Big power from tiny wires

Event 1: Big power from tiny wires
A team of scientists at MIT have discovered a previously unknown phenomenon that can cause powerful waves of energy to shoot through minuscule wires known as carbon nanotubes. The discovery could lead to a new way of producing electricity, the researchers say.



Like a collection of flotsam propelled along the surface by waves traveling across the ocean, it turns out that a thermal wave — a moving pulse of heat — traveling along a microscopic wire can drive electrons along, creating an electrical current.


Link to MIT News
 
Event 2: Dramatic improvements in fuel efficiency of cars?
The Power Chip™ is a new technology that uses the physical mechanism of thermionics and quantum thermotunnelling to generate electrical power directly from heat, with no moving parts, and with a higher projected efficiency than any current technology.



Power Chips should revolutionize electrical power generation across virtually all applications. In present large generating stations, adding Power Chips to capture heat that is now wasted will enable power plants to produce at least 20% more power with no increase in fuel consumption or emissions. Eventually, more-efficient power plants, using only Power Chips to produce power, will become common.

In automobiles and other vehicles, Power Chips initially are likely to replace the alternator, using waste heat from the radiator and exhaust and greatly increasing the efficiency of the internal combustion engine. Within a few years, electrically-driven vehicles will become possible, with power generated by Power Chips--burning gasoline, natural gas, or hydrogen as fuel to produce heat--and driving a super-efficient Chorus® Motor. Such an automobile would achieve dramatic improvements in fuel efficiency, and produce a fraction of the emissions.

Link to PowerChips

Comments: I also included some info about the Bloom box recently which promises to generate electricity from natural gas more efficiently than the combustion-type burners today (using new fuel-cells). I will of course continue to look for news-clips like these, and those I find most relevant will also be shared with readers of this blog.   
 

Progress:
I have no progress to report, but I want to share with you my expereices from registering our house on the web-site http://www.energimerking.no/ (to get an official energy efficiency lable for our house). 
 
I logged in using the same procedure I use when registering my tax return statement every year (on Altinn). I entered my 11-number personal ID number and a password - and then received a passcode as an sms on my cellphone. Using that passcode I was able to enter the web site. 
 
I wanted to see the effect of our Jahus project on the official energy efficiency rating - and I therefore started by registering our house the way it was before the Jahus project. I entered the size of the house (270 sq meters) and the year it was built (1971) and used defaults generated by the system wherever possible. The whole process took less than 30 minutes and I came out with an rating "E". 
 
I then selected the simple dataentry process again, but with the Jahus data. I was able to specify that we now have a air-to-air heatpump and balanced ventilation, but this process did not let me specify the extra isolation and changing of old windows and doors (ca 50% of the Jahus cost). The result was a rating "D". 
 
I then selected the detailed data-entry process to get credit for all our renovation efforts (extra isolation + new windows and doors). I now had to specify the shape of the building and on which walls the different windows were located. The system also asked about timers on the thermostats (panel heaters, heated floors etc.), and I was able to specify that the heated air from the heatpump gets distributed by the ventilation system. The whole process took almost 1 hour, but to my surprise the rate was still a "D". 
 
If I only judged by the rating of this system - 50% of the Jahus project (judging by the cost) was a waste. Adding isolation and replacing old windows and doors are the number 1 actions recommended by Enova - so finding that these efforts didn't give any improvement in the rating was a big disappointment. We are not planning to sell the house anytime soon. The energy lable is therefore not as important to us as the positive effects we have experienced in our indoor climate and the lower electricity bills in the years to come.