university of minnesota archives - planet forward - 克罗地亚vs加拿大让球

mn2020: cleaning products don’t have to kill

fri, 24 may 2013 15:27:31 +0000

minnesota has emerged as a leader in green chemistry and manufacturing, with the university of minnesota’s curriculum training future chemists in environmentally sustainable practices and the state’s leading chemical companies making non-toxic cleaners and cosmetics.

bluegreen alliance health director charlotte brody also says that uniting our organized workforce with environmental organizations is the key to developing a green economic future.

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mn2020: winds of progress–university of minnesota’s rosemount wind power research station

wed, 09 may 2012 15:19:46 +0000

eolos is the ancient greek god of wind and the namesake for a new wind power research station at the university of minnesota’s umore park in rosemount. launched in 2010 with grants from the recovery act and the us department of energy, the station will let technicians, physicists and civil engineers research how to make wind power more efficient and safe for future energy needs.

the university of minnesota is launching a new curriculum of study focusing on wind turbine implementation and installation for future sites across the nation.

read our mn2020 report winds of progress

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a new biofuel – mixed prairie grasses

mon, 12 sep 2011 10:54:17 +0000

mixed prairie grasses, grown on degraded land, may be a better source of biofuel than corn ethanol or soybean biodiesel. the study, led by david tilman at the university of minnesota, showed that fuel made from prairie grass yields 51 percent more energy per acre than ethanol from corn grown on fertile land. using prairie grass as a biofuel could be a vital renewable energy, as plants store more carbon in their roots and soil than is released by the fossil fuels used to grow and convert them into biofuels. this means that growing the prairie grasses provides an energy source and helps remove carbon from the atmosphere to help mitigate global climate change. another advantage that the prairie grasses hold over corn or soybean crops is that the grasses can grow on otherwise unusable, abandoned agricultural land. because of these uses, prairie grass biofuels represent an economically viable form of renewable energy that does not compete for the fertile soils used in food production. tilman’s results come from more than 10 years of research at the nsf-funded cedar creek long term ecological research site in minnesota.

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researchers at the university of minnesota are developing conductive paint for flexible solar panels

mon, 06 jun 2011 13:35:43 +0000

researchers at the materials research science and engineering center (mrsec) at the university of minnesota are developing conductive paint for making flexible solar panels. efficient, flexible solar panels will be important for wide-scale use of solar energy. silicon is the most commonly used material in electronic devices and solar cells. at present, silicon is used in the form of wafers, mechanically cut from block-cast silicon ingots. another common form of silicon is an amorphous (noncrystalline) material deposited as a thin film onto plastic or glass using vacuum processes. for solar cells the cost of these forms of silicon is extremely high. scientists have developed a simple approach to produce an ink of silicon that can be printed onto flexible substrates. the printing process is similar to that of an inkjet printer. the key to these inks is a process that makes silicon nanocrystals dispersed in an appropriate liquid base. when the ink is applied and the liquid base evaporates, a thin, conducting film of silicon remains. usually, the preparation of such inks requires additives to help make a homogenous ink. however, these additives can also reduce the electrical conductivity and decrease the performance of the ink. the process used to make silicon inks is completed in a fraction of a second. the silicon nanocrystals are soluble in organic solvents, such as alcohols and hydrocarbons, and the ink is readily used in a variety of printing processes. this technology is a significant breakthrough in developing low-cost, flexible solar cells.

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