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Yearly Archives: 2010
Amazing 35% Efficiency of Multi-Band Thin Film Solar Cells Demonstrated
Yet another solar cell breakthrough comes from RoseStreet Labs Energy, Inc (RSLE), who announces a new kind of multiband photovoltaic cell with three distinct light absorption regions, all integrated onto a single-layered thin film. The discovery is based on IBand, a technology proprietary to RSLE and is the first intermediate band solar cell prototyped in a laboratory.
772 Miles In a Tesla Roadster, Across the UK
High mileage electric cars are considered to be a thing of the future, because, with today's average driving style, no electric car is able to run for more than two hundred miles on a single charge. That is the Tesla Roadster, the first EV that broke the ice, launched in the age of performance-driven gasoline engines.
Toyota Auris Hybrid Launches European Production As Of Today
Today officially begins the production of the new Auris model with Hybrid Synergy Drive (HSD), the first full hybrid vehicle in its class built in Europe. To generate a powerful efficiency, this car has two electric motors and a 1.8 litre VVT-i petrol engine.
Efficiency of Transforming Biomass Into Biofuel Improved 100% by Dutch Company
Forget killing bacteria to make ethanol or biodiesel, or researching the creation of new lifeforms to do that - the Dutch have a solution. DSM NV, from the Netherlands, have designed a new technology that will improve the conversion efficiency of waste agricultural products (second-generation biofuels) of up to 100%.
Scientists Explain Limitations of High Temperature Superconductors in High Currents
Since their discovery in late 1980s, superconductors were thought to revolutionize everything that had an electric current flowing, but allowing it to pass through more easily, and with much less heat produced. Ultra-efficient magnetic trains had been envisioned, then, but ...
Global Geothermal Power Capacity Increased by 20% During Last Five Years
According to a new report made by Geothermal Energy Association (GEA), the geothermal energy is growing rapidly worldwide. Between 2005 and 2010, the U.S. maintained its leading position in production, with the most MW installed, while Germany had the fastest growth.
Autolib’: The Electric Car Sharing System Paris Implements by 2011
The City Hall of Paris loves bikes and electric cars. Vélib', the bike-sharing program that started back in 2007, now has 7,800 bikes stolen...
Research: Postponing 5 O'Clock Tea By 1 Hour Could Offer Huge CO2 Savings
You surely remember how it's like in winter: you wake up, it's dark, you turn the lights on. When you go to work, there's finally more light, but when you return at around 5, say, it's dark again, and you feel like you've been missing the whole day. But that's not the point. The idea is that you consume much more electricity and resources if your schedule doesn't match the daylight.
Honda Planning to Market Solar Powered Home-Based Hydrogen Refueler Starting 2015
Having your hydrogen fuel cell car powered by some solar panels in your own backyard looks like a dream not able to come true in a lifetime for some. For others, this is already a reality and a long-term plan. Honda, GM, Toyota, Mercedes and several other car manufacturers, joined by fuel providers including Shell, look at home-based refueling stations quite seriously and plan to have the first ones implemented in as little as five years.
MIT Researchers Discover Perovskite Sheets Can Improve Solid Oxide Fuel Cells' Efficiency
Sometimes, materials in bulk sizes exhibit properties totally different than when they are sliced in pieces only a few molecules wide. A news report from the MIT says that prof. Yang Shao-Horn and a team of researchers have discovered how a very thin sheet of a material called "strontium-substituted lanthanum cobalt perovskite," aka LSC, can help solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) produce a lot more electricity from the same amount of fuel.
