CO2 into methane

Via nanotube technology:

The nanotubes are arranged vertically, almost like empty honeycomb. Over the top of the nanotubes sits a thin, reddish-brown layer of copper oxide. Both the copper and titanium oxide act as catalysts, speeding up reactions that take place naturally.

When sunlight hits the copper oxide, carbon dioxide is converted into carbon monoxide. When sunlight hits the titanium oxide, water molecules split apart. The hydrogen freed from the water and the carbon freed from CO2 then recombine to create burnable methane, and the spare oxygen atoms pair up to create breathable oxygen.

Interesting.

Somewhere, Nikola is smiling

And probably thinking, I told you so.

THE FIRST WIRELESS POWERING SYSTEM to market is an inductive device, much like the one Tesla saw in his dreams, but a lot smaller. It looks like a mouse pad and can send power through the air, over a distance of up to a few inches. A powered coil inside that pad creates a magnetic field, which as Faraday predicted, induces current to flow through a small secondary coil that's built into any portable device, such as a flashlight, a phone or a BlackBerry. The electrical current that then flows in that secondary coil charges the device's onboard rechargeable battery. (That iPhone in your pocket has yet to be outfitted with this tiny coil, but, as we'll see, a number of companies are about to introduce products that are.)

The practical benefit of this approach is huge. You can drop any number of devices on the charging pad, and they will recharge -- wirelessly. No more tangle of power cables or jumble of charging stations. What's more, because you are invisible to the magnetic fields created by the system, no electricity will flow into you if you stray between device and pad. Nor are there any exposed "hot" metal connections. And the pads are smart: Their built-in coils are driven by integrated circuits, which know if the device sitting on them is authorized to receive power, or if it needs power at all. So you won't charge your car keys. Or overcharge your flashlight.

Read the whole thing.  It's not only a fascinating subject, but is well-written.  Read it all the way to the end.

Interesting news...

At msnbc via Painted Ocean.

Researchers in Texas are making car parts out of coconuts.

A team at Baylor University has made trunk liners, floorboards and car-door interior covers using fibers from the outer husks of coconuts, replacing the synthetic polyester fibers typically used in composite materials.

It reminds me of a "Get a Life" episode when Chris accidentally gained genius super-powers and suddenly knew how to "make a radio from a coconut just like the Professor on Gilligan's Island." Gus's reply was, "Hey! Maybe you can make an 8-track deck out of a watermelon for my truck!"

R.I.P. Global Warming, pt. 2

From the Telegraph: 2008 was the year man-made global warming was disproved.

Secondly, 2008 was the year when any pretence that there was a "scientific consensus" in favour of man-made global warming collapsed. At long last, as in the Manhattan Declaration last March, hundreds of proper scientists, including many of the world's most eminent climate experts, have been rallying to pour scorn on that "consensus" which was only a politically engineered artefact, based on ever more blatantly manipulated data and computer models programmed to produce no more than convenient fictions.

A good read, and it reminds me of a very similar article that I linked to last year, and which proclaimed 2007 as "the year the global warming hoax died." Unfortunately the MSM is still flogging the dessicated remains of that horse. Many so-called "charitable" organizations that focus on the environment will not be willing to let it go easily, either, because they get a lot of money out of it. I was reminded of this by a blatantly false ad produced by WWF that I saw on TV yesterday, which made it look like the entire northern ice cap had been reduced to a few forlorn chunks of slush melting away into the ocean.

As much as I keep up with the news, I never heard anything about this Manhattan Declaration (yo MSM? FAIL). Here is a link about it.

via The Liberty Sphere

Not that they aren't cool, mind you

From the Daily Mail:

We are told that driving alone in our cars is a waste of our dwindling fuel supplies.

But scientists now claim they have developed a way to use the movement of cars along a street to generate electricity.

And, to prove it, they will be opening the world's first road of its kind next month.

The scientists in Israel say that cars travelling along a mile length of asphalt could generate more than 640 kilowatts - enough power to run 12 small cars.

An Israeli company is building an experimental 100-meter stretch of roadway that will generate electricity via the piezoelectric effect.

I've always thought this effect could be exploited much more than it has been, and probably produce something much more practical than shoes with flashing lights.