Turning Windows into Solar Panels DOE, March 7, 2016. Image credit: LANL Researchers in the Center for Advanced Solar Photophysics at Los Alamos National Laboratory are seeking to transform everyday windows into solar collectors by harnessing the unique properties of quantum dots. The advantages of solar power as a source of clean, renewable energy seem … Read more
How California Blackouts Will Make Solar and Batteries A National Story Triple Pundit, April 18, 2016. Image credit: Life-Of-Pix Imagine islands of light fueled by solar connected to batteries Here’s how solar and distributed generation could become national news this summer. It is 7 p.m., and Los Angeles is blacked out. It’s the third day of … Read more
Pouring Saltwater Over Graphene Produces Electricity Gizmodo, April 15, 2014 A team of Chinese scientists did an impossible-sounding thing. They created electricity simply by dragging a droplet of saltwater across a layer of graphene. No big fires, no greenhouse gases, no fuss. They created energy with just a miracle material and one of the most plentiful … Read more
Ryan Pollin, ERS, for Zondits. April 27, 2016. Image credit: Foundry Energy storage is getting simpler, and Advanced Rail Energy Storage (ARES) is well on the way to its first full-scale deployment. The most basic energy storage system thus far is probably pumped hydro storage: push water uphill to “charge the battery,” and let it flow … Read more
AEP Ohio Agrees to Retailer TOU Program Concurrent with Smart Meter Rollout Energy Manager Today, April 11, 2016. Image credit: pagaling AEP Ohio has entered into a Joint Stipulation and Recommendation Agreement under which the utility would complete phase two of its gridSMART deployment program and would allow the billing of Time of Use (TOU) rates by … Read more
Stop & Shop using inedibles to generate DC power Supermarket News, April 19, 2016. Image credit: dawnfu Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. said it is converting inedible food into energy to help power its distribution center in Freetown, Mass., at a new green energy facility. The company said the 12,000-square-foot facility, which opened on April 15 is … Read more
As Renewables Boom, Companies Explore Energy Storage Technology NPR, April 4, 2016 Batteries can store energy for later, but companies are looking for cheaper alternatives. Three reporters examine technologies that employ air, salt and ice. ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: Renewable energy like solar and wind is finally coming of age. Costs are way down. Of course, … Read more
Partners Reach Efficiency Milestone With n-PERT Solar Cells Electronics Weekly, April 14, 2016. Image credit: juliacasado1 Belgium-based nanoelectronics research center Imec and Crystal Solar, a California-based company focused on direct wafer-growing technologies, say they have achieved a 22.5% cell efficiency with n-type PERT (passivated emitter, rear totally diffused) silicon solar cells manufactured on six-inch mono-crystalline epitaxially … Read more
The hydrogen city: clean, green & another nail in the fossil fuel coffin The Fifth Estate, April 12, 2016. Image credit: brainbuffet Hydrogen produces only water and heat when burnt and, if made using renewable fuels, is zero carbon. Leeds in the UK is investigating the potential to convert its natural gas to hydrogen in a … Read more
The Anbaric Microgrid Strategy Cleantechnica, March 31, 2016. Image credit: Tama66 Entrepreneurial opportunities for microgrid operators Wakefield, Massachusetts-based Anbaric has grown into one of this nation’s microgrid innovators. The company has developed from scratch more than $1.5 billion in independent transmission projects to date. The company outlines its production and distribution strategy as follows: A microgrid is centered … Read more