Enhancing energy literacy in children using zn/cu/potato batteries [version 1; referees: 2 approved]

Background. The major challenges that prevent the wide-scale adoption of emerging personal clean energy production are unawareness and low self-confidence. We tested a hypothesis that a combination of a new technology and educational methods could lead to the increase in awareness of children to clean energy possibilities and to an increase in self-confidence in applying them. Methods. Here we report on a toolkit that combines low carbon, clean energy source, Zn/Cu/potato batteries, sufficient to power light-emitting diodes, with a non-formal education by experience program, based on case studies and hands-on experience with battery assembly for 6-11 years old children, led by trained 12-14 old youth leaders. Results. The results show that the education experience increased the awareness of the children to produce electricity at home from unconventional, yet available raw materials and their self-confidence in being able to do this (p=0.008). Conclusions. The developed toolkit supports environmental and energy literacy education through non-formal training, increasing awareness and self-confidence in children to actually apply this in their living environment to produce clean energy

Distributed flux balance analysis simulations of serial biomass fermentation by two organisms.

Intelligent biorefinery design that addresses both the composition of the biomass feedstock as well as fermentation microorganisms could benefit from dedicated tools for computational simulation and computer-assisted optimization. Here we present the BioLego Vn2.0 framework, based on Microsoft Azure Cloud, which supports large-scale simulations of biomass serial fermentation processes by two different organisms. BioLego enables the simultaneous analysis of multiple fermentation scenarios and the comparison of fermentation potential of multiple feedstock compositions. Thanks to the effective use of cloud computing it further allows resource intensive analysis and exploration of media and organism modifications. We use BioLego to obtain biological and validation results, including (1) exploratory search for the optimal utilization of corn biomasses-corn cobs, corn fiber and corn stover-in fermentation biorefineries; (2) analysis of the possible effects of changes in the composition of K. alvarezi biomass on the ethanol production yield in an anaerobic two-step process (S. cerevisiae followed by E. coli); (3) analysis of the impact, on the estimated ethanol production yield, of knocking out single organism reactions either in one or in both organisms in an anaerobic two-step fermentation process of Ulva sp. into ethanol (S. cerevisiae followed by E. coli); and (4) comparison of several experimentally measured ethanol fermentation rates with the predictions of BioLego

Hybrid solar-seaweed biorefinery for co-production of biochemicals, biofuels, electricity, and water : Thermodynamics, life cycle assessment, and cost-benefit analysis

Combing solar energy with biomass processing facilities are emerging systems for efficient use of solar energy for electricity generation, energy storage, and production of renewable materials. In this work, we propose a novel combination of solar thermal energy systems with marine macroalgae biorefinery, which requires energy inputs for biomass cultivation and processing. In this work, we analyze a 10-ton dry weight per hour capacity pilot-scale hybrid solar seaweed biorefinery, located at the Mishor Rotem near Dimona, the current location for solar-thermal projects in Israel, where seaweed biomass supply comes from a hypothetical offshore farm located 15 km offshore. Our energy and mass balance analysis show that the overall First Law efficiency of the hybrid solar seaweed biorefinery system for the co-production of protein, hydrochar, ethanol, distilled water, and electricity is 32% and can exceed 40% with additional waste stream recycling. Our cost-benefit analysis of the proposed solar-seaweed biorefinery shows that the prices of seaweed, electricity, and protein are the key drivers of the profitability of the production process. The environmental impacts of the hybrid solar-seaweed biorefinery with intensified offshore cultivated biomass were quantified under various seaweed cultivation, transportation, and processing strategies