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Yearly Archives: 2010
Zinc Oxide Crystal Acting as Piezoelectric Material To Get Hydrogen From Water
A team of researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison have just discovered that crystals of zinc oxide, if submerged, absorb its vibrations and act like a piezoelectric material, developing areas of strong negative and positive charges.
Electronically-Controlled Tintable Glass Inventors Receive Grant from DOE
A Minnesota-based invention company called Sage Electrochromics, Inc has received a financial loan of $103 million from the Department of Energy for it's breakthrough glass innovation, a window that can be switched on or off to reject up to 98% of the sun's heat and light on a push of a button.
First Solar Signs Agreements With Major Energy Utilities to Provide Solar Power
First Solar Inc. has recently announced that it will start working on a huge photovoltaic project called Desert Sunlight in Southern California. The facility will produce 550 MW from solar power, of which 300 MW will be sold to California's Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and 250 MW to Southern California Edison (SCE).
Stolen Electrons from Green Alga Demonstrate New Kind of Organic Solar Cells
WonHyoung Ryu at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, working with overseas colleagues from Stanford, found an interesting way of hybridization between a green alga, Chlamydomonas, and gold nanowires, to directly collect the electrons produced through photosynthesis by the plant.
Spanish Researchers Discover How Graphite Can Become Magnetic
A team of physicists from the Autonomous University along with Francisco Guinea from the Institute of Materials Science from Madrid, Spain, have discovered that by removing individual atoms from a graphite surface, local magnetic moments can be created in the graphite.
Newly Discovered Magnetic Material 18% Stronger Than Any Other Known Magnet
Jian-Ping Wang, a materials physicist from the University of Minnesota in Twin Cities, and his colleagues have produced a material that is 18% more magnetic than the most magnetic material known to this day. They have been able to produce a combination of eight parts iron, one part nitrogen. The resulted material has the formula Fe16N2 and its extremely high magnetism lies in its complicated crystalline structure.
New California Assembly Bill May Benefit Clean Energy Storage Manufacturers
The California Assembly has just proposed a new bill that would impose utilities to have incorporated energy storage equipment that can store 2.25% of daytime peak demand by 2014 and 5% of peak demand by 2020.
North Carolina to Have 100% of Its Power Coming from Off-Shore Wind Turbines
According to a new study made by the University of North Carolina (UNC), the North Carolina state could have 100% of its power coming...
Solarmer's Organic Solar Cells Getting Real Hopes to Enter Mainstream Market
A CA-based company, Solarmer Energy, is now collaborating with professor Luping Yu, from the University of Chicago, to build the best cheapest flexible polymer solar cell ever, one that will be able to reach 10 percent efficiency.
Affresol Homes Built From Recycled Plastic: 12% Cheaper, 60 Years Lifespan
It's a known fact that plastics, although they make up hellish environments if disposed randomly (read: "thrown away"), can be good friends if they are to be recycled and used in long-term construction works. Affresol, a Wales-based company, is about to launch a new range of homes and modular portable buildings, made from recycled plastics.
