Science and Enterprise

Tag: cleantech

  • E-Car Charger Company Licenses National Lab Power Technology

    AeroVironment Inc., a developer of electric transportation systems in Monrovia, California, licensed technology from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Washington that keeps electric car chargers from over-taxing the electrical power grid. Financial aspects of the licensing deal between AeroVironment and Battelle Memorial Institute, which operates PNNL for Department of Energy, were not disclosed.…

  • Process Replaces Platinum with Iron as Fuel Cell Catalyst

    Chemists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington designed a process that makes it possible for iron to replace expensive platinum as a catalyst to make electricity in hydrogen fuel cells. The team led by PNNL’s Morris Bullock published its findings online in yesterday’s issue of the journal Nature Chemistry (paid subscription required). Bullock,…

  • U.K. to Spend $20.4 Million on Catalytic Chemistry

    The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council,  or EPSRC, a research funding agency in the U.K., will devote £12.9 million ($US 20.4 million) to the U.K. Catalysis Hub, a catalytic science research program to support economic growth. The program is based at the Research Complex at Harwell in Oxfordshire, and is expected to involve scientists…

  • Consortium Building Safe Lightweight E-Car Body, Drivetrain

    A consortium of German manufacturers and Technical University Munich (Technische Universität München) is building a prototype concept car that provides a lightweight, yet strong body for electric passenger vehicles. The consortium known as Visio.M is led by car maker BMW and includes Technical University Munich as the group’s scientific partner, as well as 15 other…

  • Rare Earths, Materials Hub Set for Ames National Lab

    The U.S. Department of Energy will establish a research center at Ames National Lab in Iowa to find solutions to domestic shortages of rare earth metals and other critical materials for energy security. The $120 million Critical Materials Institute, will bring together for five years researchers from academia, four national laboratories, and the private sector.…

  • University, Companies Partner on Air Cleaning Technology

    A chemistry professor at University of Copenhagen in Denmark is working with a Danish entrepreneur and waste processor to test a process for cleaning polluting particles from industrial emissions. Environmental chemist Matthew Johnson (pictured right) and the university have also patented the process he devised, which is based on on the natural ability of the…

  • University Research Leads to Battery Sorting Machine

    Research on artificial intelligence by a professor at Gothenberg University in Sweden made possible a machine that sorts discarded household batteries and a company that developed and markets the system. Claes Strannegård, a researcher in logic and cognitive science at Gothenberg, applied his work on artificial intelligence to find a better way of sorting garbage.…

  • Fuel Cell Generates Power from Green Roofs, Wetlands

    An environmental scientist at Wageningen University in the Netherlands designed a fuel cell that can generate electrical power from living plant roots and soil bacteria found in natural wetlands or vegetation on green roofs of urban buildings. Wageningen’s Marjolein Helder defends her doctoral dissertation today describing the technology, and she has started a company to…

  • Electric Bus Developer Lands $23 Million in Series B Funds

    Proterra Inc. in Greenville, South Carolina, a developer of electric buses for public transportation, secured $23 million in series B funds, the second round of venture financing after initial start-up. New investor Hennessey Capital led the round, with new investor NMT Capital, and current investors Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, GM Ventures, Mitsui & Co.…

  • Solar Cell Developed from Carbon-Based Nanotech Materials

    Researchers at Stanford University in California developed a solar cell made entirely of carbon, instead of silicon and more expensive materials found in current solar cells. The team that included contributors from University of Rochester in New York and Nankai University in China published their findings today in the online issue of the journal ACS…