Tag: energy
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Gov’t Agencies, Companies Partner on Better Wind Forecasts
Two U.S. companies are working with the Department of Energy and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to improve wind forecasting that can help wind power providers better plan and deliver electric power. AWS Truepower in Albany, New York and WindLogics Inc. in Saint Paul, Minnesota won grants last fall to deploy atmospheric measurement systems…
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Wood Products Offered As Part of Carbon Control Strategy
Taking advantage of the full life-cycle of forests and wood products offers opportunities for greater control of carbon emissions, according to an analysis by a team of researchers from the U.S. and Sweden. Their paper appears in the June issue of the journal Carbon Management. The review, by Bruce Lippke, University of Washington professor emeritus…
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Engineers Develop Nanotech Solar Thermal Fuel Cell
Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a process for storing solar energy in the form of heat with a material based on carbon nanotubes. A description of the process by engineering professor Jeffrey Grossman and postdoc Alexie Kolpak appears online in the journal Nano Letters (paid subscription required). Grossman and Kolpak’s methods involve…
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Solar Panels Resembling Ivy to be Installed at University
Sustainably Minded Interactive Technology (SMIT), a company in Brooklyn, New York, has developed solar panels that resemble ivy leaves and assembles them in arrays to cover a building’s walls. The first U.S. installation of SMIT’s solar array is, of course, a college campus: University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Solar Ivy, as SMIT calls…
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University Spin-Off to Develop Semiconductor Power Devices
Anvil Semiconductors Ltd, a company created by University of Warwick in Coventry, U.K., will develop silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductor power switches that promise to be smaller and more efficient than devices built on traditional silicon. The company was founded by Warwick engineering faculty Phil Mawby and Peter Ward, who designed the company’s development technology in…
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Software Helps Reduce Battery Drain on Mobile WiFi Devices
A graduate student at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina has developed software that coordinates mobile devices competing for WiFi signals and extends the battery lives of those devices. Computer scientist Justin Manweiler (pictured right) presented details about the software at the Association for Computing Machinery’s conference on Mobile Systems, Applications and Services, held this…
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Ink-Jet Printing Method Tested to Make Solar Cells
Engineers at Oregon State University in Corvallis have devised a method of producing a type of solar cell using ink-jet technology. The process, for which a patent has been applied, is described in an upcoming issue of the journal Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells (paid subscription required). The OSU team led by engineering professor…
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U.S., Australian Universities Collaborate on Biofuels R&D
Clemson University in South Carolina and University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia have agreed to exchange research and create a joint biofuels development program. The institutions will raise public and private funds to advance biofuel research, and further development and commercialization of ethanol and biodiesel production. Cellulosic biofuel technology uses the plant’s cell walls to…
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Nanoscale Nuclear Testing Capability Developed
Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, University of California at Berkeley, and Los Alamos National Lab have devised a testing technique for irradiated materials at nanoscale that offers insights into the full-scale properties of those materials. The team’s findings appear in the current online issue of the journal Nature Materials (paid subscription required). The technique…
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White House Unveils Manufacturing Partnership, Investments
At Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh today, President Obama launched an initiative that aims to invest in emerging technologies leading to high quality manufacturing jobs. The Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP) is expected to combine resources from industry, universities, and the federal government to encourage progress in information technology, biotechnology, and nanotechnology, and other advancements…