IKEA has expanded its solar power system on top of its Perryville, Maryland, distribution center. The home furnishings retailer plugged in the solar array on Tuesday. Installation of the new solar panels began in the fall of 2013. The project has nearly doubled in size since then. The company says the amount of solar power […]
Power Electronic Tips
Lawsuit Filed Over Property Taxes on Solar Panels
Two solar companies are asking an Arizona court to overturn state tax officials’ decision that property taxes must be paid on leased rooftop panels that produce electricity. SolarCity Corp. and Sunrun Inc. filed a lawsuit Monday challenging the state Department of Revenue’s 2013 decision that leased panels don’t qualify for property-tax exemptions that apply to […]
Researchers Discover How Plastic Solar Panels Work
Researchers don’t fully understand how ‘plastic’ solar panels work, which complicates the improvement of their cost efficiency, thereby blocking the wider use of the technology. However, researchers at the University of Montreal, the Science and Technology Facilities Council, Imperial College London and the University of Cyprus have determined how light beams excite the chemicals in […]
Up in flames: Evidence confirms combustion theory
Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (Berkeley Lab) and the University of Hawaii have uncovered the first step in the process that transforms gas-phase molecules into solid particles like soot and other carbon-based compounds. The finding could help combustion chemists make more-efficient, less-polluting fuels and help materials scientists fine-tune their carbon […]
Membrane Developed to Separate Oil-Spill Residue
Whenever there is a major spill of oil into water, the two tend to mix into a suspension of tiny droplets, called an emulsion, that is extremely hard to separate — and that can cause severe damage to ecosystems. But MIT researchers have discovered a new, inexpensive way of getting the two fluids apart again. […]
Finland to lead the way in developing the storage of solar and wind energy
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has joined forces with Lappeenranta University of Technology and the Finland Futures Research Centre at the University of Turku in the launch of an extensive development project for a brand new energy system and its associated business sector in Finland. The NEO-CARBON ENERGY project, targeting the storage of solar […]
Waste Heat Could Be New Source of Clean Energy
About two-thirds of all the energy we use—in computers, in cars, in making products such as steel—is lost as heat. That energy does not do anything useful, and yet we are paying for it all the same. Assistant Professor Sanjiv Sinha, with the help of collaborators across campus, is making breakthroughs in finding efficient and […]
Power packaging developments are advancing energy efficiency
Power packaging is an essential part of our design process here at TI. Our innovative packaging technology brings in advancements in cost, high performance, and low and medium power applications, enabling differentiated products for TI and our customers. For example, TI recently introduced two flyback power solutions, the UCC28910 and the UCC28630, that achieve the […]
Programmable DC power supply line adds two 360-W and two 720-W models
Keithley Instruments, Inc. (Cleveland, OH) announced the new Series 2260B Programmable DC Power Supplies, which include two 360-W and two 720-W models. The Series 2260B family, which complements the recently introduced Series 2200 family of single- and multi-channel power supplies, is designed for benchtop, embedded, and manufacturing test applications that demand higher power and performance. […]
Diamond Plates Create Nanostructures Using Pressure
You wouldn’t think that mechanical force — the simple kind used to eject unruly patrons from bars, shoe a horse or emboss the raised numerals on credit cards — could process nanoparticles more subtly than the most advanced chemistry. Yet, in a current paper in Nature Communications, Sandia National Laboratories researcher Hongyou Fan and colleagues […]