Private investment in electric transmission has quintupled from $2.7 billion in 1997 to $14.1 billion in 2012.
Private electric utilities in America have been doing something surprising over the past ten years – they have been investing a lot of money in power lines and other electric-transmission infrastructure. (Chart)
Solar is now the fastest growing segment in the energy business in the U.S.
The energy storage era is upon us. States like California and New York have adapted energy policies that will make it possible to economically deploy storage systems, while technology advancements have boosted performance and trimmed costs. For the first time in history it will become feasible to store electric energy.
Transparent solar cell.
Developed by researchers in Michigan State University, a new material, called a transparent luminescent solar concentrator, can be used to cover anything that has a flat, clear surface. Transparent solar cell technology has been attempted before, but the energy the cells produced was poor and the materials they were made out of were highly colored.
The worldwide market for submarine electrical cables has surged over the past decade.
Eighty wind turbines are now under construction in the German North Sea. They will eventually generate enough power for some 400,000 homes. That power will travel via advanced cables buried along several miles of ocean floor, part of a growing move toward undersea transmission of electricity.
Super-concentrated sunbeams from BrightSource Energy Plant are deadly for birds flying overhead.
In February, the $2.2 billion BrightSource Energy Plant opened up in the Mojave Desert with good intentions: to harvest clean, sustainable solar power, by using 300 mirrors to reflect sunbeams onto a steam-producing water boiler. But a design flaw has turned the plant into a death trap for birds flying overhead.
Continue reading… “Design flaw turns solar plant into a death trap for birds”
Cynthia Sin Nga Lam and the H2Pro
The lineup of finalists in this year’s Google Science Fair is impressive. Among the 15 inventions designed to make the world a better place, Cynthia Sin Nga Lam’s submission is definitely a major standout. Concerned about the millions of people living without energy and water, the 17-year-old student scientist from Australia built H2Pro – a Portable Photocatalytic Electricity Generation and Water Purification Unit that produces both clean energy and fresh water at the same time.
Continue reading… “17 year-old student invents device that produces clean energy and fresh water”
Thorium is an alternative to uranium as a way of doing nuclear fission.
Although the chemical element thorium sounds like the kind of material used as a plot device in a comic book blockbuster, it could solve the fuel crisis in the real world.
Continue reading… “China and India race to fully harness thorium for nuclear power”
The DLS that consists of a carbon foam supporting an exfoliated graphite layer.
MIT has developed a new material structure that generates steam by soaking up the sun. The structure — a layer of graphite flakes and an underlying carbon foam — is a porous, insulating material structure that floats on water. When sunlight hits the structure’s surface, it creates a hotspot in the graphite, drawing water up through the material’s pores, where it evaporates as steam. The brighter the light, the more steam is generated.
Continue reading… “New spongelike material converts solar energy into steam”
This process can generate small amounts of electricity.
Last year, MIT researchers discovered that when water droplets spontaneously jump away from superhydrophobic (water-repelling) surfaces during condensation, the droplets can gain electric charge in the process.
Continue reading… “Generating electricity from jumping water droplets”
Energy storage
On paper, California’s push to transform the market for grid-scale energy storage is working even better than expected.
Continue reading… “Project proposals nearly double California’s energy storage target”
Geobacter is one type of ‘electric bacteria.’
‘Electric bacteria’ are unlike any other life on Earth, these extraordinary bacteria use energy in its purest form – they eat and breathe electrons – and they are everywhere. (Video)
Continue reading… “Electric life forms that live on pure energy are unlike any other life on Earth”
The U.S. has made great strides in promoting and installing solar energy systems.
In the U.S., Solar energy is on the rise. In President Obama’s State of the Union address in January, he recognized this shift, saying that, “We’re becoming a leader in solar … every four minutes, another American home or business goes solar; every panel pounded into place by a worker whose job can’t be outsourced.”
Continue reading… “10 American cities that are leading the way in the solar energy revolution”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.