Archive for category Energy news

Heat Flow Controlled With Atomic Precision by Illinois Scientists

Posted by Boniface Ndirangu in Energy news on April 23, 2012

Heat flow can now be controlled with atom-level precision. This, as has been demonstrated by investigators from the University of Illinois, can be achieved through a combination of a design of atomic-scale materials and ultrafast measurements to regulate how heat flows between two materials across an interface. In a study published this week in Nature [...]

Analysis on Pressure-Retarded Osmosis Reveals High Energy Generation Potential

Posted by Boniface Ndirangu in Energy news on April 20, 2012

River mouths have recently been reported to have the capacity to produce renewable electricity that could support over half a billion people. A river mouth is where a river drains into the ocean. At that point there is a process termed as pressure-retarded osmosis (PRO) that takes place. According to the new analysis, the pressure-retarded [...]

Energy From Thin Air Obtainable From Charged Atmospheric Dust Particles

Posted by Ovidiu Sandru in Energy news on April 11, 2012

Energy from thin air… who wouldn’t want to have that? A study led by Fernando Galembeck, Ph.D, at University of Campinas in Campinas, Brazil, reveals that you can actually harvest huge amounts static electricity from the atmosphere. Galembeck and his colleagues used computer simulations that showed what happens when charged dust particles from the air [...]

UCLA Scientists Produce Cheap Fuel from Solar Power and CO2

Posted by Ovidiu Sandru in Energy news on March 31, 2012

Running an electric car on electricity is something pretty common (and logical), but running a gasoline car on electricity is something of fantastic realm. Still, a team of UCLA scientists have succeeded doing this – they produced high-grade alcohol by using electricity and fueled an internal combustion engine with it. “The current way to store [...]

The Energy Harvesting Open Access Data Repository Gathering Energy Information for Scientists

Posted by Mihai Sandru in Energy news on March 12, 2012

Why would anyone want a database of energy harvesting? Well, for one, such a database helps researchers in their work and second, you get a real grasp of the performance of various devices using the same information. Imagine a Wikipedia of Energy Harvesting: free, standardized data, with continuous contributions from the community – this is [...]

Germany Uses More Renewable Energy Than Ever Before, Surpassing Nuclear

Posted by Ovidiu Sandru in Energy news on December 20, 2011

Among the world’s most developed countries, Germany seems to be on the right track concerning renewable energy production. The country’s renewable resources have been used more than the classic ones this year, reports BDEW, Germany’s Federal Association of Energy. Therefore, nuclear power dropped to 17.4 percent after Chancellor Angela Merkel had decided to show down [...]

Europe Consortium Planning to Harvest Arabic Desert's Sun

Posted by Mihai Sandru in Energy news on November 25, 2011

One of Europe’s most ambitious goals is to capture wind and solar energy across the Arab deserts to power homes in Africa, Middle East and Europe. Two international consortiums led by French and German industrial giants started working to deploy wind turbines and solar panels in those areas, and sink cables across the Mediterranean Sea. [...]

Chinese Coal Producer to Harvest Clean-Burning Combustible Ice

Posted by Ovidiu Sandru in Energy news on November 24, 2011

As China expects a period of peak energy demand from 2020 to 2025, its largest coal producer, China Shenhua Group, now announced that it wants to start commercializing combustible ice, a gas hydrate (methane+water) found in the Qinghai province. The country first made public the discovery of combustible ice in May 2007, under the bed [...]

Google Pulls Plug on Renewable Energy Project

Posted by Ovidiu Sandru in Energy news on November 23, 2011

Anyone knows that by trying to catch two (or more) rabbits at once you probably won’t catch any. So does Google, it seems. Larry Page, their CEO, has now decided to pull the plug on a renewable energy project once ambitious: Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal. Maybe Page took Steve Jobs’s advice to focus on [...]

IBM and ABB Designing More Efficient Insulator for the Electricity Grid

Posted by Ovidiu Sandru in Energy news on November 2, 2011

IBM and ABB have decided to work together to find a better insulator for the electricity grid. They’ll use IBM’s supercomputers and ABB’s expertise at building grids to develop a new kind of high-voltage insulator that would better withstand the action of the elements. A significant quantity of electricity is being lost in its path [...]

Heat Powered Cooling System Invented at OSU Is 80 Percent Efficient

Posted by Ovidiu Sandru in Energy news on June 10, 2011

A series of advanced studies in microchannel technology at Oregon State University has led to the invention of a waste heat recovering device that can convert heat into cooling with an 80% efficiency.

Arab Oil Prince Fears Rising Gas Prices, GE Forecasts Dawn of Solar Power

Posted by Ovidiu Sandru in Energy news on May 30, 2011

If you haven’t been watching the news for the past few years, there’s a war going on in the world of energy. While Arab Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, the 19th richest person in the world and one of the ones who make a huge profit from oil, said to CNN he’s worried about the prices of oil going up, Mark M. Little from GE tells Bloomberg that in 3 to 5 years we’ll be able to produce electricity from solar panels for as little as 15 cents/kW, far less than by using oil.

GE Announces New Gas Turbine That Regulates The Electric Grid

Posted by Mihai Sandru in Energy news on May 29, 2011

As we have already said on numerous occasions, the problem with solar and wind energy is that it isn’t available 24/7. Due to variations in the wind and solar intensity or presence, the energy generated would differ in quantity as well. So researchers have been looking for ways to store it for longer and have come up with geothermal and molten salt. Nevertheless, its incorporation into the grid also needs to be regulated.

U.N. Report Says 80% Energy Production From Renewables Possible by 2050

Posted by Ovidiu Sandru in Energy news on May 23, 2011

A recent United Nations report says that by 2050 up to 80 percent of the global energy could be supplied from alternative resources if public policies will come up with proper incentives.

Biomass Transformed Directly Into Gasoline-Replacing Fuel, Energy Secretary Chu Excited About the Idea

Posted by Ovidiu Sandru in Energy news on March 8, 2011

I have been acknowledging the work of most scientists and their discoveries kept my interest awake to see what’s new every morning. It’s seldom times, though, when I read something like “the U.S. Energy Secretary congratulates DOE scientists for the discovery of a biomass-derived liquid that can be produced cheaply and can replace gasoline without any engine modifications,” I have to wonder…