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Yearly Archives: 2010
New Metal Catalyst 70 Times Cheaper Than Platinum Splits Water Efficiently
A team of researchers from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California, Berkeley, has discovered a catalyst metal 70 times cheaper than platinum for use in electrolysis systems, to generate hydrogen from water.
Tokyo to Have World's First Swappable-Battery Electric Taxis
Due to a government-funded pilot project to test emission-free cars, the world's first taxis with easily replaceable batteries hit the streets of the Japanese capital on Monday.
Efficient Concentrated Solar Cell Technology Given $129 Million Credit for Development
Amonix, a CA-based startup company, is developing ultra-efficient solar cells based on concentrated photovoltaic technology, combining cheap yet powerful lenses, a Sun-tracking system and efficient silicon solar cells, but in smaller quantities than if spread on a panel without lenses.
Efficiency Record for Silicon Ink Solar Cells Broken by Innovalight
Innovalight has a proprietary platform, named Cougar, which can adapt existing solar cell manufacturing processes that companies now own, to their cheaper silicon ink solar cells production line. There is only one step that needs to be added to current manufacturing lines, with -they say- huge profits.
Prickly Pear Cactus Mucilage Removes Bacteria and Dirt from Water, Acting as Purifier
Norma Alcantar and her colleagues extracted the cactus's mucilage - the thick gum that the plant uses to store water, and mixed it with water to which they had added dirt (sediments and bacteria - Bacillus cereus).
Electrode Surface Texture: Key to Using Less Platinum in Methanol Fuel Cells
MIT researchers, along with their colleagues from the Brookhaven National Laboratory and the Japan Institute of Science and Technology have found a method of decreasing the amount of platinum used in DMFCs by increasing the efficiency of the fuel cell's electrodes. Others have tried to replace the platinum on the cathode with a liquid regenerating catalyst system (catholyte solution).
Siemens Introduces New Type of Direct Drive Systems for Wind Turbines to Replace Faulty...
Because they are bulky and cause a lot of troubles, wind turbine gearboxes are to be shunned out of the wind power industry slowly but surely, being replaced with direct drive systems. These are indeed bigger, but the nacelle's overall weight is lower, and the chances of breaking up are also reduced, because of the reduced complexity.
Piezo Shower: Newly Invented Piezoelectric Nanowires Used to Heat Water Through Friction
The water that you unleash when you take a shower (with the "hot" knob closed) has two properties: pressure and temperature. You can change pressure, but to raise its temperature you usually need extra energy. Regularly, you don't shower with the water knob turned to the maximum, so a certain extra pressure exists in the tubing, creating friction.
Tapas Mallick Inventing Cheaper Solar Concentrators by Using Plexiglas
Tapas Mallick, at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, UK, is developing a grid of cheap light concentrators that can be mounted on walls, rooftops or between the panes of double-gazed windows.
Shoe-Embedded Flexible Polymer That Can Power Your Small Devices
Dr. Ville Kaajakari, an assistant professor of electrical engineering at Louisiana Tech University has devised a small power generator that can be embedded in the sole of a shoe, to juice any kind of low-power device.
