While roofs across the world sport photovoltaic solar panels to convert sunlight into electricity, a Duke University engineer believes a novel hybrid system can wring even more useful energy out of the sun's rays. Instead of systems based on standard solar panels, Duke engineer Nico Hotz proposes a hybrid option in … Continue reading
North Sea Wind Farm Has Positive Net Impact On Fauna, Researchers Say A North-Sea wind farm has few negative effects on fauna. Most birds avoided the wind turbines, although rotating blades can have a significant disruptive effect on some species of birds. It turns out that a wind farm also provides a new habitat for … Continue reading
A new study sheds light on why the Sun's outer atmosphere, or corona, is more than 20 times hotter than its surface. The research, led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), may bring scientists a step closer to understanding the solar cycle and the Sun's impacts on Earth. The study uses satellite … Continue reading
Bold New Approach to Wind 'Farm' Design May Provide Efficiency Gains Conventional wisdom suggests that because we're approaching the theoretical limit on individual wind turbine efficiency, wind energy is now a mature technology. But California Institute of Technology researchers revisited some of the fundamental … Continue reading
Improved Hybrid Solar Collector Has Higher Efficiency, Longer Lifespan TU Delft student of Sustainable Energy Technology Stefan Roest developed a new type of hybrid solar collector with a higher efficiency and a longer lifespan than the current hybrid systems for his graduation project. A hybrid solar collector is a … Continue reading
An ambitious University of Nevada, Reno project to understand and characterize geothermal potential at nearly 500 sites throughout the Great Basin is yielding a bounty of information for the geothermal industry to use in developing resources in Nevada, according to a report to the U.S. Department of Energy. The research … Continue reading
A scientific advance in renewable energy which promises a revolution in the ease and cost of using solar cells, has been announced. A new study shows that even when using very simple and inexpensive manufacturing methods -- where flexible layers of material are deposited over large areas like cling-film -- efficient solar … Continue reading
Generating 'Green' Electricity: Waste Heat Converted to Electricity Using New Alloy Engineering researchers in the College of Science and Engineering at the University of Minnesota have recently discovered a new alloy material that converts heat directly into electricity. This revolutionary new energy conversion method is … Continue reading
Solar energy is becoming more attractive as oil and other types of conventional energy get ever more expensive. The solar market is booming as they continue to provide new solutions for all kinds of electronics. There is so much more available now than there was even ten years ago. If you own your home, then there is a lot … Continue reading
The three massive solar panels that will provide power for NASA's Juno spacecraft during its mission to Jupiter have seen their last photons of light until they are deployed in space after launch. The last of the Jupiter-bound spacecraft's panels completed pre-flight testing at the Astrotech payload processing facility in … Continue reading