Novel refrigerator turns waste heat into sound waves to cool down stuff ZME Science, December 13, 2016 Japanese researchers have demonstrated an innovative refrigerator that employs a thermoacoustic engine to cool things down to a minimum temperature of -107.4 C. This sort of heat engines based on sound waves have been researched since the 1990s for … Read more
A Texas startup’s big energy idea: storing electricity underground The Guardian, August 25, 2016 In a field in Central Texas, Aaron Mandell and his crew are running pumping equipment to bring a former oil and gas well back to life. But they’re not trying to extract black gold. Instead, they are developing a way to … Read more
The Facility Manager: Harnessing The Power of Big Data in Healthcare Panoramic Power, October 13, 2016 With a continuing and constant demand for high energy consumption in healthcare facilities, it might seem impossible to simply cut a percentage off the budget. After all, the electronic equipment peppered throughout healthcare facilities is far from frivolous – … Read more
Converse’s Boston Headquarters Gets a Bold Visual Statement Design: Retail, October 6, 2016 Taking a product from concept to completion requires collaboration. And when the idea involves an iconic product, like Converse Chuck Taylor sneakers, it is a process that gets everyone excited. The Converse design team presented their vision to New York-based Lukas Lighting … Read more
Boosting Energy Efficiency: Air Compressor Technology IEN, November 25, 2016 Faced with increasing competition, high energy costs, increased regulation and more aggressive sustainability goals, facility owners and plant managers are under extraordinary pressure to reduce costs, while achieving greater productivity and energy efficiency. Most industries use some form of air or gas compression to generate … Read more
Jeff Perkins, ERS, for Zondits My time doing market research in the semiconductor industry was one of the most fascinating phases of my career so far. As an “energy” guy at heart, I was most drawn to the “compound semiconductor” space with rapid advances in power electronics (driven by advances in SiC) and LED chips. … Read more
HOW BUILDERS ARE MEETING THE CALL FOR NET ZERO ENERGY HOMES Builder, November 9, 2016 With energy codes becoming more stringent in many states, Myers and Thrive are at the vanguard of a growing group of regional and national production builders who are building highly efficient, zero energy ready homes—meaning they’re wired for photovoltaic panels, … Read more
NEXT GENERATION ELECTRIC MACHINES Department of Energy AMO’s Next Generation Electric Machines (NGEM) program is an RD&D effort leveraging recent technology advancements in power electronics and electric motors to develop a new generation of energy efficient, high power density, high speed, integrated medium voltage (MV) drive systems for a wide variety of critical energy applications. … Read more
Plugged In: Trends in Plug Load Monitoring and Management Automated Buildings, July 2016 Equipment plugged into wall outlets represents an ever larger share of energy consumption in buildings, so naturally building pros are looking there for energy savings. Plug loads now consume about 15% – 20% of electricity in offices, and as much as 40% … Read more
Energy Efficiency of Computing: What’s Next? Electronic Design, November 28, 2016 For a long time, processor performance and peak output energy efficiency moved forward together at a rapid clip. The gains started well before 1965, the year Gordon Moore published his first projection. Peak output efficiency doubled about every 1.6 years from the dawn of … Read more