Alongside the usual news and articles about breakthroughs in energy storage and generation, there were many breakthroughs in materials science and biomedicine during the last year. Development of 3D chips is gaining its momentum, and there are many attempts to utilize low-value materials that were usually discarded after some other production process, as well as… »
Most efforts to harness multiple energy sources so far have employed switching to the source which provides most energy at that moment, but a group of researchers at MIT developed a system able to combine energy from multiple sources by switching rapidly between them. The system could to be used in new battery-free monitoring systems… »
Osaka Gas, Aisin Seiki, Kyocera Corporation, Chofu Seisakusho and Toyota Motor Corporation announced that they have completed co-development of a residential-use solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) co-generation system named ENE-FARM Type S. The system achieves power generation efficiency of 46.5% – currently highest level in the world when it comes to fuel cells for residential… »
Although it has been referred as “fool’s gold” throughout the history, dating to times of ancient Rome and tricking prospectors for centuries, yellow-toned mineral pyrite found its use as an inexpensive and promising option for solar energy. Oregon State University (OSU) researchers discovered related compounds that use the advantages of the material without the downsides… »
Even though silicon is one of the most abundant elements, the energy required to make silicon from sand is immense. A group of researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) developed a new nanopatterning technique which boosts the output of the cells, thus enabling manufacture of solar cells that are one… »
Unlike the heliotropic technology from MIT which uses difference in temperature to turn the photovoltaic panels in the right direction, a group of researchers from Japan developed moving mirrors that follow the sun throughout the day. The developers from Smart Solar International claim that devices can generate twice the electricity compared to other currently available… »
If you like to sing or listen to the music while you shower, here is another way to annoy your neighbors. The team that helped commercialize the award winning Wind-Up Radio has launched the world’s first water powered radio named H2O Shower Powered Radio. It uses the water pressure provided by household showers to power… »
Using ambient energy (such as light, vibration, heat, radio waves, etc.) to produce electrical energy is being developed by many researchers around the globe. The folks from Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. recently announced that they have developed a new hybrid energy harvesting device capable to generate electricity from either heat or light. Instead using multiple harvesting… »
