Energy

College Student Clean Energy Startups Win $160,000 In Prizes

Young entrepreneurs tackling hard problems and billion dollar markets took top prizes at the First Look West (FLoW) regional finals competition with technologies that recover waste energy from energy servers powered by fuel cells, mobile phone apps for tra ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 2 2013 - 6:01am

Genetically Modified Clean Energy

Lignocellulosic waste such as sawdust or straw can be used to produce biofuel – but only if the long cellulose and xylan chains can be successfully broken down into smaller sugar molecules. To do this, fungi are used which, by means of a specific chemical ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 3 2013 - 2:56pm

Platinum Begone: Metal-Free Catalyst Makes Better Fuel Cell

Fuel cells can be as efficient (or more) than internal combustion engines, silent, and at least one type produces zero greenhouse emissions at the tail pipe. Car and bus manufacturers as well as makers of residential and small-business-sized generators ha ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 5 2013 - 3:23pm

Microfluidic Electrolyzer: Testing Artificial Photosynthesis

With nuclear power trapped in committee meetings and biofuels exposed as a bad idea, the search for another carbon-neutral alternative is ongoing. While the sun gives us enough energy in an hour to meet all human needs for a year, solar technologies are a ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 10 2013 - 6:48pm

Not Just Cleaner: Fracking A Good Energy Return On Investment Also

Natural gas is much cleaner than coal but it's also important that its energy return on investment (EROI)- the total input energy with the energy expected to be made available to end users- is similar to coal, according to a paper in the Journal of I ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 17 2013 - 1:57pm

Efficiency For Two-Junction Solar Cell Creeps Up

A National Renewable Energy Lab researcher at the IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference in Tampa announced a 31.1% conversion efficiency for a two-junction solar cell under one sun of illumination. ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 25 2013 - 3:22pm

TwingKite- Electricity For The 21st Century, Ben Franklin Style

Is kite power economically viable in the 21st century? We'll find out. The TwingKite,  based on Empa's Tensairity technology, is set to take flight thanks to a  “Venture Kick” jury that is providing 10,000 Swiss Francs in support. A kite, a reel ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 30 2013 - 8:39am

Bacteriorhodopsin Proton Pumps As A Catalyst For Hydrogen Fuel

Bacteriorhodopsin found in the membranes of ancient microorganisms in desert salt flats have been used generate environmentally friendly hydrogen fuel by researchers at Argonne National Laboratory. ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 20 2013 - 12:30pm

Let's Harvest Electricity From CO2

Global warming is on hold, at least temporarily, and being five years behind means we have time for a legitimate basic research solution to become viable technology. A classic trash-to-treasure story would be producing electricity from carbon dioxide. A n ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 25 2013 - 9:16am

A Battery Made From Wood

Researchers have developed a battery made from a sliver of wood coated with tin that shows promise for becoming a tiny, long-lasting, efficient and environmentally friendly energy source- 1,000 times thinner than a sheet of paper.  Liangbing Hu, Teng Li an ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 24 2013 - 6:32pm