Green news harvest: Tapping electricity in trees, solar-coated steel
Also: photovoltaic coatings for steel; wildfire warning systems to harness electricity from trees; fluorescent lightbulbs less green in some regions; record funding for green start-ups.
- A sampling of green-tech news with a quick commentary:
A Welsh lab is developing photovoltaic coatings for steel, which could lead to buildings with energy-generating walls.
Californians and others in regions where utilities offer a mix of renewable energy might do better by the environment to keep their incandescent lightbulbs rather than switch to mercury-laced CFLs, suggest Yale researchers.
MIT researchers harnessed the electrical currents within trees to power wireless sensors that sniff out forest conditions and warn of potential wildfires. Start-up Voltree aims to outfit forests with wireless mesh networks of humidity and temperature sensors.
Contrary to popular belief, forests older than 200 years trap significant amounts of carbon over the centuries, according to Belgian researchers.
The flow of venture capital to clean tech start-ups more than doubled to $2.8 billion in the third quarter from the second quarter of 2008.
British researchers found that wind turbines on farmland doesn't threaten birds including crows and skylarks, although pheasants appeared to be harmed. Other studies have found turbines to pose a danger to raptors.