Energy

Oyster wave power technology captures energy from ocean waves and converts it into clean sustainable electricity

Oyster is a simple mechanical hinged flap connected to the seabed at around 32 feet in depth. Each passing wave moves the flap, driving hydraulic pistons to deliver high pressure water via a pipeline to an onshore electrical turbine.Read More

IBM's solar-powered desalination plant to hydrate the Saudi desert for a city with 100,000 people

A new, energy-efficient desalination plant with an expected production capacity of 30,000 cubic meters per day will be built in the city of Al Khafji, Saudi Arabia, to serve its 100,000 people. Known more for its computers, IBM has joined forces with KACST (King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology) to build the plant that will be powered by ultra-high concentrator photovoltaic (UHCPV) technology - a system with a concentration greater than 1,500 suns.Read More

A powerful sunlight transport system that’s like putting a solar robot on your roof to pump sunlight indoors What if you could light your entire building using no electricity, or artificial lights – but just the natural light from the sun? Conventional sky-lights do this well in certain types of single-story spaces, but are not very adaptable, powerful, and often have problems with excessive solar heat gain and loss. Enter the Sundolier, a powerful sunlight transport system that’s like putting a solar robot on your roof to pump sunlight indoors, The manufacturer claims a single Sundolier unit can provide enough light to illuminate a 1000-2500 sq. ft. area without any other sources. Read More

An experimental lithium-air battery developed at MIT offer three times the energy density of standard batteries

Lithium-air battery technology looks to have a big future. With the potential of providing energy densities up to three times that of the conventional lithium-ion batteries found in just about every portable consumer electronics device going around (not to mention the incoming wave of electric vehicles), many companies, including IBM and General Motors are pursuing work on lithium-air batteries. Now researchers at MIT have made a breakthrough that could help make the commercial development of lightweight rechargeable batteries a reality.Read More

Georgia Tech professor Zhong Lin Wang holds an improved nanogenerator containing 700 rows of nanowire arrays

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have created the world's first self-powered sensors at the nanometric scale. Tiny generators embedding thousands of nanowires produce electricity whenever the wires are subjected to mechanical strain, and can be used to power microscopic sensors without the need for batteries.Read More

A massive floating laboratory is attempting to drill through four miles of seabed to take samples of the Earth’s core

The world’s deepest drill is about to get longer - long enough to dig into Earth's semi-molten interior. Already, the Chikyu research vessel is capable of fetching samples at depths of 2,890 feet below the seabed, two to four times that of any other drill. In 2007, off the coast of Japan, it became the first mission to study subduction zones, the area between tectonic plates that is the birthplace of many earthquakes.Read More

Self-healing materials could lead to safer nuclear reactors after suffering radiation-induced damage

One of the key challenges when designing nuclear reactors is finding materials that can withstand the massive temperatures, radiation, physical stress and corrosive conditions of these extreme environments. Exposure to high radiation alone produces significant damage at the nanoscale, so scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, have been working on a mechanism that allows nanocrystalline materials to heal themselves after suffering radiation-induced damage. This gives hope for materials that will improve the reliability, safety and lifespan of nuclear energy systems.Read More

Sphelar solar cells from Kyosemi Corp. are solidified silicon drops that create a transparent solar cell window

Imagine if instead of looking out your window to see your solar-panel array, your windows were your solar panel array. Sphelar solar cells can be built into windows, whether they're flat or curved. Instead of chasing the sun, they'll capture the sun from all angles, then convert it to energy.Read More

New Robots Build Prototype Solar Cells in 30 Minutes, Then Evaluate Their Own Work

One multitasking robot can build semiconductors for solar cells on six-inch-square plates of glass, plastic or flexible metals in just over half an hour. Six of these tireless mechanical workers, chugging away at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Colorado.Read More

The $172 million Strata Tower in London harnesses wind energy with its three built-in turbines

Structures with rooftop turbines may not be a purely new idea in the world of architecture, but the newly completed tower block in Elephant and Castle, London, is a unique skyscraper that is going to be the world’s first building with built-in wind turbines, generating about a tenth of its own energy through a trio of rooftop turbines.Read More