energy
Latest
Solar cell generates power from raindrops
Rain is normally a solar energy cell's worst nightmare, but a team of Chinese scientists could make it a tremendous ally. They've developed a solar cell with an atom-thick graphene layer that harvests energy from raindrops, making it useful even on the gloomiest days. Water actually sticks to the graphene, creating a sort of natural capacitor -- the sharp difference in energy between the graphene's electrons and the water's ions produces electricity.
Moth eyes inspire solar cells that work indoors
As a rule, most solar cells need to catch direct sunlight. Even those that work indoors can only do so much to generate power from artificial light sources. However, British researchers have found a clever (and decidedly) unusual way to harvest energy while inside: by imitating moths. They've created a graphene-based material that traps electromagnetic waves much like a moth's eye, making it one of the most energy-absorbent substances to date. With the right antennas, it could produce energy from not just sunlight, but any device that emits microwave or radio waves -- your smartphone could help power your smartwatch.
MIT mapped where Boston's biggest energy hogs reside
Boston might be best known for the longstanding baseball rivalry between its Red Sox and the New York Yankees, but maybe the nerdier folks among us will think of it beyond Fallout 4 and PAX East now. Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a model for estimating gas and electricity demand for every building in the city. Some 100,000 edifices are included and the model is even being used to aid in making decisions regarding energy policy, according to PhysOrg.
Twisty fusion reactor goes online after 19 years of work
Germany just took fusion power one big, important step forward. The country's Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics has just switched on Wendelstein 7-X, the first large fusion reactor based on a twisty stellarator design. It's only producing hydrogen plasma at the moment and won't actually generate energy, but power isn't really the point. Instead, it'll serve as proof that stellarators could provide energy while operating continuously, unlike current (tokamak-based) fusion reactors that operate in short pulses. They should be safer, too.
Mechanical 'trees' generate energy by swaying in the wind
What if windmills looked more like trees? Well, a team of engineers at Ohio State University is looking for answer to that question with structures that resemble trees, but actually create energy when they move in the breeze. That swaying motion from the wind, and the resulting structural vibrations, is converted into electricity with electromechanical materials such as polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF). The project isn't merely concerned with those tree-like structures, though. It also looks to harvest the energy generated from the vibrations of buildings and bridges.
Human climate influence means we're skipping an ice age
According to a new study published in Nature, human-generated climate change -- specifically the massive additions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere -- is causing the Earth to effectively delay the start of the next ice age by 100,000 years. Typically, ice ages occur once every 50,000 years or so; as they have in at least eight regularly intervalled times in the Earth's history.
Study: A Tesla Powerwall pays for itself after nearly 40 years (Update)
The Tesla Powerwall promises to power your home in a more efficient, green way than traditional energy options, all for a manageable cost. The Institute for Energy Research looked into the numbers and found that it would take 38 years for the Powerwall to pay for itself if your home isn't already hooked up with the proper solar-power connections. If your house does have the necessary solar-cell components, it'll take about 31 years for Tesla's Powerwall to break even, IER says.
UK government cuts home solar rewards by 65 percent
As part of its commitment to renewable energy, the UK government offers financial contributions to those who have solar panels installed at their home. This "Feed-in Tariff" pays homeowners to generate their own power, which not only feeds the appliances in their home, but can also then be sold back to the grid by way of an "export tariff". Currently, the Feed-in Tariff sits at 12.47 pence per kilowatt hour, but the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) confirmed today that payments will be reduced to 4.39 pence from next month, a drop of 65 percent.
Want Tesla's home battery soon? Go to Vermont
Tesla's upcoming Powerwall battery might be sold out through mid-2016, but you might get one as soon as January... if you live in the right state, that is. Vermont's Green Mountain Power will offer the home energy pack to residents who want to save the environment (and lighten the load on the electrical grid) by generating and storing their own electricity. If you share the battery with GMP, you can either get a $31.76 credit on your bill (if you buy the Powerwall for $6,500 outright) or pay $37.50 per month with no money down. You can also buy the Powerwall without sharing it, if you'd rather keep all that juice to yourself.
Google makes big clean energy purchase to power data centers
Powering Google's online empire takes a lot of energy, and the company wants to use all clean sources to run its data centers by 2025. The company announced the next step towards that milestone today with word that it purchased 842 megawatts of renewable energy on three continents. The purchase includes solar and wind power in locales that range from North Carolina to Chile and Sweden, doubling what it had bought so far. Google says today's announcement is the largest purchase of clean energy by a non-utility company ever.
World's biggest floating wind farm is coming to Scotland
Just days after Danish energy provider Dong announced it had signed off plans to build the world's largest offshore wind farm comes news of another milestone in the UK's push for renewable energy. The Scottish Government has confirmed it has given consent to another Scandinavian company, Norway's Statoil, to build Britain's first floating wind farm. A park consisting of five 6MW turbines will be installed off the coast of Peterhead, eclipsing Japan's single 7MW turbine to become the world's largest offshore wind development.
Morocco is building the biggest solar farm in all of Africa
Morocco's 160 MW concentrated solar farm, Noor 1, was only the start. When the African nation is done, Noor 1 will be joined by three more similarly-sized power plants which will generate a whopping 500 MW of renewable energy. That's enough to power 1 million homes, or about half of the country's residences.
Twisty reactor hints at a future of practical fusion power
Many fusion reactors are based on a tokamak design, which uses an electrical current to twist a superheated plasma's electrons and ions into a three-dimensional loop. That's good for containing the plasma, but it's still not the safest design -- if the current fails or there's a magnetic disruption, you have a serious problem on your hands. However, scientists at the Max Planck Institute may have a more practical alternative. They've recently completed Wendelstein 7-X, the first large reactor based on a stellarator concept that relies on a cruller-like shape for the twisting action instead of a current. That's considerably safer than a tokamak, and the supercomputer-guided design should iron out the containment problems that have plagued stellarators until now.
Apple invests in more clean power for Chinese manufacturing
It's no secret that Apple takes its energy responsibilities seriously. It already powers a large percentage of its buildings via renewable sources, but ensuring that its manufacturing facilities run on clean energy isn't as easy, especially when it has partners located in various different regions. China is now Apple's fastest growing market, but it's also where the majority of its products are assembled, so it's embarking on two new programs to improve its environmental impact in the country.
Google invests in Africa's largest wind power farm
Google's big bet on clean energy isn't just limited to the US or Europe -- far from it. The search firm just promised to invest in Africa's largest wind farm, the Lake Turkana Wind Power Project in Kenya, by buying turbine maker Vestas' 12.5 percent stake when the farm is complete. Lake Turkana should generate 310MW of energy when all is said and done, or as much as 15 percent of Kenya's current output. That could not only help the country transition to green energy sources, but give it the kind of reliable electricity that's tough to find in the region.
Tesla batteries will help power California office buildings
Tesla is about to prove that its energy storage batteries aren't just meant for saving money (and possibly, the environment) at home. The Irvine Company plans to outfit office buildings across California with Tesla battery farms that, in an initial phase, will both reduce electricity demand at peak hours and give Southern California Edison up to 10 megawatts of reserve power. That's enough to light up 10,000 homes, folks. Up to 24 buildings in Irvine will get the upgrade in this first wave, and there are hints of more in the long run.
Clean energy is nearly as inexpensive as coal and gas
One of the biggest obstacles to adopting solar or wind power is simply the cost of getting started. However much an electricity company might save in the long run, that up-front expense is tough to swallow. Or rather, it was -- Bloomberg New Energy Finance study has found that the cost of clean energy has dropped so much that it's within spitting distance of dirty sources like coal and gas. The global average cost of onshore wind power has dipped to $83 per megawatt-hour, while silicon solar power now costs $122. Neither of those figures is trivial, but they're not much different than what firms pay for coal (which has risen to $75 per MWh in the Americas) or gas turbines ($82 per MWh). Some green tech is still expensive, such as offshore wind ($174) and marine ($400-plus), but prices have fallen there, too.
Scientists are developing an invisibility cloak for solar panels
Current solar panel technology has enough trouble as it is converting sunlight into useable current, what with their paltry 20 percent average efficiencies. And it certainly doesn't help matters that up to a tenth of every solar panel's active collection areas are obscured from the sun by electrical leads called "contact fingers." But researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have developed a novel workaround: they're wrapping the finger contacts in little invisibility cloaks.
London Tube's 'regenerative braking' tech can power an entire station
To make the London Underground greener and more cost effective, Transport for London (TfL) has been trialling a new system that collects and recycles waste energy from train brakes. Over the course of a week, the company says it's been able to capture electricity at a rate of 1 Megawatt hour per day -- enough to slash 5 per cent off its energy bill. The salvaged energy could also be used to run a station as large as Holborn for at least two days every week, TfL claims. The "state-of-the-art regenerative breaking system" is dependent on a new "inverter" set up at a substation near Cloudesely Road, where TfL manages the power sent to the Victoria Line. The "world-first" setup also reduces the amount of heat that's normally produced by the train's brakes. Recovering power could, therefore, keep London's Tube cooler and reduce TfL's operating costs, leading to cheaper fares. The "inverter" is now in operation full-time, but only on the Victoria line -- all the same, it's good to see TfL exploring new ways to modernise its iconic transport network.
Stanford researchers 'cool' sunlight to improve solar cell efficiency
A team of researchers from Stanford University have devised an ingenious means of boosting the efficiency of solar panels by exploiting a fundamental physics phenomenon. Solar panels lose efficiency as they heat up. Just as the top of your head radiates excess body heat as infrared light, the researchers have developed a translucent overlay comprised of patterned silica that does the same for solar panels. The overlay separates the visible spectrum of light (which generates electricity) from its thermal radiation (aka heat), effectively "cooling" the incoming light, radiating the heat away from the panel while allowing more photons to be converted into electricity. The team, led by Stanford professor Shanhui Fan, recently published their findings in the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.