Enlarge image Columbine Spirit Scholarship alum Meghan McKee is currently a facility engineer for El Paso Exploration & Production. She splits her time between the company’s Denver office and solving problems for the company’s natural gas field in Raton, NM. Credit: Dennis Schroeder Columbine. It’s not often a single word can evoke an enormous spectrum […]
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NREL Solar Technology Will Warm Air at ‘Home’
Enlarge image NREL’s Craig Christensen and Chuck Kutscher stand next to a wall at the RSF that uses their award-winning transpired air collector technology. Credit: Dennis Schroeder Sometimes the way back home isn’t straightforward. But once you find your way, you know you’ll be welcomed with open arms. Transpired solar air collector technology (PDF 309 […]
Renewable Energy at Work in War Zones
Military Bases in Afghanistan Have Great Solar Potential NREL scientists and engineers haven’t hesitated to fly to war zones when military brass call on them to assess the potential for renewable energy at Marine, Army and Air Force bases. Full story. Ever since Don Quixote tilted at wind mills, warfare and renewable energy have had […]
Energy Conversion Process Could Revamp Solar-Power Production
(Stanford University) – A new process that simultaneously combines the light and heat of solar radiation to generate electricity could offer more than double the efficiency of existing solar cell technology, say the Stanford engineers who discovered it and proved that it works. The process, called “photon enhanced thermionic emission,” or PETE, could reduce the […]
Northeast Data Center Adds 7 Megawatts of Flywheel Capacity
VYCON, a designer and manufacturer of environmentally friendly, high-speed energy storage flywheel systems, announced that it has just completed a 7-Megawatt shipment of its VDC-XE clean energy storage systems to a Northeast Fortune 500 company that specializes in large data storage applications and services for companies around the world. VYCON’s VDC-XE flywheel systems used with […]
Automotive X PRIZE Competitors Advance to Validation Stage
The Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE, a $10 million competition to inspire a new generation of super fuel efficient vehicles, announced today the Finalist teams who have survived all on-track testing at Michigan International Speedway (MIS), and who now move into a Validation stage before prize money will be awarded this September. What began as […]
Wireless Power Consortium Creates Qi Standard for Common Development
The Qi low power standard, delivering up to 5 Watt into wireless power receivers, was recently released by the Wireless Power Consortium. The Qi low power specifications consist of 3 documents: – Part 1, Interface Definition. This document defines the interface for contactless power transfer between a power transmitter and a power receiver, based on […]
Russia to use space tech to develop energy sector
(Reuters) – Russia will employ technologies, initially meant for outer space research programs, to develop its vast energy sector, Energy Ministry said on Tuesday in yet another sign of the Kremlin’s modernization drive. The ministry said in a statement it signed a long-term agreement with Russian space agency Roscosmos “to secure effective exploration, production, transportation […]
GE Expands Relationship With Smart Grid Company SynapSense
SynapSense Corporation, whose technology improves energy efficiency and cuts power and cooling costs in data centers, announced today that it is deepening its relationship with GE by securing an investment and commercial partnership as part of a focus on digital energy services, the Smart Grid and ecomagination. GE Energy Financial Services is joining SynapSense’s investors […]
Graphene organic photovoltaics, or, will joggers’ t-shirts someday power their cell phones?
A University of Southern California team has produced flexible transparent carbon atom films that the researchers say have great potential for a new breed of solar cells. “Organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells have been proposed as a means to achieve low cost energy due to their ease of manufacture, light weight, and compatibility with flexible substrates,” […]