Crude oil prices receded below $100 a barrel on Friday as fears about a conflict with Iran ebb and the energy market mulls a sharp drop in weekly gasoline demand.
Shale gas developers are digging deep for their riches. And while the current boom in production has yet to pay the dividends they are expecting, the odds are with them once those utilities with coal-fired units begin switching to natural gas.
The turmoil in oil-producing nations is triggering turmoil at home, as rising oil prices force Americans to pay more at the pump. Meanwhile, there's a growing industry that's promising jobs and access to cheaper energy resources on American soil, but it's not without its controversy.
Last week I interviewed the Texas energy baron T. Boone Pickens four consecutive nights in front of a live audience. Pickens would talk for 40 minutes and then I would interview him for 50 minutes. (Full disclosure: I was paid a fee to do this, not from Pickens but from the event's owner.)
The biggest challenge with hydrogen-powered fuel cells lies in the storage of hydrogen: how to store enough of it, in a safe and cost-effective manner, to power a vehicle for 300 miles? Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) is aiming to solve this problem by synthesizing novel materials with high hydrogen adsorption capacities.
Batteries and chargers are the bane of a high-tech lifestyle. For each new device there is usually a new size battery, a new charger, and a new set of concerns about battery life. And then comes the quest for an AC power outlet to fire them all up. For years the industry has been searching for some type of “holy grail” that would allow road warriors to travel freely without being slaves to power sockets and backup batteries.
For the first time, physical chemistry reactions in a fuel cell can now be observed and described in detail on the nanoscale. This innovation is due to a new microscopy technique devised by an international research team involving Heidelberg mathematician Dr. Francesco Ciucci and scientists from the United States and Ukraine.
This ALD method for manufacturing fuel cells requires 60 per cent less of the costly catalyst than current methods. This is a significant discovery, because researchers have not been able to achieve savings of this magnitude before with materials that are commercially available.
Liang Wang, a post-doctoral researcher in the University of Delaware's Center for Fuel Cell Research in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, is developing new materials and structures that can improve the quality of fuel cell technology by increasing the durability of the fuel cell membrane.
In her doctoral dissertation, M. Sc. Suvi Karvonen examines the local and cell level modelling of PEMs, or polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. Her dissertation, which will be examined at Aalto University, states that the functioning of PEM fuel cells can be substantially improved through a very simple modelling exercise.
Catalysts will forever be a part of modern technology. They are crucial to industrial chemical processes, are fundamental to low-emission cars and will be essential for energy production inside next generation fuel cells.
Fuel cells seem like an ideal energy source -- they're clean, efficient, silent and don't require transmission lines. The hitch? They can be costly. Now scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) hope to change that equation by building a sophisticated cost model that will take into account the total cost of ownership.
Researchers from TU Delft and VU University Amsterdam in the Netherlands have demonstrated that the size of a metal alloy nanoparticle influences the speed with which hydrogen gas is released when stored in a metal hydride.
Pure hydrogen is an important chemical widely used in the chemical industry, many semiconductor fabrication processes, as well as in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane fuel cells. Almost all of the hydrogen gas generated today comes from the steam reforming of natural gas at oil refineries.
A team from the National University of Singapore's Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Initiative (NUSNNI), led by principle investigator Dr Xie Xian Ning, has developed the world's first energy-storage membrane.
Researchers have been operating a canal boat with a fuel cell drive for three years now. In the world of shipbuilding, however, different rules apply than those in the automobile manufacturing industries. Weight is of practically no significance, but the propulsion plant must have an operating lifetime as long as that of the boat itself. The hydride storage system -- the hydrogen tank -- must meet this challenging requirement.
Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have introduced a unique microscopy method that aids scientific research related to studying reactions that restrict extensive application of fuel cell technologies.
Fuel cells were originally considered to be replacements for internal combustion engines used in traditional vehicles and replacements for traction batteries used in pure electric vehicles. Unfortunately, they have proved woefully incapable of efficiently and economically supporting the frequent load changes of vehicle traction. Many of them had a troublesome start up time and problems of life and reliability as well. Thus building ever larger fuel cells was pursued from about 1991 to 2001 but it ended in tears.
Using barium oxide nanoparticles, researchers have developed a self-cleaning technique that could allow solid oxide fuel cells to be powered directly by coal gas at operating temperatures as low as 750 degrees Celsius. The technique could provide a cleaner and more efficient alternative to conventional power plants for generating electricity from the nation's vast coal reserves.
A Department of Energy project will test how refrigerator-size fuel cells fit a niche in the energy system of serving up heat and electricity to businesses and schools.
MIT researchers have found a new way to predict which materials will perform best as catalysts for oxygen reduction, a core process in metal air batteries and fuel cells, opening up the possibility of faster and more effective development of new high-efficiency, low-cost energy-storage technologies.
Chemical Engineering students at Stevens Institute of Technology are transforming the way that American soldiers power their battery-operated devices by making a small change: a really small change. Capitalizing on the unique properties of microscale systems, the students have invented a microreactor that converts everyday fossil fuels like propane and butane into pure hydrogen for fuel cell batteries. These batteries are not only highly efficient, but also can be replenished with hydrogen again and again for years of resilient performance in the field.
Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists have developed a way to avoid the use of expensive platinum in hydrogen fuel cells, the environmentally friendly devices that might replace current power sources in everything from personal data devices to automobiles.
The car of the future could be propelled by a fuel cell powered with hydrogen. But what will the fuel tank look like? Hydrogen gas is not only explosive but also very space-consuming. Storage in the form of very dense solid metal hydrides is a particularly safe alternative that accommodates the gas in a manageable volume. As the storage tank should also not be too heavy and expensive, solid-state chemists worldwide focus on hydrides containing light and abundant metals like magnesium. Sjoerd Harder and his co-workers at the Universities of Groningen (Netherlands) and Duisburg-Essen (Germany) now take the molecular approach.
Engineers at UC San Diego are using nanotechnology to increase the efficiency and enhance the performance of fuel cells, which could boost renewable energy options and reduce toxic emissions.
Engineers at UC San Diego are using nanotechnology to increase the efficiency and enhance the performance of fuel cells, which could boost renewable energy options and reduce toxic emissions.
It may not be rocket science, but it's close. Fuel cells have been used to power spacecrafts for years and on Saturday, April 16, 2011, Chicago-area middle school students will use fuel cells to power model cars at equipment manufacturer Case New Holland (CNH) in Burr Ridge, Ill., as part of the Chicago Regional Science Bowl, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Argonne National Laboratory.
Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) material scientists and SiEnergy Systems have developed a macro-scale thin-film solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC).
Fuel cells do not last long, while the catalysts used in fuels cells disintegrate, restraining the chemical response that turns fuel into electricity. At present, nano-particles covered with the catalyst have little surface area, allowing only a tiny part of the catalyst to be used.
Materials scientists at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and SiEnergy Systems LLC have demonstrated the first macro-scale thin-film solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC).
SiEnergy Systems, an Allied Minds company commercializing thin film solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology from Harvard University, is pleased to announce breakthrough results in scaling up the active area of its nanometric thin film SOFC. Principal Scientist, Masaru Tsuchiya, made this advancement in collaboration with Harvard University researchers, Dr. Bo-Kuai Lai and Professor Shriram Ramanathan.
The addition of extremely small crystals to solid electrolyte material has the potential to considerably raise the efficiency of fuel cells. Researchers at TU Delft were the first to document this accurately, and this week their second article on the subject in a very short time was published in the scientific journal, Advanced Functional Materials.
The addition of extremely small crystals to solid electrolyte material has the potential to considerably raise the efficiency of fuel cells. Researchers at TU Delft were the first to document this accurately, and this week their second article on the subject in a very short time was published in the scientific journal, Advanced Functional Materials ("Direct View on Nanoionic Proton Mobility").
The efficiency of catalyzing the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) -- the process that breaks the bonds of oxygen molecules -- to a large degree determines the electrochemical performance of fuel cells. Platinum and platinum-based composites have long been considered as the most efficient ORR catalysts. Platinum's drawback, besides its high cost, has been its lack of stability once it is becomes active inside a fuel cell.
The use of hydrogen as a practical, widespread alternative fuel to gasoline took another step today as researchers from Los Alamos National Laboratory and The University of Alabama announce a method for recycling a hydrogen fuel source.
I don't know about you, but I'm kind of inclined to sit up and listen to someone who self-describes himself as a "green energy czar" no matter how pretentious I think the title. So, that's why I'm perched in front of my notebook computer late on a Tuesday night, reading Google.org Green Energy Czar Bill Weihl's commentary about his organization's new research covering why new clean energy is worth the investment. Actually the blog is signed by both Weihl and Charles Baron, from the Google.org Clean Energy Team. Google has invested plenty of money in this area -- nearly $1 billion -- so it had better be sure that there is a payoff.
Researchers in the Pacific Northwest have developed a new catalyst material that could replace chemicals currently derived from petroleum and be the basis for more environmentally friendly products including octane-boosting gas and fuel additives, bio-based rubber for tires and a safer solvent for the chemicals industry.
Continuous production of biodiesel can now be envisaged thanks to a novel catalyst developed by a French team at CNRS's Centre de Recherches Paul Pascal (CRPP). The results, which have been patented, have just been published in the journal Energy & Environmental Science.
Turning graphite oxide (GO) into full-fledged supercapacitors turns out to be simple. But until a laboratory at Rice University figured out how, it was anything but obvious.
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have helped to uncover the nanoscale structure of a novel form of carbon, contributing to an explanation of why this new material acts like a super-absorbent sponge when it comes to soaking up electric charge. The material, which was recently created at The University of Texas - Austin, can be incorporated into "supercapacitor" energy-storage devices with remarkably high storage capacity while retaining other attractive attributes such as superfast energy release, quick recharge time, and a lifetime of at least 10,000 charge/discharge cycles.
NOAA scientists and academic partners have found a way to use air chemistry measurements taken hundreds of feet above last year's BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill to estimate how fast gases and oil were leaking from the reservoir thousands of feet underwater. The scientists also determined the fate of most of those gas and oil compounds using atmospheric chemistry data collected from the NOAA WP-3D research aircraft overflights in June. The study, accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters, a publication of the American Geophysical Union, is available online as a paper in press.
High oil prices and environmental and economic security concerns have triggered interest in using algae-derived oils as an alternative to fossil fuels. But growing algae -- or any other biofuel source -- can require a lot of water.
The available amount of fossil fuels is limited and their combustion in vehicle motors increases atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. The generation of fuels from biomass as an alternative is on the rise. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, Johannes A. Lercher and his team at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen have now introduced a new catalytic process that allows the effective conversion of biopetroleum from microalgae into diesel fuels.
Photosynthesis is considered the 'Holy Grail' in the field of sustainable energy generation because it directly converts solar energy into storable fuel using nothing but water and carbon dioxide. Scientists have long tried to mimic the underlying natural processes and to optimize them for energy device applications such as photo-electrochemical cells, which use sunlight to electrochemically split water – and thus directly generate hydrogen, cutting short the more conventional approach using photovoltaic cells for the electrolysis of water.
Because of current events, geopolitics, and natural disasters, the cost of fuel is front and center in our lives. This book provides a concise look at all forms of energy, including fossil fuels, electric, solar, biodiesel, nuclear, hydroelectric, wind, and renewable fuel cells. You will get explanations, definitions, and analysis of each alternative energy source from a technological point of view.
Hydrogen offers great promise as a renewable energy source. It's staggeringly plentiful (the most abundant element in the Universe) and environmentally friendly (used in a fuel cell, it gives off only water). Unfortunately, storing and transporting hydrogen for personal use is a significant engineering challenge.
Berkeley Lab scientists and their colleagues have discovered a new relation among electric and magnetic fields and differences in temperature, which may lead to more efficient thermoelectric devices that convert heat into electricity or electricity into heat.
It might seem surprising that marine scientists are proposing a way for the oil and gas industry to save billions of dollars decommissioning old offshore rigs, but it's a plan where the main beneficiary is intended to be the environment.
Applied Nanotech Holdings, Inc. has announced that it has been awarded a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research contract by the U.S. Army for thermal management solutions to portable energy system challenges. This contract allows for ANI to continue development of its award-winning CarbAl™ based thermal management system for insertion into the power electronic control systems in tactical quiet generators.
Applied Nanotech Holdings, Inc. announced that it has been awarded a Phase I SBIR grant, in the amount of $149,426, from the US Department of Energy to develop ultra lightweight hydrogen fuel tanks using carbon nanotube reinforcement.
The U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency -- Energy Director, Arun Majumdar, announced yesterday that the Agency will hold its third annual ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit from February 27 -- 29, 2012 at the Gaylord Convention Center just outside Washington, D.C. Bill Gates, founder and chairman of Microsoft; Fred Smith, chairman, president and CEO of FedEx; and Lee Scott, former CEO of Wal-Mart; will join Secretary Chu and Director Majumdar as distinguished keynote speakers.
The artificial leaf is poised to be one of the next big breakthroughs in energy. If we can learn to mimic the biological mechanism by which plants convert solar energy into hydrogen, the sky is the limit. Millions of years of evolution have already proved the worth of photosynthesis, even if it's not all that efficient in its natural state.
A team of researchers from Arizona State University, Stanford University and Carnegie Institution for Science has found that converting large swaths of land to bioenergy crops could have a wide range of effects on regional climate.
Asylum Research, the technology leader in Scanning Probe and Atomic Force Microscopy (SPM/AFM), has announced the new Electrochemical Strain Microscopy (ESM) imaging technique for its Cypher™ and MFP-3D™ AFMs. Developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Asylum Research, ESM is an innovative scanning probe microscopy (SPM) technique capable of probing electrochemical reactivity and ionic flows in solids on the sub-ten-nanometer level. ESM is the first technique that measures ionic currents directly, providing a new tool for mapping electrochemical phenomena on the nanoscale.
On Sakhalin Island, in Russia's far east, temperatures can fall to 35 degrees below zero. Many islanders herd reindeer. And in January, oil crews drilled the world's longest and deepest extended-reach well, 7.7 miles down into the ground and 7.1 miles out under the ocean. Seven of the 10 longest oil wells on Earth have been drilled there since Exxon Mobil launched its Sakhalin-1 project in 2003. Crews expect to keep breaking their previous records in the coming months.
All of us use water and in the process, a lot of it goes to waste. Whether it goes down drains, sewers or toilets, much of it ends up at a wastewater treatment plant where it undergoes rigorous cleaning before it flows back to the environment. The process takes time, money and a lot of energy.
The search for renewable energy is a continual one. It's also a necessary one, as we dry up the world's remaining resources with a ferver that rivals the most focused of attentions. A Cambridge, MA based company, Joule Unlimited, however, thinks that race might be over with it's ethanol creating genetically engineered bacteria.
Hydrogen is under consideration as a promising energy carrier for a future sustainable energy economy. However, practicable solutions for the easy and safe storage of hydrogen are still being sought. Despite some progress, no generally applicable solutions that meet the requirements of industry have been found to date. In the journal Angewandte Chemie ("CO2-"Neutral" Hydrogen Storage Based on Bicarbonates and Formates") Matthias Beller and his team at the Leibnitz Institute for Catalysis (Rostock, Germany) have now introduced a new approach to hydrogen storage that is based on simple salts of formic acid and carbonic acid.
Ener1, Inc. has announced that it has reached agreement with its primary investors and lenders on a restructuring plan that will significantly reduce its debt and provide up to $81 million to recapitalize the Company to support its long-term business objectives and strategic plan.
China's move to add renewable energy and nuclear generation capacity is remarkable, but the U.S. still maintains the lead on energy innovation, Bill Gates told a sold-out crowd at a breakfast in Seattle this morning. The topic was climate change. "China is very important and can be part of the solution here," Gates said. "But as for the power to innovate in sciences, the U.S. still has the dominant position."
Scientists have developed and implanted into a living insect -- the False Death's Head Cockroach -- a miniature fuel cell that converts naturally occurring sugar in the insect and oxygen from the air into electricity. They term it an advance toward a source of electricity that could, in principle, be collected, stored and used to power sensors, cameras, microphones and a variety of other microdevices attached to the insects.
Scientists in the UK and US, including researchers at Arizona State University, have been awarded funding to improve the photosynthetic process as a means of producing renewable fuel.
Reducing the ability of certain bacteria to fix carbon dioxide can greatly increase their production of hydrogen gas that can be used as a biofuel. Researchers from the University of Washington, Seattle, report their findings in the current issue of online journal mBio.
One of the biggest hurdles for fuel cell technology to overcome is finding an energy-efficient and cost-effective way to create hydrogen fuel. But what if we could convert landfill gas to hydrogen?
Despite causing an historic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year, BP plans to reduce its tax bill by almost $13 billion by writing off its losses.
Production at a BP PLC (BP.LN)-run oil and gas field in the North Sea has been halted after a leak was discovered in an underwater connecting pipeline, the U.K. energy giant said Monday.
British Airways is to extend a trial of an innovative paint coating designed to improve fuel efficiency in a move that could save the airline millions of pounds in fuel costs.
A scientific advance in renewable energy which promises a revolution in the ease and cost of using solar cells, has been announced today, Monday 4 July 2011. A new study shows that even when using very simple and inexpensive manufacturing methods - where flexible layers of material are deposited over large areas like cling-film - efficient solar cell structures can be made.
The California Energy Commission has awarded $1,585,490 to spur research on projects including a battery system for grid-scale energy storage. Funds for the 13 projects come from the Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) program.
In the next 40 years, California's population is expected to surge from 37 million to 55 million and the demand for energy is expected to double. Given those daunting numbers, can California really reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, as required by an executive order? Scientists from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory who co-wrote a new report on California's energy future are optimistic that the target can be achieved, though not without bold policy and behavioral changes as well as some scientific innovation.
Efforts to build larger wind turbines able to capture more energy from the air are stymied by the weight of blades. A Case Western Reserve University researcher has built a prototype blade that is substantially lighter and eight times tougher and more durable than currently used blade materials.
Mechanical energy is stored in many physical systems, such as in the springs that power clocks and even in the water reservoirs that drive hydroelectric power generators. Storing mechanical energy on the nanoscale could also lead to some interesting device applications.
Cerion Energy, Inc., a leading developer and supplier of technologically advanced fuel additives, announced today the introduction of its patented diesel fuel combustion catalyst called GO2. Currently being used or tested by the commercial marine, construction, rail, and mining industries, GO2 is scientifically proven to increase fuel efficiency from 8-13 percent, decrease greenhouse gas emissions from 10-20 percent and decrease un-burned hydrocarbons (soot) emissions by up to 40 percent.
It is unlikely the United States will meet some specific biofuel mandates under the current Renewable Fuel Standard by 2022 unless innovative technologies are developed or policies change, says a new congressionally requested report from the National Research Council, which adds that the standard may be an ineffective policy for reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. Achieving this standard would likely increase federal budget outlays as well as have mixed economic and environmental effects.
The battle of crystal ball gazers over how much we'll be paying for energy in the future rages on. The government's advisory panel on global warming has weighed in, with a report on household energy bills.
Chesapeake Energy has lost control of a natural gas well in the Marcellus shale that was in the process of being fracture stimulated. Thousands of gallons of salt water, likely mixed with minute quantities of chemicals used in the controversial but long-established fracking process have reportedly spilled out of the well and into a stream near Canton, Pa. The suspected cause of the incident, which occurred just before midnight Tuesday, is a cracked well casing.
Chevron Corp reported lower quarterly earnings on Friday, missing Wall Street forecasts, as rising spending on oil and gas projects and losses at its U.S. refinery business offset gains from higher crude oil prices.
China Shenhua Energy Co., the country's largest listed coal producer by output, said Friday that its August commercial coal production reached 23.7 million metric tons, up 20.3% from 19.7 million tons a year ago.
Yanbiao Liu and his colleagues from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, have succeeded in building a device capable of both cleaning wastewater and producing electricity from it. Using light as an energy source the team created a photo-catalytic fuel cell that used a titanium dioxide nanotube-array anode and a cathode based on platinum. The light energy degrades the organic material found in the wastewater and in the process generates electrons which pass through the cathode converting it into electricity. The team has published its results on Water Science & Technology.
The Basque technology centre CIDETEC-IK4 is heading a European project to develop new plastics from organic waste, such as banana plants and almond and crustacean shells, using nanotechnology, which would represent a cleaner and more sustainable alternative to petroleum derivatives.
When geologists survey an area of land for the potential that gas or petroleum deposits could exist there, they must take into account the composition of rocks that lie below the surface. Take, for instance, sandstone -- a sedimentary rock composed mostly of weakly cemented quartz grains. Previous research had suggested that compaction bands -- highly compressed, narrow, flat layers within the sandstone -- are much less permeable than the host rock and might act as barriers to the flow of oil or gas.
Modern electronics as we know them, from televisions to computers, depend on conducting materials that can control electronic properties. As technology shrinks down to pocket sized communications devices and microchips that can fit on the head of a pin, nano-sized conducting materials are in big demand.
ConocoPhillips marches on with its plan to split into two separate companies, selling nearly $5 billion in assets in its fourth quarter. The company managed to beat expectations and increase revenues on higher selling prices and asset divestitures, despite lower production.
Constellation Energy has inked a deal to buy StarTex Power for $142.5 million in cash, giving it a foothold over the Texas market and bringing it one step closer to its goal of one million mass market customers by the end of 2011.
CSX Corp. executives forecast continued strong U.S. coal exports in 2012, although they said the railroad's coal shipments likely will be down overall because of slack demand from domestic electric utilities.
Current UK and European policies on biofuels encourage unethical practices, says a report by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics today following an 18-month inquiry. Policies such as the European Renewable Energy Directive are particularly weak when it comes to protecting the environment, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and avoiding human rights violations in developing countries. They also include few incentives for the development of new biofuel technologies that could help avoid these problems.
The road up to Jordan Dairy Farm here offers a typical New England view of rolling hills, wood-frame houses, and shade trees. Then up on a hill, there appears a dome-capped silo, a structure that's bringing renewable energy to agriculture.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has selected Moser Baer Technologies (MBT), Inc., which has growing operations at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering's (CNSE) Smart System Technology & Commercialization Center of Excellence (STC) in Canandaigua, as the recipient of a $2.9 million grant to enable green energy research and development designed to accelerate the use of innovative solid-state lighting technologies.
Arun Majumdar, Director of the Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), today announced 60 cutting-edge research projects aimed at dramatically improving how the U.S. produces and uses energy. With $156 million from the Fiscal Year 2011 budget, the new ARPA-E selections focus on accelerating innovations in clean technology while increasing America's competitiveness in rare earth alternatives and breakthroughs in biofuels, thermal storage, grid controls, and solar power electronics. Demonstrating the success ARPA-E has already seen, the program announced this year that eleven of its projects secured more than $200 million in outside private capital investment.
U.S. Department of Energy researchers have won 36 of the 100 awards given out this year by R&D Magazine for the most outstanding technology developments with promising commercial potential. The coveted awards are presented annually in recognition of exceptional new products, processes, materials or software developed throughout the world and introduced into the market the previous year.
In the wake of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico we published a Nanowerk Spotlight on Nanotechnology-based solutions for oil spills that provided a general overview of the wide variety of nanomaterials and nanotechnologies that offer significant promise for oil spill cleanup and recovery. One problem with many existing solutions though is that they are one-offs, i.e. one they absorb oil they can't be re-used and need to be disposed of (which could in turn create secondary pollution effects).
Studies have estimated that converting manure from the 95 million animal units in the United States would produce renewable energy equal to 8 billion gallons of gasoline, or 1% of the total energy consumption in the nation. Because more and more farmers and communities are interested in generating renewable energy from farm waste, there is a growing need for information on the economic feasibility and sustainability of such programs.
Published today by the leading scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ("Structure of a bacterial cell surface decaheme electron conduit"), the research demonstrates for the first time the exact molecular structure of the proteins which enable bacterial cells to transfer electrical charge.
Duke Energy is facing serious charges from the Indiana's utility consumer agency, citizens groups, and large industrial customers over its power plant in Edwardsport for an approximate $1 billion in overruns for the plant's cost. A state counselor accused Duke Energy of mismanagement and concealing certain vital information from the state's regulators.
A milestone has been reached on the road to developing advanced biofuels that can replace gasoline, diesel and jet fuels with a domestically-produced clean, green, renewable alternative.
Preliminary findings from a study on the use of hydraulic fracturing in shale gas development suggest no direct link to reports of groundwater contamination
Cerion Energy has selected ECOsuperyacht, a provider of energy efficacy and emission management services to the superyacht industry, as its European distributor for GO2, a novel nanoparticle-based combustion catalyst for diesel fuel.
A new Siemens gas turbine operated in a combined cycle with a steam turbine in Irsching, Bavaria, has set a world record for efficiency, making it an outstanding example of green technology. The net efficiency of 60.75 percent achieved during the test run even surpassed the target value of 60 percent; the previous generation of the turbine had an efficiency of 58.5 percent. The new turbine is designed to generate 400 megawatts (MW) alone and 600 MW when combined with a steam turbine.
Implants that obtain their energy from blood sugar and oxygen: Dr. Sven Kerzenmacher at the Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK) of the University of Freiburg is researching the development of biological fuel cells with the goal of finding an inexhaustible source of power in the human body. He has been awarded the 2011 FAM Research Prize for his dissertation by the Forum for Applied Microsystems Technology (FAM). The prize is worth 2,500 euros.
The same piezoelectric effect that ignites your gas grill with the push of a button could one day power sensors in your body via the respiration in your nose.
Billions of dollars lost each year as waste heat from industrial processes can be converted into electricity with a technology being developed at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Two-dimensional materials such as graphene have proved invaluable to battery researchers because their sheet-like surfaces can absorb large amounts of charge. Sheet-like transition metal chalcogenides in particular have recently emerged as attractive energy storage materials because the sheets formed by such compounds can readily intercalate lithium ions. Jinwoo Cheon and colleagues from Yonsei University and Seoul National University in Korea have now discovered a way to turn the chalcogenide zirconium disulfide (ZrS2) into two-dimensional nanoscale discs that can boost lithium charge--discharge capacities by over 200% relative to bulk samples ("Ultrathin Zirconium Disulfide Nanodiscs").
Demand for energy is rising around the world, according to the U.S. Department of Energy and the International Energy Administration. Data show global demand for oil and natural gas will likely grow 45% by 2030 compared with 2006.
University of Minnesota engineering researchers in the College of Science and Engineering have recently discovered a new alloy material that converts heat directly into electricity. This revolutionary energy conversion method is in the early stages of development, but it could have wide-sweeping impact on creating environmentally friendly electricity from waste heat sources.
In a biotechnological tour de force, Rice University engineering researchers this week unveiled a new method for rapidly converting simple glucose into biofuels and petrochemical substitutes. In a paper published online in Nature, Rice's team described how it reversed one of the most efficient of all metabolic pathways -- the beta oxidation cycle -- to engineer bacteria that produce biofuel at a breakneck pace.
Biodiesel is a promising future fuel, particularly because it can be made from a wide variety of renewable sources such as crude vegetable oils and waste fats produced by commercial kitchens. Conventional chemical processes for producing biodiesel, however, require pure and refined feedstock oils, thus negating any potential advantages. To get around this problem, Md. Mahabubur Rahman Talukder and co-workers at the A*STAR Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences have developed a two-step biocatalytic process that works well on all sorts of oils -- whether they are refined or not.
Faced with a natural gas drilling boom that has sullied the air in some parts of the country, the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed for the first time to control air pollution at oil and gas wells, particularly those drilled using a method called hydraulic fracturing.
The various challenges and applications of optofluidics have been addressed by the Dean of EPFL School of Enginnering, Demetri Psaltis in the latest issue of Nature Photonics, which focuses on the study of microfluidics with optics.
In an effort to help simplify the OR, Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. (EES) today announces U.S. FDA 510(k) clearance and the launch of the first ever Advanced Energy Generator made to power both ultrasonic and advanced bipolar technologies and designed for easy set set-up and use in the operating room.
Solving the mystery of prematurely dead cell phone and laptop batteries may prove to be a vital step toward creating a sustainable energy grid according to Drexel researcher Dr. Yury Gogotsi.
Exxon Mobil Corp's quarterly profit rose a better-than-expected 69 percent as the world's largest publicly traded oil company benefited from higher crude prices and improved earnings in its chemical and refining businesses.
It's hard to get excited about a thermostat, but we may be warming to one in particular. Its creators have set out to create a simple, elegant, and intelligent thermostat.
Taking a cue from Mother Nature, researchers at the Department of Energy's BioEnergy Science Center have undertaken a first-of-its-kind study of a naturally occurring phenomenon in trees to spur the development of more efficient bioenergy crops.
Halliburton will surge on its North American business, particularly fracking as the U.S. shale play continues to evolve, analysts at RBC Capital Markets argue. The large oilfield services provider won't derive much profit from its international operations, but it will see Iraqi production stabilizing and unconventional gas plays develop across the globe, setting it up to benefit in the future.
New York's ban on high pressure hydraulic fracturing of natural gas reservoirs like the Marcellus shale helped lead to plummeting production. According to state data, drillers in New York produced 35.8 billion cubic feet in 2010, down 20% from the previous year. The state's output has fallen since 2006, when it peaked at 55.3 bcf.
Extracting natural gas from the Marcellus Shale could do more to aggravate global warming than mining coal, according to a Cornell study published in the May issue of Climatic Change Letters (105:5).
The Gray Lady is at it again. Ian Urbina, the New York Times reporter behind the paper's natural gas "exposés," has gone back almost 25 years to drum up one U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report claiming that hydraulic fracturing fluids contaminated a water well in West Virginia in 1984.
Graphene's star is rising as a material that could become essential to efficient, environmentally sound oil production. Rice University researchers are taking advantage of graphene's outstanding strength, light weight and solubility to enhance fluids used to drill oil wells.
Nano-Nouvelle -- a nanotechnology business based on Australia's Sunshine Coast -- has secured $1.1M in new investment led by Adelaide-based Terra Rossa Capital to fund the next stage of its cutting edge research focused on improving the performance of sustainable energy technologies.
For Silicon Valley social media startups, acquisition by Facebook or Google has become the exit strategy du jour. But green tech entrepreneurs might want to look east to General Electric.
Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have unveiled a semiconductor nanocrystal coating material capable of controlling heat from the sun while remaining transparent.
A new Queensland University of Technology research project aims to overcome one of Australia's main hurdles to the increased use of wind and solar energy.
GMZ Energy, a leader in thermoelectric materials and systems and a GE ecomagination Challenge winner, today announced it secured $14 million in Series C financing. The new investment was led by Mitsui Ventures and includes I2BF Global Ventures, Energy Technology Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and BP Alternative Energy.
Google on Tuesday said it is investing $55 million into a California wind energy farm, raising to $400 million the amount of money the technology giant has pumped into clean energy projects.
Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have created a graphene and tin nanoscale composite material for high-capacity energy storage in renewable lithium ion batteries. By encapsulating tin between sheets of graphene, the researchers constructed a new, lightweight "sandwich" structure that should bolster battery performance.
Electrons moving in graphene behave in an unusual way, as demonstrated by 2010 Nobel Prize laureates for physics Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, who performed transport experiments on this one-carbon-atom-thick material. A review article, just published in European Physical Journal B ("Klein tunneling in graphene: optics with massless electrons"), explores the theoretical and experimental results to date of electrons tunneling through energy barriers in graphene.
Clean and affordable energy generation and storage is one of the most significant challenges that our world is facing in the 21st century. Materials are going to play a crucial role in generation and storage of renewable energy. While searching for new materials for electrical energy storage, materials scientists have discovered a new family of two-dimensional compounds proposed to have unique properties that may lead to ground-breaking advances in energy storage technology.
A combination of two ordinary materials -- graphite and water -- could produce energy storage systems that perform on par with lithium ion batteries, but recharge in a matter of seconds and have an almost indefinite lifespan.
The backbone of our energy infrastructure is carbon-based fuel. In the form of oil, coal and natural gas, carbon compounds run our cars, heat our homes and cook our food. For reasons of energy security and limiting carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, we need to transition to alternative and sustainable fuels. We can minimize the shock of transitioning away from fossil fuels to sustainable sources by using as much existing carbon-based infrastructure as possible.
Alaska gets 90 percent of its state revenue from oil production taxes. When the price of oil goes up, so does the amount paid to the state. Bryan Butcher, Alaska's Revenue Commissioner, said he's anticipating a tax windfall of $3.4 billion this year, adding to a healthy reserve fund.
An article on Sunday in North Dakota's Bismarck Tribune raised the spectre that the EPA might soon ban hydraulic fracturing of oil and gas wells. Really?
As scientists unveil artificial organs and prosthetics to improve the function of our hearts, kidneys, hands, and even eyes, it's easy to gloss over these devices' Achilles' heel: power.
National Physical Laboratory has developed a suite of analytical methods to detect trace-level impurities in hydrogen fuel that can affect the performance of hydrogen fuel cells -- a potentially carbon-free power source for vehicles.
A collaboration of scientists from DTU, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University recently published their results in Nature Materials ("Bioinspired molecular co-catalysts bonded to a silicon photocathode for solar hydrogen evolution"). The discovery is an important development in the worldwide effort to mimic the way plants make fuel from sunlight, a key step in creating a green energy economy.
Seventeen partners from eight European countries work on ORION (Ordered inorganic-organic hybrids using ionic liquids for Emerging applications), funded by the Seventh Framework Programme of the EU. Coordinated by CIDETEC (Centre for Electrochemical Technologies) in the Basque Country, the project aims to explore possible combinations of organic and inorganic materials designed to provide better photovoltaic solar panels and batteries that store energy more efficiently.
India may soon ask Indonesia to reconsider restrictions imposed on coal exports as Jakarta's move is hurting several Indian companies which had planned power projects to be based on the fuel imported from the Southeast Asian nation.
Altair Nanotechnologies, Inc. (Altairnano) announced it had agreed to a request from Inversiones Energéticas, S.A. de C.V. (INE), one of El Salvador's largest electric generation utilities, for a 90-day extension of a contract earlier signed with Altairnano to provide a turn-key 10 megawatt ALTI-ESS advanced battery system for frequency control. The extension will provide INE and Altairnano additional time to secure regulatory approval.
An Illinois research team has succeeded in overcoming one major obstacle to a promising technology that simultaneously reduces atmospheric carbon dioxide and produces fuel.
JA Solar Holdings, a producer of solar cells and solar power products, declared that it has signed a definitive agreement to completely own Silver Age Holdings that has 100% ownership in Solar Silicon Valley, a manufacturer of solar wafers based in China.
The March 11 Japan earthquake and subsequent tsunami will affect the country in a number of ways, but perhaps the impact that will be felt most forcefully on the international stage will be in energy markets. Japan imports nearly all of its oil and natural gas consumption, and the earthquake, having wreaked havoc on select nuclear power facilities, will likely result in a sustained change in the composition of Japanese energy demand, including an increased demand for oil and some refined products.
XsunX, a company that produces hybrid, thin-film photovoltaic (TFPV) solar cell technologies and manufacturing processes, is collaborating with MAG Industrial Automation Systems (MAG IAS LLC), a developer of industrial manufacturing systems, assembly, and engineering services.
A team of scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., in partnership with the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, developed a Direct Methanol Fuel Cell technology for future Department of Defense and commercial applications. Recently, USC and the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, which manages JPL for NASA, awarded a license to SFC Energy, Inc., the U.S. affiliate of SFC Energy AG. The non-exclusive license for the technology will facilitate the expansion of the company's methanol fuel cell products into the U.S. market.
WTI crude climbed 2.6% to $102.20 per barrel Wednesday. The implications of the sharp supply fears for oil are seen immediately in gasoline prices, which have experienced its eighth straight day of an upward rise Wednesday, reaching $3.38 a gallon according to AAA, a jump of 23 cents.
The Obama administration rejected a bid to expand the controversial Keystone oil sands pipeline Wednesday, saying the deadline imposed by congress did not leave sufficient time to conduct the necessary review.
The country’s largest “zero net energy” community -- designed to generate as much energy as it consumes -- officially opens Saturday on the campus of the University of California at Davis, some 80 miles northeast of San Francisco. While individual homes and commercial buildings that use zero net energy over the course of a year have been built in a handful of U.S. states (and nearly a dozen countries), the university says this is the largest planned community of its kind in the U.S.
Russia's biggest independent oil producer OAO Lukoil Holdings may consider development of unconventional shale gas in Russia, the company said Thursday.
Maxwell Technologies, Inc. reported that its Swiss subsidiary will integrate and evaluate graphene-based electrode material produced through a European Union (EU)-funded technology development program entitled, ElectroGraph.
Chinese bus manufacturer Zhengzhou Yutong Bus has chosen Maxwell Technologies' ultracapacitors for power supply and energy storage applications for its diesel-electric hybrid buses.
Tiny metallic particles produced by University of Adelaide chemistry researchers are bringing new hope for the production of cheap, efficient and clean hydrogen energy. Led by Associate Professor Greg Metha, Head of Chemistry, the researchers are exploring how the metal nanoparticles act as highly efficient catalysts in using solar radiation to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.
Rather than releasing carbon dioxide into the air, it can be used to produce methanol -- which is an excellent fuel for cars and airplanes -- using solar energy. The technology already exists, and a major Nordic research initiative has now been launched that will make the process inexpensive and simple enough to be used on a large scale.
Microsoft is retiring its free web-based household energy usage service, which means it won't leave its beta status and instead will be killed on 31 May 2012.
A new computer model of blue-green algae can predict which of the organism's genes are central to capturing energy from sunlight and other critical processes.
Researchers from Siemens intend to substantially boost the efficiency of solar thermal power plants and thus reduce the costs of this climate-neutral method of power generation. They intend to use mixtures of molten salts as heat transfer media in the High Performance Solar Thermal Power project. In conjunction with partners, scientists from Siemens will construct a pilot plant in Portugal and test the use of molten salt mixtures in parabolic trough power plants.
An urgent challenge currently faced by researchers and the public alike is the ability to identify the next generation of sustainable, cost-effective, and energy efficient materials for our everyday use. While searching for new materials for electrical energy storage, a team of Drexel University materials scientists has discovered a new family of two-dimensional compounds proposed to have unique properties that may lead to groundbreaking advances in energy storage technology.
A Rice University team analyzing the basic physics of nanomaterials has developed an innovative technology to enhance solar energy panels. Naomi Halas, an engineering professor in Rice, stated that they have attempted to combine the optics of nanoscale antennas with the electronics of semiconductors.
Conversion to renewable energy sources like wind and sun is only a question of time. Because wind and solar radiation vary in strength, the increase in renewable energy sources will cause significant fluctuations in the power grid. These must be absorbed by energy storage systems. This need could be fulfilled by a device known as a supercapacitor.
How to put more bang in your biofuels? Nanoparticles! A new study in the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy shows that the addition of alumina nanoparticles can improve the performance and combustion of biodiesel, while producing fewer emissions.
Industrial Nanotech has declared that its Nansulate energy saving coatings has been included in the Resource Efficiency Atlas, which is a global collection of resource efficient products and technologies.
Industrial Nanotech, a developer of nanotechnology- based energy saving packages, is embarking on multiple pilot projects with healthcare providers and around 16 universities across the U.S. in an endeavor to enhance the efficiency of their steam processes with the Nansulate thermal insulation and coatings to prevent corrosion.
Natural gas is an abundant resource that is tremendously underutilized due to a lack of efficient technologies that enable its conversion into shippable products. To address this problem, Dr. Simon G. Podkolzin of Stevens Institute of Technology and Dr. Israel E. Wachs of Lehigh University are studying the fundamentals of a new catalytic process for converting natural gas into benzene and other easily shippable liquid hydrocarbons over supported molybdenum nanoparticles. Their joint research has recently been awarded a research grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).
Notwithstanding all the buzz about renewable energy sources, the dirty facts are that coal accounts for 41% of electricity production worldwide -- 79% in China, 69% in India, 49% in the USA, and 46% in Germany (source). For the foreseeable future, coal will continue to be the dominant fuel for electric power generation.
Porous crystals called metal-organic frameworks, with their nanoscopic pores and incredibly high surface areas, are excellent materials for natural gas storage. But with millions of different structures possible, where does one focus?
Researchers with the DOE's Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have identified a potential new advanced biofuel that could replace today's standard fuel for diesel engines but would be clean, green, renewable and produced in the United States. Using the tools of synthetic biology, a JBEI research team engineered strains of two microbes, a bacteria and a yeast, to produce a precursor to bisabolane, a member of the terpene class of chemical compounds that are found in plants and used in fragrances and flavorings. Preliminary tests by the team showed that bisabolane's properties make it a promising biosynthetic alternative to Number 2 (D2) diesel fuel.
It has all the appearances of a breakthrough in battery technology, except that it's not a battery. Researchers at Nanotek Instruments, Inc., and its subsidiary Angstron Materials, Inc., in Dayton, Ohio, have developed a new paradigm for designing energy storage devices that is based on rapidly shuttling large numbers of lithium ions between electrodes with massive graphene surfaces. The energy storage device could prove extremely useful for electric vehicles, where it could reduce the recharge time from hours to less than a minute. Other applications could include renewable energy storage (for example, storing solar and wind energy) and smart grids.
A study published by researchers at the RIKEN Advanced Science Institute (ASI) has shed first-ever light on a class of heterometallic molecular structures whose unique features point the way to breakthroughs in the development of lightweight fuel cell technology. The structures contain a previously-unexplored combination of rare-earth and d-transition metals ideally suited to the compact storage of hydrogen.
When people think of uses for petroleum, they generally think of oil and gasoline, but doing so means ignoring the production of ethylene, a compound used to make many of the products most people use every day, such as plastics. Unfortunately though, as the price of petroleum goes up, so too does the cost of producing ethylene and all the products that come from it. This is why chemical researchers have been searching for years for a way to produce ethylene via anther process. Now, startup company San Francisco based Siluria, believes it has found a pathway there using methane instead of petroleum, and has received some $20 million in investment capital from various groups that are confident that Siluria is on the right track.
A new study on greenhouse gas emissions from oil palm plantations has calculated a more than 50% increase in levels of CO2 emissions than previously thought -- and warned that the demand for 'green' biofuels could be costing the earth.
Though it may not sound very glamorous, a new method of extracting ammonium from liquid animal manure could be exciting news for both confined animal operations and environmental groups, according to a Texas AgriLife Extension Service engineer.
Carbon sequestration is a potential solution for reducing greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change, but its scientific challenges are complex. Analytical tools are needed that provide information about the mineral-fluid interactions of carbon dioxide (CO2) at the molecular level.
Biofuel, in spite of controversies surrounding it, still holds many advantages, on an economical, as much as on an environmental level-- it is derived from plants, which naturally absorb CO2, making it a much cleaner and widely available source of energy than, say, oil sands. But there's a hitch: biofuels contain a high amount of water and oxygen, which have a corrosive effect on engines.
World fuel consumption is shifting more and more to diesel at the expense of gasoline. The material has a tremendously complex atomic structure that could only be determined with the aid of transmission electron microscopy.
U.S. production of ethanol for fuel has been rising quickly, topping 13 billion gallons in 2010. With the usual rail, truck and barge transport methods under potential strain, existing gas pipelines might be an efficient alternative for moving this renewable fuel around the country. But researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) caution that ethanol, and especially the bacteria sometimes found in it, can dramatically degrade pipelines.
With increasing dependency on information systems and advances in cloud computing, the smart grid and mobile computing, maintaining the confidentiality and integrity of citizens' personally identifiable information is a growing challenge. A new draft document from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) addresses that challenge by adding privacy controls to the catalog of security controls used to protect federal information and information systems.
Switching gas and electricity suppliers will not get customers the best deal. The only way householders in the UK can save money on their gas and electricity bills is to work out how much they use each month, according to a University of Warwick economist.
Earlier this year, in the follow-up to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, we published a Nanowerk Spotlight on nanotechnology-based solutions for oil spills. Although the application of nanotechnology for oil spill cleanup is still in its nascent stage, it offers great promise for the future. In the last couple of years, there has been particularly growing interest worldwide in exploring ways of finding suitable solutions to clean up oil spills and deal with industrial oily wastewater through use of nanomaterials. Key for the success of these materials is a high separation capacity, with resistance to oil fouling, and that are easily recyclable.
A research team at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) of the U.S. Department of Energy has developed a novel method for removing nanocrytals from tether-like molecules called ligands that prevent integration of nanocrystals with devices, paving the way for designing nanocrystal-based technologies for LEDs, solar fuels, smart windows, photovoltaics and energy storage.
Scientists in the United States and the United Kingdom have been awarded funding totaling more than $10.3 million to improve the process of biological photosynthesis. The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.K. Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) collaborated in issuing these jointly funded awards. Photosynthesis allows biological systems to use sunlight and carbon dioxide to produce sugars and oxygen. This process is ultimately responsible for the food we eat and the fossil fuels we burn today.
While we might not be able to drink all that ocean water, maybe we could do with some extra electricity. A new paper released by Nano Letters posits that electricity can be generated by the ocean's saltiness.
According to AAA, the average national price of a gallon of regular gasoline is $3.47, or about 23 percent above year-ago prices. And the average household making $50,800 annually spends about 15.5 percent , or $7,900 a year, on gas, said a report out Friday from the New American Foundation, a non-partisan think tank in Washington, D.C.
Scientists are experimenting with "green" microbes in the lab that could someday be used to gobble up oil spills along coastlines without damaging the environment.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said it expects oil demand to grow by 1.4 million barrels per day (bpd) this year, around steady on its previous forecast and also in line with IEA figures.
When you're talking about nanomaterials, however, that eye is pretty much useless unless it's looking through an electron microscope or at a computer visualization. Yet the pits and ridges on a seemingly flat surface--so small they are invisible without such tools--can give the material astonishing abilities. The trick for researchers interested in taking advantage of these abilities lies in understanding and, eventually, predicting how the microscopic topography of a surface can translate into transformative technologies.
Panda poop contains bacteria with potent effects in breaking down plant material in the way needed to tap biomass as a major new source of "biofuels" produced not from corn and other food sources, but from grass, wood chips and crop wastes, scientists reported today at the 242nd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS).
Researchers have discovered a way to capture and harness energy transmitted by such sources as radio and television transmitters, cell phone networks and satellite communications systems. By scavenging this ambient energy from the air around us, the technique could provide a new way to power networks of wireless sensors, microprocessors and communications chips.
Primus Power has raised enough money from venture investors to build a commercial-size flow battery to store energy on the power grid, the start-up said today.
With the completion of a successful prototype, engineers at Oregon State University have made a major step toward addressing one of the leading problems in energy use around the world today -- the waste of half or more of the energy produced by cars, factories and power plants.
Researchers plan to test technology that could help reduce the cost of carbon sequestration projects by allowing them to run at least partially off site-generated electricity.
Siemens is participating in a research project that is looking at ways to convert carbon dioxide (CO2) into useful chemical feedstock. It may even be possible to permanently remove the gas, which would be separated out during the combustion of fossil fuels, from the atmosphere and so weaken the impact of the greenhouse effect. The energy required to convert the relatively unreactive CO2 is to be obtained from renewable resources.
A team of researchers led by University of Kentucky College of Agriculture Professor Joe Chappell is making a connection from prehistoric times to the present that could result in being able to genetically create a replacement for oil and coal shale deposits. This could have fundamental implications for the future of the earth's energy supply.
Purdue University researchers have collaborated with scientists at General Atomics to create safe and efficient pellets to power hydrogen fuel cells that can run an array of portable electronic devices.
Researchers at the University of Georgia have developed a "super strain" of yeast that can efficiently ferment ethanol from pretreated pine -- one of the most common species of trees in Georgia and the U.S. Their research could help biofuels replace gasoline as a transportation fuel.
Scientists at the Universities of East Anglia, Nottingham and York produced clean fuel from solar energy with the help of nanotechnology. Scientists will be displaying their research at the Royal Society's annual Summer Science Exhibition.
A research team formed by the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) and the University of Auckland has devised a method that generates hydrogen as an energy source by making use of sunlight and ethanol.
Fears of global warming and its impact on our environment have left scientists scrambling to decrease levels of atmospheric carbon we humans produce. Now, Tel Aviv University researchers are doing their part to reduce humanity's carbon footprint by successfully growing forests in the most unlikely place -- deep in Israel's Aravah Desert.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute researchers have determined that nanoblades, a novel nanomaterial, can store and discharge hydrogen rapidly and at relatively low temperatures when compared to the same kind of materials. They can also be recharged for numerous times.
Russia will submit a claim to the United Nations to expand its Arctic borders, a top official said Wednesday, as scientists embarked on a new expedition to prove its ownership of energy-rich territory.
A technical comment published in the May 27 edition of the journal Science casts doubt on a widely publicized study that concluded that a bacterial bloom in the Gulf of Mexico consumed the methane discharged from the Deepwater Horizon well.
Hydrogen has for long been an option to fossil fuels because of its clean combustion by-product, water. It is lightweight, has more energy density and is easy to procure. However, it is difficult to store this gas densely enough to make it safe, yet accessible easily.
A new ultra-sensitive technology which can monitor leaks from underwater gas pipelines has been developed by scientists at the University of Southampton.
In the decade that has passed since the completion of the first draft sequence of the human genome, biologists have grown increasingly aware of a problem ironically generated by the success of their work. Biological experiments in the age of genomics -- including DNA sequencing, gene expression profiles, studies of cell-signaling pathways, protein binding, and other information-rich inquiries -- generate quantities of raw data so immense that they threaten to overwhelm researchers' ability to make sense of them.
Shale consortium Cuadrilla says deep-level drilling caused two minor earthquakes in Lancashire, but they were so small hardly anyone felt them. The group's report, a Geomechanical Study of Bowland Shale Seismicity, which coughed to the tiny tremors, was published on Wednesday.
Hydrogen fuel cells could someday meet a host of industrial energy needs, but it's difficult and dirty to produce hydrogen using current methods. A new type of microbial fuel cell can power itself and produce a renewable supply of hydrogen, according to researchers at Penn State University. The system uses some seawater, some freshwater and bacteria.
Royal Dutch Shell PLC said Thursday its fourth-quarter adjusted earnings rose 18%, but the results were below expectations and came as the Anglo-Dutch oil giant warned of economic volatility amid sharply lower U.S. gas prices and worsening global fuel demand.
Planting short rotation energy crops on England's unused agricultural land could produce enough biomass to meet renewable energy targets without disrupting the food industry or the environment, according to research led by Professor Gail Taylor from the University of Southampton.
The high reliability of wind turbine blades is especially important for large and extra large wind turbines. It can be ensured by the development of strong and highly damage resistant advanced materials. The Materials Research Division at Risø DTU has received a grant from the Danish Council for Strategic Research to develop the scientific basis and computational tools for the microstructural optimization of materials for wind blades.
Scientists at the VU University Amsterdam and TU Delft have illustrated that the release rate of hydrogen stored in a metal hydride depends on the size of the metal alloy nanoparticle. The smaller the nanoparticle size, the higher the release rate of hydrogen that moves into the fuel cell.
Jeffrey Grossman says Cambridge has a better climate than California -- for carrying out materials science research, that is. That's why Grossman decided, two years ago, to make the move from the University of California at Berkeley to a position at MIT.
An international team, of scientists, led by a team at Monash University has found the key to the hydrogen economy could come from a very simple mineral, commonly seen as a black stain on rocks.
The enormous changes with respect to how we handle and consume energy and the impact on the environment are of great concern not only to us as scientists, but also to all of us as responsible citizen. Therefore, the PhD students of the International Doctorate Program NanoBioTechnology had the wish to establish a discussion with experts from relevant fields to get a deep insight into the technical, economic and social preconditions necessary for the creation of a truly sustainable energy supply system.
Every year, the world consumes approximately 15 terawatts of power, according to some estimates. Since the amount of annual harvestable solar energy has been estimated at 50 terawatts, students at Stevens Institute of Technology are working on a supercapacitor that will allow us to harness more of this renewable energy through biochar electrodes for supercapacitors, resulting in a cleaner, greener planet.
Improving the output of energy-storing supercapacitors is critical for applications such as hybrid electric vehicles. However, researchers working on this problem currently have to make an imperfect choice -- either work with carbon-based electrodes that provide lots of power but only support limited amounts of charge, or use metal oxide electrodes with high electrochemical energy densities but slower power delivery rates.
Converting agricultural waste into vehicle fuel has so far been an enticing yet elusive endeavor, at least on the industrial scale. But recently the Georgia-based company Renmatix has taken steps toward this goal by opening a research and development center in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. The company will attempt to produce an efficient and cost-effective method for extracting the sugars from cellulosic biomass, which can consist of wood chips, switchgrass, and other non-edible parts of crops. The sugars can then be converted into motor fuels such as ethanol or feedstock chemicals.
Running a society on renewable energy is not a viable option unless energy generated by windmills, solar cells, hydropower plants and the like can be stored on a large scale and made available during times when energy demand exceeds energy production (for instance at night or during windless intervals). Apart from batteries and fuel cells there are mechanical energy storage options that could play a role: pumped storage hydroelectricity (example: Bath County pumped storage station), compressed underground air storage (example: Huntorf plant), even flywheels (example: Stephentown flywheel energy storage plant).
In a development that holds intriguing possibilities for the future of industrial catalysis, as well as for such promising clean green energy technologies as artificial photosynthesis, researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have created bilayered nanocrystals of ametal-metal oxide that are the first to feature multiple catalytic sites on nanocrystal interfaces. These multiple catalytic sites allow for multiple, sequential catalytic reactions to be carried out selectively and in tandem.
Many kinds of algae and cyanobacteria, common water-dwelling microorganisms, are capable of using energy from sunlight to split water molecules and release hydrogen, which holds promise as a clean and carbon-free fuel for the future. One reason this approach hasn't yet been harnessed for fuel production is that under ordinary circumstances, hydrogen production takes a back seat to the production of compounds that the organisms use to support their own growth.
Gasoline prices are soaring past $4.00 a gallon in many places and driving will continue to be more expensive. Unless consumers are determined to again recklessly pile up credit card debt, higher gas prices will profoundly slow other purchases and the economic recovery.
A total of more than 1000 researchers coming from more than 70 major European research institutes in the field of energy are involved in the different EERA Joint Programmes. These scientists are working to accelerate the delivery to industry of a new generation of energy technologies to contribute to achieving the 20-20-20 targets. For Europe, this is an unprecedented cooperation in the area of strategic energy research that will accelerate the development of energy technologies, give individual research groups enhanced access to knowledge and facilities, and provide optimal conditions for doing what they are best at.
After years of neglect, scientists and policy makers are focusing more attention on developing technologies needed to make the so-called "green grid" possible, according to an article in ACS' Chemical Reviews. That's the much-needed future electrical grid, an interconnected network for delivering solar and wind-based electricity from suppliers to consumers.
Last year, global biofuel production reached 28 billion US gallons, and biofuel accounted for 2.7% of the world's transportation fuel. Bioethanol, a popular type of biofuel, is largely derived from sugary food crops such as corn and sugarcane.
The United States fell one spot to third place in clean-energy investment last year as the lack of a national energy policy hurt purchases in wind and solar power and other technologies, according to a new report.
The global market for clean energy products grew to $243 billion in 2010, a year in which China and Germany both captured a greater share of this global investment than the United States. That has led many (myself included) to worry about the erosion of U.S. competitiveness in a set of clean energy technology products--from solar and wind to nuclear and advanced batteries--originally invented in America.
Further demonstrating New York's growing recognition as a home for green energy technologies and companies, more than 20 emerging cleantech start-ups will participate in a daylong business plan competition during the sixth annual New Energy Symposium, presented by New Energy New York (NENY) and the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering's (CNSE) Energy and Environmental Technology Applications Center (E2TAC), in partnership with the New York Academy of Sciences, on August 1 in New York City.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced this week it has set aside $44.6 million to fund a variety of advanced biofuel production projects in over 38 states.
The University of Texas at Arlington announces a licensing agreement with 1st Resource Group Inc. of Fort Worth to commercialize a new, efficient process for converting natural gas to clean, synthetic fuel at a cost lower than current market rates.
A new biological water purification facility developed by Siemens generates enough methane gas to power its own operations. It also produces much less sludge than conventional systems. The pilot facility for this process, which is located at a site run by Singapore's Public Utilities Board, has been operating in an energy- neutral manner since June 2010. Now, the city state is building a much larger pilot facility -- one that will process 300 times more effluent than its predecessor, or about as much sewage water as is produced by around 1,000 people.
Monsanto, the often-vilified agriculture giant, has made a deal that could actually do some good for sustainable development: The company this week formed a partnership with and made an equity investment in algae fuel startup Sapphire Energy (no word on the terms of the arrangement). What's going on?
Energy prices have been coming down this spring as fears of a Middle East blowup fade. But persistent global demand, tepid supply growth and easy money mean it may not be long till the next damaging spike, Goldman Sachs economists say.
A very interesting report out of Holland which has in it a little point which shows why wind power simply doesn’t work in any attempt to deal with climate change. My apologies, it’s a slightly technical point but still a sound one.
When combined with on-Oahu wind farms and solar energy, the Interisland Wind project planned to bring 400 megawatts (MW) of wind power from Molokai and Lanai to Oahu could reliably supply more than 25% of Oahu's projected electricity demand, according to the Oahu Wind Integration Study (OWIS).
Shares in Danish company Vestas, the world leader in the wind turbine industry, plunged by 20 percent on Monday after the company issued a full-year profit warning over delays on several projects.
German oil and gas company Wintershall AG, a part of the BASF AG group, is preparing to restart its oil facilities in Libya and hopes to resume production before the end of the year, according to comments from Chief Executive Rainer Seele on the company's website.
Wintershall AG--Germany's largest oil and gas producer by output--could raise crude oil output in Libya to around 20,000 barrels per day within a few weeks of restarting production there, executive board member Ties Tiessen said Thursday.
Scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's Center for Molecular Electrocatalysis and Villanova University designed a nickel-based complex that more than doubled previously reported hydrogen gas production rates and increased the energy efficiency of the reaction. Additionally, the team found that adding water to the reaction significantly increased the reaction speed. As a result of the discoveries, researchers are closer to finding energy storage solutions for surplus energy generated from green technologies.
Starting the expansion of the Czech nuclear power generation fleet and securing reasonably priced, long-term lignite supplies are key goals for Martin Roman, who now heads the supervisory board at state-owned power company CEZ.
Japan relies on nuclear power for about 30% of its electricity. It has few natural resources and imports large quantities of coal, gas and oil at an ever increasing cost. Some Japanese people are not in favor of nuclear power, but when the dust settles the nation might not have any real choice, writes Professor George Dracoulis.
Russia is putting the finishing touches on the first of 8 new massive floating nuclear power plants. It plans to use the behemoth energy generators in the Arctic ocean to power the search for new oil and natural gas deposits. The reactors are built on giant platforms that resemble huge cargo ships, each one carrying a staggering $336 million price tag.
Turkey has given permission for the South Stream gas pipeline to be built across its territories, giving the project a clear run into the lucrative energy markets of Europe.
An agreement signed on November 17, 2011, will bring new shareholders -- RUSNANO and direct investment funds Baring Vostok Capital Partners and Russia Partners Advisers -- to Novomet-Perm. The investments will enable the Perm-based company to expand production of its highly effective submersible equipment for oil production.
Shell Oil Company has announced it must scrap efforts to drill for oil this summer in the Arctic Ocean off the northern coast of Alaska. The decision comes following a ruling by the EPA's Environmental Appeals Board to withhold critical air permits. The move has angered some in Congress and triggered a flurry of legislation aimed at stripping the EPA of its oil drilling oversight.
The shale gas revolution was given a guarded welcome by Parliament yesterday, with the economic and security benefits to the UK judged to outweigh environmental reservations.
Power your home or business with Reliant Energy and save on your energy bill today. Reliant is an electricity company based in Texas with electric plans to meet any need.
Security concerns for the intelligent power distribution system will require more technologies that bridge the cyber and physical worlds. Pike Research lists the leaders and contenders.
The UK government wants every home to have one by 2020, but might the new generation of electricity meters help to change people's attitudes to climate change?
Throwing cost concerns and caution to the wind, the U.S. Department of Energy is getting behind a project that aims to prove that superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) can work at the grid level. Via a $4.2 million ARPA-E grant, Swiss engineering firm ABB and a handful of partners plan to build a 3.3 kilowatt hour proof-of-concept SMES prototype that, if all goes well, could someday be scaled to megawatt-hour capacity.
You knew there MUST be an ulterior motive to the GE ecoimagination contest: The giant technology and services company has decided to acquire one of the winners of the "2010 ecoimagination Challenge: Powering the Grid" competition, FMC-Tech. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed, but the transaction should be finalized by July.
The U.S. electricity grid powered through a record-setting heat wave last week with an assist from demand response, an efficiency technique poised for broader use.
One of the most notable things about IBM's latest smart grid project isn't necessarily the size of the effort -- the utility it is working with, Progress Energy, is putting in more than $520 million -- it is the comprehensive nature of the initiative. This is NOT your average smart metering project. It involves a focus on managing power quality and in addressing distribution management, so that Progress will be able to handle the addition of renewable energy sources as well as the impact of plug-in electric vehicles.
Today the Asian Development Bank announced that it will lend India $750 million for its national grid improvement project, including smart grid innovations.
Smart power grid monitoring that lets you pick the exact cheapest time to run the dishwasher or recharge your electric car may put too much power (so to speak) in the hands of the consumer, according to a new study by MIT. Researchers say that users receiving minute-by-minute pricing information might cycle off-peak power use more rapidly than utilities can spool up their power plants. That's on top of the backlash against smart power meters in places like Bakersfield, California, because users say they're inaccurate in favor of the utility company or because they're too intrusive. They say.
Masayoshi Son, entrepreneurial founder of Softbank, Japan's third-largest mobile network, and according to Forbes, the nation's richest man, unveiled a vague but undeniably ambitious plan to completely change Japan's energy infrastructure. His plan, which relies heavily on wind and geothermal power and abandons nuclear, would, he says, shift the majority of Japan's energy sources to renewable energy by 2030.
The sun doesn't always shine and the breeze doesn't always blow and therein lie perhaps the biggest hurdles to making wind and solar power usable on a grand scale. If only there were an efficient, durable, high-power, rechargeable battery we could use to store large quantities of excess power generated on windy or sunny days until we needed it.
Researchers at the University of Southampton have developed a mechanism which uses smart computerised agents to control energy storage devices in the home, resulting in energy savings of up to 16 per cent.
An expanded list of standards, new cybersecurity guidance and product testing proposals are among the new elements in an updated roadmap for Smart Grid interoperability released today for public comment by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
The opt-out option, announced yesterday, will come at a cost because PG&E will no longer to be able to remotely read meters. In a filing, PG&E proposed that customers pay $270 up front and a $14 monthly charge--or $135 up front and a $20 monthly charge, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Turning the electric power system into a smart grid, or so-called "energy Internet," has already created thousands of U.S. jobs and has the potential to create many more, says a new report by a Duke University research team.
The governing board of the public-private Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP) has voted in favor of a new standard and a set of guidelines important for making the long-planned "smart" electricity grid a reality. The documents address the need for wireless communications among grid-connected devices as well as the ability to upgrade household electricity meters as the Smart Grid evolves.
Grid2Home, developer of Smart Energy Profile 2.0 communication technologies, announced today that it has completed a second round of funding, led by Granite Ventures. The funding will enable the company to take their SEP-2 standards-compliant G2H-SE2 Software solution into production and scale to meet the demands of a growing customer base. In addition, the company announced that Gordon Lum has joined Grid2Home as Vice President of Engineering.
So-called 'smart meters' will not be mandatory, the energy minister has confirmed. The pledge was made by Charles Hendry last Thursday, and confirmed to us by the Department of Energy and Climate Change today.
It's a common trend, but everything is spying on you nowadays. We're not talking about men in black suits and sunglasses following you around the city, but instead we're referring to the pervasive passive monitoring that is being done to nearly everyone. From your cell phone providing tracking data to Apple, to your TomTom GPS providing data to police in order to set up speed traps, everyone wants information on what you do and when you do it.
Rather than building new power generation to meet the rising demand for energy, utilities are increasingly turning to the latest smart grid technology to help reduce energy use during peak consumption times. These programs will profoundly change how all American households and businesses think about and consume energy. Once invisible to most people, electricity consumption is now poised to enter our day-to-day lives, driving deeper awareness and potential savings for all utility customers.
One of the smart grid technology players that you may have heard less about is smart meter maker Landis+Gyr. Which is surprising, because this is a big smart meter company -- with more than 8,000 utility customers -- and is apparently the North American leader in smart meter shipments (according to IDC Energy Insights).
The White House will unveil new initiatives on Monday aimed at implementing a smart electric grid in the US. IT is expected to play an important role in the proposed solution.
As smart meter technology does what it is supposed to do -- persuade us to do our laundry, wash our dishes and recharge our cars in the middle of the night when electricity rates are lowest -- it's possible the smart grid will outsmart itself, according to a new study.
With the creation of a 3-D nanocone-based solar cell platform, a team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Jun Xu has boosted the light-to-power conversion efficiency of photovoltaics by nearly 80 percent.
The solar film, on display at the Ceatec electronics conference in Japan, is arrayed in narrow, translucent green strips with clear gaps between and then glued to windows in large patches. A square meter of the film can generate roughly enough electricity to charge an iPhone under peak sunlight, but still allows for high visibility.
The recent uprisings in North Africa have rattled the short-term prospects for a multi-billion dollar project to generate massive amounts of solar energy in the Sahara and ship a portion of it to Europe.
Researchers led by MIT professor Daniel Nocera have produced something they're calling an "artificial leaf": Like living leaves, the device can turn the energy of sunlight directly into a chemical fuel that can be stored and used later as an energy source.
An important step toward realizing the dream of an inexpensive and simple "artificial leaf," a device to harness solar energy by splitting water molecules, has been accomplished by two separate teams of researchers at MIT. Both teams produced devices that combine a standard silicon solar cell with a catalyst developed three years ago by professor Daniel Nocera. When submerged in water and exposed to sunlight, the devices cause bubbles of oxygen to separate out of the water.
The development of new types of solar cells that are lighter and more flexible than conventional silicon-based designs will open up a range of new applications for photovoltaics. Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) offer these advantages as well as promising much lower fabrication costs. Anyuan Cao, Zuqiang Bian and colleagues from Peking University in Beijing, China, have now expanded the range of possible applications of DSSCs by developing a single-wire design that could be assembled into large arrays.
Some solar devices, like calculators, only need a small panel of solar cells to function. But supplying enough power to meet all our daily needs would require enormous solar panels.
The New Model 10500 from Abet Technologies is a low cost solar simulator providing an attractive alternative to more fully featured and expensive solar simulators for applications that do not require a large area illuminated field. The optical system of the 10500 produces a collimated 25 mm beam. Focus or defocus it for higher irradiance or larger solar cells.
Most technologies for harnessing the sun's energy capture the light itself, which is turned into electricity using photovoltaic materials. Others use the sun's thermal energy, usually concentrating the sunlight with mirrors to generate enough heat to boil water and turn a generating turbine.
One of the big problems with current solar cells is that they aren't able to absorb infrared light -- which accounts for around a third of the solar energy that hits the planet. A new type of nanomaterial, a tiny antenna, could solve that problem and make our solar panels far more efficient.
Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are among the most promising photovoltaic devices for low-cost light-to-energy conversion with relatively high efficiency. While the DSSC is a fairly mature design, researchers are still trying to improve its efficiency with various techniques.
Altair Nanotechnologies Inc. (Altairnano) today announced it has signed a contract with the Hawai'i Natural Energy Institute (HNEI) of the University of Hawai'i at Manoa to supply a one-megawatt ALTI-ESS energy storage system for a test of solar energy integration. Under the contract, Altairnano will provide the ALTI-ESS battery-based power management system to be tested on Hawaiian Electric's electric system to smooth the voltage and load profile with the aid of dynamic voltage controls and fast charge/discharge abilities.
Amtech Systems, Inc., a global supplier of production and automation systems and related supplies for the manufacture of solar cells, semiconductors, and sapphire and silicon wafers, today announced that its solar division, Tempress Systems, has joined Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited, a leading solar energy company and one of the world's largest vertically integrated photovoltaic ("PV") manufacturers, which markets its products under the brand "Yingli Solar," and the Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands ("ECN"), a leading solar research center in Europe, in a three-party research collaboration on the N-type Metal Wrap Through ("N-MWT") PV cell and module technology.
Amtech Systems, Inc., a global supplier of production and automation systems and related supplies for the manufacture of solar cells, semiconductors, and sapphire and silicon wafers, today announced that its solar subsidiary, Tempress Systems, Inc., has increased its share of the solar diffusion market to approximately 40 percent and has been ranked number one in revenue in calendar 2010 for process tools used in c-Si cell diffusion for the solar market, based on analysis contained within Solarbuzz's PV Equipment Quarterly of trended quarterly tool revenue.
If solar cells could generate higher voltages when sunlight falls on them, they'd produce more electrical power more efficiently. For over half a century scientists have known that ferroelectrics, materials whose atomic structure allows them to have an overall electrical polarization, can develop very high photovoltages under illumination. Until now, no one has figured out exactly how this photovoltaic process occurs.
With demand for photovoltaic panels more than doubling year on year, manufacturers are under pressure to increase solar cell efficiency, improve production yields, and build capacity. Now, a joint team from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the National University of Singapore has demonstrated a novel technique to non-destructively test silicon wafer solar cells.
Applied Nanotech Holdings, Inc. has announced that it has signed a license agreement for its solar ink and paste technology with YHCC. This is the first license agreement to arise out of the strategic relationship with YHCC previously announced in February 2011.
In an attempt to mimic the photosynthetic systems found in plants and some bacteria, scientists have taken a step toward developing an artificial light-harvesting system (LHS) that meets one of the crucial requirements for such systems: an approximately 100% energy transfer efficiency. Although high energy transfer efficiency is just one component of the development of a useful artificial LHS, the achievement could lead to clean solar-fuel technology that turns sunlight into chemical fuel.
Auria and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) agreed to enter into further discussion for a possible business cooperation (including equity participation) between the two companies in development, production and sales of thin-film PV modules. The cooperation aims to first establish a new 65.3 MW micromorph thin-film PV module production line in Taiwan with proven high effective cell efficiency of 10.5% (1.1M X1.3M) and module efficiency of 10%. Further, Auria plans to keep expanding its capacity to over 200MW in 2012 and establishes a more cost-competitive production structure.
Before anybody denounces me as being "anti-solar" I want to put this on the record: I own 16 solar panels, a largish inverter, and because the system was built in the days before grid-connect arrived in Australia, a decent-sized bank of batteries.
More green tech innovation out of Italy and this time from the island of Sicily where the seed-funded start up, eRALOS3 has come up with a way to charge mobile devices with a bendable photovoltaic cell they call Solar Writing.
Bandgap Engineering has declared that it had acquired two patents indicating considerable breakthroughs in the cost and effectiveness of solar energy conversion.
From September 5 -- 8, 2011, BASF will exhibit at the 26th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition, presenting its range of innovative products for the solar industry. This year's conference and exhibition, which belong to the most important in this field, will be taking place in Hamburg, Germany.
In October this year, Beneq, together with the Shanghai Center for Photovoltaics (SCPV), hosted an invitation-only specialist seminar for executive level decision makers and experts in photovoltaics (PV).
The first Beneq-Glaston TFC2000™ line for manufacturing TCO coatings on glass for photovoltaics (PV) has been sold to Asia. The total order is approximately EUR 14 million, of which Glaston's share is over EUR 4 million. The line delivery is scheduled for Q1 of 2012.
Beneq has today been presented with the Millennium Distinction Award, an accolade presented by Technology Academy Finland (TAF) to Finnish scientists and growth companies for outstanding technological achievements in the field of the most recent Millennium Technology Prize Winner.
During a recent visit to Finland, Indian Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Mr Farooq Abdullah, met Finnish Minister of the Environment, Mrs Paula Lehtomäki, together with Cleantech Finland officials and member companies, including Beneq.
Theoretical research by scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has led to record-breaking sunlight-to-electricity conversion efficiencies in solar cells. The researchers showed that, contrary to conventional scientific wisdom, the key to boosting solar cell efficiency is not absorbing more photons but emitting more photons.
Silicon is readily available, easy to process, highly stable and non-toxic. It is also one of the best materials for making solar cells. The high quality and purity of silicon needed for fabricating the most efficient silicon-based solar cells, however, has made it difficult to lower production costs for this renewable energy technology.
It doesn't exactly mark the Age of Aquarius, but amid the partisan rancor paralyzing Washington, two Republicans and a Democrat have joined forces to introduce legislation to revive a popular residential solar financing program scuttled by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac last year.
California is known for providing generous incentives that have successfully promoted solar energy production. But one program hasn't been so popular, and it may remain so for some time.
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are amongst the most versatile materials known. They are very strong yet light-weight, and have ideal electrical conductance characteristics -- properties that make them particularly interesting for applications such as flexible electronics. Bundles of CNTs also have very high surface area, which makes them of potentially great benefit for use in solar cells. Researchers from Fudan University in China have now devised a method to fabricate flexible and weavable solar cells using long fibers spun from CNTs (Flexible, Light-Weight, Ultrastrong, and Semiconductive Carbon Nanotube Fibers for a Highly Efficient Solar Cell).
Researchers from Northwestern University have developed a carbon-based material that could revolutionize the way solar power is harvested. The new solar cell material -- a transparent conductor made of carbon nanotubes -- provides an alternative to current technology, which is mechanically brittle and reliant on a relatively rare mineral.
Researchers of the Chemical Engineering department and the Kavli institute of the TU DElft have demonstrated that electrons can move freely in layers of linked semiconductor nanoparticles under the influence of light. This new knowledge will be very useful for the development of cheap and efficient quantum dot solar cells. The researchers published their findings on Sunday 25 September on the website of the scientific journal Nature Nanotechnology.
After more than 20 years of continued research, electrochemist Michael Gratzel of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology has cracked it: He has created a cheap photovoltaic cell that uses an organic, printed dye to absorb sunlight. This builds on his initial, dye-based photovoltaic discovery way back in 1991 which required ruthenium, an incredibly rare and expensive element.
Every year, the world consumes 15 Terrawatts of power. Since the amount of annual harvestable solar energy has been estimated at 50 Terrawatts, students at Stevens Institute of Technology are working on a supercapacitor that will allow us to harness more of this renewable energy through biochar electrodes for supercapacitors, resulting in a cleaner, greener planet.
Scientists are making progress toward development of an "artificial leaf" that mimics a real leaf's chemical magic with photosynthesis -- but instead converts sunlight and water into a liquid fuel such as methanol for cars and trucks.
Chinese solar panel makers on Tuesday rejected an anti-dumping complaint filed in the US by competitor SolarWorld, saying it risked "seriously hindering the development of green energy."
Ten years after Sulfurcell was founded, it would be renamed as Soltecture. The new name stands for advanced performances in solar technology and architecture and is a deeper representation of the core competencies of the company.
Renewable energy investment firm CleanPath will pour more than $800 million into large photovoltaic solar projects in North America, the company said yesterday.
Gilbert-based Colnatec LLC, a designer, developer and manufacturer of state-of-the-art sensors and electronic instrumentation, has been awarded a Phase II $450,000 U.S. Department of Energy research grant to continue development of a self-cleaning, process control sensor for the manufacture of thin film (CIGS) solar cells. This follows a Phase I award the firm received last year, and it allows them to build upon current state-of-the-art technology and develop enhancements that will result in the production of an unlimited lifetime sensor capable of improving solar cell conversion efficiencies.
A new kind of screen pixel doubles as a solar cell and could boost the energy efficiency of cell phones and e-readers. The technology could also potentially be used in larger displays to make energy-harvesting billboards or decorative solar panels.
Developing solar energy that is low-cost, lightweight, and energy efficient has proven to be one of the greatest challenges the science world faces today. Although current plastic solar cells are low in cost and easy to produce, they are not energy efficient and, therefore, not easily commercialized.
It works like a charm - easy, intuitive touch navigation within the screens of smart phones and tablets. Touch control, based on innovative large-area capacitive sensors, is enjoying exponential market growth. LOPE-C 2011 in Frankfurt, Germany, will present the state of the art and the trends of touch.
First Solar announced the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the new thin-film solar module manufacturing facility at Dong Nam Industrial Park in Vietnam. The new facility is worth $300 million.
These new nanostructures have the potential to drive down the costs of displaying information on cell phones, e-readers and iPads, and they could also help engineers build foldable electronics and improved solar cells, according to new research.
CVD Equipment Corporation and Airgas, Inc., are stepping up their positions in the renewable energy process equipment marketplace. Together, CVD Equipment Corporation's customized equipment process solutions and Airgas' specialty gas products offer complete custom solutions for today's novel process requirements. This teaming of two established companies creates a new dimension to provide solutions for the renewable energy industry. Be sure to visit us at booth 9250 at this year's Intersolar North America Exhibition and Conference July 12-14 at the Moscone Center, San Francisco.
Partnering with the Institute for Solar Energy Research Hamelin (ISFH, Emmerthal, Germany), DEK Solar has, with its PVP1200 print platform, print-on-print process expertise and screens technology, helped enable a record crystalline silicon solar photovoltaic (PV) cell efficiency of 19.4%.
A report, published in the March 14 edition of the Journal of Materials Chemistry, announced the successful fabrication and testing of a new type solar cell using an inorganic core/shell nanowire structure.
The efficiency of conventional solar cells could be significantly increased, according to new research on the mechanisms of solar energy conversion led by chemist Xiaoyang Zhu at The University of Texas at Austin.
As part of the Department of Energy's SunShot Initiative, Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced nearly $170 million in available funding over three years to support a range of solar photovoltaic (PV) technology areas. The SunShot Initiative aims to reduce the total cost of solar energy systems by about 75 percent - to roughly $1 per watt - before the end of the decade. The research and development funding announced today will support four areas of investment, including improving the efficiency and performance of solar cells; developing new installation - or balance of systems - technologies; advancing solar energy grid integration; and researching new materials and processes for solar PV technologies. Together, these investments will help reduce the cost for utility-scale solar energy installations, increase American economic competitiveness, and help the U.S. lead the world in the global market for solar photovoltaics.
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced the offer of a conditional commitment for a $150 million loan guarantee to 1366 Technologies, Inc. for the development of a multicrystalline wafer manufacturing project.
In organic solar cells, organic molecules are used to convert light into electric energy. Providing a renewable source of energy, organic solar cells are a promising eco-friendly future technology. However, their efficiency is still far below that of conventional solar cells made of anorganic semiconductors.
DuPont Co. is partnering with solar-panel maker Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. to help increase the supply of photovoltaic materials and technologies for the growing solar energy market.
A world record double by UNSW solar cell researchers promises to make solar power more affordable, with world-beating new technology delivering substantial efficiency gains at minimal extra cost.
e-time Energy, nano-coating manufacturer has declared that they will be expanding their distribution network throughout USA, Canada, and Europe, for marketing its patented HPS liquid solar screening device for windows.
It stands to reason that adding an asset which cuts your electricity bills--solar panels--will bump up a home's value. Now an economic study attaches numbers to solar panels' real-estate value.
DuPont Kapton colorless polyimide film, a new material currently in development for use as a flexible superstrate for cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin film photovoltaic (PV) modules, has enabled a new world record for energy conversion efficiency. A team at Empa, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, has demonstrated a conversion efficiency of 13.8 percent using the new colorless film, leapfrogging their previous record of 12.6 percent and nearing that of glass.
Researchers at Columbia Engineering School have built optical nanostructures that enable them to slow photons down and fully control light dispersion. They have shown that it is possible for light (electromagnetic waves) to propagate from point A to point B without accumulating any phase, spreading through the artificial medium as if the medium is completely missing in space. This is the first time simultaneous phase and zero-index observations have been made on the chip-scale and at the infrared wavelength.
Pyrite, better known as "fool's gold," was familiar to the ancient Romans and has fooled prospectors for centuries -- but has now helped researchers at Oregon State University discover related compounds that offer new, cheap and promising options for solar energy.
A new polymer-based solar-thermal device is the first to generate power from both heat and visible sunlight -- an advance that could shave the cost of heating a home by as much as 40 percent.
First Solar is engaged in the manufacturing and sale of solar modules with an advanced thin film semiconductor technology, and it competes with other solar industry players like SunPower , Suntech Power and Yingli Green Energy.
First Solar recently announced plans to build a solar module factory in Mesa, Ariz. The factory will boost First Solar's annual production capacity by more than 250 MW when completed around the third quarter of 2012.
First Solar shares fell more than 21% yesterday after the company yesterday reduced its Q4 guidance, issued a shockingly weak 2012 profit forecast and announced that it was shifting its business to focus specifically on utility scale projects.
Imec, a leading nanoelectronics research center based in Leuven is working together with Flamac, a division of SIM vzw to develop novel semiconductor materials for solar cell applications. Within this collaboration novel materials are screened as an alternative for the standard solar cells made of copper indium gallium and selenium.
Displays that can be rolled up and flexible solar cells -- both are potential future markets. Barrier layers that protect thin-film solar cells from oxygen and water vapor and thus increase their useful life are an essential component.
A new form of low-cost solar cell that can be printed onto plastic and metal is a step closer to production after the State and Federal Governments announced a boost in funding for the ongoing research project.
Photovoltaic cells have been known for a long time. In semiconductors such as silicon crystals sunlight creates an electric current, which can directly be fed into the power grid. The sun has enough power to supply the whole earth with electricity. But in Europe solar cells make only a vanishing small share of renewable energy sources. Solar cell production is still an expensive process. And the photovoltaic cells can only exploit about 16 percent of the energy of the sunlight.
Dorothy Stockstill was taking eight pills a day, and her severe abdominal pain and persistent diarrhea weren't improving. The Denton resident had seen multiple physicians throughout the Dallas area. Her attacks were so severe, she couldn't successfully travel from the front of a retail store to the restrooms in back.
General Electric today announced two research projects to make installation of solar panels easier by standardizing the components, such as racking systems for solar panels. The $5.9 million in research is part of the Department of Energy's SunShot Initiative to dramatically cut the cost of solar photovoltaics.
Veeco Instruments Inc. today announced that Taiwan based Genesis Photonics Inc. (GPI) has placed a multi-unit order for Veeco's recently released TurboDisc® MaxBright™ Multi-reactor MOCVD System. GPI will use the systems to increase capacity for the production of high brightness light emitting diodes (HB LEDs) being driven by applications such as backlighting, lighting, displays, and automotive.
In the world of solar energy, organic photovoltaic solar cells have a wide range of potential applications, but they are still considered an upstart. While these carbon-based cells, which use organic polymers or small molecules as semiconductors, are much thinner and less expensive to produce than conventional solar cells made with inorganic silicon wafers, they still lag behind in their ability to efficiently convert sunlight into electricity.
A gold plated window as the transparent electrode for organic solar cells is now a reality thanks to a team of researchers from the University of Warwick in the UK. The upshot of this development, apart from its innovation, is that it could be relatively cheap because the gold used is just 8 billionths of a metre thick. Presented in the journal Advanced Functional Materials ("Ultrathin Transparent Au Electrodes for Organic Photovoltaics Fabricated Using a Mixed Mono-Molecular Nucleation Layer"), the research was funded in part by a European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) grant.
If I had the inclination, I think I could turn investigating all of the pies Google has its fingers in into a full time job. I'm not sure it would pay the rent, but it sure would keep me busy. This week's installment of "Google: Good or evil?" is centered around their recent mammoth investment (169 million USD) into BrightSource Energy and the ramping up of their research into solar power.
Sparked by their recent findings, some MIT researchers have realized that shining some light on Graphene, a carbon sheet a single atom thick, can get those electrical juices flowing. Previously only possible "under very special circumstances," the new current generating effect could pave the way for better photodetectors, night vision systems, generating electricity from sunlight, and flux capacitors* .
Fabricating photovoltaic devices -- those that convert sunlight into electricity -- out of organic materials has several advantages over using non-organic materials, such as flexibility and good light absorption. However, the widespread commercialization of organic photovoltaic devices remains limited due to the high cost of the electron donor and acceptor materials used in these devices. In a new study, scientists have addressed this issue by fabricating luminescent graphene quantum dots (GQDs) blended with organic polymers for use as electron acceptors, which could offer better performance at lower cost than other polymer-based organic materials.
Organic solar cells are one of the most promising alternative energy technologies due to their low cost and suitability for use with flexible substrates. Progress in the commercialization of organic photovoltaics, however, has been hampered by the difficulty in finding suitable and affordable materials for the acceptor and donor parts of the cell structure. Graphene sheets have been shown to act as good acceptors when blended with conjugated polymers, but after blending, the photovoltaic characteristics of the polymers are considerably degraded.
The absorption of light is a fundamental process used in many applications from solar cells to biological vision. Light absorption isn't always linear, however. In some cases, two photons combine together to initiate the absorption process -- a phenomenon that offers unique advantages and which is used in a variety of technological applications from microfabrication to optical data storage. Wei Ji and co-workers from the National University of Singapore have now demonstrated that bilayer graphene shows a particularly strong two-photon absorption effect.
With the support of the ULMA Group's innovation area, ULMA Agrícola, following the agreement signed with Tecnalia through its Energy Unit, has installed photovoltaic modules on one of its two glass greenhouse units measuring approximately 400 m2.
Last year, I reported that the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) had taken a proactive stance in assessing the materials founds in various solar panels -- as well as the sustainability policies of the companies that make them. The idea is that not all solar technology is created equal when it comes to environmental impact, especially the implications associated with disposing of same.
The technology yielding flexible solar cells with an 18.7% world record efficiency developed by scientists at Empa, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, has now been published in Nature Materials ("Highly efficient Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells grown on flexible polymer films").
While roofs across the world sport photovoltaic solar panels to convert sunlight into electricity, a Duke University engineer believes a novel hybrid system can wring even more useful energy out of the sun's rays.
Imec, Polyera and international chemical group Solvay have achieved a new world-record efficiency of 8.3% for polymer-based single junction organic solar cells in an inverted device stack. These excellent performance results represent a crucial step towards successful commercialization of organic photovoltaic cells.
To make solar energy generation cost-effective, the PV industry has to reduce its manufacturing costs well below 1 euro/Wp. This holds for all PV technologies. To reach that ambitious goal, the crystalline Si based PV industry will have to increase the solar cell's efficiency while at the same time reducing the amount of high-purity Si that is used. But this requires developing advanced cell concepts that put more stringent requirements on process steps such as doping, cleaning and surface passivation. Several processes in the technology toolbox of CMOS are attractive to meet these stringent requirements. We can adopt these tools to decrease the solar cells euro/Wp, but we will have to 'solarize' them, adapting them to the needs and requirements of the PV industry.
By tweaking the smallest of parts, a trio of University at Buffalo engineers is hoping to dramatically increase the amount of sunlight that solar cells convert into electricity.
In a country where nearly 40 percent of households have no electricity, any new advancement that will help bring power to the world's second most populous nation, must be met with celebration and open arms.
Swedish venture capital companyIndustrifonden is investing SEK 18.5 million in Sol Voltaics, which is developing a totally new type of material that can significantly reduce the cost of producing electricity from solar cells. The new share issue totals SEK 40 million and the money will be used to further develop the company's products.
Solar or photovoltaic cells represent one of the best possible technologies for providing an absolutely clean and virtually inexhaustible source of energy to power our civilization. However, for this dream to be realized, solar cells need to be made from inexpensive elements using low-cost, less energy-intensive processing chemistry, and they need to efficiently and cost-competitively convert sunlight into electricity. A team of researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has now demonstrated two out of three of these requirements with a promising start on the third.
Sunnyvale, California-based Innovalight, a private company commercializing silicon ink and solar cell process technology, recently declared its partnership with the Taiwan- based, Grandway Wonice Technology, to market Innovalight's silicon ink and technologies to solar cell and panel developers across Taiwan.
The installed cost of solar photovoltaic (PV) power systems in the United States fell substantially in 2010 and into the first half of 2011, according to the latest edition of an annual PV cost tracking report released by the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).
Imec together with its silicon photovoltaic industrial affiliation program partners Schott Solar, Total, Photovoltech, GDF-SUEZ, Solland Solar, Kaneka and Dow Corning, have demonstrated an excellent conversion efficiency of 23.3% on interdigitated back-contact silicon solar cells.
International markets are very important to First Solar, as they account for around 62% of our price estimate for the company's stock. With increasing demand for PV modules from Germany and other European countries in the past, First Solar's total number of megawatt sales internationally grew from 6.7 MW in 2007 to around 508 MW in 2010. The growth was mainly complemented by government subsidies and incentives to popularize the adoption of solar energy, and this will continue to be a prime factor that will drive First Solar's PV sales in the coming years.
How do solar cells convert sunlight into electricity? If you are new to solar cells, here is a great introductory video from the VegaScience Trust's great Instructional Science and Engineering Videos series by Jonathan Hare.
Both because they're a country dedicated to teeny tiny carbon footprints, and because they're likely not too hot on nuclear power at the moment, Japan is expected to kick off a universal solar panel initiative. Every building, twenty years.
Struggling with a continuing nuclear crisis and strains on its power supplies, Japan is thinking of requiring that all new buildings, including homes, come equipped with rooftop solar panels by 2030, according to a recent Nikkei newspaper report.
A new Japanese solar power device can generate twice the electricity of current models thanks to moving mirrors that follow the sun throughout the day, according to its developers.
Japan’s Solar Frontier has made a big push into the U.S. market, landing a deal to supply 150 megawatts of advanced thin-film photovoltaic panels for installation in a California solar power plant to be built by enXco.
JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd., a fast-growing, vertically-integrated solar power product manufacturer based in China, today announced the launch of a new research and development center to focus on improving conversion efficiency of solar cells and next generation photovoltaic technology.
The three massive solar panels that will provide power for NASA's Juno spacecraft during its mission to Jupiter have seen their last photons of light until they are deployed in space after launch. The last of the Jupiter-bound spacecraft's panels completed pre-flight testing at the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Fla., and was folded against the side of the spacecraft into its launch configuration Thursday, May 26. The solar-powered Juno spacecraft will orbit Jupiter's poles 30 times to find out more about the gas giant's origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere.
The results were obtained by applying copper electroplating technology, which was developed by Kaneka based on imec’s existing copper electroplating technology, A conversion efficiency of more than 21% was achieved in 6-inch silicon substrates with an electroplated copper contact grid on top of the transparent conductive oxide layer.
There goes the neighborhood. A new study by New York University and Yale professors suggests that rooftop solar is contagious. You are more likely to install solar panels on your roof if your neighbors have gone solar.
Konarka Technologies, Inc., an innovator in development and commercialization of Konarka Power Plastic®, a lightweight, flexible material that converts light to electricity, today announced the company is working with the Color/Construction Unit of ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe, a leading supplier of steel construction elements in Germany, to develop steel roof and other construction elements for building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV). The joint solar solution will be based on Konarka's Power Plastic which easily replaces conventional building materials in roofs, skylights and facades.
On the occasion of eCarTech, the international trade fair for electric mobility, Konarka Technologies, the US manufacturer of organic solar cells, and the top 100 automobile supplier Webasto, officially announce their cooperation on integrating organic solar cells in automobile roof systems. The trade fair takes place in Munich from 18 to 21 October 2011.
The importance of silicon for almost every element in modern-day electronic devices and computers is due largely to its crystalline atomic structure. Crystalline silicon, however, is much more expensive to produce than its non-crystalline or amorphous form, which has limited the cost reduction achievable in devices such as silicon-based solar cells.
A layer of gold nanodots on the surface of indium-tin oxide coated glass may improve the efficiency of organic photovoltaic cells, according to new research published in the journal, Gold Bulletin.
Rooftop solar panels are attracting a new demographic of customers who are choosing to lease rather than buy, and enjoying the low upfront costs and immediate savings.
Solar power could be harvested more efficiently and transported over long distances using tiny molecular circuits, according to research inspired by new insights into natural photosynthesis.
Researchers from the Netherlands- based Delft University of Technology's Kavli Institute and the Chemical Engineering Department have established that electrons can be made to move freely in linked semiconductor nanoparticle layers induced by light. This discovery could be instrumental in developing inexpensive and high-performance quantum dot solar cells.
Natcore Technology researchers have revealed that the company's liquid phase deposition (LPD) method could help in the application of an antireflective (AR) coating to planar and textured solar cells resulting in a decrease of wafer thickness by doing away with the thermal vacuum AR coating procedure. The research was done by Natcore scientists at the Columbus-based Ohio State University.
Kesterites combine the low cost of thin film solar cell technologies with extremely low raw material cost. Their main component consists of copper, zinc, tin, and sulfur or selenium, all abundant and low cost elements. Several labs have reported that the loss of tin during preparation limits the ability to control deposition processes. The Laboratory for Photovoltaics has now developed a preparation process that allows controlling the tin loss and has in the first attempt led to record efficiency.
Futurist Ray Kurzweil has observed that solar power--like computing power--follows a steady rate of increasing efficiency for diminishing cost. Following the numbers, Kurzweil predicts that in just 20 years, market forces will completely replace fossil fuels with solar energy. Even the most stubborn global warming denier will step away from coal and oil--harnessing the sun's energy will simply become a far cheaper alternative to siphoning, processing, and transporting dead dinosaur goop.
Magnolia Solar Corporation announces that its wholly owned subsidiary, Magnolia Solar, Inc., has demonstrated high-voltage InGaAs quantum well waveguide solar cells, a unique structure capable of improving the performance of photovoltaic modules. Dr. Roger E. Welser, Magnolia's Chief Technical Officer, summarized the latest technical results at the Solar Energy and Technology Conference in San Diego, CA on August 21, 2011.
Magnolia Solar Corporation announced today that its wholly owned subsidiary, Magnolia Solar, Inc., has demonstrated InGaAs quantum well solar cells that operate at record high voltages. These ground-breaking technical results were presented by Magnolia Solar, Inc.'s Chief Technical Officer, Dr. Roger E. Welser, at the 37th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC) in Seattle, WA on June 23, 2011.
Magnolia Solar Corporation announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Magnolia Solar, Inc., has demonstrated ultra-high transmittance through glass employing a nanostructured antireflection coating. These exciting technical results were presented by Magnolia's Chief Technical Officer, Dr. Roger E. Welser, at the SPIE Defense, Security, and Sensing Conference in Orlando, FL on April 26, 2011. The presentation was part of a special session on Advanced Harvesting Devices, and summarizes work done in collaboration with Prof. Fred Schubert's group at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). Dr. Welser also presented a second paper in this session highlighting the importance of quantum well and quantum dot structures for defense-related energy harvesting applications.
Magnolia Solar Corporation announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Magnolia Solar, Inc., has received a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research / Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) award from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The award will allow Magnolia Solar to develop technologies designed to increase the overall power output of advanced photovoltaic systems employed in NASA's exploration and science missions. The Phase I award is for $100,000 over a six month period, after which a Phase II proposal will be submitted to support continued technology development efforts and product demonstration.
The Trajectory Solar Monitor (TSM) metrology system from Nanometrics, which specialises in the manufacturing of advanced metrology systems, has been installed by a prominent solar PV manufacturer for the purpose of controlling Copper, Indium and Gallium (CIGS) films and monitoring of processes.
A new market survey paper from Reportlinker.com is available in its catalogue titled, 'Global and China Thin-film Solar Cell Industry Report, 2010', and is also available online.
Despites huge research funding for photovoltaics, contribution of solar cells to energy market is still negligible. The major obstacle is high production cost of silicon solar cells: current solar cell market is dominated by silicon technology. Bulky and rigid silicon solar cell with a power conversion efficiency above 10% and a lifetime of 25 years have become the benchmark in photovoltaic industry. However, there are plenty of scopes for disposable and inexpensive solar cells with a moderate efficiency and a shorter lifetime, which can be compared with plant leaves with a typical efficiency of 3-7% and a lifetime less than a year. Our research was motivated to produce cheap and disposable solar cells with a moderate power conversion efficiency.
When officials in Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Spain, suggested placing solar panels in the town's cemetery, they were met with significant skepticism. But after three years of public outreach, the city council prevailed and the town mounted 462 solar panels on top of a quarter-acre of mausoleums.
In the near future, solar cells are expected to be highly efficient, thinner, more flexible, cheaper and easier to manufacture than the silicon solar cells of today. This could pave the way for them to be the most promising renewable energy source of choice globally.
US Equity Holdings and technology development company Nano Terra, Inc. today announced the formation of Microline PV LLC, which will develop and commercialize solar photovoltaic (PV) technology.
Silicon Valley startup SolarCity is undertaking the United States's largest residential solar project, a $1 billion, 371-megawatt program to put 160,000 photovoltaic installations on privately owned military housing and other structures in 33 states.
Printers have come a long way. First, they printed text and images on paper. Then 3D objects out of plastic (and let's not forget 3D printers that print parts for itself). Then various foodstuffs. But now, thanks to MIT, printers can now output solar cells.
Teams of viruses can help build better solar panels by ensuring nanoscale components behave properly, according to a new study. MIT researchers say their virus-assisted breakthrough could improve solar panels' energy conversion efficiency by one-third.
Talk about weird science. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are using a genetically modified version of the M13 virus, which infects bacteria, to control the arrangement of nanotubes on the surface of solar cells -- improving their efficiency.
Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp will start making adhesive film used in solar cells, challenging Bridgestone Corp and Mitsui Chemicals Inc , who make the key material that determines the life span of the cells, the Nikkei business daily said.
A novel application of carbon nanotubes, developed by MIT researchers, shows promise as an innovative approach to storing solar energy for use whenever it's needed.
Solar cells made from organic materials are inexpensive, lightweight and flexible, but their performance lags behind cells that contain silicon or other inorganic materials. Cornell chemist William Dichtel and colleagues have found a way to synthesize ordered organic films that could be a major step toward solving this problem.
A new European project called MOLESOL has been set up to demonstrate a revolutionary pathway for fabricating low-cost, high-efficiency and stable solar cells. The envisaged solar cell will be a hybrid device that consists of dye monolayers that are linked through an organic molecular wire to a semiconducting thin film deposited on a transparent substrate.
Germany, Italy, and Spain may be the solar powerhouses of today, but in five years, a new set of countries led by India will emerge as leading consumers of solar technology, according to an analyst.
Nano-titanium-dioxide (nano-TiO2) is already used in a variety of consumer products; the most well-known being sun screen. Nano-TiO2 is also used in a variety of other products, including solar cells and catalysts. It is used in various coatings/surfaces due to its self-cleaning, sterilizing, anti-fouling, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties. Nano-TiO2 is also employed as a filler in various paints, varnishes, (printing) inks, ceramics, rubbers and in paper.
Basic scientific curiosity paid off in unexpected ways when Rice University researchers investigating the fundamental physics of nanomaterials discovered a new technology that could dramatically improve solar energy panels.
Nanoco Group plc, a world leader in the development and manufacture of cadmium-free quantum dots and other nanomaterials, announces that it has signed a further agreement with Tokyo Electron, the major Japanese equipment supplier, following the successful completion of the initial phase of development of a nanomaterial-based solar film.
Nanofilm today announced an ongoing research project on the benefits of its hydrophobic and hydrophilic coatings for solar panels. The work, begun in the fall of 2010, is in partnership with the Open Solar Outdoors Test Field. Phase One testing is measuring the coatings' ability to help panels shed sun-blocking snow that interferes with operation in cold climates. Further testing will determine the coatings' ability to shed dirt that reduces glass transmissivity and panel efficiency.
Nanometrics Incorporated, a leading supplier of advanced metrology systems, announced that a major manufacturer of advanced thin film solar photovoltaic (PV) cells has selected and successfully installed the latest generation of the TSM™ (Trajectory Solar Monitor) metrology system for in-line process monitoring and control of CIGS (Copper, Indium, Gallium) films. Established and recognized as a valuable tool for rapid film thickness measurement, the TSM now includes photoluminescence scanning, further expanding its applications and market opportunities.
Applied Nanotech Holdings will unveil its range of solar inks on May 6 at its new facility. The technology consisting of aluminum, copper, nickel and silver will use aerosolized jet, inkjet and spray coating techniques besides non-contact printing methods to deliver ultra-thin silicon wafers for PV applications.
Using minute graphite particles 1000 times smaller than the width of a human hair, mechanical engineers at Arizona State University hope to boost the efficiency -- and profitability -- of solar power plants.
The biggest obstacle to making use of solar energy has been the excessively high price of solar cells made of inorganic semiconductors. In contrast, solar cells based on semiconducting polymers are affordable, light, thin, and flexible--but their performance has been lacking. A team led by Chain-Shu Hsu at the National Chaio Tung University and Yuh-Lin Wang at Academia Sinica in Taiwan has now developed a new approach that uses fullerene nanorods to significantly increase the effectiveness of polymer-based solar cells.
Thin film solar printing leader Nanosolar, Inc. today announced that the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has certified an aperture efficiency of 17.1% for a solar cell fabricated using Nanosolar's non-vacuum, low cost printing on flexible foil technology.
Thin film solar printing leader Nanosolar, Inc. today announced its supply of Nanosolar Utility Panels to two separate installations totaling close to six megawatts in partnership with EDF Energies Nouvelles and its US subsidiary enXco.
Thin film solar innovation leader Nanosolar, Inc. announced new efficiency benchmarks of 11.6 percent for the Nanosolar Utility Panel and 13.9 percent for its printed CIGS (Copper, Indium, Gallium, Selenium) solar cells, as measured by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy (ISE) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The company also announced an agreement for panel warranty insurance with Munich Re, and membership in European panel recycling organization PV Cycle.
Thin-film solar, that is. Nanosolar announced Thursday that it had signed contracts to supply up to one gigawatt of its thin-film photovoltaic panels to European solar power plant builders over the next three to six years.
Nanosolar, a provider of thin film solar cells and panels, recently signed long-time supply contracts with Belectric of Kolitzheim, Germany, Plain Energy of Munich, Germany and EDF Energies Nouvelles of Paris, France for up to 1GW of its Utility Panel.
An Oerlikon Solar team in Switzerland in collaboration with the photovoltaic team at the Institute of Physics at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic has discovered an innovative design for a thin film solar cell that is low in silicon content, and may considerably increase efficiency.
Researchers in Singapore have exploited advanced nanostructure technology to make a highly efficient and yet cheaper silicon solar cell. With this development, the researchers hope that the cost of solar energy can be halved.
EPOD Solar Inc. announced that Nanotech Industries International Inc., its wholly owned subsidiary, has entered into an agreement with Nanotop, a Russian corporation owned by Leonid Tavrovsky, a prominent industrialist, for the manufacturing rights and distribution of the Company's Hybrid Non-Isocyanate Polyurethane, also known as Green Polyurethane™, in the Russian Federation.
Barry D. Bruce, professor of biochemistry, cellular and molecular biology, at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is turning the term "power plant" on its head. The biochemist and a team of researchers have developed a system that taps into photosynthetic processes to produce efficient and inexpensive energy.
The University of Queensland's Associate Professor Lianzhou Wang has won a Scopus Young Researcher of the Year Award for his work on new nanomaterials for efficient solar energy conversion technology.
Sunnyvale, California-based Innovalight, a company that commercializes silicon ink and next generation solar cell process technology, recently declared its partnership with Marubeni.
The sun has enough power to supply the whole earth with energy. But as long as renewable energy is more expensive than energy produced by coal or nuclear plants, solar energy won't be first choice. In Europe photovoltaic cells make only a vanishing small share of renewable energy sources.
Nanotechnology may be an emerging field of study, but it's actually been around for a number of centuries, said Murray Gibson, founding dean of the College of Science at Northeastern University.
Clean solutions to human energy demands are essential to our future. While sunlight is the most abundant source of energy at our disposal, we have yet to learn how to capture, transfer and store solar energy efficiently. According to University of Toronto chemistry professor Greg Scholes, the answers can be found in the complex systems at work in nature.
Nanyang Technological University (NTU) declared that it will invest nearly $3 million for three years to establish a new research center for nanostructured photosystems for the development and commercialization of future-generation solar cells.
Natcore Technology Inc. has been granted a patent license agreement from the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory to develop and commercialize a line of black silicon products--including equipment, chemicals, and solar cells---based on NREL patents.
Natcore Technology Inc. begins work on the first production model of its intelligent LPD processing station for growing an antireflective (AR) coating on silicon wafers in the process of becoming solar cells.
The U.S. Patent Office has awarded patent no. 7,999,176 B2 to Natcore Technology Inc. for a solar cell structure that uses carbon nanotubes to improve cell performance. Approved in April, this patent was issued on August 16.
After a four-month search, Natcore Technology Inc. has decided to establish the Natcore Research and Development Center at Eastman Business Park in Rochester, NY. The Rochester location was selected over several other finalists throughout the country.
A research team working under Natcore Technology Inc. co-founder Prof. Andrew Barron has fabricated two families of multilayer quantum dot films, one with silicon quantum dots and the other with germanium quantum dots, both of which have demonstrated the ability to produce a photo-generated current.
Scientists at Natcore Technology Inc. have been able to demonstrate the effectiveness of its liquid phase deposition (LPD) process in passivating the surface of "black silicon" solar cells.
Structural studies of some of nature's most efficient light-harvesting systems are lighting the way for new generations of biologically inspired solar cell devices.
So much political hay has been made over the collapse of Solyndra, which was supported by government funding American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Government isn’t qualified to pick technological winners and losers, said detractors; support for renewable energy is political, they said.
To speed entry for solar panel manufacturers into the North American and international markets, a new laboratory opened in Albuquerque, New Mexico, that offers worldwide certification services from one location.
Scientists from Singapore's Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE) and National University of Singapore (NUS) have created a new chemical method that enables the development of a variety of tiny light conducting metal-semiconductor contacts. These light-sensitive nano-sized components could help create bioimaging labels as well as better photocatalysts used in fuel cells.
A North Carolina State University invention has significant potential to improve the efficiency of solar cells and other technologies that derive energy from light.
A team of researchers from the University of Chicago and the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory has demonstrated a method that could produce cheaper semiconductor layers for solar cells ("Band-like transport, high electron mobility and high photoconductivity in all-inorganic nanocrystal arrays").
The direct conversion of sunlight into electricity using photovoltaics is becoming an increasingly important technology for renewable energy generation as a replacement for fossil fuels, with applications from large-scale generation to roof-top solar panels and even mobile phones. But photovoltaics still accounts for only a marginal fraction of global energy supply. One of the main reasons for this is the relatively high cost of the base material -- silicon -- used in the most common type of solar cell.
In recent years various bottom-up processes (such as growth techniques) and top-down processes (such as electron beam, lithography, nanoimprint) have been used to produce one dimensional nanostructure on semiconductor substrate (for example, periodic or random nanowires, nanopillars and nanocone arrays). All these approaches involve nanoscale prepatterning or extreme fabrication conditions; hence, they are often limited by associated high cost and low yield.
Ocean Optics has introduced an optical measurement system for absolute irradiance measurements of solar simulators and other radiant sources. The RaySphere enables measurement of absolute irradiance (mW/cm2/nm) over different spectral ranges from the UV to the NIR (380-1700 nm).
Molecular Solar Ltd, a spinout company from the University of Warwick, has achieved a significant breakthrough in the performance of solar photovoltaic (PV) cells. They have achieved and demonstrated a record voltage for organic photovoltaic cells that means these highly flexible, low cost solar cells can now be devolved for commercial uses in a wide range of consumer electronics.
Mention prime geography for generation of solar energy, and people tend to think of hot deserts. But a new study concludes that some of the world's coldest landscapes -- including the Himalaya Mountains, the Andes, and even Antarctica -- could become Saudi Arabias of solar. The research appears in the ACS journal Environmental Science &; Technology.
Researchers are creating a new type of solar cell designed to self-repair like natural photosynthetic systems in plants by using carbon nanotubes and DNA, an approach aimed at increasing service life and reducing cost.
Efficiency is a problem with today's solar panels; they only collect about 20 percent of available light. Now, a University of Missouri engineer has developed a flexible solar sheet that captures more than 90 percent of available light, and he plans to make prototypes available to consumers within the next five years.
TU Delft has demonstrated that the speed at which inexpensive solar cells are produced can be increased by a factor of ten -- and that this can be achieved without any detriment to the energy yield of the cells. This will almost certainly result in a further reduction in the price of the cells, which are made of amorphous silicon. On Monday 14 March, Michael Wank defended his thesis on this subject at TU Delft.
New drug delivery systems, solar cells, industrial catalysts and video displays are among the potential applications of special particles that possess two chemically distinct sides. These particles are named after the two-faced Roman god Janus and their twin chemical faces allow them to form novel structures and new materials.
Consistent appraisals of homes and businesses outfitted with photovoltaic installations are a real challenge for the nation's real estate industry, but a new tool developed by Sandia National Laboratories and Solar Power Electric™ and licensed by Sandia addresses that issue. Sandia scientists, in partnership with Jamie Johnson of Solar Power Electric™, have developed PV ValueTM, an electronic form to standardize appraisals.
Scientists from the University of Picardie Jules Verne and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology are reporting development of a new genre of an electrolyte system for solar cells that breaks the double-digit barrier in the efficiency with which the devices convert sunlight into electricity. Their study appears in Journal of the American Chemical Society ("Butyronitrile-Based Electrolyte for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells").
Conventional silicon-based rigid solar cells generally found on the market are not suitable for manufacturing moldable thin-film solar cells, in which a transparent, flexible and electrically conductive electrode collects the light and carries away the current. A woven polymer electrode developed by Empa has now produced first results which are very promising, indicating that the new material may be a substitute for indium tin oxide coatings.
The extremely high electron mobility of graphene -- under ideal conditions electrons move through it with roughly 100 times the mobility they have in silicon -- combined with its superior strength and the fact that it is nearly transparent (2.3 % of light is absorbed; 97.7 % transmitted), make it an ideal candidate for photovoltaic applications (see: "Ultrathin transparent graphene films as alternative to metal oxide electrodes"). As such, it could be a promising replacement material for indium tin oxide (ITO), the current standard material for transparent electrodes used for electrodes in LCD displays, solar cells, iPad and smart-phone touch screens, and organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays for televisions and computer monitors.
Scientists at the Pennsylvania State University, King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST) and University of Toronto (U of T) have designed a colloidal-quantum-dot solar cell with a record conversion efficiency using atomic-ligand passivation technique.
The École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) research team has designed a novel nanopatterning technique to improve the output of ultra-thin solar cells, when compared to traditional solar cells.
Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced a major victory for a partnership between SEMATECH and the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) at UAlbany, along with the University of Central Florida., as they secured a $57.5 million federal grant that will provide a major boost to the U.S. Photovoltaic Manufacturing Consortium (PVMC).
NXP Semiconductors announced that it has developed an innovative, sustainable and highly efficient solar-powered street lighting solution, together with Philips Lighting. The groundbreaking Solar Gen2 solution, which NXP is demonstrating this week at CES 2012 (booth CP8), could have a major impact on energy consumption in urban areas at night.
In the race to enhance the efficiency of solar cells, spending the time and effort to get tiny nanowires to line up neatly on the top of ordinary silicon wafers may not be worth the effort.
Switzerland-based Oerlikon Solar, kingpins in thin film silicon solar module equipment, has announced that it has reached a milestone in reducing the cost of production for its thin-film silicon photovoltaic panels.
The number of households in electricity-starved Bangladesh using solar panels has crossed the one million mark -- the fastest expansion of solar use in the world, officials said Wednesday.
Preventing the recombination of free charges produced when light strikes a solar cell is one of the main goal of engineers attempting to extract the maximum energy conversion efficiency from their devices. One way to achieve this is by building into the cell a 'heterojunction' between positive (p) and negative (n) type semiconductors, which allows the light-induced positive and negative charge to escape the cell by moving in opposite directions at the heterojunction interface. Mingyong Han at the A*STAR Institute of Materials Research and Engineering and co-workers1 have now discovered a way to produce high-quality nanoscale heterojunctions, setting the stage for cheaper and more efficient photovoltaic devices.
Within a few days, Nick Thiel will take control of about 110,000 high-end solar panels pumping 30 megawatts of power onto the grid from a former potato and carrot farm.
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu struck an optimistic note about the future of solar energy Thursday but said the economic benefits of the emerging clean-energy industry will be reaped elsewhere if the business is not encouraged at home.
Undergraduate researcher Safatul Islam is a member of a team in the College of Optical Sciences investigating organic photovoltaics, which can lead to improved electronics.
NPL scientists have achieved a significant breakthrough in the metrology of organic photovoltaics -- a solar power technology. The research demonstrated a new type of atomic force microscopy that can 'see' down into a working organic photovoltaic cell and relate its three-dimensional nanoscale structure to its performance.
Solar cells made from organic semiconductors rather than silicon are relatively easy to fabricate but their energy conversion performance has so far been limited due to the typically poor quality of their internal interfaces. The quality of the 'donor--acceptor' junction between the negatively and positively charged regions is particularly important in such devices. Keisuke Tajima and colleagues at the University of Tokyo in Japan and the Beijing Institute of Technology in China have now demonstrated an unprecedented degree of control over this donor--acceptor junction.
In a step toward engineering ever-smaller electronic devices, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have assembled nanoscale pairings of particles that show promise as miniaturized power sources. Composed of light-absorbing, colloidal quantum dots linked to carbon-based fullerene nanoparticles, these tiny two-particle systems can convert light to electricity in a precisely controlled way.
Which is more efficient at harvesting the sun's energy, plants or solar cells? This salient question and an answer are the subject of an article published in the May 13 issue of the journal Science ("Comparing Photosynthetic and Photovoltaic Efficiencies and Recognizing the Potential for Improvement").
An invention by a South Dakota State University engineer could improve alternative energy technologies by making it easier for scientists to test new devices.
New research by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory finds strong evidence that homes with solar photovoltaic (PV) systems sell for a premium over homes without solar systems.
The tenth edition of the JRC PV Status Report indicates that in 2010, the photovoltaic (PV) industry production more than doubled and reached a world-wide production volume of 23.5 gigawatt (GW) of photovoltaic modules. Since 1990, photovoltaic module production has increased more than 500-fold from 46 megawatts (MW) to 23.5 GW in 2010, which makes photovoltaics one of the fastest-growing industries at present.
Two Lehigh physicists have developed an imaging technique that makes it possible to directly observe light-emitting excitons as they diffuse in a new material that is being explored for its extraordinary electronic properties. Called rubrene, it is one of a new generation of single-crystal organic semiconductors.
A step change in research relating to plasma nanoscience is needed for the world to overcome the challenge of sufficient energy creation and storage, says a leading scientist from CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering and the University of Sydney, Australia.
While the most common device for converting light into electricity may be photovoltaic (PV) solar cells, a variety of other devices can perform the same light-to-electricity conversion, such as solar-thermal collectors and rectennas. In a new study, engineers have designed a new device that can convert light of infrared (IR) and visible wavelengths into direct current by using surface plasmon excitations in a simple metal-insulator-metal (MIM) device.
University of Massachusetts Amherst polymer scientist Ryan Hayward recently received a five-year, $750,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to improve understanding of the fundamentals for the next generation of lightweight and flexible electricity-conducting polymers. They are in limited use now in thin solar panels on messenger bags that can recharge a cell phone battery, for example.
The significant research interest in the engineering of photovoltaic structures at the nanoscale is directed toward enabling reductions in PV module fabrication and installation costs as well as improving cell power conversion efficiency.
Printable, flexible solar cells that could dramatically decrease the cost of renewable energy have been developed by University of Melbourne PhD student Brandon MacDonald in collaboration with his colleagues from University of Melbourne's Bio21 Institute and the CSIRO's Future Manufacturing Flagship.
These days, everyone talks about the use of solar energy for the generation of electricity. Conventional solar cells, however, use expensive materials and are manufactured under costly clean room conditions. Consequently, they can only deliver expensive electricity. Researchers at Chemnitz University of Technology have now presented solar panels that are printed on paper.
During IDTechEx's Printed Electronics and Photovoltaics USA conference and tradeshow in Santa Clara this November 30 - December 1, attendees will have the opportunity to tour the facilities of Applied Materials, the company featured in this article. Attendees will also have the opportunity to tour FUJIFILM Dimatix and Stanford University.
The Institute of Polymer Optoelectronic Materials & Devices, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, in close collaboration with the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, has shown that the band gap and energy levels of conjugated polymers can be finely tuned using a two-dimensional-like donor--acceptor (D--A) molecular design, which is of important for polymer solar cell applications. The study is reported in Volume 54 of Science China Chemistry because of its significant research value.
Second-quarter U.S. installations of photovoltaic solar panels rose 17 percent from the previous quarter as increases in non-residential and utility-scale projects offset a weakened residential solar market.
Q-Cells SE, one of the world's leading photovoltaics companies, has marked a new world record in the field of major polycrystalline solar cells. The independent calibration laboratory of Fraunhofer ISE (Institute for Solar Energy Systems) in Freiburg (Germany) confirmed the record efficiency rating of 19.5% on an area of 243 cm². The high-performance solar cell is based on the new Q.ANTUM cell concept, developed by Q-Cells in recent years. On the occasion of the biggest industry fair in the world, Intersolar 2011 in Munich, Q-Cells has been nominated for the Intersolar Award 2011 for a first kind of these solar cells, achieving an efficiency rating of 18.45%.
Working with the Universities of East Anglia, York and Nottingham and using nanotechnology 100,000 times smaller than the thickness of a human hair, the researchers are working on harnessing the vast energy of the Sun to produce clean fuel.
An international research team has explained for the first time that silicon nanowires that have been randomly grown can considerably enhance the power-generating capabilities of solar cells by trapping sunlight radiating in from different angles and capturing a wide spectrum of light waves.
Headquartered in Norway, manufacturer of solar modules and solar wafers, REC has announced that modules and wafers produced by the company have received a TÜV certification whereby the products containing European components will benefit from the 10% premium provided as per the Italian photovoltaic incentive scheme.
Scientists at Empa, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, have further boosted the energy conversion efficiency of flexible solar cells made of copper indium gallium (di)selenide (also known as CIGS) to a new world record of 18.7 percent -- a significant improvement over the previous record of 17.6 percent achieved by the same team in June 2010. The measurements have been independently certified by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Freiburg, Germany.
2011 has been a year of progress for the solar industry, with Europe in particular having recorded an installation rate approaching 14GW. Currently, it is anticipated that the region's PV capacity will hit 100GW by 2020. The pressure on solar manufacturers is inevitably mounting and they are increasingly turning to more efficient technologies to help them meet rising demands. Many of these, including advanced firing and drying solutions from Rehm Thermal Systems, will be on show at the 26th EU PVSEC exhibition, being held from 5th -- 9th September in Hamburg, Germany.
A three-year grant worth of approximately $1 million will be shared by the scientists at the University of Arkansas and Arkansas State University to study the utility of semiconductor and metallic nanoparticles in solar cells that are used as power sources in satellites and spacecrafts.
The researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute have come up with a new method of protecting photovoltaic cells by using plastic film. Dr. Klaus Noller, explained that glass plates are usually used for protecting photovoltaic cells, based on the idea Fraunhofer scientists propose to encapsulate photovoltaic cells in a plastic barrier film. He added that the plastic films are much lighter and more flexible when compared to glass plates.
Researchers at the University of Warwick have developed a gold plated window as the transparent electrode for organic solar cells ("Ultrathin Transparent Au Electrodes for Organic Photovoltaics Fabricated Using a Mixed Mono-Molecular Nucleation Layer"). Contrary to what one might expect, these electrodes have the potential to be relatively cheap since the thickness of gold used is only 8 billionths of a metre. This ultra-low thickness means that even at the current high gold price the cost of the gold needed to fabricate one square metre of this electrode is only around £4.5. It can also be readily recouped from the organic solar cell at the end of its life and since gold is already widely used to form reliable interconnects it is no stranger to the electronics industry.
Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have designed a new photovoltaic energy-conversion system using a material whose surface is etched with billions of nanoscale pits that help the surface to emit light energy with wavelengths suitable for optimum electricity production by the system.
Imagine if the next coat of paint you put on the outside of your home generates electricity from light--electricity that can be used to power the appliances and equipment on the inside.
Journal of the American Chemical Society, in its latest issue, has published a study done by research group, Dr. Vinay Gupta and coauthors from the Organic and Hybrid Solar Cell Group at the National Physical Laboratory located in New Delhi, India.
Chemistry researchers from University of Adelaide developed tiny metallic particles that serve as a platform for producing clean, effective and cost-saving hydrogen energy.
Thin-film solar cells without added silicon 'bulk' is the new creation of Czech and Swiss researchers and industry actors, who worked together to deliver a product that could deliver greater efficiency. The study was funded in part by the N2P ('Flexible production technologies and equipment based on atmospheric pressure plasma processing for 3D [three-dimensional] nano structured surfaces') project, which has clinched EUR 7.4 million under the 'Nanosciences, nanotechnologies, materials and new production technologies' (NMP) Theme of the EU's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). The design is presented in the journal Applied Physics Letters ("Nanostructured three-dimensional thin film silicon solar cells with very high efficiency potential").
Boston University researchers demonstrated a new way to efficiently trap and enhance light in nanoscale structures and nanopatterned thin films, which can significantly improve performance of photonic and electronic devices such as nanosensors, thin-film organic solar cells and optical nanochips.
Organic solar cells have the potential to convert sunlight into electrical energy in an economical and environmentally friendly fashion. The challenge is that they still work less efficiently than inorganic semiconductors. Ultrafast measurements on hybrid cells now reveal a route to double their efficiency.
At the 4th Photovoltaic Fab Managers Forum, held on March 8 in Berlin, SEMI PV Group Europe announced the formation of a new European group for crystalline solar cells. This founding group of eight crystalline solar cell manufacturers (Q-Cells, Deutsche Cell, Bosch Solar Energy, Schott Solar, Sovello, Sunways, SolarWatt/Systaic Cells and Solland) is working together in a pre-competitive environment to address the technology challenges facing the photovoltaic industry.
Solar has taken a hit lately in the media, and the opinion of some newspaper columnists is that solar technology deserves a stern dressing down. The negative stories written about Solyndra have put a smear on the entire solar industry. Solar, before the Solyndra debacle, enjoyed extremely positive press for its reliable and clean energy generation delivered amazingly by the sun every day. Solar enjoyed a rebirth at exactly the right time as a strong growth industry that provides good quality jobs and careers across the country. But then Solyndra collapsed and the solar goodwill suddenly was in flames.
Silicon Solar Solutions is awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant effective January 4th, 2010. The focus of the SBIR is to develop Silicon Solar Solutions' award winning technologies for thin-film solar cells. The process, denoted TAIC, replaces the most costly and time consuming steps in the creation of traditional polycrystalline thin-film solar cells. The proprietary TAIC process creates a thin film of large grain polysilicon by crystallizing amorphous silicon. The size of the grains produced using this method (shown to the right) are ninety times larger than conventional methods and are produced in a fraction of the time.
Siltronic AG and the Belgian nano-electronics research institute imec have concluded an agreement to collaborate on the development of silicon wafers with a gallium nitride layer as partner of imec's GaN-on-Si industrial affiliation program (IIAP). The endeavor aims to enable production of solid-state lighting (e.g. LEDs) and power semiconductors of the next generation on 200 mm silicon wafers.
Silevo, the Fremont, California, photovoltaic solar module manufacturers, yesterday stepped forward to talk all about their technology for the first time and to say that it offers the best performance-to-cost ratio for solar modules in the industry, thanks to their groundbreaking new design.
Over the past few years, research into fabrication techniques for nanocrystals has led to rod-like structures (nanorods) with diameters that range from 2 to 10 nm and lengths ranging from 5 to 100 nm. Due to their intrinsic structural anisotropy, nanorods possess many unique properties that make them potentially better nanocrystals than quantum dots for photovoltaics and biomedical applications.
Studies done by Mark Lusk and colleagues at the Colorado School of Mines could significantly improve the efficiency of solar cells. Their latest work describes how the size of light-absorbing particles--quantum dots--affects the particles' ability to transfer energy to electrons to generate electricity.
Studies done by Mark Lusk and colleagues at the Colorado School of Mines could significantly improve the efficiency of solar cells. Their latest work describes how the size of light-absorbing particles--quantum dots--affects the particles' ability to transfer energy to electrons to generate electricity.
Nanoscale clustering of metal impurities at intragranular dislocations within industrial mc-Si solar cells have been observed by users from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology working with the Center for Nanoscale Materials (CNM) X-Ray Microscopy Group, in collaboration with scientists at the Advanced Photon Source (APS).
A new twist on an old solar cell design sends light ricocheting through layers of microscopic spheres, increasing its electricity-generating potential by 26 percent.
The dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC) is a next-generation photovoltaic technology with the potential to reduce the cost of solar energy production to levels comparable to that of fossil fuel-based electricity generation. DSCs use a mix of dye molecules and inexpensive titanium dioxide (TiO2)
Solar company Stirling Energy Systems has filed for bankruptcy, another casualty of a brutal global price war that is favoring commodity photovoltaic panels.
Scientists have finally figured how a way to solar cells to produce more energy than they absorb, reaching a critical success point in making solar energy a viable alternative to fossil fuels. However, MIT's Technology Review highlights a political war between China and the United States that could actually make the photovoltaic technology too expensive to market. As a result, energy that should be globally affordable in the near future might just be out of reach.
Storing power is complicated and expensive, but very often, especially far away from the regular power grids, there is no way around large batteries for grid-independent electricity consumers. It would make more sense to use the electricity when it is generated. This becomes possible with the help of a smart energy management system
The hubbub over Solyndra's $535 million federal loan guarantee, a glut of solar panels and a 40 percent drop in prices for them are stirring worries from the solar energy advocates that they would lose a popular solar grant program and see big cutbacks in research and development budgets of solar companies.
The laws of supply and demand are actively at work in the solar industry with two direct effects: the death of some solar panel providers and a boost in the number of solar panels installed in the U.S.
A brewing battle that pits U.S. solar manufacturers against their Chinese rivals could end up taking away the low-cost solar panels that have helped to propel the solar market growth and provide consumers with more affordable solar electricity.
Solar Junction, a Silicon Valley solar start-up, said today that its solar cell has been measured at a peak efficiency of 43.5 percent, topping previous records.
Major solar companies aren't just prioritizing market share and installed megawatts these days, according to a study that contends that the environmental and health effects of photovoltaic panels also are becoming a major consideration.
Engineers at MIT are tinkering with all sorts of advanced solar power technology, like self-assembling solar cells, virus-structured cells and an artificial leaf system that mimics photosynthesis. Their latest project is somewhat more simple: It can be printed on a regular sheet of paper.
Those solar panels on top of your roof aren't just providing clean power; they are cooling your house, or your workplace, too, according to a team of researchers led by Jan Kleissl, a professor of environmental engineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering.
Solar panels are, for the most part, large black panels, made of squares, but what if it does not have to be that way. What if users could get all of the benefits of solar panels without making their roofs look like the side of a Manhattan skyscraper?
Solar power may be on the rise, but solar cells are only as efficient as the amount of sunlight they collect. Under the direction of a new McCormick professor, researchers have developed a new material that absorbs a wide range of wavelengths and could lead to more efficient and less expensive solar technology.
GlassPoint Solar yesterday announced that it has signed a deal to install a 7-megawatt solar power system for Petroleum Development Oman to aid oil extraction. The solar system, which is essentially a glass house with solar concentrators, will generate the steam needed to pump oil from existing fields.
Researchers at MIT have found a way to make significant improvements to the power-conversion efficiency of solar cells by enlisting the services of tiny viruses to perform detailed assembly work at the microscopic level.
Paul Krugman’s Sunday column looks at solar energy as the next tech revolution -- and a necessary step if we want to achieve energy independence and a clean, hospitable environment.
Developers of the giant Blythe Solar Power Project in California have switched from solar thermal technology to photovoltaic solar panels, one of a string of similar changes at large-scale solar projects.
A dramatic and surprising magnetic effect of light discovered by University of Michigan researchers could lead to solar power without traditional semiconductor-based solar cells.
MIT researchers and their collaborators have come up with an unusual, highly efficient and possibly less expensive way of turning the sun's heat into electricity.
Developers of solar thermal power plants are scrapping plans to use steam technology in favor of ever-cheaper solar panels that are easier to finance and could help assuage concerns about the systems' environmental impact.
We live in a world where energy consumption continues to escalate while our natural resources diminish. In order to meet our current and future energy demands a switch needs to be made so as to rely more on renewable energy than non-renewable.
U.S. solar energy manufacturers are reportedly planning to file anti-dumping and countervailing duty petitions with the U.S. International Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Commerce as soon as this afternoon.
High-speed international trains linking Paris and Amsterdam as of Monday became the first in Europe to use electricity generated by solar panels installed in a tunnel on the line.
A solar-powered sensor station to monitor in real time the concentration of gases that are key culprits in climate change and air pollution has been installed on a QUT Gardens Point roof as part of an international study on solar-powered environmental nano sensors.
Solar3D, Inc., the developer of a breakthrough 3-dimensional solar cell technology to maximize the conversion of sunlight into electricity, announced today that its technology development is ahead of schedule.
Solar3D, Inc., the developer of a breakthrough 3-dimensional solar cell technology to maximize the conversion of sunlight into electricity, today announced that it has completed the design of the Light Collector section, a critical part of its novel solar cell.
At an elegant, port-side venue in Valencia, Spain, in September, Christian Reimann received heady honors for a young scientist: the SolarWorld Junior Einstein Award, a cash prize and a standing ovation from a room full of leading scientists and industrialists working on solar photovoltaic technology.
Imec and Solliance have announced that imec will be a full partner of Solliance and will integrate its thin film PV R&D efforts in Solliance. With imec as a partner, Solliance aims to be an R&D cluster bringing thin film solar energy technology to excellence. The announcement will be celebrated at imec's annual reception at PVSEC in Hamburg, Germany, on 7 September at imec Booth C11, Hall B4G, at 16.30 o'clock.
SolOptics, a division of Genie Lens Technologies, LLC, the leading developer of innovative applied optics and light ray management solutions, announced results today from its latest round of performance testing at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) for "FUSION," its patented photovoltaic enhancement technology.
Research by Los Alamos scientists published today in the journal Nature documents significant progress in understanding the phenomenon of quantum-dot blinking. Their findings should enhance the ability of biologists to track single particles, enable technologists to create novel light-emitting diodes and single-photon sources, and boost efforts of energy researchers to develop new types of highly efficient solar cells.
A new photovoltaic energy-conversion system developed at MIT can be powered solely by heat, generating electricity with no sunlight at all. While the principle involved is not new, a novel way of engineering the surface of a material to convert heat into precisely tuned wavelengths of light -- selected to match the wavelengths that photovoltaic cells can best convert to electricity -- makes the new system much more efficient than previous versions.
In many ways, solar energy has become the poster child for the entire clean-energy industry. Solar panels are a lot sexier than industrial engines and turbines no matter how environmentally advantageous the latter might be. Not surprisingly, people who are skeptical of the economics of clean energy are often especially skeptical of the economics of solar energy. To get to the bottom of this business, Clean Beta asked a stalwart supporter of solar energy, Andrew Beebe, to make the case for solar photovoltaics.
Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Process Engineering (CAS-IPE) claim the use of Tianhe-1A that is said to be the world's fastest supercomputer, to run the highest performing molecular simulation on NVIDIA Tesla GPUs that was five times the performance and more than twice the size of the previous highest-performing molecular simulation.
Researchers at Kyoto University have announced a breakthrough with broad implications for semiconductor-based devices. The findings may lead to the development of ultra-high-speed transistors and high-efficiency photovoltaic cells.
Solar energy was supposed to save our planet and create a flood of "green jobs." But sometimes it seems the only "green" in solar energy right now is the $500 million of taxpayer money which went down the drain in the unfolding Solyndra scandal.
The San Luis Valley in southern Colorado is an ideal location for capturing solar energy. But like so many communities, people of this mountain basin will only embrace a future of renewable energy if it fits comfortable with its past.
The most obvious criticism of solar energy is that it doesn't work very well when the sun is down. The new Gemasolar heliostatic plant doesn't have that problem, on account of a vat of molten salt that keeps it running through 15 hours of dark.
A technique first developed to print flexible electronics has helped engineers at start-up Semprius reinvent the shape of concentrating solar technology.
The exploitation and utilization of new energy sources are considered to be among today's major challenges. Solar energy plays a central role, and its direct conversion into chemical energy, for example hydrogen generation by water splitting, is one of its interesting variants. Titanium oxide-based photocatalysis is the presently most efficient, yet little understood conversion process. In cooperation with colleagues from Germany and abroad, scientists of the KIT Institute for Functional Interfaces (IFG) have studied the basic mechanisms of photochemistry by the example of titania and have presented new detailed findings.
The exploitation and utilization of new energy sources are considered to be among today's major challenges. Solar energy plays a central role, and its direct conversion into chemical energy, for example hydrogen generation by water splitting, is one of its interesting variants. Titanium oxide-based photocatalysis is the presently most efficient, yet little understood conversion process. In cooperation with colleagues from Germany and abroad, scientists of the KIT Institute for Functional Interfaces (IFG) have studied the basic mechanisms of photochemistry by the example of titania and have presented new detailed findings ("Photocatalytic Activity of Bulk TiO2 Anatase and Rutile Single Crystals Using Infrared Absorption Spectroscopy").
Radhakrishna Sureshkumar, professor and chair of biomedical and chemical engineering in Syracuse University's L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science, and professor of physics, has developed a patent-pending robust process to manufacture stable suspensions of metal nanoparticles capable of capturing sunlight. By changing the composition of the suspension, the researchers can "dial in" to a given wavelength (color) of the spectrum.
Bandgap Engineering, a developer of silicon nanowire solutions, announced today that it had secured a pair of patents representing significant breakthroughs in solar energy conversion efficiency and cost.
The Obama administration on Thursday announced its plan for solar energy development, directing large-scale industrial projects to 285,000 acres of desert in the Western U.S. while opening 20 million acres of the Mojave for development.
The U.S. Department of Energy is offering $2.1 billion in conditional loan guarantees to support what will be the world's biggest solar power plant, the government's largest commitment to date to solar energy.
A collaborative initiative for research, development, and commercialization integrating the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), photovoltaic (PV) equipment suppliers, materials providers, and solar cell manufacturers is the key to producing more efficient, less costly PV technologies and accelerating their use in both residential and commercial markets, according to leaders of the U.S. Photovoltaic Manufacturing Consortium (PVMC) speaking at Intersolar North America 2011 in San Francisco, CA.
The U.S. solar market grew 67 percent from a $3.6 billion market in 2009 to $6 billion in 2010, according to "U.S. Solar Market Insight: 2010 Year in Review," a report released this month by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and GTM Research.
The U.S. solar power sector grew 67 percent in 2010 but still lagged European markets by a wide margin in installing solar systems, the industry's trade group said today.
U.S. solar manufacturers today asked the Obama administration to slap duties of more than 100 percent on imports from China that they said were unfairly undercutting U.S. prices and destroying American jobs.
Congressman Chris Gibson today was joined by College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) of the University at Albany Senior Vice President and CEO Dr. Alain Kaloyeros to announce the launch of CNSE's Solar Energy Development Center in Halfmoon, New York, an integral component of the CNSE green energy initiative that will retain 17 green collar jobs, create opportunities to grow the high-tech workforce, and further expand CNSE's growing portfolio of clean energy research, development and commercialization.
A research team led by Yung Shin, a professor of mechanical engineering and director of Purdue University's Center for Laser-Based Manufacturing solar cells will become both cost and performance efficient with a production technique that uses an ultrafast pulsing laser.
Researchers are developing a technology that aims to help make solar cells more affordable and efficient by using a new manufacturing method that employs an ultrafast pulsing laser.
Manufacturer and distributor of thin-film solar laminates, United Solar declared that it has achieved16.3% cell efficiency for thin-film silicon solar technology.
United Solar, a wholly owned subsidiary of Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. (Nasdaq:ENER) and a leading global manufacturer of light-weight, flexible thin-film solar modules, today announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued U.S. Patent 7,902,049, "Method for depositing high-quality microcrystalline semiconductor materials" to Subhendu Guha, Jeff Yang and Baojie Yan for United Solar.
United Solar, a wholly owned subsidiary of Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. (ECD) and a leading global manufacturer of light-weight, flexible thin-film solar modules, today announced that it has achieved a world record efficiency of 16.3% for thin-film silicon solar technology. This achievement is higher than the previous record of 15.4%, also reached by United Solar. United Solar attained a small-area (0.25 cm2) initial cell efficiency of 16.3% using a triple-junction structure incorporating the recently patented Nano-Crystalline™ silicon technology.
Steam purification company RASIRC has declared that it has presented a poster on the benefits of water vapor utilization over ozone in the atomic layer deposition (ALD) process at the 26th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition conducted in Hamburg, Germany, from September 5 to 9, 2011.
A research group led by ETH Zurich has now, for the first time, visualized the motion of electrons during a chemical reaction. The new findings in the experiment are of fundamental importance for photochemistry and could also assist the design of more efficient solar cells.
Some boffins at the Australian National University have developed wearable flexible solar panels for soldiers. You know, so they can charge their gadgets easily and be spotted by snipers from a mile away.
Concentrated solar power plants could get an efficiency boost inspired by flowers, according to MIT researchers. Designing solar mirrors in a spiral pattern similar to sunflower heads could reduce the space required for CSP plants and increase the amount of sunlight the mirrors collect.
In October, my brother-in-law embarked on a six-month tour of rural Mexico in a beat-up Winnebago. The experience is reportedly everything he had hoped it would be with one caveat: the solar panels he bought aren’t producing enough power during the daylight hours to keep the lights on at night.
The company’s subsidiary, Econet Solar, recently launched a solar power device intended to help light up rural areas in Zimbabwe and other areas across rest of Africa which are beset by an erratic supply of electricity.
