Zinc-air batteries are described with an animation from MIT.  They offer higher energy by wieght and volume than other batteries. AER Energy Resources has an air management system -- a thin, flexible disc diaphragm that moves air when it vibrates -- to efficiently increase shelf life of zinc-air batteries.  Electric fuel corporation concentrates on transport applications (e.g., city buses) where shelf life is not an issue.  11:21:38 PM    

Reva makes an electric small car in India.  Prototype was made in 1996, public sales since June 2001, designed for crowded cities.  Available in 9 cities in India and Nepal, 91% local manufacturing content, $5400 sale price.  11:04:25 PM    

Volume Control Knob Turns Heads. It's a volume control for computers, linked by USB, with many applications and cool design.  10:30:54 PM    

Nanotech could power future magnets: background on nanocrystalline magnetic materials and how they lead to more powerful permanent magnets for things like more efficient motors and levitated trains.  10:28:27 PM    

Profile of Utgrunden, the first wind farm rated 1 MW or higher on the high seas, in the Baltic Sea near Sweden.  9:41:46 AM    

Teoma is a redesigned search engine that seeks to identify online communities by tracing "hubs" and "authorities".  8:53:36 AM    

Cool Carbon Foam:  The Oak Ridge National Labs develops a graphite foam, which has exceptional heat transfer properties. It has four or five times the efficiency of copper in transmitting heat, yet at about one-fifth the weight of aluminum. Demonstrated applications include electronic heat sinks and smaller engine radiators.  Current production methods are expensive due to high heat inputs.  8:34:30 AM    

  8:30:05 AM    

Shell International Renewables Limited (London, England), a division of Royal Dutch/Shell Group, recently announced its intentions to spend up to $1bn in new green energy projects globally. The company wants to produce 1000 MW of green energy by 2005. Shell WindEnergy seeks wind energy projects in the late stages of development to acquire and expects to acquire at least two wind farms per year over the next few years. Eventually the company wants to get into the early project development and construction of wind energy projects.  8:16:31 AM    

A three-year-old Houston company has borrowed cutting-edge oilfield technology to bring down the cost of geothermal heating and cooling systems.  7:26:44 AM    

Ormat is a Israeli company with geothermal projects in Costa Rica, Kenya and Nicaragua, as well as US and Canada.  7:25:39 AM    

History of the mouse, going back 50 years to the invention of the trackball, with quotes from Englebart.  6:53:36 AM