Frankfurt / New York – Renewable energy’s share of world electricity generation continued its steady climb last year despite a 14 per cent drop in investments to US$214.4 billion, according to a new report released today. According to Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2014 – produced by the Frankfurt School-UNEP Collaborating Centre for Climate […]
Power Electronic Tips
Renewable Energy Market Share Climbs Despite Dip in Investments
Renewable energy’s share of world electricity generation continued its steady climb last year despite a 14 per cent drop in investments to US$214.4 billion, according to a new report released today. According to Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2014 – produced by the Frankfurt School-UNEP Collaborating Centre for Climate & Sustainable Energy Finance, the […]
Photos of the Day — BAT: The Buoyant Airborne Turbine
The Altaeros Buoyant Airborne Turbine (BAT) integrates a shell, turbine, tethers, and a ground station to combine aerospace and wind turbine technology and solve many of the problems associated with wind energy. See: This floating turbine solves all the wind energy problems Floating at a height of 1,000 feet, the BAT catches winds five to […]
April 2014: Digital ICs
In the April issue, ECN is proud to announce the2014 ECN IMPACT Award Finalists chosen to recognize the top products, tools, and services from 18 categories across the electronics design engineering field. The finalists were picked by our panel of esteemed judges selected for their expertise in one or more product category. We’ll announce the winners […]
Energy breakthrough uses sun to create solar energy materials
CORVALLIS, Ore. – In a recent advance in solar energy, researchers have discovered a way to tap the sun not only as a source of power, but also to directly produce the solar energy materials that make this possible. This breakthrough by chemical engineers at Oregon State University could soon reduce the cost of solar […]
Dark Energy Cam Expands Understanding of Expanding Universe
Breaking down is often an essential part of building up. Athletes break down their muscles during hard workouts to build stronger ones for better performances. Construction workers tear down ruins to build skyscrapers. And scientists find flaws in accepted theories and use them to build even better models of how nature actually works. “Creative destruction,” […]
The Discovery That Could Rewrite Physics
On March 17, 2014, a group of physicists announced a thrilling discovery: the “smoking gun” data for the idea of an inflationary universe, a clue to the Big Bang. For non-physicists, what does it mean? TED asked Allan Adams to briefly explain the results, in this improvised talk illustrated by Randall Munroe of xkcd.
Former BP Engineer Gets Sentencing Delay
A former BP engineer has been granted a delay in his sentencing on an obstruction of justice charge related to the 2010 Gulf oil spill. The sentencing hearing for Kurt Mix had been set for late April. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval granted a delay until Aug. 6. Defense lawyers had asked for […]
Strain can alter materials’ properties
In the ongoing search for new materials for fuel cells, batteries, photovoltaics, separation membranes, and electronic devices, one newer approach involves applying and managing stresses within known materials to give them dramatically different properties. This development has been very exciting, says MIT associate professor of nuclear science and engineering Bilge Yildiz, one of the pioneers […]
DC/DC converter available in ultra-compact SIP-8 package
[[{“fid”:”39014″,”view_mode”:”default”,”fields”:{“field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]”:””,”field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]”:””},”type”:”media”,”attributes”:{“height”:300,”width”:300,”style”:”float: right; margin: 5px;”,”title”:”DC\/DC converters”,”class”:”media-element file-default”}}]]XP Power (Sunnyvale, CA) today announced the ITX series of 6 Watt DC/DC converters encapsulated in an industry standard SIP 8-pin package measuring just 0.86 x 0.44 x 0.36 inches (21.85 x 11.1 x 9.2 mm). Delivering a power density of up to 46 Watts per cubic inch, the ITX […]