Tag: cleantech
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Energy Dept to Fund R&D on Vehicle Charging Stations
The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) announced grants totaling some $7 million for research and development to help improve the performance and flexibility of electric vehicle chargers on the nation’s power grids. The funds will go to electric vehicle (EV) charging station manufacturers in California, Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey, who are expected to…
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Algae Protein Electrodes Boost Photosynthesis Process
Researchers from the Swiss research institute Empa, University of Basel in Switzerland, and Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago have developed electrodes made from algal protein that mimic a key process in photosynthesis used to directly generate hydrogen from water. The team describes their findings in the online issue of the journal Advanced Functional Materials (paid…
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Battery Developer, Utility to Partner on Grid Energy Storage
Lithium-ion battery developer A123 Systems in Waltham, Massachusetts and Massachusetts electric power company NSTAR have agreed to pilot test A123 batteries as storage devices in a suburban power grid. The pilot project will study and document the performance and reliability of A123 batteries at a substation in Medway, Massachusetts and is expected to become operational…
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UCLA, Korean Institute Collaborate on Smart Grid R&D
The engineering school at University of California at Los Angeles and the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) have begun a 10-year partnership to collaborate on smart-grid research and the development of new related technologies. The project, funded on the U.S. side by the Department of Energy and the Los Angeles Department of Water and…
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Technique Devised for Lowest Greenhouse Emissions Routing
Engineers from University at Buffalo in New York have developed a technique to route drivers to their destinations while minimizing their cars’ greenhouse gas emissions. The study involved simulations of traffic in the Buffalo/Niagara Falls region, but could be applied to today’s GPS systems in the near future, according to the researchers. Buffalo engineering professor…
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Fuel Economy Standards Create Incentives for Larger Vehicles
A University of Michigan engineering/economics study discovers incentives in the new Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for auto makers to build larger vehicles allowed to meet lower targets. The work of former Michigan design doctoral student Kate Whitefoot, now with the National Academy of Engineering, appears online in the journal Energy Policy (paid subscription…
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Report: Electrical Grid Needs Technology, Regulatory Changes
The electrical power grid in the U.S. faces significant changes in technology over the next two decades, says a new report from the MIT Energy Initiative, but the grid also needs regulatory, economic, and security upgrades to meet these changes. The authors — 13 MIT faculty members plus one author from Harvard — discussed the…
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Study Takes Down Renewable Energy Myths in the U.S. South
A study by researchers at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina and Georgia Tech in Atlanta analyzes myths propagated by both advocates and opponents of renewable energy and finds they don’t hold up to scrutiny. Their findings appear online in the journal Energy Policy (paid subscription required). Duke’s Etan Gumerman and Georgia Tech’s Marilyn Brown,…
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Copper Compound Nanoparticles Advance Battery Electrodes
Materials scientists at Stanford University in California have developed a new, longer-lasting battery electrode with crystalline nanoparticles of a copper compound. Their discovery, with implications for solar and wind energy storage on the power grid, is described this week in the journal Nature Communications (paid subscription required). According to the authors — materials science professor…
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Liquid-Based Hydrogen Storage Material Developed
Chemists at University of Oregon in Eugene have developed a liquid storage material for hydrogen that advances the prospect for hydrogen as a fuel that can replace gasoline. The Oregon researchers describe their findings online in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (paid subscription required). A team led by materials science researcher Shih-Yuan Liu…