Energy & Utilities
Reports: Marcellus reserves larger than expected
October 23, 2012 9:42 am | by Kevin Begos, Associated Press | News | CommentsThere's been plenty of debate over the Marcellus Shale natural gas field, but new research adds a twist that could impact political and environmental battles. Two independent financial firms say the Marcellus isn't just the biggest natural gas field in the country—it's the cheapest place for energy companies to drill.
New class of power inverter developed
October 18, 2012 12:20 pm | News | CommentsWith a laboratory breakthrough once thought impossible, an Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis assistant professor has invented a new class of power inverter that could put cheaper and more efficient renewable energy products on the market.
Food vs. fuel: Is there surplus land for bioenergy?
October 18, 2012 8:37 am | News | CommentsIncreasing demand for bioenergy feedstock is generating land-use conflicts and food vs. fuel controversies. An team of 11 scientists from seven European countries and the United States have recently published a study that gives scientific background to the debate. It supports a reassessment of the land available for bioenergy feedstock production.
Engineers to design affordable carbon dioxide thickener to augment oil extraction
October 16, 2012 1:48 pm | News | CommentsCrude oil extraction could be improved significantly and accessible domestic oil reserves could be expanded with an economical carbon dioxide thickener being developed by University of Pittsburgh engineers, thanks to a $1.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.
Evolving microbes help turn bio-oil into advanced biofuels
October 15, 2012 1:09 pm | News | CommentsThe bacteria and microalgae typically used to ferment biofuels don’t react well to bio-oil produced by fast pyrolysis. The result of this thermochemical process is a thick, molasses-like oil that is toxic to the microbes. Researchers at Iowa State University, however, have adopted a hybrid approach that incorporates a biochemical conversion path to improve the microbes’ tolerance to contaminants.
Laser pulses elevate efficiency of black silicon solar cells
October 9, 2012 11:49 am | News | CommentsBecause conventional solar cells lose all of the energy available from the infrared portion of the solar spectrum, researchers have been investigating photovoltaics that can convert this lost energy. Black silicon is one material which can do this, researchers in Germany have recently managed to double the efficiency of black silicon solar cells by modifying the shape of the laser pulse used to irradiate the silicon.
New technique reveals lithium in action
October 8, 2012 11:50 am | by David L. Chandler, MIT | News | CommentsExactly what goes inside advanced lithium-air batteries as they charge and discharge has always been impossible to observe directly. Now, a new technique developed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers promises to change that, allowing study of this electrochemical activity as it happens.
Researchers develop new way to determine amount of charge remaining in battery
October 8, 2012 11:09 am | News | CommentsResearchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new technique that allows users to better determine the amount of charge remaining in a battery in real time. Using the researchers' new technique, models are able to estimate remaining charge within 5%.
A one-of-a-kind energy grid simulator
October 3, 2012 7:38 am | News | CommentsA one-of-a-kind, high-tech modeling tool designed to simulate different situations on the electric power grid will be on display at the White House. The result of a multi-year funding effort, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory researchers will joining Energy Secretary Steven Chu to demonstrate how GridLAB-D can help power system operators, industry, innovators, and entrepreneurs understand how making a change to one part of the power system impacts other parts on the grid.
Agreement will lead to commercialization of batteries for renewable energy storage
October 2, 2012 1:50 pm | by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory | News | CommentsA Washington state firm with a 27,000 square foot manufacturing and design facility in Mukilteo has signed a license agreement with Battelle to further develop and commercialize a type of advanced battery that holds promise for storing large amounts of renewable energy and providing greater stability to the energy grid.
Restricting nuclear power has little effect on the cost of climate policies
October 2, 2012 9:03 am | News | CommentsApplying a global energy-economy computer simulation that fully captures the competition between alternative power supply technologies, a team of scientists from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and the University of Dayton, Ohio, analyzed trade-offs between nuclear and climate policies. They found that incremental costs due to policy options restricting the use of nuclear power do not significantly increase the cost of even stringent greenhouse-gas emissions reductions.
Georgia Tech awarded $6 million to improve safety of nuclear reactors
October 1, 2012 10:39 am | News | CommentsThe Georgia Institute of Technology has won a $6 million federal grant to design improvements that strengthen the performance and safety of nuclear systems beyond today's capabilities. The three-year project will engage universities, industry partners, and international organizations to develop a novel concept of a light water reactor with inherent safety features.
Nickelblock: An element's love-hate relationship with battery electrodes
September 27, 2012 12:30 pm | News | CommentsAnyone who owns an electronic device knows that lithium-ion batteries could work better and last longer. Now, scientists examining battery materials on the nanoscale reveal how nickel forms a physical barrier that impedes that shuttling of lithium ions in the electrode, reducing how fast the materials charge and discharge. The research also suggest a way to improve the materials.
Scientists bring the heat to refine biofuel production
September 27, 2012 9:02 am | News | CommentsPerhaps inspired by Arizona's blazing summers, Arizona State University scientists have developed a new method that relies on heat to improve the yield and lower the costs of high-energy biofuels production, making renewable energy production more of an everyday reality.
Research yields promising advance in solar cells based on nanocarbon
September 27, 2012 4:04 am | News | CommentsAn exciting advance in solar cell technology developed at the University of Kansas has produced the world's most efficient photovoltaic cells made from nanocarbons, materials that have the potential to drop the costs of PV technology in the future.
Hotter might be better at energy-intensive data centers
September 26, 2012 4:43 am | News | CommentsAs data centers continue to come under scrutiny for the amount of energy they use, researchers at University of Toronto Scarborough have a suggestion: turn the air conditioning down. Their latest research suggests that turning up the temperature could save energy with little or no increased risk of equipment failure.
Plastic solar cells pave way for clean energy industry
September 20, 2012 3:41 am | News | CommentsA Flinders University researchers has been developing a cheaper and faster way of making large-scale plastic solar cells using a lamination technique, paving the way for a lucrative new clean energy industry. The method is a promising alternative to the expensive fabrication techniques currently used in the renewable energy sector, and would make the commercialization of plastic solar cell technology more viable.
Dry-run experiments verify key aspect of Sandia nuclear fusion concept
September 17, 2012 4:18 am | News | CommentsMagnetically imploded tubes called liners, intended to help produce controlled nuclear fusion at scientific "break-even" energies or better within the next few years, have functioned successfully in preliminary tests, according to a Sandia National Laboratories research paper accepted for publication by Physical Review Letters .
Study: Solar and wind energy may stabilize the power grid
September 14, 2012 8:49 am | News | CommentsIf increasing numbers of wind turbines and photovoltaic systems feed electrical energy into the energy grid, it becomes denser—and more distributed. Researchers in Germany, using model simulations, have discovered that consumers and decentralized generators can easily self-synchronize. Their results indicate that a failure of an individual supply line in the decentralized grid less likely implies an outage in the network as a whole. But care must be taken when adding new lines.
Physicists patent nuclear waste-burning technology
September 14, 2012 5:50 am | News | CommentsUniversity of Texas at Austin physicists have been awarded a U.S. patent for an invention that could someday be used to turn nuclear waste into fuel, thus removing the most dangerous forms of waste from the fuel cycle. The researchers have patented the concept for a novel fusion-fission hybrid nuclear reactor that would use nuclear fusion and fission together to incinerate nuclear waste.
U.S. research and development most prevalent in small number of regions
September 13, 2012 4:29 am | News | CommentsAccording to data from a 2008 Business R&D and Innovation Survey by the National Science Foundation, businesses perform the lion's share of their R&D activity in just a small number of geographic areas, particularly the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland area and the New York-Newark-Bridgeport area.
Computerized house to generate as much energy as it uses
September 13, 2012 4:11 am | News | CommentsNIST unveiled a new laboratory designed to demonstrate that a typical-looking suburban home for a family of four can generate as much energy as it uses in a year. Following an initial year-long experiment, the facility will be used to improve test methods for energy-efficient technologies and develop cost-effective design standards for energy-efficient homes that could reduce overall energy consumption and harmful pollution, and save families money on their monthly utility bills.
Two-faced materials boost hydrogen production
September 12, 2012 9:48 am | News | CommentsThough costly to produce, hydrogen is crucial for the oil-refining industry and the production of essential chemicals such as the ammonia used in fertilizers. The recent invention of a new photocatalyst may help the efficiency of this process. Nanometer-scale “Janus” structures consisting of cheap metal and oxide spheres were recently demonstrated as an excellent catalyst for a hydrogen-production reaction powered only by sunlight.
Gulf bacteria consumed a majority of the Deepwater oil spill
September 11, 2012 10:06 am | News | CommentsAccording to a new study that measured the rate at which bacteria in the Gulf of Mexico ate the oil and gas discharged by the broken Deepwater Horizon well, at least 200,000 tons of hydrocarbons were consumed by gulf bacteria over a five month period.
Predicting wave power could double marine-based energy
September 10, 2012 10:36 am | News | CommentsA team of researchers has developed a control algorithm that, when used in conjunction with previously developed wave prediction technology, helps wave energy converters calculate the correct amount of force needed to collect the maximum energy possible, allowing the device to respond to each wave individually.
