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Mar 18 | News
Graphene—carbon formed into sheets a single atom thick—now appears to be a promising base material for capturing hydrogen, according to recent research at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Univ. of Pennsylvania. The findings suggest stacks of graphene layers could potentially store hydrogen safely for use in fuel cells and other applications.
Mar 15 | News
Lithium-ion battery anodes are made from graphite. Silicon anodes would offer a ten-fold improvement, but ion travel quickly destroys the material. A new experimental silicon-carbon nanocomposite, built through self-assembly, solves the degradation problem.
Mar 15 | News
Developed with funding from the DOE's Clean Coal Power Initiative, a new DryFining technology from NETL uses waste heat from a power plant to reduce moisture content in lignite coal and also segregates particles by density. Occurring before oxidation, this sorting process eliminates many higher density compounds like sulfur and mercury and allows greater energy extraction and lower harmful emissions.
Mar 11 | News
Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Lab are analyzing 1,000 samples of biomass at a time, finding which one, combined with the right enzyme, most eagerly gives up its sugars to be converted into biofuel. Their work is part of an effort to meet federal regulations that require the U.S. produce 36 billion gallons of biofuel by 2022.
Mar 9 | News
Tiny marine isopods called gribbles were for centuries the bane of sailors, whose vessels were quickly devoured. Even today, piers and docks are rapidly gnawed away, and researchers have now been attracted to the enzymes in their gut, which can convert wood into sugars without the help of microbes.
Mar 9 | News
Honeywell announced that it has signed a global five-year agreement to be a Main Automation Contractor (MAC) for Shell.
Mar 9 | News
What if space held the key to producing alternative energy crops on Earth? That's what researchers are hoping to find in a new experiment on the International Space Station. The experiment, National Lab Pathfinder-Cells 3, is aimed at learning whether microgravity can help jatropha curcas plant cells grow faster to produce biofuel, or renewable fuel derived from biological matter.
Mar 5 | News
If harnessing the unlimited solar power of the sun were easy, we wouldn't still have the greenhouse gas problem that results from the use of fossil fuel. And while solar energy systems work moderately well in hot desert climates, they are still inefficient and contribute only a small percentage of the general energy demand. A new solution may be coming from an unexpected source—a source that may be on your dinner plate tonight.
Mar 5 | News
Solar cells made from silicon are projected to be a prominent factor in future renewable green energy equations, but so far the promise has far exceeded the reality. While there are now silicon photovoltaics that can convert sunlight into electricity at impressive 20% efficiencies, the cost of this solar power is prohibitive for large-scale use. Researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), however, are developing a new approach that could substantially reduce these costs.
Mar 3 | News
A study reveals that thermocells based on carbon nanotube electrodes might eventually be used for generating electrical energy from heat discarded by chemical plants, automobiles, and solar cell farms.