Tag: cleantech
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Nanoparticle Size Affects Hydrogen Release in Fuel Cells
Researchers at Delft University of Technology and VU University Amsterdam in the Netherlands have shown that the size of a metal alloy nanoparticle influences the speed with which hydrogen gas is released when stored in a metal compound containing hydrogen. The team led by Delft materials scientist Bernard Dam published its findings in the October…
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Commercial Production Begins for New Lithium Process
Simbol Materials, a three year-old company in Pleasanton, California, says it will begin today commercial production of a pure form of lithium carbonate for electric vehicle batteries and other energy storage devices. The company’s process, developed out of research conducted at and licensed from Lawrence Livermore National Lab, also produces manganese and zinc. The production…
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DoE Science Review Boosts Transport, Grid, Quicker Payoffs
The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) today released its first Quadrennial Technology Review report, an assessment of the Department’s technology research and development portfolios. The report urges the department to focus its R&D more on transportation than stationary energy production, grid modernization, and technologies closer to fruition than is now often the case. The report…
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Copper Nanofilm Can Replace Rare Earth in Digital Displays
Research chemists at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina have developed a film made of copper nanowires that could replace expensive rare earths now used in digital displays. The discovery by Duke chemistry professor Ben Wiley and grad student Aaron Rathmell appears online in the journal Advanced Materials (paid subscription required). Wiley has also started…
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NSF Grant to Fund Research on Power Distribution
A team of engineers and computer scientists at Kansas State University in Manhattan have received a $1.1 grant to research better ways of distributing solar power to homes and businesses. The grant, funded by National Science Foundation’s Cyber-Physical Systems program, aims to give utilities generating solar energy better tools for managing and distributing this power.…
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Clemson University Creates Sustainable Vehicle Center
Clemson University in Greenville, South Carolina has received a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy for a research and education program in sustainable vehicle systems. The program will be part of Clemson’s International Center for Automotive Research. The new program at Clemson aims to overcome barriers in the design and development of…
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U.K. Grant Awarded to Develop Non-Rare Earth Electric Engine
The Technology Strategy Board in the U.K. has awarded a grant to two companies and a university to develop an engine not dependent on rare earth metals for electric vehicles. The funding worth £518,000 ($US 821,000) to companies Sevcon and Cummins Generator Technologies, and Newcastle University is aimed at building a new type of engine…
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Device Captures Vibrations to Power Wireless Sensors
Engineers at MIT have designed a miniature device that harvests energy from low-frequency vibrations to power wireless sensors for industrial or environmental monitoring. Mechanical engineering professor Sang-Gook Kim and Arman Hajati, now at FujiFilm Dimatix in Santa Clara, California, published their findings last month in the journal Applied Physics Letters (paid subscription required). While wireless…
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Sandia Lab Contributes Nearly $1B to California Economy
An analysis of economic output generated by Sandia National Laboratories shows the lab contributes nearly $1 billion to the California economy, particularly in and around its Livermore campus in the Bay Area. The report was prepared by the Center for Economic Development (CED) at California State University in Chico. The CED report defines economic output…
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Report: Electric Cars Can Balance Renewable Power Grid
A report from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) says the growing use of electric vehicles offers a way of balancing the intermittent nature of renewable sources in the Northwest U.S. power grid. PNNL, a unit of the U.S. Department of Energy, examined grid conditions in the Northwest Power Pool, which covers Idaho, Montana, Nevada,…