Utah-Based Company Digging Underground Compressed Air Batteries
Underground caverns may have never been seen as energy containers, but a Utah-based private equity group promises to use them filled with compressed air to generate electricity the classic way - by spinning a turbine.
Composite Nanomaterial Could Transform The Car's Body Into a Battery
The interesting fact is that the material resembles a fabric, and can be shaped into different objects, so maybe in the future mobile phone users won't have to have a battery in their cellphone, just because its case will do the job.
Salicornia Biofuel for Jet Engines Could Compete With Petrol Fuels and Emit Zero CO2
Salicornia is an alga that grows in salty waters and whose seeds can produce biofuels abundantly. Masdar Institute researchers, along with several companies like Boeing, Etihad Airways, and UOP Honeywell devised a method of growing salicornia for getting biofuels out of it and keeping the CO2 balance in proper equilibrium.
EMC Launches Affordable Electric Vehicle Based on Dacia Logan
The world's first electric Pick-up, EMC (Electric Motor Cars), built on a Dacia Logan platform, brought to the U.S. by Envision Motor Co., has been presented by Des Moines Motors, an ex-Chrysler dealer.
Self-Powered Solar Circuit Could Help Computing Become Greener and Faster
A team of scientists at the University of Pennsylvania have developed the world's first circuit powered by solar energy that can power itself, as long as it's left in a beam of sunshine. It could eventually power a new line of consumer devices or even model the human brain.
Japanese Thermoelectric Modules Aim Reaching Record of 11% Efficiency
A new test will be performed by Showa Denko on Feb. 15, 2010. The thermoelectric device is designed to be attached to the exhaust pipe of a car and supply electricity to the car's air conditioner, thus improving the fuel mileage.
Astounding Discovery: Marine Algae Using Quantum Mechanics Principles for Light Harvesting
Professor Greg Scholes, the lead author of the study published recently in Nature, says: "There's been a lot of excitement and speculation that nature may be using quantum mechanical practices. Our latest experiments show that normally functioning biological systems have the capacity to use quantum mechanics in order to optimize a process as essential to their survival as photosynthesis."
Sixtron's Antireflective Coatings Solve Safety and Efficiency Issues in Solar Cell Technology
Up to now, the most used antireflective coating method has been the vapor deposition of a silicon nitride film by using a highly-flamable silane gas, which can ignite when exposed to air. Transporting, storing, ventilating silane gas and other safety-keeping operation make the process very expensive.
Electric Field Induced Hydrogen Storage: A New Step Forward
Scientists from Virginia Commonwealth University, Peking University in Beijing and the Chinese Academy of Science in Shanghai made a discovery that could help other researchers build hydrogen containers that could make the gas compete with petrol-based fuels in terms of energy density and availability.
Newly Discovered TiO2-Coated Nanotubes Could Build Better Li-Ion Battery Electrodes
Titanium dioxide (TiO2) by itself makes up a very low performance electrode, because the electrons move very slowly through it (can take years until you could fill a millimiter-thick TiO2 piece). When you reduce its thickness, though, TiO2 acts like a very good electrode.
