Innovation

Wrinkled Solar Panels Catch More Rays

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Tiny hills and valleys on the surface of leaves have guided a team of Princeton University scientists in the creation of a new kind of solar cell. By wrinkling up a layer of adhesive, the team designed solar cells that can capture more light, even in the infrared region.

“If you look at leaves very closely, they are not smooth,” said Yueh-Lin Loo, Princeton’s principle investigator on the project. “We’d like to mimic this geometric effect in synthetic, man-made light-harvesting systems.” Keep reading →

 /  Published May 8, 2012 at 12:10 PM

Engine Manufacturing Giant Flight Tests New Technology

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A billion dollars of investment later, US engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney has begun flight testing its PurePower Geared Turbofan Engines. The new technology lowers fuel consumption, noise signature, greenhouse gas emissions and maintenance costs.

“The engine used a lot less fuel than we expected, we had to adjust the fuel load for the next flight,” Marc Kirner, Director of Flight Operations for Pratt & Whitney Canada told reporters at a recent media event in Hartford, Connecticut. Keep reading →

 /  Published May 3, 2012 at 2:00 PM

Floating Wind Turbines Get Joint UK-US Focus

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Floating wind turbines, which could theoretically take advantage of superior wind conditions in deep waters far offshore to increase power production, are getting a boost from the United States and the United Kingdom.

Government energy honchos from the U.S. and U.K. are joining ministers from nearly two dozen other countries at the Clean Energy Ministerial in London later this week, and along the way the Yanks and Brits will ink a deal to collaborate on advancing floating wind turbine technology, the U.K.’s Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) said. Keep reading →

 /  Published April 24, 2012 at 11:30 AM

Sustaibability Drive: ‘I Fell in Love With the Concept of Garbage’

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Sustainability, transformational and disruptive technologies are concepts that often arise when discussing the newest trends unfolding in the global energy industry. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing energy efficiency go hand-in-hand. These inter-related goals can be addressed by designing innovative ways to deal with waste disposal, and that’s just what CEO Tom Szaky is doing with his company TerraCycle.

Ford Motor Company and SHFT.com just launched the documentary, “The Big SHFT: 10 Innovators Changing Our World,” profiling cutting-edge innovators who are shaping new sustainable businesses and influencing positive change around the world. Examining topics from food and fashion to urbanization, technology and design, the series puts the spotlight on today’s game changers in sustainability. Watch the first digital short, which has just been released. Keep reading →

 /  Published April 20, 2012 at 3:30 PM

Electricity From Liquid Fuel? UCLA Researchers Say Yes

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Researchers at UCLA say they have come up with a method for converting electrical energy into a liquid fuel, in a development that could lead to regular petrol cars being powered by electricity.

The process, which uses carbon dioxide (CO2) as a bi-product, was recently discovered by James Liao of UCLA’s Ralph M. Parsons Foundation Chair in Chemical Engineering. Keep reading →

 /  Published April 18, 2012 at 12:35 PM

BrightSource IPO Withdrawal Highlights Solar Challenges

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Last September, Breaking Energy named five cleantech IPO‘s that were set to break the charts and change the game for renewable energy on the stock market. One of those five was Brightsource.

But despite the hype that had some industry insiders calling the BrightSource IPO the possible start to a cleantech gold rush, the thermal solar company cancelled its initial public offering last week due to what the company said were “adverse market conditions.” Keep reading →

 /  Published April 17, 2012 at 12:15 PM

The US is Energy Independent Right Now

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With a mix of nuclear, coal, natural gas, hydro and other renewable energy sources, the US electrical grid is energy independent, Chairman, President and CEO of Duke Energy Jim Rogers told the audience at the recent New York Times Energy for Tomorrow Conference.

Going back to the 1970’s US energy crisis, the idea of energy independence has been discussed, debated, shot down and resurrected countless times. When a panel of energy and environment experts gave the concept a fresh look, technology and natural gas were two key themes. Keep reading →

 /  Published April 12, 2012 at 2:30 PM

Industry Leaders Work to Strengthen Power Grid

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Ontario’s largest power distributor – Hydro One – is looking to transform the province’s aging electrical system into a state of the art power delivery network. The utility recently selected IBM and Telvent to lead the charge toward a more energy efficient and reliable 21st century power grid.

Built in the 1950’s, Ontario’s electric grid took a centralized approach to power delivery, but the changing nature of electricity generation and transmission, with distributed sources becoming more prevalent, requires a more versatile grid design. Keep reading →

 /  Published April 10, 2012 at 9:00 AM

Which energy startups will survive and thrive over the next five to ten years?

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 /  Published April 9, 2012 at 4:15 PM

Selling the Smart Grid

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Utilities converting to smart meters must find out how the new technology creates value for their customers, and not just financial value, experts told the Edison Foundation’s Powering the People 2.0 conference in Washington, DC March 22.

Utilities nationwide are wrestling with how to get customers to buy into the potential the new technology offers. Smart meters have met resistance from customers citing privacy worries, claims of health issues from the meters’ communication chips, and charges the devices are a subterfuge to raise electricity prices. Keep reading →

 /  Published March 27, 2012 at 10:00 AM
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