Energy – Page 36 – Impact Lab

Analysis, Energy, Science & Technology News

Tesla’s vision for wireless power transmission is reborn

July 7, 2014

Tesla Tower Prototype

One of the greatest visionaries of the early 20th century was Nikola Tesla. His work to help develop the AC power system we all use to this day was crucial, but his personal goal was to develop a way to wirelessly transmit electrical power. He got as far as building a huge tower for transatlantic wireless power demonstrations, but the system was never completed. Now a group of Russian engineers want to complete Tesla’s work, and have launched a funding campaign to build a working prototype of Tesla’s wireless power system.

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Analysis, Energy, People Making a Difference, Science & Technology News, Solar Power

New technology from Sharp demonstrates ultra-high efficiency solar cells

June 26, 2014

Sharp’s technology could be twice as efficient at converting sunlight to electricity.

Right now the best solar cells we have convert less than a third of the energy on sunlight into electricity, even though for decades researchers have calculated that exotic physics could allow solar cells to convert far more energy than they do now.

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Energy, Science & Technology News, Solar Power

World’s most efficient solar cells may soon get cheaper

June 12, 2014

Solar panels

The world’s most highly-efficient solar cells are twice as efficient as the ones people put on their roofs, but hardly anyone uses them because the semiconductor materials they’re made of are so expensive. That could be about to change.

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Alternative Transportation, Business, Energy, Great New Product, Science & Technology News

Electric car travels over 1,100 miles without a recharge on a new aluminum-air battery

June 6, 2014

Together the Israeli company, Phinergy, and the aluminum giant, Alcoa Canada, demonstrated an electric vehicle (EV) capable of driving over 1,100 miles between charges using a combination of aluminum-air and lithium-ion storage technologies.

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Energy, Great New Product, Great Videos, Science & Technology News, Wind Power

Archimedes Liam F1 Urban Wind Turbine is the world’s most efficient urban wind turbine

June 5, 2014

Liam F1 Urban Wind Turbine

The Rotterdam-based tech firm The Archimedes has introduced its Liam F1 Urban Wind Turbine, which is said to have an energy yield that is “80 percent of the maximum that is theoretically feasible.” That’s quite the assertion, given that most conventional wind turbines average around 25 to 50 percent. (Video)

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Analysis, Energy, Science & Technology News

Three Missouri S&T undergraduates achieve nuclear fusion

May 29, 2014

Nuclear fusion

Three undergraduate physics students from Missouri University of Science and Technology have achieved nuclear fusion of deuterium into helium. The reaction was achieved as part of the students’ final project for their senior research laboratory class.

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Business, Energy, Science & Technology News, Solar Power

Google offers $1 million prize for better solar power inverters

May 21, 2014

An Enphase Micro-Inverter

Google’s Little Box Challenge, Google will be offering a $1 million prize for inventing much smaller solar power inverters. The challenge will be launched this summer, so currently few details have been released to the public.

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Analysis, Energy, Green Friendly, Record Breaker, Science & Technology News, Solar Power, Wind Power

Germany generates 74% of power needs from renewable energy

May 16, 2014

An offshore wind turbine near Rostock. Germany.

Germany’s impressive streak of renewable energy milestones continues, with renewable energy generation surging to a record portion — nearly 75 percent — of the country’s overall electricity demand by midday last Sunday. With wind and solar in particular filling such a huge portion of the country’s power demand, electricity prices actually dipped into the negative for much of the afternoon, according to Renewables International.

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Energy, New Inventions, People Making a Difference, Science & Technology News, Solar Power

IBM creates a solar magnifying glass that could power the Earth

May 9, 2014

High Concentration Photo Voltaic Thermal (HCPVT)

IBM, the American multinational technology and consulting corporation are renowned the world over for being technology leaders and innovators with an aim to ‘shape the future of society and make the world work better and build a smarter planet.’ Their latest creation is being considered as one of their best projects yet.

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Analysis, Breakthrough Thinking, Energy, New Inventions, People Making a Difference, Science & Technology News, Solar Power

Solar thermophotovoltaic device has potential to tap the sun’s energy through heat as well as light

May 9, 2014

A nanophotonic solar thermophotovoltaic device.

Traditional photovoltaic solar cells have an inherent limit on the efficiency at which they can convert sunlight into energy. This limit—based on the bandgap of the material used and known as the Shockley-Queisser limit—is about 33.7 percent for standard solar cells. It is essentially due to any material’s inability to respond to all wavelengths of sunlight; so what if there was a way to change the wavelengths that actually reach the cell to those it converts best? MIT researchers have unveiled the best-yet version of that idea, known as solar thermophotovoltaics.

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Analysis, Energy, Science & Technology News, Solar Power, Wind Power

They sound like science fiction, but these 5 energy technologies are getting close to reality

May 8, 2014

Space-based solar

Some newer clean energy sources are becoming mainstream industries with low prices and established financing models like solar panels and wind turbines. But even in this era of emerging predictable clean energy, there are some pretty weird, experimental and ambitious energy projects under development. And they’re trying to move out of the lab and off of research papers, and into actual production.

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Energy, Great Videos, Latest Trend, People Making a Difference, Science & Technology News, Wind Power

Altaeros Energies floating wind turbine churns out electricity and Wi-Fi

April 2, 2014

Altaeros Energies floating wind turbine.

This floating turbine, developed by Altaeros Energies could someday travel to every remote corner of the globe. There, they could deliver electricity and Internet connectivity to people and villages living off-the-grid. (Video)

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