According to this United States Patent, issued today: Fuels may be derived from existing waste streams such as animal wastes and streams of discarded or unwanted animal byproducts generated at animal slaughterhouses.  A method of processing organic waste products into fuel includes homogenizing the waste products.  The waste products are heated and pressurized.  Water is removed from the waste products and select constituents are separated into a waste stream which is blended with a fuel to form a bio-fuel mixture.

Download United States Patent No. 7,455,704

Today, a Virginia Inventor received a United States Patent for a system that generates hydrogen, using ocean wave energy.  This portable sea-powered electrolysis generator is an apparatus that continually and conveniently harnesses the energy emanating from sea-wave motion in order to propagate hydrogen to be stored for use as a clean, reusable energy source through the process of electrolysis.  The motion of waves is used to power a agenerator that supplies power to water to produce hydrogen through electrolysis.

Download United States Patent No. 7,456,512

Taking an interesting approach to generating electricity from fluid currents (e.g. ocean currents), this patent, issued by the USPTO today uses a set of trolleys mounted to travel around a ringed track.  A fin is attached to each trolley for sending it on a repetitive journey around the track.  Electricity is generated through interaction of magnetic elements on the track and trolley.

Download United States Patent No. 7,453,166

Combining two of the most popular alternative energy categories, a Texas inventor has proposed a solar windmill.  In the patent that issued today, a windmill system is described which has solar panels mounted on the turbine itself.  Apparently the idea is to capture solar energy from various directions without using a solar tracking system.  I would imagine that the price of photovoltaic cells will need to drop a bit first before this approach is feasible.

Download United States Patent No. 7,453,167

Although the recent case of In Re Bilski has raised some doubt about the future of business method patents, a new patent issued today related to measuring energy savings.  In particular, Intellicoat Technologies of New York has patented a system which is used to compare energy usage when energy saving improvements are made to a structure, to those of the unimproved structure.

Download United States Patent No. 7,451,055

Thermo-photovoltaic (TPV) cells generate electricity from low temperature heat radiation.  Generally these thermo-voltaic cells have been limited in efficiency, as they are only capable of converting heat radiation within a narrow frequency range, which doesn’t include a significant portion of the spectrum of available heat radiation.

Developed primarily for use with high-altitude airships (HAA), Lockheed Martin has patented a TPV cell which utilizes a larger portion of the available spectrum.  In particular, the improved TPV cell was devised to use the large surface area of the airship to harness heat radiation emanating from the earth below (so-called “earthshine”).  By applying an electric field to the TPV material, sensitivity is shifted to include lower frequency heat radiation.

Download United States Patent No. 7,446,451