Renewable Energy

January 2014
The U.S. Department of Energy announced $3 million to spur geothermal energy development using play fairway analysis. This technique identifies prospective geothermal resources in areas with no obvious surface expression by mapping the most favorable intersections of heat, permeability, and fluid. While commonly us
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Date:
01/31/2014
The Power Sources Manufacturers Association (PSMA) Energy Harvesting Committee is sponsoring an Industry Session at APEC 2014 titled: “Breakthrough Technologies Driving Successful Energy Harvesting-Powered Products.” The session will take place on Tuesday, March 18, 2014, from 8:30 a.m. to noon at the Fort Wo
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Date:
01/31/2014
Soligent, a leader in systems and technologies for making solar dealers more competitive, unveiled Solar Engine, a modular suite of integrated services that allow independent solar dealers to drive out costs, reduce paperwork and grow their businesses. With Solar Engine, dealers leverage Soligent’s global ne
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Date:
01/30/2014
Two detailed reports from the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) find that solar financing and other non-hardware costs -- often referred to as "soft costs" -- now comprise up to 64% of the total price of residential solar energy systems, reflecting how soft costs are becoming an
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Date:
01/27/2014
Can the Internet of Things drive adoption of energy harvesters?

The energy harvesting market

The Internet of Things adds connectivity to things. It is a broad term referring to applications as diverse as internet connected vehicles to consumer electronics such as smart phones. However, the edge of the Internet of Things network will consist of simpler sensors and wireless devices that provide, among ot
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Date:
01/24/2014
MiOS, provider of advanced control and monitoring solutions for the home and small enterprise markets in 65 countries, and EnOcean, the world leader in energy harvesting wireless solutions, announced the release of a plug-in for the MiOS Marketplace, delivering control of Z-Wave products using EnOcean self- po
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Date:
01/22/2014
Porous Power Technologies announced the launch of SYMMETRIX® NC2020, a ceramic battery separator designed to significantly improve thermal stability and safety of large-format lithium-ion batteries. Applications include batteries for electric vehicles, flat-cell consumer electronics, utility-grade energy storage, an
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Date:
01/20/2014
One way that supercapacitors are developing faster than batteries is in the choice of format, from transfer printable ones for mobile phones to load-bearing structural components and smart skin for vehicles. In the European Union Powerweave project, supercapacitors not batteries have been chosen as the energy st
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Date:
01/17/2014
UBC projects get NSERC funding for efforts including flexible solar cell and wearable electronics development

Several UBC projects received NSERC funding including an effort to develop flexible solar cells and wearable electronics

University of British Columbia research in fish ecology, oil sands, energy efficient buildings, clean water and wearable electronics received a $9-million boost today through the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. The 10 UBC projects were among 77 grants awarded to 23 universities totaling
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Date:
01/17/2014
President Obama launches public-private manufacturing innovation institute

President Obama

The President announced new steps with the private sector to strengthen the manufacturing sector, boost advanced manufacturing, and attract the good paying jobs that a growing middle class requires. The President also announced the selection of a North Carolina headquartered consortium of businesses and universities, le
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Date:
01/17/2014
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced $4.8 million in awards for projects that explore new technologies to make buildings in New York State more energy efficient while helping to expand the building sector economy. “New York is continuing to invest in new technologies and systems that improve energy efficienc
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Date:
01/16/2014
Fusion instabilities lessened by unexpected effect

Sandia National Laboratories physicist Thomas Awe examines coils that reduce plasma instabilities in the quest for controlled nuclear fusion at Sandia’s Z machine

A surprising effect created by a 19th century device called a Helmholz coil offers clues about how to achieve controlled nuclear fusion at Sandia National Laboratories’ powerful Z machine. A Helmholz coil produces a magnetic field when electrified. In recent experiments, two Helmholz coils, installed to 
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Date:
01/14/2014
Disordered materials hold promise for better batteries

Conventional layered lithium and transition metal cathode material (top) and the new disordered material studied by researchers at MIT (bottom) as seen through a scanning transmission electron microscope. Inset images show diagrams of the different structures in these materials. (In the disordered material, the blue lines show the pathways that allow lithium ions to traverse the material.)

Lithium batteries, with their exceptional ability to store power per a given weight, have been a major focus of research to enable use in everything from portable electronics to electric cars. Now researchers at MIT and Brookhaven National Laboratory have found a whole new avenue for such research: the use of di
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Date:
01/14/2014
Hitachi has begun operations on the demonstration site for the Japan-U.S. Island Grid Project on Maui Island, Hawaii, in collaboration with the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization ("NEDO"), Mizuho Bank, and Cyber Defense Institute. The goal of this Project, which is based
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Date:
01/10/2014
China is predicted to remain the leading global consumer of wind turbine rotor blades over the coming years, with its market value expected to increase from almost $2 billion in 2012 to $3.7 billion by 2020, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 8.2%, according to a new report from research and consulting fi
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Date:
01/09/2014
Battery offers renewable energy breakthrough

Michael J. Aziz, the Gene and Tracy Sykes Professor of Materials and Energy Technologies at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

A team of Harvard scientists and engineers has demonstrated a novel type of battery that could fundamentally transform the way electricity is stored on the grid, making power from renewable energy sources such as wind and sun far more economical and reliable. The Harvard team received funding from the U.S. Department of
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Date:
01/09/2014
Recently a letter was sent to the acting Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regarding the importance of determining appropriate separation distance between “submarine cables and marine hydrokinetic projects.” In the letter (see below), Chairman Tim Murphy and Vice Chairman Michael Burgess o
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Date:
01/08/2014
As you fly across Europe you may notice something if it is a clear day. It begins as you leave the UK and observe the tens of hundreds of windmills lined up in giant farms on both sides of the North Sea. It continues as you cross the Netherlands into Germany: see on almost every piece of raised landmass more an
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Date:
01/08/2014
AspectSolar equips Everest expedition

SunSocket Solar Generator

Portable solar power innovator AspectSolar announced their sponsorship of Mike and Steve Marolt, the 8000m (8K) descent skiers behind the 2009 documentary Skiing Everest. After a tour of festivals, ESPN bought the film in 2011 for a series of primetime broadcasts. The brothers, their friend Jim Gile, and Ski Ch
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Date:
01/04/2014
Consumer technology company AspectSolar was named as an honoree for the International CES Innovation Award. The start-up solar power company is brand new on the portable power scene and they're already making waves in the market. Their SunSocket™ Solar Generator, the device recognized for its innovation and eng
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Date:
01/02/2014
Quantum waves at the heart of organic solar cells

Observing the absorption of light into artificial yet organic nanostructures

Researchers have been able to tune 'coherence' in organic nanostructures due to the surprise discovery of wavelike electrons in organic materials, revealing the key to generating "long-lived charges" in organic solar cells - material that could revolutionise solar energy. By using an ultrafast camera, sci
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Date:
01/02/2014
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