Tag: energy
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Nissan, College Establish U.K. Electric Vehicle R&D Center
Nissan Motors and Gateshead College have unveiled plans for an academic center for research on electric vehicle technologies on the college’s campus in northeast England. Nissan is the maker of the plug-in electric Leaf to be produced at a plant in nearby Sunderland. The Zero Emission Centre of Excellence (ZECE), as the joint project is…
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Robot Jellyfish Runs on Hydrogen, Oxygen in Water
Researchers at University of Texas at Dallas and Virginia Tech in Blacksburg have developed an autonomous undersea vehicle inspired by the common jellyfish that runs on hydrogen and oxygen in the water. The team, led by Dallas engineering professor and first author Yonas Tadesse (pictured left), published its findings this week in the journal Smart Materials…
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Virginia Tech to Establish Auto Tire Research Center
Virginia Tech in Blacksburg is setting up a new research center devoted to the study of vehicle tires. The Center for Tire Research, which will involve collaborations with other institutions and tire and auto companies, gets its initial funding from a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant. The tire research center is expected to focus on…
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Study Shows Increased Heat Boosts Biochar as Soil Additive
A research team at Rice University in Houston, Texas has found that heating biochar — charcoal added to topsoil to enhance plant growth — to 450 degrees Celsius increases its ability to deliver water and nutrients to the targeted crops. Their findings appear online this week in the journal Biomass and Bioenergy (paid subscription required).…
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Grant to Fund Electric Power Market Optimization Research
Iowa State University in Ames says three of its engineering faculty will receive $1.7 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to study new ways of scheduling and pricing electric power. ISU is the lead institution in a $3 million project involving Sandia National Laboratories, University of California at Davis, power grid systems company Alstom…
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Unilever Launches Open Innovation Initiative
The consumer goods manufacturer Unilever unveiled today its open innovation program seeking ideas for new products and technologies from the public at large. The initiative is managed by the online intellectual property marketplace yet2.com. Unilever’s program is structured around a set of issues or problems for which it seeks collaborators to find solutions. The opening…
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Air Pollutants Found Near Hydraulic Fracturing Gas Wells
Research conducted at the University of Colorado School of Public Health in Denver indicates the natural gas drilling practice known as hydraulic fracturing or fracking may be causing the release of toxic chemicals in the air near drilling sites. The findings of Lisa McKenzie, a Colorado public health research associate, and colleagues have been accepted…
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Graphene Electrodes Developed for Supercapacitors
Researchers at University of California in Los Angeles have developed electrodes for supercapacitors, energy storage devices that charge and discharge faster than batteries, using a one-atom-thick layer of carbon called graphene. Their findings appear in his week’s issue of the journal Science (paid subscription required). In addition to faster charging and discharging, supercapacitors store substantially…
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Solar Developer, Lab Build Power Transport Technology
New Energy Technologies Inc. in Columbia, Maryland and National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Colorado have collected and transported electricity with a conductive wiring system built for the company’s product that generates solar power through window glass. NREL is a division of the U.S. Department of Energy. The company’s main product is a type of…
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Hydrogen Power Utility Vehicle Practical, Not Cost-Effective
A pilot test in Switzerland of a street cleaning truck powered by a hydrogen fuel cell shows the vehicle saves energy and is environmentally friendly, but the high costs of the vehicle do not yet make it financially feasible. The test was carried out by the Swiss materials science and technology research institute Empa, with…