This article is part of the Energy.gov series highlighting the “Top Things You Didn’t Know About…” Be sure to check back for more entries soon. 10. Modeled after the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) — the agency that brought us the GPS, the stealth fighter and computer networking — the Energy Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) funds… Keep reading →
Innovative or just silly? You decide. But clearly innovations in the energy space are penetrating mainstream thinking. The relationship between saving energy and saving money has advanced in recent years, with inventors focusing efforts on the next big (or super small) energy breakthrough. Check out the devices below and use the comment section to let… Keep reading →
Video of a Tesla luxury electric car burning after an apparent battery problem went crazy time all over the internet and major news organizations across the US yesterday. But while a battery malfunction at the darling of the electric car industry would be news worthy, what if it was a hoax designed to profit from… Keep reading →
WASHINGTON: Budget crunch be damned, the Defense Department’s effort to get more energy-efficient is still in business, said the assistant secretary in charge. Even without the free-flowing supplemental funds and the flexibility of the “rapid equipping” initiatives that allowed for speedy spending at the height of Afghanistan and Iraq, the Pentagon is still trying to reduce its… Keep reading →
Energy storage is an exciting space for researchers, investors and established energy industry players alike because as technology advances and costs come down the potential for truly disruptive – and highly lucrative – innovation feels almost within grasp. The ability to cheaply and reliably store and dispatch utility-scale volumes of electricity will alter existing power… Keep reading →
Quick Take: A decade after its original publication, a coalition of industry organizations has updated its Electricity Storage Handbook. The document was produced in collaboration by Sandia National Laboratory, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA). Although focused on transmission and distribution… Keep reading →
Scientists at the Lawrence Berkley National Lab discovered a way to create a virus battery, for lack of a better term. The technology “produces electricity by using the piezoelectric properties of a biological material,” according to the US Department of Energy website. You can read more about the science and technical aspects below, but the… Keep reading →
Last week luxury electric sports car company Tesla Motors announced a major charging station build out, but a Cornell University researcher has cautioned that further scrutiny may be required. Two of the greatest barriers EVs need to overcome in order to compete with gasoline vehicles are range and charging time. You can fill your gas… Keep reading →
In labs around the globe, scientists are working on radical technologies, from 500-mile car batteries to solar space farms. The holy grail in the electric-car world is beating range anxiety: the fear you’ll run out of juice in the middle of nowhere. Today’s electrics, like the Nissan Leaf, have a range of about 100 miles, but scientists at IBM are in hot pursuit of a better technology. In the 1990s researchers hypothesized that they could create energy by combining lithium with oxygen, making what is now referred to as a lithium-air battery. Today IBM and some 50 other labs globally are working on versions that would let an electric car go 500 miles a charge — a potential game changer for models like BMW’s i3 concept vehicle. This article is a linkout.
All the batteries on Earth store just 10 mins of world electricity needs. This new battery may be key. #RenewableEnergy http://bit.ly/t6EZzL @BillGates
