Copper end use trends

It's energy efficient, it's clean, compact and simple, and, above all, it's very cool.

peanut husks can potentially remove up to 95 percent of dissolved toxic copper ions from wastewater

The UK government has given approval to build the first large scale wave farm on the planet. This highly ambitious method to generate renewable energy will take place off the coast of Cornwall in Southwest England.

n some places, it isn’t necessary to have streetlights when the full moon is shining bright. Currently only a design idea, the Lunar-Resonant Street Light is a smart solution to areas that receive a decent amount of moonlight at night. This cool idea, senses the amount of light reflected by the moon and dims according to its moon phase. According to the designers, the lights used are highly efficient white-LED clusters which are 90 to 95 percent more energy efficient than standard street lights.

xxonMobil Chemical and ExxonMobil's Japanese affiliate, > Tonen Chemical > have developed a thin film separator for use in lithium-ion batteries, that would enable production of batteries like those found in cell phones and laptops, to power cars and trucks. These new film technologies are expected to significantly enhance the power, safety and reliability of lithium-ion batteries, thereby helping speed the adoption of these smaller and lighter batteries into the next wave of lower-emission vehicles. >

What is urgently needed for renewables to compete head to head with coal is not just lower capacity costs--since their fuel is free--but a low-cost way to store up their output and deliver it to the grid when it's needed.

The battery-size product, the M2E, harnesses kinetic energy, or normal physical movement, to generate power. Clipped onto a belt or carried in a knapsack, the entire generator is contained within a regular battery casing. The wearer's walking or shaking moves magnets in the device. Those magnets infuse the wire coils with energy that can be used to power mobile devices

There used to be such a buzz about podcast and now it’s all Facebook this, Twitter-that. David Card points us to a Jupiter stat that suggests that only 13 percent of online users have downloaded or listened to a podcast.

Almost one in five Europeans have cut off their landlines, relying entirely on cell phones and mobile device to make their calls. A recent Eurostat study included all 27 EU countries except Bulgaria and Romania.

a service that would enable users to store data from their personal hard drives on its computers

The newspaper also said Google plans to provide some free storage, with additional storage allotments available for a fee.

eveals the question that occupies scientists at the end of the day (and the beginning of happy hour): How might the world end?