alternative energy
« Previous EntriesNREL developing more efficient air conditioning
Thursday, June 17th, 2010 This illustration shows how the DEVap cooling core uses water and liquid desiccant to draw in outside air, exhaust some of that air and return cool, dry air to the area being cooled. DEVap’s integrated evaporative component and its desiccant drying process offer improved dehumidification, lower costs, and much lower energy usage.
Those of us who [...]
New MIT airplane design could cut fuel use by 70%
Monday, May 17th, 2010 MIT D-series concept
MIT researchers, under contract with NASA, have come up with a new fuel efficient airplane design that they say would use 70% less jet fuel than current airliners. Their new design would also reduce noise and nitrogen oxide emissions.
Actually, MIT came up with two designs – the first one, called the D series, [...]
DailyFinance.com – Five technologies that could help save the planet
Saturday, April 24th, 2010Nothing really new in this Daily Finance article, which was published on Earth Day 2010, but it’s a nice overall assessment of the 5 primary technologies in alternative energy (solar, wind, nuclear, grid storage, and energy efficient buildings). Included is a listing of a number of companies that have either raised a significant amount of [...]
NREL develops green LEDs to help improve the quality of LED lighting
Tuesday, April 6th, 2010 NREL lasers used to analyze light emitting properties gallium indium phospate alloys
One day, LED lights will be common throughout your house. But right now they’re not only far too expensive, the quality of the light they give off basically stinks. NREL (the National Renewable Energy Laboratory) is working to change that. They’ve [...]
Wired: 10 Companies Reinventing our Energy Infrastructure
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010Wired Science has an article today on 10 companies that are “reinventing our energy infrastructure.” The 10 companies they talk about recently presented at a Department of Energy ARPA-E symposium and covered everything from “the actual wires that power is transmitted on to the waste heat produced in industrial processes.” Hit the [...]
BNET roundup of ten serious nuclear fusion projects
Wednesday, February 10th, 2010Nuclear fusion has been in the news lately – researchers at the National Ignition Facility in Livermore, California were able to bring all 192 lasers online at the same time and were able to heat a BB sized pellet of fuel to millions of degrees Fahrenheit. They still have a ways to go before [...]
Generate electricity from breathing? New energy harvesting rubber could make that happen
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 Rubber imprinted with piezoelectric material that generates electricity when flexed. (Credit: Frank Wojciechowski/Princeton University)
OK, maybe putting this stuff next to your lungs and letting your breathing motion generate electricity is a little bit out there, but there are lots of other uses for this new power generating rubber material that’s been developed by researchers from [...]
100 amazing lectures on the future of energy
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010The folks at OnlineDegreePrograms.org sent me a note to tell me about an online resource they’ve set up to help people learn more about the future of energy. They’ve posted 100 different video lectures on various topics that cover all different types of alternative energy, energy policy, conservation and consumption, business issues, and [...]
Paper batteries using nanotubes and ink
Friday, December 11th, 2009Researchers at Stanford University have come up with a way to make ultra lightweight and flexible batteries and supercapacitors out of paper. All they had to do was coat a sheet of paper with special ink made out of carbon nanotubes and silver wires. The result is a highly conductive storage device that [...]
Massachusetts homeowners can now sell electricity back to the power company
Monday, November 30th, 2009Massachusetts’ new net metering law goes into effect tomorrow (December 1st), and that is good news for alternative energy producing homeowners and businesses. Net metering means that you can sell any excess electricity that you produce back to the electric company – in effect, the meter runs both ways. And the new [...]
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