An India-born scientist-CEO provided a sneak peek over the weekend at a clean and efficient model of power generation-in-a-box that could eliminate the traditional grid and challenge monopolies. Supporters are claiming that K R Sridhar’s ‘Bloom Box’, scheduled for a big-splash unveiling in Silicon Valley. At its heart, Sridhar’s Bloom Box claims to be a game-changing fuel cell device that consists of a stack of ceramic disks coated with secret green and black “inks’’. The disks are separated by cheap metal plates. Stacking the ceramic disks into a bread loaf-sized unit, he says, can produce one kilowatt of electricity, enough to power an American home—or four Indian homes.
Source: TOI

A new bill passed in California last week allows for an increase in the amount of solar energy consumers can sell back to utility companies. Solar-electric (and wind-energy) systems generate varying amounts of electricity, and net metering is a billing approach that allows periods of excess production to offset times when a system produces less electricity than a household or business uses.

Currently, utility companies are capped at 2.5% with regards to how much energy they can purchase from their customers. The new bill, which has been passed by the state assembly and is set to be signed by Gov. Schwarzenegger, raises the cap to 5%.
Source: www.energyboom.com

Greener Design reports that a University of California-Berkeley team has developed a nanofiber that generates electricity through capturing the kinetic energy imposed on the fiber through twists, turns, bends and movement. At one-tenth the width of most conventional textile fibers, the new nanofiber generators could easily be incorporated into fabrics and supply sufficient energy to power small personal devices, like an iPod.
Source: www.tonic.com

Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy have concluded experiments on a type of grass that they say could eventually lead to new sources of renewable energy.

In a study published Feb. 11 in the journal Nature, researchers from the department's Joint Genome Institute in Walnut Creek, which is managed in part by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, sequenced a form of wild grass in order to derive a genome specifically adapted for biomass and biofuel production.
Source: http://www.dailycal.org/article/108276/study_grass_could_prowable_energy
http://www.huffingtonpost.com

Scientists are making progress in developing biofuels with a range of methods and an assortment of feedstocks. Among the promising clean energy alternatives is an algae photo-bioreactor that grows algae in municipal wastewater to produce biofuel. Developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the bioreactor consists of large plastic bags made from a permeable "forward osmosis" membrane. The bags hold the algae and waste nutrients in place while allowing cleansed water to pass through. The bags could potentially be deployed in contaminated and "dead zone" coastal areas, removing excess nutrients while growing algae for biofuels.
Source: http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/news/news_detail.cfm/news_id=15820