New technique enables much faster production of inexpensive solar cells

New technique enables much faster production of inexpensive solar cells: "ScienceDaily (Mar. 17, 2011) — TU Delft has demonstrated that the speed at which inexpensive solar cells are produced can be increased by a factor of ten -- and that this can be achieved without any detriment to the energy yield of the cells. This will almost certainly result in a further reduction in the price of the cells, which are made of amorphous silicon. On March 14, Michael Wank defended his thesis on this subject at TU Delft."

India's Renewable Future: Challenges and Prospects | Renewable Energy News Article

India's Renewable Future: Challenges and Prospects | Renewable Energy News Article
Dr. Farooq Abdullah, India's Minister of New and Renewable Energy, wants his country to transform the promise of boundless and clean energy into reality.He said that "Although we have seen an impressive increase in installed capacity addition, from barely about 1,350 MW at the time of independence (1947) to about 160,000 MW today, over 90,000 MW of new generation capacity is required in the next seven years. A corresponding investment is required in transmission and distribution. The challenge facing a developing nation such as ours is to meet our increasing energy needs while minimizing the damage to the environment.This is why, while striving to bridge our energy deficit, we want to increase the share of clean, sustainable, new and renewable energy sources. Whether or not renewable energy completely replaces fossil fuel, we are determined to develop renewable energy to its fullest potential."

New solar cell self-repairs like natural plant systems

New solar cell self-repairs like natural plant systems: "Researchers are creating a new type of solar cell designed to self-repair like natural photosynthetic systems in plants by using carbon nanotubes and DNA, an approach aimed at increasing service life and reducing cost. 'We've created artificial photosystems using optical nanomaterials to harvest solar energy that is converted to electrical power,' said Jong Hyun Choi, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind.

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New highly stable fuel-cell catalyst gets strength from its nano core

New highly stable fuel-cell catalyst gets strength from its nano core Now, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have developed a new electrocatalyst that uses a single layer of platinum and minimizes its wear and tear while maintaining high levels of reactivity during tests that mimic stop-and-go driving.The newly designed catalysts are composed of a single layer of platinum over a palladium (or palladium-gold alloy) nanoparticle core. Their structural characterization was performed at Brookhaven's Center for Functional Nanomaterials and the National Synchrotron Light Source.

YouTube - Tough Realities of Renewable Energy, by Craig Shields

YouTube - Tough Realities of Renewable Energy, by Craig Shields

Silicon strategy shows promise for batteries: Lithium-ion technique for electric cars, large-capacity storage

Silicon strategy shows promise for batteries: Lithium-ion technique for electric cars, large-capacity storage ScienceDaily (Oct. 13, 2010) — A team of Rice University and Lockheed Martin scientists has discovered a way to use simple silicon to radically increase the capacity of lithium-ion batteries.

Fuel cells in operation: A closer look

Fuel cells in operation: A closer look ScienceDaily (Oct. 7, 2010) — Measuring a fuel cell's overall performance is relatively easy, but measuring its components individually as they work together is a challenge. That's because one of the best experimental techniques for investigating the details of an electrochemical device while it's operating is x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Traditional XPS works only in a vacuum, while fuel cells need gases under pressure to function.

Crude Alternatives: Energy Industry Heavyweights Debate Fuels of the Future: Scientific American

Crude Alternatives: Energy Industry Heavyweights Debate Fuels of the Future: Scientific American With the world's energy demands expected to increase more than three-fold over the next century, ExxonMobil and Shell executives acknowledge the necessity (and difficulty) of unseating inexpensive and efficient crude oil and coal
By Larry Greenemeier September 28, 2010 0

Reverse Combustion: Can CO2 Be Turned Back into Fuel? [Video]: Scientific American

Reverse Combustion: Can CO2 Be Turned Back into Fuel? [Video]: Scientific American In the 1990s a graduate student named Lin Chao at Princeton University decided to bubble carbon dioxide into an electrochemical cell. Using cathodes made from the element palladium and a catalyst known as pyridinium—a garden variety organic chemical that is a by-product of oil refining—he discovered that applying an electric current would assemble methanol from the CO2. He published his findings in 1994—and no one cared.

Out-of-this-world proposal for solar wind power - tech - 24 September 2010 - New Scientist

Out-of-this-world proposal for solar wind power - tech - 24 September 2010 - New Scientist Forget wind power or conventional solar power, the world's energy needs could be met 100 billion times over using a satellite to harness the solar wind and beam the energy to Earth – though focussing the beam could be tricky.

Gas diffusion layer for fuel cells made of carbon fiber fabric

Gas diffusion layer for fuel cells made of carbon fiber fabric Toho Tenax Co. Ltd., the core company of the Teijin Group's carbon fibers business, has developed a gas diffusion layer (GDL) made of a carbon fiber fabric for use as an electrode component for fuel cells.

World's Largest Wind Farm Opens in U.K.: Big Pic : Discovery News

World's Largest Wind Farm Opens in U.K.: Big Pic : Discovery News Sept. 23, 2010 -- The world's largest offshore wind farm opened in Britain on Thursday, as part of the government's bid to reduce the carbon emissions that drive climate change.

Born-again solar cells are more efficient - tech - 11 September 2010 - New Scientist

Born-again solar cells are more efficient - tech - 11 September 2010 - New Scientist Plants counteract the damaging effects of the sun by constantly rebuilding their photosynthetic parts. To mimic this, a team led by Michael Strano at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology created a solar cell using light-harvesting proteins, lipids and carbon nanotubes. These stick together and the nanotubes channel electrons generated by the proteins to an external circuit.

Selenium makes more efficient solar cells

Selenium makes more efficient solar cells: "Research reported in the journal Applied Physics Letters, published by the American Institute of Physics (AIP), describes how solar power could potentially be harvested by using oxide materials that contain the element selenium."

The next best thing to oil - tech - 12 August 2010 - New Scientist

The next best thing to oil - tech - 12 August 2010 - New Scientist: "A renewable carbon economy? Surely that's a pipe dream? Perhaps not, now that solar power facilities are cropping up in deserts across California, Spain and North Africa. The idea is to use the sun to power chemical plants able to split carbon dioxide. Combine the resulting carbon monoxide with hydrogen and you have the beginnings of a solar fuel that could one day replace oil."

Chemists report promising advance in fuel-cell technology

Chemists report promising advance in fuel-cell technology: "In a new study, chemists at Brown University report a promising advance. They have created a unique core and shell nanoparticle that uses far less platinum yet performs more efficiently and lasts longer than commercially available pure-platinum catalysts at the cathode end of fuel-cell reactions."

Observations: What happens when coal is gone?

Observations: What happens when coal is gone?: "In two centuries, people will still want to drive cars, fly in airplanes and have lighting in their houses. “Everybody I know thinks there will be big price increases with the end of easy oil and there’ll be a struggle over the resources,” he said Monday. The young scientists in the audience “need to figure out how to keep that struggle from turning into a hot war.”"

Highly Efficient Solar Cells Could Result from Quantum Dot Research | Renewable Energy World

Highly Efficient Solar Cells Could Result from Quantum Dot Research | Renewable Energy World: "Tesax, United States -- Conventional solar cell efficiency could be increased from the current limit of 30 percent to more than 60 percent, suggests new research on semiconductor nanocrystals, or quantum dots, led by chemist Xiaoyang Zhu at The University of Texas at Austin."

Green machine: Cars could run on sunlight and CO2 - tech - 02 June 2010 - New Scientist

Green machine: Cars could run on sunlight and CO2 - tech - 02 June 2010 - New Scientist: "Experimental solar-powered reactors have shown they can create the building blocks for synthetic liquid fuels. They've got a way to go, but these projects could take a big chunk out of net carbon dioxide emissions without the need for major changes to either vehicles or refuelling infrastructure."

Electric car travels record 1,000 km on single charge - Yahoo! India News

Electric car travels record 1,000 km on single charge - Yahoo! India News: "An electric car fitted with special lithium ion battery created by Japanese company Sanyo, traveled at a speed of 40 kilometer per hour, as it drove non-stop around a car racing course in Shimotsuma for 27.5 hours covering 1,003 km without being recharged, 'The Daily Telegraph' reported."