Renewable Energy

September 2017

Ultra-Low Power IoT Specialist e-peas Gains Further $4.2 Million in Venture Capital

Continuing to make major advances in energy-autonomous technologies, e-peas has just completed a new round of funding of $4.2 million (Euro 3.5 million) from leading investors. The group of industrial and financial investment firms involved in this funding round, led by Partech V

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Date:

09/29/2017

Colonies of algae inside droplets on a chip. Algal lipids stained red.

Bioreactors on a Chip Renew Promises for Algal Biofuels

Boyce Thompson Institute

For over a decade, companies have promised a future of renewable fuel from algae. Investors interested in moving the world away from fossil fuel have contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to the effort, and with good reason. Algae replicate quickly, requiring little more than water and sunlight to accumulate to

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Date:

09/29/2017

Evaporation-harvested energy can cut by half the water lost to natural evaporation, researchers say. Water-strapped cities with growing populations and energy needs could benefit most, including greater Phoenix, served by the above reservoir and irrigation system fed by the Colorado River.

Energy Harvested From Evaporation Could Power Much of US, Says Study

Columbia University

In the first evaluation of evaporation as a renewable energy source, researchers at Columbia University find that U.S. lakes and reservoirs could generate 325 gigawatts of power, nearly 70 percent of what the United States currently produces. Though still limited to experiments in the lab, evaporation-harvested power cou

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Date:

09/28/2017

Vicor Introduces New 700V K of 1/16 Bus Converter

Vicor has added a new fixed-ratio high-voltage bus converter to its bus converter module (BCM) lineup. The new 700V K of 1/16 BCM offers a power level of 1.75 kW and a peak efficiency of 97%, with a power density of 700W/in³. The device is available in the thermally adept 4414 (111mm x 36mm x 9.3mm) VIA package,

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Date:

09/27/2017

650 V Schottky Diodes Provide for Fast Switching

Munich, Germany – Infineon Technologies AG introduces the CoolSiC Schottky diode 650 V G6. This latest development in the CoolSiC diode family is built upon the distinctive characteristics of the G5, providing reliability, quality, and increased efficiency. The CoolSiC G6 diodes are a perfect compl

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Date:

09/26/2017

This is a semitransparent and flexible solar cell with 2-D sheet.

Semitransparent and Flexible -- Solar Cells Made From Atomically Thin Sheet

Tohoku University

Researchers at Tohoku University have developed an innovative method for fabricating semitransparent and flexible solar cells with atomically thin 2D materials. The new technology improves power conversion efficiency of up to 0.7% - this is the highest value for solar cells made from transparent 2D sheet materials. Transparent or semi-t

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Date:

09/25/2017

The blades of this five-blade turbine are made of a soft material and they rotate on their axis when influenced by ocean waves -- the diameter of the turbine is about 0.7 meters. The axis is attached to a permanent magnet electric generator, which is the part of the turbine that transforms the ocean wave energy into usable electricity. The ceramic mechanical seal protects the electrical components inside of the body from any saltwater leakage. This design allows the turbine to function for ten years before it need replacing.

A Sustainable Future Powered by Sea

Professor Tsumoru Shintake at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) yearns for a clean future, one that is affordable and powered by sustainable energy. Originally from the high-energy accelerator field, in 2012 he decided to seek new energy resources -- wind and solar were be

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Date:

09/22/2017

Nathan Fisher, Ph.D., associate professor of computer science, Wayne State University.

Wayne State Receives $1.2 Million NSF Grant to Develop Autonomous Battery Operating System

Wayne State University - Office of the Vice President for Research

DETROIT - The future of innovation will rely on effective, integrative battery operating systems that provide sustained and reliable power. Emerging technologies such as electric-drive vehicles and stationary energy storage systems will require improved battery systems. Software-controlled battery managemen

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Date:

09/21/2017

Lipid nanodiscs.

Researchers Devise a new way of Producing Hydrogen Fuel

Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology

A U.S.-based team of researchers featuring MIPT scientists has assembled a nanoscale biological structure capable of producing hydrogen from water using light. They inserted a photosensitive protein into nanodiscs -- circular fragments of cell membrane composed of a lipid bilayer -- and enhanced the resultant st

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Date:

09/05/2017