Energy

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 world...

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...

Printing Flexible, Foldable Arrays of Solar Cells

New MIT-developed materials make it possible to produce photovoltaic cells on paper or fabric. The technique represents a major departure from the systems used until now to create most solar...

Carbon Dioxide Removal via Passive Thermal Approaches

Polymer Electrolyte-Based Ambient Temperature Oxygen Microsensors for Environmental Monitoring

Solar Mini-Inverter

CyboEnergy (Rancho Cordova, CA) offers CyboInverter, a solar power mini-inverter. The mini-inverter has four input channels and four pairs of DC wires with standard MC-4 connectors that can connect to four solar panels. A...

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 15...

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...

Driver Powers 32 Strings of LEDs

iWatt (Los Gatos, CA) introduces the iW7032 LED backlight driver to power up to 32 parallel strings of LEDs for high-performance direct and segment-edge LED TV backlighting. iWatt’s adaptive switching...

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...

Wind Power Plant Short-Circuit Current Contribution for Different Fault and Wind Turbine Topologies

An important aspect of wind power plant impact studies is to evaluate the short-circuit current (SCC) contribution of the plant into the...

Powering Remote Villages with Airborne Wind Technology

Remote villages without access to the power grid must rely on diesel or petroleum generators for electricity, which means they have power only when they can get fuel. Windlift develops...

Software Helps Accelerate Offshore Wind Innovations

Marine Innovation & Technology (MI&T) used digital prototyping software from Autodesk to develop the WindFloatTM - a small, floating platform capable of supporting large offshore wind...

Combiner Box for Solar Panel Installations

TE Connectivity (Harrisburg, PA) offers the UL 1741-Listed pre-wired SOLARLOK combiner box for solar panel installations. The five-string combiner box offers 30-second, error-proof terminations through...

'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 for...

Switcher IC

Power Integrations (San Jose, CA) has introduced new members of its LinkZero-AX integrated offline switching integrated circuit family, offering main power output up to 6.5 watts. LinkZero-AX eliminates wasted energy by employing a...

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...

Ambient Light Sensors

Everlight Electronics (Taipei, Tawiwan) introduces an Ambient Light Sensor (ALS) product family that meets the requirements for power management solutions for the display backlighting of mobile appliances such as mobile...

High-Efficiency Power Manager

Linear Technology Corporation (Milpitas, CA) introduces the LTC4155, a high-power, I2C-controlled, high-efficiency PowerPath™ manager, ideal diode controller, and lithium-ion battery charger for single-cell...

Thermal Energy Harvesting Solution

Nextreme Thermal Solutions (Durham, NC) and Arkansas Power Electronics International, Inc. (APEI) (Fayetteville, AR) are developing a thermal energy harvesting solution for a wireless sensor system to monitor...

Non-Spring Return Actuators

ProMation Engineering (Brooksville, FL) offers P1 series quarter-turn electric, non-spring return actuators, which feature a compact industrial grade design for use with all ball and butterfly valves or dampers...

Isolated Monolithic Flyback Regulator

Linear Technology Corporation (Milpitas, CA) offers a high-reliability (MP-grade) version of the LT3511, a high-voltage isolated monolithic flyback regulator that operates over a -55°C to 150°C junction...

Lithium-Ion Batteries

Panasonic (Rolling Meadows, IL) has introduced a high rate lithium-ion cell, the CGR18650CH. The cell’s Nickel Manganese-based cathode material delivers higher discharge rates and better energy density and voltage than...

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...

Lightweight Magnetic Cooler With a Reversible Circulator

A design of a highly efficient and lightweight space magnetic cooler has been developed at Goddard Space Flight Center that can continuously provide remote/distributed cooling at temperatures in the range of 2 K with a heat sink at about 15 K. The innovative design uses a cryogenic circulator that enables the cooler to operate at a high cycle frequency to achieve a large cooling capacity.

Photoluminescent Nanofibers for High-Efficiency Solid-State Lighting

Polymer nanofibers are nanoscale materials whose properties can be adjusted to provide desirable light management performance for high efficiency solid-state lighting...