Tag: energy
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New Wireless Electric Vehicle Charging System Developed
Engineers at North Carolina State University in Raleigh developed a new, more dynamic, approach for wirelessly charging moving electric vehicles and built a small-scale prototype to prove the concept. The team led by electrical engineering professor Srdjan Lukic published its findings online in a recent issue of the journal IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics (paid…
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Simple Solar Water System Devised to Kill Pathogens
Engineering and food science faculty at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana designed a solar device to kill waterborne bacteria that the inventors say can help provide clean drinking water to millions of people in developing countries. Civil and environmental engineering professor Ernest “Chip” Blatchley and food science biologist Bruce Applegate, with the help of students,…
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Tighter Home Weatherizing Standards Can Save $33 Billion
Weatherizing U.S. homes to tighter international standards can save up to $33 billion in energy bills each year, according to calculations by engineers at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab in California, part of the U.S. Department of Energy. The team led by environmental engineer Jennifer Logue published its findings in this month’s issue of the journal…
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3-D Printing Lifecycle Shown More Environmentally Friendly
Materials scientists at Michigan Technological University in Houghton found that in a lifecycle analysis of production processes, distributed three-dimensional printing can have a smaller environmental impact than conventional manufacturing. Michigan Tech’s Joshua Pearce and graduate student Megan Kreiger published their findings online in a recent advance issue of the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering. Three-dimensional…
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Computer System Built with Carbon Nanotube Circuitry
Engineers at Stanford University in California created a basic computer system of circuits made from carbon nanotubes rather than conventional semiconductors built on silicon. The team led by Stanford electrical engineering professors Subhasish Mitra and H.S. Philip Wong published its findings online today in the journal Nature (paid subscription required). As silicon semiconductors became smaller and packed more…
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Safer, Cheaper Ultraviolet PCB Disposal Process Developed
A team of engineers and chemists at University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada devised a new process for cleaning soil contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs, cancer-causing chemicals banned in the U.S. since 1979, but with residues still in the environment. The new methods, say Calgary engineering professor Gopal Achari and chemistry professor Cooper Langford,…
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University of Houston Spins-Off Nanotech Coatings Company
A physics professor at University of Houston in Texas started a company to develop and manufacture protective coatings for industrial and consumer goods based on his research in nanotechnology. C-Voltaics, started by Houston physicist Seamus Curran, was awarded last week the Young Technology Award at the Commercialization of Micro- and Nanosystems conference in The Netherlands, according…
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Princeton Lab, USDA Partner on Egg Pasteurization Process
Engineers from Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory in Plainsboro, New Jersey and agricultural scientists from the U.S. Department of Agriculture research lab in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania developed a process and device for pastuerizing eggs in the shell without damaging the delicate egg white. The team inventing the process filed for a patent and is seeking licensees to…
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Open Source Energy-Economy Optimization Model Developed
Computer scientists and engineers at North Carolina State University in Raleigh developed a computer model to aid energy-related economic policy decisions, making both their data and source code available to the public. The model, called Tools for Energy Model Optimization and Assessment or Temoa, is the work of a team led by NC State engineering…
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Fuel Cells for Refrigerated Trucks Under Development
A project combining the efforts of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Washington with two fuel cell manufacturers is developing fuel cells to power the refrigeration units in refigerated trucks. The companies — Nuvera Fuel Cells in Billerica,, Massachusetts and Plug Power Inc. in Latham, New York — each received a $650,000 matching contract…