Inspired by structures found in the nature’s own fuel cells and solar cells (mitochondria and chloroplasts), researchers at the University of Reading have patented a new method to create electrode coatings with a thousand-fold increase in surface area compared to a flat electrode. The increased contact surface could lead to more efficient and greener vehicles,… »
Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films (Fraunhofer IST) in Braunschweig are engineering coating processes and thin film layering systems aimed to drastically lower the production costs of solar cells by reducing the amount of materials used during the production of “HIT” (Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin layer) photovoltaic cells that can… »
Almost as cheaply and easily as printing a photo on your inkjet, an inexpensive, simple solar cell can be created by special “inks” deposited on the paper. The researchers from MIT came with a process essentially the same as the one used to make the silvery lining on packages you see in everyday groceries –… »
A group of researchers from Washington University in St. Louis came up with an idea to combine two existing technologies in order to clean up industrial oxidation reactions. They are using photovoltaic cells to power electrochemical reactions to eliminate the toxic byproducts of reactions commonly used in chemical synthesis — and with them the environmental… »
One of the problems with harvesting sunlight is that sunlight leads to a gradual degradation of many systems developed to harness it. But plants have adopted an interesting strategy to address this issue by constantly breaking down their light-capturing molecules and reassembling them from scratch, thus renewing the basic structures that capture the sun’s energy… »
Stanford engineers have found out how to simultaneously use the light and heat of the sun to generate electricity in a way that could make solar power production more than twice as efficient as existing methods and potentially cheap enough to compete with oil. Unlike photovoltaic technology currently used in solar panels (which become less… »
The growing community of Battery Park City now has its own library. The Library was constructed with a focus on environmental sustainability and will be the first GREEN Library in Manhattan. The branch is expected to receive LEED Gold certification from the U. S. Green Building Council. Many of the sustainable features the library has… »
Greenwood Close (previous project name was Birchway Eco-community) is the first large-scale affordable housing initiative to achieve Level 5 (with 6 being the highest possible score), Code for Sustainable Homes in London and the South. It was built by Paradigm Housing in partnership with the London Borough of Hillingdon, while the design of the five… »
