Today's civilized society sometimes uses weird ways of doing things, like packing software serial numbers in cardboard or a lot of plastic. A project, named Bacs, is using bacteria to make an interesting cellulose material for green packaging.
Amprius, a start-up company from Menlo Park, CA, has invented an innovative type of anode for Li-Ion batteries. The material that they intend to use is made of silicon nanowires, that are said to store 10 times more electricity than graphite.
ETT stands for Evacuated Tube Transport, and it is a new concept of a transportation system that makes use of vacuum pumps, tubes and cabins to take people from point A to point B with only 2 percent of the energy required otherwise to power an airplane, a car or a train.
GM's R&D has to build a prototype of a thermo-mechanical waste heat recovery system using a Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) heat engine to generate electricity from the heat in exhaust. Noticeable is the fact that GM was between the 37 other candidates that received the ARPA-E award.
The Solar Impulse aircraft, officially known as HB-SIA, successfully underwent its first engine run up on Friday at an airbase near Zurich in Switzerland. It is designed to make the first solar-powered flight around the world.
Every year, scientists learn something new about the power of lightning. With the helps of the satellites they have created a lightning map for the globe, which shows that Rwanda has the most flashes per square kilometer, while the flashes at the polar regions occur rarely. Every year, 1,2 million flashes occur around the world.
One of the simplest ideas of harvesting the ocean power was developed by Rauno Koivusaari, a fin diver who got inspired by exploring the depths of the seas and lots of shipwrecks.
EarthSure, an innovator in alternative energy sources and renewable energy company is planning to develop a zero-emission electric vehicle powered by solar and wind energy. Called AirRay, the new car will be equipped with four wind turbines and a solar roof. All of these to generate necessary electricity to keep the batteries charged up.
A spinoff company from Arizona State University is planning to develop a metal-air battery which unlike lithium-ion batteries has an energy density 11 times greater, for less than one-third the cost. Last week, the US Department of Energy awarded a $5.13-million research grant to Scottsdale, AZ-based Fluidic Energy. This company hopes that its ultra-dense energy storage technology to become reality.
Two Kansas State University Engineers have designed a new algae production system that could reduce the cost of biodiesel and help the U.S. Government to change from fossil fuel dependency to a renewable power source.
