Tag Archives: science
Fuel Cells and the Carbon Nanotube Revolution
Fuel cells are beneficial because they have a higher energy efficiency rating. They are 40 to 60% energy efficient and about 85% energy efficient in cells that can recycle released heat. To compare, the typical internal combustion engine of a car is about 25% energy efficient. They are compact and lightweight, with no major moving [...]
The Solar Elevator Has Arrived
The last place you want to be when the power goes out is stuck in an elevator, and although you’ve probably never thought about it, wouldn’t it be much safer if it was powered by renewable energy? Schindler, one of the biggest manufacturers of elevators, is marketing a solar-powered elevator starting this year. Drawing power from roof-top [...]
Energy Science, Innovation and the Future of America
What does it really mean to change the game in energy technologies? Not to change a single game – as with a last-second shot at the buzzer, a Hail Mary pass, or a diving catch to close out the inning – but to transform the entire game, with new rules, new technologies, and often-unexpected new [...]
FUTUREWATCH: Silicon Solar Optical Fibers
Researchers at Penn State recently developed a silicon-based optical fiber with solar-cell capabilities that’s thinner than a human hair. The fibers could be used to develop flexible solar fabrics that can be curved or twisted into shape. The resulting fibers incorporate integrated electronics into a fiber that’s thinner than the width of a human hair [...]
NREL Achieves 18.2% Efficient Nano Solar Cell
Using a chemical nano-porous etching process, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) was able to create an antireflective surface on silicon PV cells without using additional antireflection coating. The method could reduce the cost of adding anti-reflective layers to crystalline silicon-based photovoltaics. Researchers at the laboratory, including Jihun Oh, Hao-Chih Yuan, and Howard Branz developed [...]
Study: Costs of Climate Change Quantified
According to a new study the current economic impacts of climate change are more than $1.2 trillion a year, or 1.6 percent of the annual global GDP. The 331-page study was launched on September 26th, 2012, it is the second edition of the Climate Vulnerability Monitor: A Guide to the Cold Calculus of A Hot [...]
Catching up to the German Solar Machine
Germany only gets as much sunlight as Alaska, yet it is the largest solar market in the world. The cost of installing solar is much cheaper in Germany – up to 48% less at $3.08 per watt versus $5.90 per watt in the United States, according to recent data from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). [...]
Study: 93% of Fox News Climate Reporting is Misleading
Scientific facts about climate change are consistently misrepresented by two of the most popular media outlets in the U.S., according to a scientist advocacy group. The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) has released a new report. Researchers analyzed how climate science was presented in two of News Corp’s biggest flagship properties, Fox News Channel and [...]
Graphene That Redefines Electric Current
A new joint innovation by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and the University of Cambridge could pave the way for redefining the ampere in terms of fundamental constants of physics. The world’s first graphene single-electron pump (SEP), described in Nature Nanotechnology, provides the speed of electron flow needed to create a new standard for electrical current [...]