University of Texas Archives – The Green Optimistic

Earth’s Own Mantle Could Be Producing Oxygen, Water and CO2

Guest Contributor — Fri, 06 Oct 2017 08:07:48 +0000

A research project in which the University of Texas, Arlington, teamed up with Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology has uncovered that there is a chance that hydrogen, oxygen, water and carbon dioxide are being generated in the planet’s mantle. The team concentrated their efforts on analyzing a portion of the earth’s upper mantle from the […]

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New Materials Greatly Improve Solar Fuel Cell Peformance

Satya Sivani — Mon, 22 Feb 2016 18:59:40 +0000

Chemists from University of Texas at Arlington(UTA) have devised new materials of high performance for solar cells to split Carbon dioxide and water into fuels like methanol and hydrogen gas. “Technologies that simultaneously permit us to remove greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide while harnessing and storing the energy of sunlight as fuel are at the forefront […]

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“Water Chip” Nanoscale Desalination Developed at University of Texas

Benji Jerew — Wed, 10 Jul 2013 13:02:10 +0000

Access to potable water is especially critical near the ocean, where overuse of wells can depress the freshwater table and allow saltwater to creep in. Desalination isn’t accessible to everyone though, due to the size and expense of desalination plants. Water filters can be used to remove contaminants from water, including most protozoa, bacteria, and […]

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University of Texas Doubles Electricity Output of Landfill

Benji Jerew — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 19:12:50 +0000

Landfills are not just an eyesore, but also produce methane as their contents decompose. Methane [CH4] is a greenhouse gas, and if not recovered, could accelerate climate change. On the other hand, recovered methane makes a great fuel, which can be used to generate electricity for the very residents and businesses contributing to the landfill. […]

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University of Texas Discovery Could Turn Solar Cells' Lost Heat into Electricity

Mike Sandru — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 21:13:04 +0000

Solar cells are a real treasure if handled and improved properly. The problem with them is that they usually use silicon, so the efficiency rate doesn’t exceed 31%, at most. All of this is about to change once the organic plastic semiconductor material suggested by the University of Texas comes in place: a predicted 50 […]

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Solar Thermoelectric Device Harnesses Sun's Heat, Transforms Directly Into Electricity

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 03 May 2011 17:25:13 +0000

A new material that could one day change the efficiency of thermal solar panels has been invented by MIT and Boston College researchers, with collaborators from GMZ Energy. The thermoelectric device is at least eight times more efficient than what's currently available in labs.

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Plug-In EVs and Hybrids Could Help Reduce Health-Damaging Ozone, Study Says

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 09:39:36 +0000

A recent study performed by University of Texas researchers shows the advantages of using plug-in hybrid vehicles such as the upcoming Prius over the ozone. The scenario in which the ozone layer is badly affected by pollution is already well documented, but the basics fact is that the gas is formed when hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides react with sunlight. For humans, though, breathing ozone in high quantities can be damaging for health by causing respiratory problems.

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Quantum Dots Could Double the Efficiency of Solar Cells

Mike Sandru — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 12:47:39 +0000

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.

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Todd Ditmire’s Petawatt Laser: One Step Closer to Nuclear Fusion

Ovidiu Sandru — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 05:53:27 +0000

Todd Ditmire, from the University of Texas, has invented a laser device that can produce petawatt power through a process of chirping, that takes a short light pulse (150 femtoseconds) and stretches it out in time, amplifies it to higher energy and then recompresses it to about 100 femtoseconds in time, obtaining 190 joules of energy.

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