Secretary of Energy.

“The ICT sector is perfectly placed to bring its innovative and technological forces to bear in the low carbon transition as well as in curbing its own carbon footprint.  The Green Touch Initiative shows how business can play its part in delivering the low carbon society we are working to achieve. With Government creating an environment in which innovation can flourish, we welcome industry coming together with academia to create the research, technology and solutions necessary to reduce carbon emissions,” said Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, UK.

“Industry has to play a major role in the drive to increasing global energy efficiency. This is both a matter of environmental responsibility and competitiveness. We regularly endorse such projects in our “pole de compétitivité” (competiveness cluster) policy and the Eureka clusters.  This is a particularly crucial area of focus because of increasing usage of ICT and the Internet. The world-wide Green Touch consortium will open the way to generating major technological breakthroughs.  France supports this project, which is open to all and in which two major French labs are founding members,” said Christian Estrosi, Minister for Industry, France.

“Climate change is an enormous and immediate challenge that needs to be address globally and with bold actions. It is only through harnessing the best minds around the world, regardless of their mother companies, industry, or nationality, that we will make the difference we need to. The Green Touch consortium, with its open innovation model that harnesses the leading minds across the globe and includes experts from every part of ICT, is the model for the sort of radical initiatives that we need to address the huge challenge of global warming,” said Jong-Soo Yoon, Director General, Ministry of Environment, South Korea.

“The Portuguese Government has been taking measures to promote the production of energy by clean technologies. The Green Touch initiative calls our attention to the importance of the network and collaboration between different institutions when we face global challenges as sustainable development.  I encourage the participants of this initiative to bring good solutions to promote the energy efficiency of communication networks,” said Paulo Campos, Secretary of State for Public Works and Communications, Portugal.

“Over the next decade billions more people will upload and share video, images and information over public and private networks as we communicate with each other in new, rich ways. We also expect ICT usage to dramatically increase as other industries use networks to reduce their own carbon footprints.  This naturally leads to an exponential growth in ICT energy consumption which we, as an industry, have to jointly address.  This consortium is unique in looking way beyond making incremental efficiency improvements and tapping into innovation and expertise from around the globe to achieve fundamental breakthroughs in ICT carbon emissions reduction,” Gee Rittenhouse, vice president of research at Bell Labs and consortium lead.

Green Touch Initiative founding members include:

• Service Providers: AT&T, China Mobile, Portugal Telecom, Swisscom, Telefonica
• Academic Research Labs: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Research Laboratory for Electronics (RLE), Stanford University’s Wireless Systems Lab (WSL), the University of Melbourne’s Institute for a Broadband-Enabled Society (IBES)
• Government and Nonprofit Research Institutions: The CEA-LETI Applied Research Institute for Microelectronics (Grenoble, France), The Foundation for Mobile Communications (Portugal), imec (Headquarters: Leuven, Belgium), The French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control (INRIA)
• Industrial Labs: Bell Labs, Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT), Freescale Semiconductor

This 1000-fold efficiency target is based on research from Bell Labs that determined that today’s information and communication technology (ICT) networks have the potential to be 10,000 times more efficient than they are today.  This conclusion comes from a Bell Labs’ analysis of the fundamental properties of ICT networks and technologies (optical, wireless, electronics, processing, routing, and architecture) and studying their physical limits by applying established formulas such as Shannon’s Law ^[1].

“With the boom in broadband usage, ICT energy consumption is rapidly increasing and immediate steps need to be taken to address this trend and mitigate its impact,” said Vernon Turner, Senior Vice President and General Manager for Enterprise Computing, Network, Consumer, Telecom and Sustainability at IDC, a leading industry analyst firm.  “What distinguishes the Green Touch Initiative is its commitment to a hugely ambitious yet quantifiable goal that is rooted in hard science.  Its global profile and multi-disciplinary approach will accelerate the necessary fundamental rethinking and development of new technologies.”

To support its objectives the Green Touch Initiative will deliver – within five years –– a reference network architecture and demonstrations of the key components required to realize this improvement.  This initiative also offers the potential to generate new technologies and new areas of industry.

The first meeting of the consortium will take place in February and will be dedicated to establishing the organization’s five-year plan, first-year deliverables, and member roles and responsibilities.

For those companies interested in joining the consortium, please visit the web site:  www.greentouch.org

About the Green Touch Initiative

Green Touch Initiative, a consortium of leading industry players, research institutions and non-governmental organizations to define the challenge, identify solutions and develop solutions with the goal to deliver the architecture, specifications, roadmap, and demonstrations of key components needed to reduce ICT energy consumption per bit by a factor of 1,000 from current levels within five years. www.greentouch.org

Green Touch Press Contacts

Peter Benedict

Tel: + 33 (0)1 40 76 50 84

peter.benedict@alcatel-lucent.com

Paul Ross

Tel +1 908 230 8030

Paul.ross@alcatel-lucent.com

• Plugs into any PC’s USB port
• At the push of a button, the ecobutton automatically puts your computer into a special “ecomode” that saves more energy than normal sleep mode, drawing only the same nominal power as when the computer and monitor are completely shut down
• Save energy while taking a phone call or break, while doing paperwork or going to lunch or meetings,
• At the touch of any button, the computer instantly returns to where you left off and displays a splash screen showing both money and carbon (CO2) savings
• Your company logo, message and weblink can be incorporated into the ecobutton splash screen***
• Reduces company energy output and carbon footprint

Other Notes:

STANDARD SPLASH SCREEN (7-10 DAYS DELIVERY AFTER APPROVED ARTWORK) • Displays dollar and carbon savings for the time your computer was placed in “ecomode” • Displays daily and cumulative dollar and carbon savings ***BRANDED SPLASH SCREEN (3-5 WEEK DELIVERY AFTER APPROVED ARTWORK) • Displays daily and cumulative dollar and carbon savings for the time your computer was placed in “ecomode” • Displays your company logo • When logo is clicked, it launches company website • Three logo sizes available

Visit Ecobutton

The concept consists of two parts – a wearable sensor unit which can sense and analyze your environment, health, and local weather conditions, and a dedicated mobile phone.

The sensor unit will be worn on a wrist or neck strap made from solar cells that provide power to the sensors. NFC (near field communication) technology will relay information by touch from the sensors to the phone or to or to other devices that support NFC technology.

Both the phone and the sensor unit will be as compact as possible to minimize material use, and those materials used in the design will be renewable and/or reclaimed. Technologies used inside the phone and sensor unit will also help save energy.

Stay in touch with your health and local environment

To help make you more aware of your health and local environmental conditions, the Nokia Eco Sensor Concept will include a separate, wearable sensing device with detectors that collect environment, health, and/or weather data.

You will be able to choose which sensors you would like to have inside the sensing device, thereby customizing the device to your needs and desires. For example, you could use the device as a “personal trainee” if you were to choose a heart-rate monitor and motion detector (for measuring your walking pace).

Here are some other examples of customized sensing devices you could build:

A mobile device that builds on the “three Rs”

Reduce, reuse and recycle – the Nokia Eco Sensor Concept is built upon all three of these underlying principles of waste reduction. Emphasis will be placed on materials use and reuse in the phone’s construction:

A phone for the energy-conscious consumer

To complete the Nokia Eco Sensor Concept, the phone and detector units will be optimized for lower energy consumption than phones in 2007 in both the manufacturing process and use. Alternative energy sources, such as solar power, will fuel the sensor unit’s power usage. Thus, we aim to create a self-powered sensing device to reduce dependence on external, non-renewable energy sources.

Innovative Services

The possibilities to introduce creative and useful mobile applications and web services that build upon the environmental data collected from such a design concept are numerous. These services can range from personal health monitoring and improvement, to large-scale collective efforts to promote sustainable lifestyle choices. Even very simple environmental variables can bring about novel solutions when shared and integrated into a global network of mobile explorers.

The Econic NGT 1828 offers CO₂ emissions that are 20% lower when measured against a comparable diesel-powered vehicle, CO₂-neutral performance if regenerative biogas is used, far less particulate matter discharge and a substantial reduction in noise levels.

Full Article – Source : ©GreenCarCongress.com