Abu Dhabi Scientists Create Desert Rainstorms: Report

Engineerblogger
Oct 26, 2012

Credit: AP

Desert dwellers wishing to transform their arid surroundings into a profitable, crop-sustaining oasis have reportedly gotten one step closer to making that dream a reality, as Abu Dhabi scientists now claim to have created more than 50 artificial rainstorms from clear skies during peak summer months in 2010.

According to Arabian Business, the storms were part of a top secret, Swiss-backed project, commissioned by Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president of the UAE and leader of Abu Dhabi. Called "Weathertec," the climate project -- said to be worth a staggering $11 million -- utilized ionizers resembling giant lampshades to generate fields of negatively charged particles, which create cloud formation, throughout the country's Al Ain region, the Telegraph is reporting.

"We are currently operating our innovative rainfall enhancement technology, Weathertec, in the region of Al Ain in Abu Dhabid," Helmut Fluhrer, the founder of Metro Systems International, the Swiss company in charge of the project, is quoted as saying. "We started in June 2010 and have achieved a number of rainfalls."

Monitored by the Max Planck Institute for Technology, a leading tank for the study of atmosphere physics, the fake storms are said to have baffled Abu Dhabi residents by also producing hail, wind gales and even lightning.

"There are many applications," Professor Hartmut Grassl, a former institute director, is quoted by the Daily Mail as saying. "One is getting water into a dry area. Maybe this is a most important point for mankind."

Source: Huffington Post

Related Information:

• Abu Dhabi-backed scientists create fake rainstorms in $11m project  
• Abu Dhabi weather project 'creates man-made rainstorms' 
• Have scientists discovered how to create downpours in the desert? 
• The High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP)

Researcher develops durable plastic that may replace metals: Steel-Strength Plastics -- and Green, Too!

Engineerblogger
June 8, 2012

As landfills overflow with discarded plastics, scientists have been working to produce a biodegradable alternative that will reduce pollution. Now a Tel Aviv University researcher is giving the quest for environmentally friendly plastics an entirely new dimension — by making them tougher than ever before.

Prof. Moshe Kol of TAU's School of Chemistry is developing a super-strength polypropylene — one of the world's most commonly used plastics — that has the potential to replace steel and other materials used in everyday products. This could have a long-term impact on many industries, including car manufacturing, in which plastic parts could replace metallic car parts.

Durable plastics consume less energy during the production process, explains Prof. Kol. And there are additional benefits as well. If polypropylene car parts replaced traditional steel, cars would be lighter overall and consume less fuel, for example. And because the material is cheap, plastic could provide a much more affordable manufacturing alternative.

His research has been published in the journal Angewandte Chemie.

Better building blocks

Although a promising field of research, biodegradable plastics have not yet been able to mimic the durability and resilience of common, non-biodegradable plastics like polypropylene. Prof. Kol believes that the answer could lie in the catalysts, the chemicals that enable their production.

Plastics consist of very long chains called polymers, made of simple building blocks assembled in a repeating pattern. Polymerization catalysts are responsible for connecting these building blocks and create a polymer chain. The better the catalyst, the more orderly and well-defined the chain — leading to a plastic with a higher melting point and greater strength and durability. This is why the catalyst is a crucial part of the plastic production process.

Prof. Kol and his team of researchers have succeeded in developing a new catalyst for the polypropylene production process, ultimately producing the strongest version of the plastic that has been created to date. "Everyone is using the same building blocks, so the key is to use different machinery," he explains. With their catalyst, the researchers have produced the most accurate or "regular" polypropylene ever made, reaching the highest melting point to date.

Using resources more efficiently

By 2020, the consumption of plastics is estimated to reach 200 million tons a year. Prof. Kol says that because traditional plastics aren't considered green, it's important to think creatively to develop this material, which has become a staple of daily life, with the least amount of harm to the environment. Cheaper and more efficient to produce in terms of energy consumption, as well as non-toxic, Prof. Kol's polypropylene is good news for green manufacturing and could revolutionize the industry. The durability of the plastic results in products that require less maintenance — and a much longer life for parts made from the plastic.

Beyond car parts, Prof. Kol envisions a number of uses for this and related plastics, including water pipes, which he says could ultimately conserve water use. Drinking water for the home has been traditionally carried by steel and cement pipes. These pipes are susceptible to leakage, leading to waste and therefore higher water bills. But they are also very heavy, so replacing them can be a major, expensive operation.

"Plastic pipes require far fewer raw materials, weighing ten times less than steel and a hundred times less than cement. Reduced leaking means more efficient water use and better water quality," Prof. Kol explains. The replacement of steel water pipes by those made of plastic is becoming more common, and the production of plastics with even greater strength and durability will make this transition even more environmentally-friendly.

Prof. Kol holds the Bruno Landesberg Chair in Green Chemistry at TAU.

Source: Tel Aviv University

"Dip Chip" Technology Tests Toxicity On-the-Go

Engineerblogger
May 15, 2012

Biosensor warns of toxicity in real time, says TAU researcher

From man-made toxic chemicals such as industrial by-products to poisons that occur naturally, a water or food supply can be easily contaminated. And for every level of toxic material ingested, there is some level of bodily response, ranging from minor illness to painful certain death.

Biosensors have long been used to safeguard against exposure to toxic chemicals. Food tasters employed by the ancients acted as early versions of biosensors, determining if a meal had been poisoned. More modern examples include the use of fish, which may alter their swimming characteristics if a toxic material is introduced into to the water. But although current warning systems are more sophisticated, they require equipment and time that a soldier in the field or an adventurer in the wilderness do not have.

Now Prof. Yosi Shacham-Diamand, Vice Dean of Tel Aviv University's Faculty of Engineering, along with Prof. Shimshon Belkin of the Institute of Life Sciences at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has married biology and engineering to produce a biosensor device called the "Dip Chip," which detects toxicity quickly and accurately, generating low false positive and false negative readings. The Dip Chip contains microbes designed to exhibit a biological reaction to toxic chemicals, emulating the biological responses of humans or animals.

Converting biological response to electricity

The biological reaction is converted into an electronic signal that can be read by the user. When perfected for commercial applications, the chip might be easily plugged into a mobile device to determine toxicity, says Prof. Shacham-Diamand.

The new chips are based on genetically modified microbes developed in Prof. Belkin's lab. When the modified microbes are exposed to toxic or poisonous materials, they produce a measurable biochemical reaction — and this is where Prof. Shacham-Diamand's work begins.

"In my lab, we developed a method for communicating with the microbes, converting this biological response to electrical signals," he explains. The device, which looks like a dip stick, immobilizes these specially-produced microbes next to the sensing electrodes. Once the microbes come into contact with a questionable substance they produce a chemical signal that is converted to an electrical current by an device that can interpret the signals, producing a binary "toxic" or "not toxic" diagnosis.

In the future, Prof. Shacham-Diamand hopes that smaller versions of the Dip Chips might be plugged into existing mobile electronic devices, such as cell phones or tablets, to give the user a toxicity reading. This would make it an economically feasible and easy-to-use technology for people such as campers or for military purposes.

Reading any toxic material

One of the chip's advantages is its ability to identify toxicity as a biological quality instead of specific toxic chemicals. There are already excellent detectors to identify specific toxic materials, says Prof. Shacham-Diamand. The Dip Chip, however, is designed to alert the user to overall toxicity. And because the chip measures general toxicity, it will pick up on any and all toxic materials — even those that have not been discovered or invented yet.

Beyond their ability to find toxic chemicals in the field, these chips can also be put to use in the cosmetics or pharmaceuticals industries, says Prof. Shacham-Diamand. They could be used to detect the toxicity of new compounds, minimizing the controversial use of lab animals. Using the same technology, the researchers have also developed a larger-scale device which allows water to flow continuously over the sensor, making it appropriate for online, real-time monitoring of water supplies.


Source: American Friends of Tel Aviv University


Additional Information:

• The results of their research have been published in a number of journals, including Electrochimica Acta and Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical.

A ‘faster-ticking clock’ indicates the early solar system may have evolved faster than we think, say researchers

Engineerblogger
May 3, 2012

Michael Paul, the Kalman and Malke Cooper Professor of Nuclear Physics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Our solar system is four and a half billion years old, but its formation may have occurred over a shorter period of time than we previously thought, says an international team of researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and universities and laboratories in the US and Japan..

Establishing chronologies of past events or determining ages of objects require having clocks that tick at different paces, according to how far back one looks. Nuclear clocks, used for dating, are based on the rate of decay of an atomic nucleus expressed by a half-life, the time it takes for half of a number of nuclei to decay, a property of each nuclear species.

Radiocarbon dating for example, invented in Chicago in the late 1940s and refined ever since, can date artifacts back to prehistoric times because the half-life of radiocarbon (carbon-14) is a few thousand years. The evaluation of ages of the history of earth or of the solar system requires extremely “slow-paced” chronometers consisting of nuclear clocks with much longer half-lives.

The activity of one of these clocks, known as nucleus samarium-146 (146Sm), was examined by Michael Paul, the Kalman and Malke Cooper Professor of Nuclear Physics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, as well as researchers from the University of Notre Dame and the Argonne National Laboratory in the US and from two Japanese universities.

146Sm belongs to a family of nuclear species which were “live” in our sun and its solar system when they were born. Events thereafter, and within a few hundred million years, are dated by the amount of 146Sm that was left in various mineral archives until its eventual “extinction.”

146Sm has become the main tool for establishing the time evolution of the solar system over its first few hundred million years. This by itself owes to a delicate geochemical property of the element samarium, a rare element in nature. It is a sensitive probe for the separation, or differentiation, of the silicate portion of earth and of other planetary bodies.

The main result of the work of the international scientists, detailed in a recent article in the journal Science, is a new determination of the half-life of 146Sm, previously adopted as 103 million years, to a much shorter value of 68 million years. The shorter half-life value, like a clock ticking faster, has the effect of shrinking the assessed chronology of events in the early solar system and in planetary differentiation into a shorter time span.

The new time scale, interestingly, is now consistent with a recent and precise dating made on a lunar rock and is in better agreement with the dating obtained with other chronometers.

The measurement of the half-life of 146Sm, performed over several years by the collaborators, involved the use of the ATLAS particle accelerator at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois.

Source: Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Scientists to develop faster organic thin-film transistors for plastic electronics

Engineerblogger
May 1, 2012

Credit: Imperial College London

The speed with which your smart phone reacts to your touch as you swipe it is governed by the rate at which electrical charges move through the various display components. Scientists from Imperial College London have collaborated with colleagues at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) to produce organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) that consistently achieve record-breaking carrier mobility through careful solution-processing of a blend of two organic semiconductors. The OTFTs and their processing methods will be very useful for a host of future electronic applications.

Professor Aram Amassian's group at KAUST teamed with Dr. Thomas Anthopoulos, Department of Physics, Imperial College London, and colleagues Professor Iain McCulloch and Dr. Martin Heeney, Department of Chemistry, to develop and characterize a composite material that enhances the charge transport and enables the fabrication of organic transistors with record-breaking carrier mobility. They described their novel semiconductor blend in a joint paper published in Advanced Materials:

In response to the challenge of expensive vacuum deposition processes, synthetic organic chemists have been increasingly successful in synthesizing conjugated small-molecules that are soluble. "While they have a tendency to form large crystals, reproducible formation of high quality, continuous and uniform films remains an issue", remarked Dr. Anthopoulos, lead Imperial investigator. By contrast, polymer semiconductors are often quite soluble and form high-quality continuous films, but, until recently, could not achieve charge carrier mobilities greater than 1 cm2/Vs.

In this collective work, chemists from Imperial, working together with device physicists in the College's Centre for Plastic Electronics and material scientists at KAUST combined the advantageous properties of both polymer and small molecules in one composite material, which offers higher performance than do small-molecule and polymer semiconductors alone, while enhancing device-to-device reproducibility and stability.

"A key aspect of this work is that it appears to eliminate the high degree of anisotropy typically observed in polycrystalline films of small-molecule semiconductors," said Professor John Anthony of University of Kentucky, a pioneer in the design and synthesis of high-performance small-molecule semiconductors, who was not directly involved in this research. "This anisotropy leads to significant device-to-device variations in performance, which makes them difficult to use in large-scale commercial applications."

The improved performance is attributed in part to the crystalline texture of the small-molecule component of the blend and to the flatness and smoothness achieved at the top surface of the polycrystalline film. The latter is crucial in top-gate, bottom-contact configuration devices, whereby the top surface of the semiconductor blend forms the semiconductor-dielectric interface when solution-coated by the polymer dielectric.

The smoothness and continuity of the surface and the absence of apparent grain boundaries are uncommon for otherwise highly polycrystalline small molecules in pure form, suggesting that the polymer binder planarizes and may even coat the semiconductor crystals with a nanoscale thin layer. "The performance of the polymer-molecule blend exceeds 5 cm2/Vs, which is very close to the single-crystal mobility previously reported for the molecule itself," noted KAUST co-author Prof. Amassian.

The materials scientists at KAUST addressed the challenging questions about the phase separation, crystallinity, and morphology of the organic semiconductor blend by using a combination of synchrotron-based X-ray scattering at the D1 beam line of the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS), cross-sectional energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy (EF-TEM), and atomic force microscopy in topographic and phase modes.

"This work is particularly exciting as it shows that by bringing to bear complementary powerful characterization techniques on these complex organic blends, one can learn a lot about how they work. It's a textbook example of a structure-property relationship study highlighting the usefulness of such collaborations.'' said Professor Alberto Salleo of Stanford University, an expert on advanced structural characterization of polymer semiconductors and not a member of the research team. "A mobility of 5 cm2/Vs is already a spectacular number. The methods described in this manuscript, however, chart the way for researchers to obtain even higher mobilities."

The team is continuing its collaboration in the hopes of designing even better materials and processes by understanding how the material design and solution processing conditions lead to these extraordinary film properties. "The in-situ diagnostics methods developed by the KAUST group will reveal the intricacies of the solution-processing and phase separation of the blend," commented co-author Dr. Martin Heeney. "We look forward to using this insight to improve these devices even further."

"In principle, this simple blend approach could be applied to a range of existing small molecules and polymers, and lead to the development of organic transistors with performing characteristics well beyond the current state-of-the-art,'' added Dr. Anthopoulos.

Source: King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)

Electric charge disorder: A key to biological order?

Engineerblogger
April 30, 2012

Strong attraction that arises between biological objects with random patches of electric charge on an otherwise neutral surface may partly explain pattern recognition in biology.

Theoretical physicist Ali Naji from the IPM in Tehran and the University of Cambridge, UK, and his colleagues have shown how small random patches of disordered, frozen electric charges can make a difference when they are scattered on surfaces that are overall neutral. These charges induce a twisting force that is strong enough to be felt as far as nanometers or even micrometers away. These results, about to be published in EPJ E¹, could help to understand phenomena that occurr on surfaces such as those of large biological molecules.

To measure the strength of the twist that acts on a randomly charged surface, the authors used a sphere which was mounted like a spinning top next to a randomly charged flat substrate. Because small amounts of positive and negative charges were spread in a disordered mosaic throughout both surfaces, they induced transient attractive or repulsive twisting forces. This was regardless of the surfaces’ overall electrical neutrality, thus making the sphere spin. Using statistical averaging methods, the authors studied the fluctuations of these forces.

The authors found that the twisting force, created by virtue of the disorder of surface charges, is expected to be much stronger and far-reaching than the remnant forces. The latter are always present, even in the absence of charge disorder, and are due to fluctuations at the atomic and molecular levels.

This could have implications for large randomly charged surfaces such as biological macromolecules, which may be exposed to strong electrostatic forces, inducing attraction and/or repulsion, even if they carry no overall net charge. For instance, this phenomenon could partly explain biological pattern recognition, such as lock and key phenomena. In that context, the twisting force could explain the attraction between biological macromolecules that lead to pre-alignment prior to their interaction.

Source: Springer

Additional Information:

•  1. Naji A., Sarabadani J., Dean D.S., and Podgornik R. (2012), Sample-to-sample torque fluctuations in a system of coaxial randomly charged surfaces, European Physical Journal E (EPJ E). DOI 10.1140/epje/i2012-12024-y

Is Seaweed the Future of Biofuel?

Engineerblogger
March 6, 2012

Credit: TAU

As scientists continue the hunt for energy sources that are safer, cleaner alternatives to fossil fuel, an ever-increasing amount of valuable farmland is being used to produce bioethanol, a source of transportation fuel. And while land-bound sources are renewable, economists and ecologists fear that diverting crops to produce fuel will limit food resources and drive up costs.

Now, Prof. Avigdor Abelson of Tel Aviv University's Department of Zoology and the new Renewable Energy Center, and his colleagues Dr. Alvaro Israel of the Israel Oceanography Institute, Prof. Aharon Gedanken of Bar-Ilan University, Dr. Ariel Kushmaro of Ben-Gurion University, and their Ph.D. student Leor Korzen, have gone to the seas in the quest for a renewable energy source that doesn't endanger natural habitats, biodiversity, or human food sources.He says that marine macroalgae — common seaweed — can be grown more quickly than land-based crops and harvested as fuel without sacrificing usable land. It's a promising source of bioethanol that has remained virtually unexplored until now.

The researchers are now developing methods for growing and harvesting seaweed as a source of renewable energy. Not only can the macroalgae be grown unobtrusively along coastlines, Prof. Abelson notes, they can also clear the water of excessive nutrients — caused by human waste or aquaculture — which disturb the marine environment.

A man-made "ecosystem"

While biomasses grown on land have the potential to inflict damage on the environment, the researchers believe that producing biofuel from seaweed-based sources could even solve problems that already exist within the marine environment. Many coastal regions, including the Red Sea in the south of Israel, have suffered from eutrophication — pollution caused by human waste and fish farming, which leads to excessive amounts of nutrients and detrimental algae, ultimately harming endangered coral reefs.

Encouraging the growth of seaweed for eventual conversion into biofuel could solve these environmental problems. The system that the researchers are developing, called the "Combined Aquaculture Multi-Use Systems" (CAMUS), takes into account the realities of the marine environment and human activity in it. Ultimately, all of these factors function together to create a synthetic "man-made ecosystem," explains Prof. Abelson.

Man-made fish feeders, which produce pollution in the form of excess nutrients and are generally considered harmful to the marine environment, would become a positive link in this chain. Used alongside an increased population of filter feeders such as oysters, which suck in extra particles and convert them food that the microalgae can consume, this "pollution" could be used to sustain a much greater yield of seaweed, which is needed for seaweed to become a sustainable source of fuel.

"By employing multiple species, CAMUS can turn waste into productive resources such as biofuel, at the same time reducing pollution's impact on the local ecosystem," he says.

Turning waste into opportunity

The researchers are now working to increase the carbohydrate and sugar contents of the seaweed for efficient fermentation into bioethanol, and they believe that macroalgae will be a major source for biofuel in the future. The CAMUS system could turn seaweed into a sustainable bioethanol source that is productive, efficient, and cost-effective.

Source: Tel Aviv University

Saudi Aramco develops fuel formula to cut gas engines’ CO2 emissions

Engineerblogger
Feb 5, 2012

Credit: Saudi Aramco

A team from Saudi Aramco’s Research & Development Center (R&DC) and FEV, an engine design company in Germany, recently participated in a technology demonstration event in Aachen, Germany. The event marked the culmination of a project that was developed as a means of showcasing the potential of specific fuel formulas in lowering the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in modern gasoline engines.


The scientists of R&DC’s Fuel Team chose an innovative approach in fuel development by not working on future fuels in isolation, but rather looking at the fuel and the engine as a single system to be optimized synergistically. For the purpose of this research, R&DC has partnered with FEV, which brought the engine testing expertise to the table.

“The joint research has resulted in experimental fuels that enable future engines to be even smaller and capable of running on higher boosting pressures, without compromising performance,” said Faisal M. Al-Faqeer, manager of R&DC. “The greatest achievement though is that this fuel/engine combination consumes significantly less fuel per kilometer travelled and consequently will emit less CO2, while it is expected that it will not increase the cost of motoring.”

During the event, the first prototype car using this fuel/engine concept was presented by the project scientists. Members of the management of R&DC and FEV were able to get firsthand experience by driving a car fueled by Saudi Aramco’s new experimental fuel. “FEV’s own test track provided the ideal environment for such a test, where driving patterns from city cruising to high speed motorway travel could be realized in a safe and controlled way,” said Amer A. Amer, Fuel Technology R&D Team leader.

The experience showed that this future fuel concept could be achieved without compromising car performance. The car was driven with the experimental fuel, showing that this new crude oil-based product developed by Saudi Aramco is compatible with existing engine technology. For R&DC, this marks the first step toward becoming a leading force in research and development of future fuels for transportation.

“As a next step, the Saudi Aramco team has started to assess implications from producing such fuels, looking at energy needs and consequently the CO2 footprint of manufacturing and associated cost,” said Amer.

Al-Faqeer commented on the unique approach adopted by R&DC in taking research on future fuels as “a system approach in cooperation with a competent partner from the field of engine research and development.” He continued “this has proven to be very successful, demonstrating the potential benefit, both in terms of CO2 reduction and potential cost.”

The skills of Saudi Aramco’s scientists complement perfectly those of their FEV counterparts. The teams have now set their sights on another challenge for the coming year: focusing on demonstration of economic and ecological benefits in a diesel type fuel/engine system.

Source: Saudi Aramco

A Light Wave of Innovation to Advance Solar Energy

Engineerblogger
Nov 10, 2011

Some solar devices, like calculators, only need a small panel of solar cells to function. But supplying enough power to meet all our daily needs would require enormous solar panels. And solar-powered energy collected by panels made of silicon, a semiconductor material, is limited — contemporary panel technology can only convert approximately seven percent of optical solar waves into electric current.

Profs. Koby Scheuer, Yael Hanin and Amir Boag of Tel Aviv University's Department of Physical Electronics and its innovative new Renewable Energy Center are now developing a solar panel composed of nano-antennas instead of semiconductors. By adapting classic metallic antennas to absorb light waves at optical frequencies, a much higher conversion rate from light into useable energy could be achieved. Such efficiency, combined with a lower material cost, would mean a cost-effective way to harvest and utilize "green" energy.

The technology was recently presented at Photonics West in San Francisco and published in the conference proceedings.

Receiving and transmitting green energy

Both radio and optical waves are electromagnetic energy, Prof. Scheuer explains. When these waves are harvested, electrons are generated that can be converted into electric current. Traditionally, detectors based on semiconducting materials like silicon are used to interface with light, while radio waves are captured by antenna.

For optimal absorption, the antenna dimensions must correspond to the light's very short wavelength — a challenge in optical frequencies that plagued engineers in the past, but now we are able to fabricate antennas less than a micron in length. To test the efficacy of their antennas, Prof. Scheuer and his colleagues measured their ability to absorb and remit energy. "In order to function, an antenna must form a circuit, receiving and transmitting," says Prof. Scheuer, who points to the example of a cell phone, whose small, hidden antenna both receives and transmits radio waves in order to complete a call or send a message.

By illuminating the antennas, the researchers were able to measure the antennas' ability to re-emit radiation efficiently, and determine how much power is lost in the circuit — a simple matter of measuring the wattage going in and coming back out. Initial tests indicate that 95 percent of the wattage going into the antenna comes out, meaning that only five percent is wasted.

According to Prof. Scheuer, these "old school" antennas also have greater potential for solar energy because they can collect wavelengths across a much broader spectrum of light. The solar spectrum is very broad, he explains, with UV or infrared rays ranging from ten microns to less than two hundred nanometers. No semiconductor can handle this broad a spectrum, and they absorb only a fraction of the available energy. A group of antennas, however, can be manufactured in different lengths with the same materials and process, exploiting the entire available spectrum of light.

When finished, the team's new solar panels will be large sheets of plastic which, with the use of a nano-imprinting lithography machine, will be imprinted with varying lengths and shapes of metallic antennas.

Improving solar power's bottom line

The researchers have already constructed a model of a possible solar panel. The next step, says Prof. Scheuer, is to focus on the conversion process — how electromagnetic energy becomes electric current, and how the process can be improved.

The goal is not only to improve the efficiency of solar panels, but also to make the technology a viable option in terms of cost. Silicon is a relatively inexpensive semiconductor, but in order to obtain sufficient power from antennas, you need a very large panel — which becomes expensive. Green energy sources need to be evaluated not only by what they can contribute environmentally, but also the return on every dollar invested, Prof. Scheuer notes. "Our antenna is based on metal — aluminium and gold — in very small quantities. It has the potential to be more efficient and less expensive."

Source: Tel Aviv University

Israel to Get Electric Car Battery Swap Stations

Technology Review
July 6, 2011

Next month, Better Place, a startup based in California, will begin selling electric cars in Israel that come with subscription packages that include a leased battery and the cost of recharging it. Gasoline is expensive and taxes on gas-powered cars are high in Israel, and the company says the packages could make owning an electric car 20 percent cheaper than owning a gasoline-powered car.

Better Place is trying to solve the biggest challenge to the widespread adoption of electric cars: the limitations imposed by battery chemistry. A battery big enough to give an electric car the same range as the average gas car would be far too large and expensive; and recharging battery packs takes hours at standard outlets, compared to the minutes it takes to refuel a conventional car.

Better Place will sell a new electric sedan made by Renault that has a range of just over 100 miles on a charge—enough for most daily commutes. For longer trips, Better Place provides battery swap stations, where an automated system switches out a depleted battery for a fully-charged one in less than five minutes. Instead of owning the batteries, the car owners buy subscriptions for a certain number of kilometers of driving per year. They can choose from several plans, much the same way mobile phone owners subscribe to minutes.
To read more click here...

Rail News " Singapore and Malaysia to Build Rapid Rail by 2018", "Construction Begins on Iran-Turkmenistan Railway" and "Alstom to Build High-Speed Railway in Iraq"

Rail Technology

Singapore and Malaysia to Build Rapid Rail by 2018June 29, 2011

Singapore and Malaysia have agreed to open a rapid transit rail service by 2018 to connect the city state with the southern Malaysian city of Johor Bahru.

Both agreed last year to develop the link, but hadn't set a timetable for its opening.

The electric rail will replace the current conventional railway line, which is being relocated to the northern part of Singapore from the central business district from next month, freeing the land for the project.

The rapid transit deal is part of a broader land swap beginning on 1 July that gives Singapore control of a railroad and stations owned by Malaysia; in return, Malaysia will receive six land parcels in Singapore. The two countries separated in 1965.


Construction Begins on Iran-Turkmenistan RailwayJune 29, 2011

Construction on the Iran-Turkmenistan railway project has started in the city of Ganbad Kavoos in northern Iran.

The 960km-long railroad, including 150km in Iran, will transport 3-5Mt of goods per year.

The railway project will aid tge transportation of goods throughout the region and also connect the central Asian countries to the Persian Gulf states.

An initial agreement on the Iran-Turkmenistan-Kazakhstan railway project was signed in 2008 and the final agreement was signed by three countries in June 2010.


Alstom to Build High-Speed Railway in IraqJune 29, 2011

Iraq has signed a preliminary deal with Alstom to construct a high-speed railway between Basra and Baghdad.

Alstom will now hold talks with Iraqi officials over the next twelve months to finalise the final agreement.

The project involves construction of a 650km rail network to allow trains to run at a speed of 250km/h through the cities of Karbala, Najaf, Moussayeb and Samawah, including trains and services.

Alstom signed another agreement in May to build a 25km elevated commuter train network in Baghdad.

Israeli innovators build new 'Silicon Valley'

AFP
June 28, 2011

With a concentration of start-ups just behind that of Silicon Valley and an impressive pool of engineers, Israel is becoming the new standard for high-tech, with a unique business model.

Internet-related activities contributed 9 billion euros (12.6 billion dollars) to the Israeli economy in 2009, representing 6.5 percent of GDP, according to a report from management consultancy McKinsey.

The sector is worth more than the construction industry (5.4 percent of GDP) and almost as much as health (6.8 percent).

The web economy has also created a total of 120,000 jobs, accounting for 4 percent of the country's workforce, McKinsey says.

From Microsoft to Intel through Google, IBM and Philips, almost all the giants of the Internet and technology have set up important research and development centres in Israel, spawning products and systems used worldwide.

"Israel is the country with the most engineers in its population, and it ranks second behind the United States in the number of companies listed on Nasdaq," said David Kadouch, product manager at Google Israel, which opened its R&D operation in 2007 and currently has 200 employees.

"It's really a second Silicon Valley. Besides the multinationals, all the major American investment funds are present," he said.

"The scientific community is very active, there is plenty of manpower and especially an entrepreneurial culture. There is a huge ecosystem around high tech, and what is fundamental is that here we think global."

Some 500 start-ups are created every year in the country of 7.7 million people, which grew by 4.7 percent last year according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development against an average of 2.8 for its member countries.

The OECD forecast for Israel in 2011 is 5.4 percent.

Israel's higher education institutions, particularly the Technion, the prestigious technological university in the northern city of Haifa, must take a large share of the credit for this creativity.

"All the groups have set up subsidiaries here because of the proximity of the talents of the Technion university where there are (people with) excellent CVs," said Yoel Maarek, president of Yahoo Research Israel, which employs about 50 people.

"I myself have studied at the school of bridge engineering in France but when IBM hired me it was thanks to my degree from the Technion," he said.

The huge Technion campus comprising 19 schools for 12,000 students trained 70 percent of the country's current engineers and 80 percent of the executives of Israeli companies listed on Nasdaq.

"Many students... are already snapped up by large foreign companies," said Ilan Marek, professor of chemistry at the Technion.

"In the early 2000s, we broke down the barriers between the four classical branches of science, allowing the students to move between fields and have a more global vision," he said.

"The key to the development of a country is to train leaders in science."

Saul Singer, co-author with Dan Senor of the book "Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle," believes the often maverick nature of many Israelis also plays a role.

"The lack of respect for authority is typical in Israel, it's a cultural thing, in line with start-up creating. There is no authority, it is very informal. There are two big factors, drive and determination, and taking risks. We have a very exciting business model," he said.

"In Israel there is a constant struggle with all kinds of adversity," he added. "These adversities are a source of creation and energy. Israel is a country with a purpose, a mission."

MENA Region to Invest $250bn in Rail Projects

Engineerblogger
June 02, 2011

Investment in rail projects in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) regions are expected to reach $250bn as the region doubles its rail network to 33,000km, according to a new report.

According to the Mena Rail Report 2011 by Meed Insight metro, tram and monorail track lengths are expected to increase tenfold in the region.

More than half of the money will be invested in the Gulf countries where the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, together with Iran and Yemen, are expected to spend around $145bn in rail projects.

The investment will mainly be aimed at improving logistics infrastructure in the region as the countries try to reduce their current reliance on the oil and gas sector as well as improving urban transport to cater to the needs of rapidly growing cities.

The investment is also aimed at improvement in fright movement in the region as countries in the region are planning major fright lines, which include the North-South line in Saudi Arabia, the Shah-Ruwais line in Abu Dhabi, and the new national network in Jordan.

Qatar will be one of the big spenders in rail projects, which plans to complete its $35bn rail projects by 2020, two years ahead of when the country hosts the World Cup.

Qatar plans to build a 358km of rail line, including 119km underground tracks and the project will have more than 100 stations and allow trains to run at a speed of 350 km/h.

Copyrighted from Railway Technology

Iran To Put Monkey Into Orbit

Moscow, Russia (RIA Novosti)
April 21, 2011

Iran plans to launch a monkey into space in mid-September, the ISNA news agency said on Wednesday, citing Iranian Space Agency head Hamid Fazeli.

The monkey will be sent into orbit in a capsule carried by the Kavoshgar-4 (or Explorer-4), rocket, which was test-launched with a monkey doll on board in mid-March.

Iran announced an ambitious space program in the mid-2000s. The country launched the Kavoshgar 1 rocket into space in February 2008.

The Kavoshgar 2 rocket, carrying a space lab and a restoration system, was launched in November 2008.

In February 2010, the Kavoshgar 3 rocket reportedly carried a test capsule with a rat, a turtle and worms into space.

Western powers suspect Iran of using its space program to develop ballistic missiles. Iran denies the allegations.

Iraq oil output at highest level for a decade, says IEA

Finanical Times
April 12, 2011

Iraq has raised its oil output to the highest level for almost a decade, adding another 350,000 barrels per day in the space of six months to reach 2.68m b/d, according to the International Energy Agency.

For years, one of the main concerns surrounding world oil supply has been the state of Iraq’s hydrocarbon industry, damaged by decades of war and under-investment. But just as the loss of Libyan output has helped to push the price of a barrel of Brent crude above $125, Iraq has quietly boosted its own production by 15 per cent since last August.
To read more click here...

Saudis Switch To Solar, Nuclear At Home, Saving Oil For Export

Forbes
April 4, 2011

Sunny Saudi Arabia plans to shift most of its domestic energy use to solar and nuclear power, diverting more oil to exports, a Saudi official said yesterday at the Third Saudi Solar Energy Forum in Riyadh.

To read more click here...

Semiconductor Research And Masdar Institute Host Solar Technology Scientists

Abu Dhabi, UAE (SPX) 
March 29, 2011

 

Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) and the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology has announced Abu Dhabi's first world-class gathering of solar experts and university researchers for a forum on photovoltaics (PV). The March 27-28 event is designed to explore the route for development of cost-effective systems capable of achieving 25 percent energy conversion from solar resources in Abu Dhabi by the year 2020.
To read more click here...

Railway Investment in Gulf Countries on a Rise

Railway-technology.com
March 24, 2011

The countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have invested $106.2bn in recent railway projects, according to new research by Ventures Middle East.
Saudi Arabia tops the list among the GCC countries, with 23 projects worth S$25.6bn, including the $6bn Makkah-Madina Railway Link.
The UAE has implemented eight railway projects worth $20.6bn, which are underway, including the construction of the $11bn Emirates Railway Project, scheduled to begin in mid-2011.
Qatar will invest $25bn in the Qatar National Rail Scheme linking to the GCC Railway network, which is a $30bn project covering a 2,200km line to connect all six GCC countries by 2017.
Other projects include the Kuwait National Rail Road Network and Metro System totalling $17bn, Oman's National Freight and Passenger Railway worth $10bn, and Bahrain's Rapid Transport Network costing $8bn.

Kazakhstan Embraces Chinese Investment

FT.com
Feb 23, 2011

Kazakhstan has announced billions of dollars worth of deals with China, underlining the region's gradual shift away from Moscow and towards Beijing...

To read more click here...

Saudi, France sign peaceful nuclear cooperation pact

Reuters

Feb 22, 2011

OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia on Tuesday signed a cooperation agreement with France on peaceful nuclear energy development to help meet the kingdom's rising energy demand, an official statement said.

To read more click here...