DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has combined three classic methods of cooling down the air into one invention that could save 50 to 90 percent of your monthly electricity bill (on air conditioning). The invention is called "DEVap" (Desiccant-Enhanced eVaporative air conditioner).
The Atchison County wind farm is able to power 33,000 homes and it's not interfering with corn and soybeans crops. Between the turbines, crops are still grown and harvested, thus contributing to the well-being of the community.
You would normally fuel up your car's tank in about three minutes. Now, with the quickened adoption of electric cars for the sake of the environment, you may also want your future EV to charge in three minutes, right? The industry said it's not possible to do so, at least with currently acceptable technologies. Until now.
Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have announced they developed a new solid organic electric battery that is powered by treated potatoes. This simple and sustainable device could solve the electricity needs in developing countries.
A team of scientists from the University of Texas at Austin have discovered a way to double the efficiency of solar cells. The process consists in capturing more of the available energy in sunlight (including energy at the high end of the scale), using nanoscale crystals called quantum dots.
High efficiency solar cells are for the moment only available to space applications, because of their prohibitive costs. The Eindhoven University of Technology from The Netherlands, with a EUR 1.2 million help from the Dutch government wants to develop ultra-efficient solar cells that are also cheap. They envision their cells having a 65% efficiency, something even the satellites would envy.
Warming up in winter by using the Sun is one thing, but cooling down in the summer by using the same Sun is way more interesting. LG Electronics just announced yesterday that they will launch their first air conditioner powered by a solar panel.
Horizon, a fuel cell manufacturing company from Singapore, has recently unveiled a small hydrogen fuel cell charger that could juice your gadgets (PDA, phone, MP3, etc). It's called MiniPAK, and it uses refillable solid-state hydrogen cartridges (called HydroSTIK) to store its power.
Purdue University chemical engineers have invented a method of storing hydrogen and releasing it safely without the need for high-pressure tanks, only by using the fuel cell's dissipated heat.
Eva HÀkansson, the daughter of Sven HÀkansson, who in the 1960s designed and rode his own championship-winning bike, and the wife of Bill Dubé, the man behind Killacycle, the world's fastest electric vehicle (bike), wants to make her own motorcycle with an aerodynamic shape that would beat all the world records.
