Why are efficient and affordable solar cells so highly coveted? Volume. The amount of solar energy lighting up Earth’s land mass every year is nearly 3,000 times the total amount of annual human energy use. But to compete with energy from fossil fuels, photovoltaic devices must convert sunlight to electricity with a certain measure of […]
Power Electronic Tips
Superconductors for efficient wind power plants
Wind power will make a major contribution to the energy turnaround. Efficient power generation by means of offshore power plants requires powerful, reliable generators that do not cause disproportionately high logistic efforts and do not require complex foundations. Using generators with superconductors, performance can be increased to 10 MW while at the same time reducing […]
Biofuels cause pollution, not as green as thought – study
(Reuters) – Green schemes to fight climate change by producing more bio-fuels could actually worsen a little-known type of air pollution and cause almost 1,400 premature deaths a year in Europe by 2020, a study showed on Sunday. The report said trees grown to produce wood fuel – seen as a cleaner alternative to oil […]
Rice cultivates green batteries from plant
HOUSTON – (Dec. 11, 2012) – Here’s a reason to be glad about madder: The climbing plant has the potential to make a greener rechargeable battery.Scientists at Rice University and the City College of New York have discovered that the madder plant, aka Rubia tinctorum, is a good source of purpurin, an organic dye that […]
Disintegration provides the energy-efficient answer for today’s feature-packed handsets
The path towards higher silicon integration seems inexorable. Already, the suppliers of baseband and applications processors into the mobile-phone and tablet markets are looking at the move to 14nm and 16nm finFET-based processes as they seek further cost savings and performance improvements. But a counter-trend is emerging, one in which power management is now disintegrating […]
Renewables and storage could power grid 99.9 percent of the time
Renewable energy could fully power a large electric grid 99.9 percent of the time by 2030 at costs comparable to today’s electricity expenses, according to new research by the University of Delaware and Delaware Technical Community College. A well-designed combination of wind power, solar power and storage in batteries and fuel cells would nearly always […]
Thinking inside the box: Getting heat out of sealed enclosures
Demand for power supplies that can withstand harsh environmental conditions doesn’t only come from the military. Telecommunications base stations and infrastructure for the smart electricity grid of the future place steep demands on their power supplies. These systems are subject to the extremes of temperature, dust and humidity. The equipment needs to operate continuously, as […]
New thermoelectric material could be an energy saver
By using common materials found pretty much anywhere there is dirt, a team of Michigan State University researchers have developed a new thermoelectric material. This is important, they said, because the vast majority of heat that is generated from, for example, a car engine, is lost through the tail pipe. It’s the thermoelectric material’s job […]
New energy technologies promise brighter future
TAMPA, Fla. (Nov. 19, 2012) – In three studies published in the current issue of Technology and Innovation – Proceedings of the National Academy of Inventors, innovators unveil creative technologies that could change our sources of energy, change our use of energy, and change our lives. Untapped energy in the oceans The kinetic energy in […]
King’s College London finds rainbows on nanoscale
New research at King’s College London may lead to improved solar cells and LED-displays. Researchers from the Biophysics and Nanotechnology Group at King’s, led by Professor Anatoly Zayats in the department of Physics have demonstrated in detail how to separate colors and create ‘rainbows’ using nanoscale structures on a metal surface. The research is published […]