Stories

Solar Panels Act as Roof Shades

A team of researchers led by Jan Kleissl, a professor of environmental engineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering, determined that during the day, a building’s ceiling was 5 degrees...

Method for Doping Nanocrystals Could Up Efficiency of Solar Panels

A team of researchers have demonstrated how semiconductor nanocrystals can be doped in order to change their electronic properties and be used as conductors. This opens a...

Online Database for Tidal Energy Resources

The DOE and Georgia Institute of Technology offer a new database highlighting the energy potential available in the U.S. from ocean tides. This online database is an important step towards providing...

Michael Ryschkewitsch, Chief Engineer, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC

As NASA's Chief Engineer, Michael Ryschkewitsch is responsible for the overall review and technical readiness of all NASA programs.

Virginia Tech Wins EcoCAR Competition

A team of students from Virginia Tech University won EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge after designing and building an extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) using E85 (ethanol). Virginia Tech competed against...

New Hope for Hydrogen Energy

Chemistry researchers at the University of Adelaide, Australia are exploring how metal nanoparticles act as highly efficient catalysts in using solar radiation to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.

Capturing and Using Waste Heat from Cars, Factories, and Power Plants

New technology is being developed at Oregon State University to capture and use the low-to-medium grade waste heat from automobiles, diesel generators, or factories and...

Neutron Analysis Explains Dynamics Behind Thermoelectric Materials

Neutron analysis of the atomic dynamics behind thermal conductivity is helping scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) gain a deeper...

Geothermal Technology Sequesters Carbon Dioxide Underground

University of Minnesota researchers have developed an innovative approach to tapping heat beneath the Earth’s surface. The method is expected to not only produce renewable...

'Create the Future' - Sustainably

There are only 10 days left to enter the 2011 "Create the Future" Design Contest, sponsored by COMSOL, Creo - a PTC product, and Tech Briefs Media Group. The contest will award a Grand Prize of $20,000 USD...

Geothermal Technology Advancement for Rapid Development of Resources in the U.S.

DOE has announced that up to $70 million is available in funding for technology advancements in geothermal energy. Innovations in exploration technologies to...

Combatting Wind Turbine Noise

Acoustics researchers at the University of Adelaide in Australia are developing a computer model to predict the noise output from wind farms so they can accurately and quickly assess the effectiveness of...

Dr. Waleed Abdalati, NASA Chief Scientist, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC

Waleed Abdalati, on January 3rd of this year, became NASA’s chief scientist. He will serve as the principal adviser to the NASA administrator on agency science...

Splitting Water to Create Renewable Energy: Simplified

An international team of scientists led by a team at Monash University of Melbourne, Australia has found that the key to the hydrogen economy could come from a very simple mineral -...

Researchers Counteract Biofuel Toxicity in Microbes

Advanced biofuels are highly touted as potential replacements for gasoline, diesel, and jet fuels. Equally touted is the synthesis of these fuels through the use of microbes. However,...

Testing Smart Energy-Management Systems

In the SmartEnergyLab, scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in Freiburg, Germany are investigating how to network various electrical household appliances and operate...

Green Engineering Grant

Today, National Instruments announced its 2011 Green Engineering Grant program for the rapid design, prototyping, and commercialization of new green technology. The grant will provide access to up to $25,000...

Multi-Core Voltage Regulator for Energy-Friendly Data Centers

Harvard graduate student Wonyoung Kim has developed and demonstrated a new device with the potential to reduce the power usage of modern processing chips. The advance could...

Self-Cooling Observed in Graphene Electronics

With the first observation of thermoelectric effects at graphene contacts, University of Illinois researchers - led by mechanical science and engineering professor William King and electrical...