energy harvesting Archives – The Green Optimistic

Students Develop Five Systems to Harvest Energy From Railways

Mila Luleva — Fri, 31 Jul 2015 07:14:19 +0000

Engineering students developed five systems that could harvest electricity from railway crossings. Every once in a while, unfortunately more often than we would like to, we read about unfortunate accidents that take place at railway crossings at remote locations. These accidents most often happen due to lack of flashing lights and barriers to indicate that […]

The post Students Develop Five Systems to Harvest Energy From Railways appeared first on The Green Optimistic.

Dutch “Energy Train” Moves at 1,250 MPH, Stores 2.5GWh of Electricity

Mila Luleva — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 14:13:38 +0000

A super fast floating train, developed by the Energy Research Institute in the Netherlands, can store as much as 10% of the total energy demand of the entire Dutch population in the form of kinetic energy. There is only one thing that prevents renewable energy from taking over the world completely, and that is the […]

The post Dutch “Energy Train” Moves at 1,250 MPH, Stores 2.5GWh of Electricity appeared first on The Green Optimistic.

Kinetic Energy Harvesting Closer to Ideal Thanks to New Zealand Scientists

Mila Luleva — Fri, 21 Feb 2014 05:28:27 +0000

Wouldn’t it be great if we can charge any electronic device that we carry as we walk to work, without having to carry fancy solar panels or heavy gadgets with us? For many years now, scientists have been trying to develop the ultimate way to make this possible. The goal of many has been to […]

The post Kinetic Energy Harvesting Closer to Ideal Thanks to New Zealand Scientists appeared first on The Green Optimistic.

2W Magnetostriction-Based Vibration Harvester Lights Up 50 LEDs

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 19:38:37 +0000

Following up with a piece of news we wrote about on December 1st, last year, TechOn reports that Toshiyuki Ueno from Kanazawa University has developed a magnetostriction-based energy harvesting device that can produce up to 2 watts of electricity from harvesting vibrations. To be noted that this isn't piezoelectricity, which we've gotten used to lately.

The post 2W Magnetostriction-Based Vibration Harvester Lights Up 50 LEDs appeared first on The Green Optimistic.

Piezo-Photovoltaic Device Creates Electricity From Wind/Rain/Sun

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 16:07:42 +0000

A new device that harvests energy from raindrops, winds or sunlight has been invented at the Institute for Materials Research and Innovation at the University of Bolton, UK. Elias Siores led a team who created a special polymer with piezoelectric and photosensitive properties.

The post Piezo-Photovoltaic Device Creates Electricity From Wind/Rain/Sun appeared first on The Green Optimistic.

Thermoelectric Phone Charger Provides Electricity From Camp Fire

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 15:33:56 +0000

Hatsuden-Nabe is the name of a device that can charge up your cellphone by using wasted heat. It's available in Japan since yesterday and it surely attracts a lot of hikers and adventurers, who think this could save their lonesome journeys.

The post Thermoelectric Phone Charger Provides Electricity From Camp Fire appeared first on The Green Optimistic.

BMW, Ford, GM to Test Thermoelectric Devices on Real Cars This Summer

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 25 May 2011 16:26:52 +0000

Thermoelectric materials are used to convert heat into electricity. These devices have applicability in all kinds of industries and machinery, ranging from cars to coal-fired power plants. The world's greatest automobile manufacturers, BMW, Ford and GM have committed themselves to equip test cars with prototype thermoelectric devices by the end of this summer and see how they'll behave.

The post BMW, Ford, GM to Test Thermoelectric Devices on Real Cars This Summer appeared first on The Green Optimistic.

Yell at Your Phone to Charge It: New Piezoelectric Device Could Help You

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 10 May 2011 14:41:20 +0000

Imagine that one day you could charge your mobile phone or other low-consumption devices just by placing them in noisy areas or by yelling at them. South-Korean scientists from the Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, are now studying a type of zinc oxide-based device that could do just that.

The post Yell at Your Phone to Charge It: New Piezoelectric Device Could Help You appeared first on The Green Optimistic.

Wake Forest Researchers Develop Polymer-Based Solar PV & Thermal Device

Ovidiu Sandru — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 17:49:30 +0000

Infrared light makes up the most part of the light spectrum, but the glitch in today's solar panels is that they can't really harvest it for direct electricity generation, because of the long wavelengths involved. Thus, a standard solar panel misses about 75% of the incoming energy, and some of them, concentrated solar cells, need cooling to prevent damage to the silicon substrate that favors the energy conversion.

The post Wake Forest Researchers Develop Polymer-Based Solar PV & Thermal Device appeared first on The Green Optimistic.

Skin-Like Piezoelectric Device Could Save Thousands of Dollars by Replacing Batteries

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 07:50:00 +0000

Researchers from the University of Notre Dame in the US have designed a PZT (lead zirconate titanate) piezoelectric device that resembles skin (they called it the EH skin) and that can harness energy from the mechanical work applied to it. The new device can be used in a variety of applications, ranging from wireless sensor units to patches that get energy from vibrations and pass it on to the grid. The sample they tested got as much as 3.7 mW.

The post Skin-Like Piezoelectric Device Could Save Thousands of Dollars by Replacing Batteries appeared first on The Green Optimistic.

Mini Black Hole for Microwave Energy Created by Chinese Scientists Could Have Green Uses

Ovidiu Sandru — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 07:36:12 +0000

Two researchers from the State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves at Southeast University from Nanjing, China, have discovered and prototyped a device that acts like a black hole for electromagnetic waves in the microwave spectrum. It consists of 60 concentric rings of metamaterials, a class or ordered composites that can distort light and other waves.

The post Mini Black Hole for Microwave Energy Created by Chinese Scientists Could Have Green Uses appeared first on The Green Optimistic.

Researchers Develop Device to Convert Vibrations Into Electricity

Mike Sandru — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:37:25 +0000

Bristol University researchers have developed a new way to provide free energy to businesses and homes. They have created a new type of energy-harvesting device that makes use of non-linear springs and mass.

The post Researchers Develop Device to Convert Vibrations Into Electricity appeared first on The Green Optimistic.

OTEC: Lockheed Martin Studies Ocean Energy Production Tech

Ovidiu Sandru — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:32:39 +0000

Lockheed Martin, specialized in building rockets and aircraft engines, is surprisingly taking over this niche of energy production. They spent the last year studying how to make a big and long fiberglass pipe to sink it into the ocean.

The post OTEC: Lockheed Martin Studies Ocean Energy Production Tech appeared first on The Green Optimistic.