Algae to Offer Airlines Cleaner Jet Fuel in Future

                As airlines struggle to find cleaner ways to power jets and with an industry-wide meeting on CO₂ emissions just months away, scientists are busy growing algae in open tanks at an Airbus site near Munich. The European aerospace group is part financing the Munich Technical University project to grow algae for bio-fuel and although commercial production is a long way off, hopes are high. The bio-fuel from alga-culture could cater for 3-5% of jet fuel needs by about 2050. Algae can grow 12 times faster than plants cultivated on soil and produces an oil yield about 30 times that rapeseed. However, although aviation bio-fuel made from feedstocks such as flax or used cooking oil is available, limited stocks and low oil prices mean only a few airlines, including Lufthansa and KLM, are using it on a trial basis. To substitute 100% of the kerosene use today, researchers will not do it with algae alone. They need a combo of different technologies to enable that substitution. Airbus also says the technology is still at an early stage and is not financially viable for airlines just yet. But they are sure that over time, they will make it possible to offer kerosene made of algae for a competitive price.

New 'GreenWeb' Will Make Web Energy-Efficient

                A new, open source computer programming framework that could make the web significantly more energy efficient, allowing people to save more battery power while browsing on mobile devices has been developed by researchers including one of Indian-origin. Scientists developed what they are calling “GreenWeb,” a set of web programming language extensions that enable web developers to have more flexibility and control than ever before over the energy consumption of a website. Because user awareness is constantly increasing, web developers today must be conscious of energy efficiency.

E-Nose Can Analyse Your Breath, Find Diseases

                An affordable electronic nose that can be used in breath analysis for a wide range of health diagnosis is being developed. While devices that can conduct breath analysis using compound semiconductors exist, they are bulky and too costly. Researchers determined that using CMOS integrated circuits technology will make the electronic nose more affordable.

China to Get New Supercomputer in 2020

                China is developing a supercomputer capable of at least a billion calculations per second that will be operationlised by 2020. According to the national plan for the next generation of high performance computers, China will develop and “exascale computer” during the 13^th five-year-plan period (2016-2020). The government of Tianjin Binhai New Area, NUDT and the National Supercomputing Centre in Tianjin are working on the project, and they plan to name it Tianhe-3.

                In 2010, China’s first petaflop supercomputer Tianhe-1, capable of at least a million calculations per second came into service in the supercomputing centre. At present, Tianhe-1 performs various tasks, including iol exploration, high-end equipment manufacturing, biological medicine and animation design, and serves nearly 1,000 customers on their problems every day.