Posts Tagged electricity

Wet-Powered Thin Film Generates Electricity

Posted by Benji Jerew in Experiments, Piezoelectric on January 14, 2013

Given the right circumstances, we’ve probably all seen a piece of paper curl up when wet. Could this motion be put to work, that is, generate electricity? Scientists have noticed this wet curling effect in various polymers, but never something that could be said to perform work, such as with polypyrrole. Robert Langer at Massachusetts [...]

US DOE Releases Web-Based Software to Determine Solutions for a Clean Energy Future

Posted by Leigh Kim in Energy news on January 12, 2013

An energy analysis tool that helps educators and individuals determine future energy use scenarios has been created by the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). NREL, the primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development, is operated for DOE by The Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC. The [...]

Will High Altitude Kites Replace Wind Turbines?

Posted by Leigh Kim in Wind Power on November 20, 2012

Could stunt kites be the future of energy? Could high altitude kites replace the tried-and-true wind turbine? A Berlin-based wind energy developer is betting YES. NTS GmbH is attempting to harness the wind with high flying kites and convert the captured energy into electricity. NTS GmbH realized that while stunt kites are used for extreme [...]

Antiquated Electric Grid Needs a Reboot

Posted by Leigh Kim in Energy news on November 18, 2012

Electric companies played soothsayer to customers days before Hurricane Sandy’s arrival. They warned of extensive power failure and potential widespread outages. Their predictions were accurate and Sandy affected an immense number of customers in New York and New Jersey. Sadly, none of the power outages resulting from Sandy should be surprising. The hurricane only served [...]

Chinese Grid Operators to Raise Prices, Target “Irresponsible” Consumers

Posted by Mike Sandru in Energy news, Power Saving on June 18, 2012

It’s only logic, right: you consume more, you pay more! In China however, you pay even more than the normal “more”: starting this July, more-than-average electricity consumers will be paying up to 0.30 yuan ($0.05) more per kilowatt hour. The National Development and Reform Commission is planning to downsize energy waste by hitting irresponsible consumers [...]

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 [...]

Italy To Invest In Egypt's Wind Power Projects

Posted by Mike Sandru in Wind Power on June 13, 2011

Italgen Group recently announced it is planning to allocate around €140 million to wind energy projects in Gabal El Zeit, Egypt. These projects should be capable of producing about 120 megawatts of clean energy a year.

Researchers Create New Electric Fuel Cell Powered by Our Own Body

Posted by Mike Sandru in Energy Storage on September 8, 2010

Nowadays everybody’s looking to find new sources of energy. All our electronics or gadgets, including laptops, iPods,cell phones need good batteries to keep talking or playing. The truth is that our batteries aren’t so good being not much better than the voltaic pile battery invented more than 200 years ago by Alessandro Volta.

Masdar to Build 100MW Concentrated Solar Power Plant in Abu Dhabi

Posted by Mike Sandru in Solar Power on June 12, 2010

The CSP power plant dubbed Shams 1 (the Arabic word for “Sun”) will cover one square mile of the desert in Madinat Zayed, about 75 miles from Abu Dhabi and will be able to generate 100 MW of electricity.

Converting Plastic Waste into Clean Energy Without Releasing Harmful Emissions

Posted by Mike Sandru in Experiments on May 16, 2010

Student scientists at Northeastern University have designed an apparatus capable to transform waste plastic into an alternative fuel without releasing harmful emissions.

MicroBelt – Portable Wind Energy Harvester to Power Wireless Sensors

Posted by Mike Sandru in Wind Power on April 1, 2010

Humdinger Wind Energy LLC has developed a micro turbine called MicroBelt, that is able power the new information age with a billion tiny harvesters. The millions of wireless sensors that collect a variety of information could be powered by this little device.

Artificial Photosynthesis Could Power Homes on a Bottle of Water

Posted by Mike Sandru in Hydrogen Power on March 7, 2010

MIT chemist Dan Nocera claims that with just one bottle of drinking water and four hours of sunlight, he can generate 30 KWh of electric energy, being enough to power an entire home. This process consist in a a cobalt-based catalyst that uses solar energy to split water and produce hydrogen.

ComEd's New Solar Energy Project for Chicago Homes Proposes Smarter Grid

Posted by Mike Sandru in Solar Power on March 4, 2010

ComEd, a Chicago-based utility company has come up with a new solar energy pilot that will outfit about 100 Chicago-area homes with solar panels and ÃƒÂ¢€Ã…â€œat least 50 of those with battery backup, ‘smart’ meters, net metering and a grid-tied status that enables them to send unused electric energy from their solar energy systems back to the grid.ÃƒÂ¢€

SOccket – A Soccer Ball That Generates and Stores Renewable Energy

Posted by Mike Sandru in Pointless Green on February 1, 2010

A group of students at the Harvard University have come up with an ingenious idea that could change the lives of African people. They have developed an energy harvesting soccer ball called sOccket that is able to produce electric energy when being kicked around.

New Transparent Solar Cells Can be Sprayed Onto Any Glass Surface

Posted by Mike Sandru in Solar Power on January 14, 2010

Researchers at New Energy Technologies have recently developed transparent solar cells which can be sprayed onto any type of glass. They successfully removed all metals from the solar cell and replaced them with an environmentally-friendly see-thru compound.