article thumbnail

IBM and University of Guadalajara create Smarter Cities Exploration Center; transportation pilot seeks to reduce commuting time in city by 15%

Green Car Congress

IBM and the University of Guadalajara (UdeG) in Mexico have created a Smarter Cities Exploration Center. The University will foster the assimilation of high-level competencies and expertise by its doctoral students and researchers, to support efforts designed to tackle issues that have a high social and economic impact for Latin America.

Universal 329
article thumbnail

Duke study finds methane levels 17x higher in water wells near hydrofracking sites

Green Car Congress

A study by Duke University researchers has found evidence of methane contamination of drinking water associated with shale-gas extraction via directional drilling and hydraulic-fracturing technologies. high levels of methane in well water collected near shale-gas drilling and hydrofracking sites. Source: Osborn et al.

Water 225
article thumbnail

Kyushu University team develops platinum-free fuel cell with enzyme-inspired NiRu catalyst

Green Car Congress

A group led by Professor Seiji Ogo from Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan, has published details of an experimental fuel cell that uses a nickel-ruthenium (NiRu) catalyst instead of platinum. Integrity Exports. Dalton Trans. 4747 10.1039/b807555g.

Universal 199
article thumbnail

Researchers identify for first time individual naphthenic acids in oil sands process water

Green Car Congress

A team from the University of Plymouth (UK) and Environment Canada has identified, for the first time, individual soluble naphthenic acids (NA) in the process water resulting from the oil sands industry in Canada. Frank (2011) Diamonds in the Rough: Identification of Individual Naphthenic Acids in Oil Sands Process Water.

Oil-Sands 186
article thumbnail

Ionic liquid-enhanced solvent extraction for oil sands bitumen shows high recovery rates, less water use and no tailing water

Green Car Congress

Researchers from Tianjin University and the National Engineering Research Centre for Distillation Technology, Tianjin, China, report on the use of an ionic liquid (IL) with low viscosity to enhance bitumen recovery from oil sands by solvent extraction while reducing adverse impacts in the ACS journal Energy & Fuels. However, Li et al.

Oil-Sands 170
article thumbnail

Inorganic mercury converted to more toxic and bio-accumulative monomethylmercury in ocean waters, possibly by microbes

Green Car Congress

A team led by the University of Alberta has confirmed that inorganic mercury (Hg) found worldwide in ocean water is transformed into monomethylmercury (MMHg)—a potent and bio-accumulative neurotoxin—in the seawater. Kirk (2011) Methylation of inorganic mercury in polar marine waters. Fitzgerald and Thomas W.

Mercury 210
article thumbnail

NREL researchers capture excess photon energy to produce solar fuels; higher efficiency water-splitting for H2

Green Car Congress

The advancement could significantly boost the production of hydrogen from sunlight by using the cell to split water at a higher efficiency and lower cost than current photoelectrochemical approaches. Beard and other NREL scientists in 2011 published a paper in Science that. The research is outlined in a paper in Nature Energy.

Solar 150