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'MIT Researchers Invent Solar Cells That Transform Heat Into Electricity' plus 11 more
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MIT Researchers Invent Solar Cells That Transform Heat Into Electricity Posted: 29 Jul 2011 07:10 AM PDT
If you thought photovoltaics can only get energy from the Sun, then you were wrong. An MIT team of researchers have invented a device that produces electricity from heat. The process uses the photovoltaic effect as the middleman and is three times more efficient than the most efficient lithium ion batteries on market today. 92 percent of all the energy we use involves burning something and then turning the heat into mechanical work. Therefore it would be much simpler and would make sense improving the whole process so it turns heat into electricity without involving moving parts.
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Tequila gives new biofuel crops a shot Posted: 29 Jul 2011 06:40 AM PDT
The desert plants used to distil tequila could cut emissions from transport by providing an important new biofuel crop, according to new research. "Agave has a huge advantage, as it can grow in marginal or desert land, not on arable land," and therefore would not displace food crops, said Oliver Inderwildi, at the University of Oxford. Much of the ethanol used as a substitute for petrol is currently produced from corn, especially in the US, and has been criticised for driving up grain prices to record levels. A recent inquiry found that laws mandating the addition of biofuels to petrol and diesel had backfired badly and were unethical because biofuel production often violated human rights and damaged the environment.
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Fiten Solar in collaboration with Cree and Squall Yacht designs Poland’s first solar boat Posted: 29 Jul 2011 06:36 AM PDT
Traveling over water has always remained an important facet related intrinsically to human existence. Historically, it provided copious influx of trade from distant corners of the world. And now in the present scenario, water cruising has spread to also cover other societal disciplines like military, sports and tourism. This last field of tourism is certainly expanding at a brisk rate, and as a matter fact, is considered to be a major component of an economy in many countries. Taking that into account, designers from Fiten Solar team in collaboration with Cree and Squall Yacht have contrived to fuse green technology with tourism. As a result, the solar powered boat (the first from Poland) was born to be driven exclusively by ‘clean and green’ renewable energy.
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Developing electric cars that recharge as you drive Posted: 29 Jul 2011 06:35 AM PDT
The main disadvantage of an electric car which prevents its sale is recharging it. There are not enough service recharge stations on the way to a long journey and it is difficult to carry spare heavy batteries every time we go out. Now this shortcoming is resolved as you no longer have to worry about recharging your electric car.
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Egypt’s Solar Slides House Has a Transforming Perforated Facade Posted: 29 Jul 2011 06:19 AM PDT
A team of architecture and engineering students have devised a way to harness Egypt’s strong solar rays and combine them with an innovative design. The SLIDES house -- which stands for sustainable, livable and interactive design -- is the American University in Cairo’s entry for 2012’s European Solar Decathlon. The home is designed to maximize solar power efficiency and sustainability.
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Sonnenschiff: Solar City Produces 4X the Energy it Consumes Posted: 29 Jul 2011 06:04 AM PDT
Although net-zero projects have been creating a lot of buzz lately in the field of green building, the Sonnenschiff solar city in Freiburg, Germany is very much net positive. The self-sustaining city accomplishes this feat through smart solar design and lots and lots of photovoltaic panels pointed in the right direction.
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Google+ Traffic Falls As Users Spend Less Time on Site Posted: 29 Jul 2011 04:07 AM PDT
After a running start, Google+‘s growth may be slowing down a bit. A report from Experian Hitwise found both traffic and users’ average time on the social network fell last week in the U.S. Total visits to Google+ declined about 3% to 1.79 million in the U.S. for the week ending July 23 compared to the previous seven days, according to the research company. The site received 1.86 million visits the prior week. Average time on the site was down 10%, from 5 minutes, 50 seconds to 5 minutes, 15 seconds.
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Semprius Unveils Powerful Micro Solar Cell That Can Fit On A Pinhead! Posted: 29 Jul 2011 03:35 AM PDT
Solar start-up comany Semprius just unveiled an ultra-tiny solar cell that is half the size of a pinhead and (when combined with powerful but inexpensive lenses) can concentrate sunlight more than 11,000 times and convert it to electricity! The minuscule solar cells are created through a low-cost production system that utilizes standard manufacturing processes and micro-transfer printing. This system enables the creation of CPV modules with high performance, high reliability, and low cost – not to mention scalability and high-volume production.
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7 Facebook Features Google Plus Still Lacks Posted: 29 Jul 2011 02:51 AM PDT
Google Plus is obviously still in testing mode, despite its impressive growth. But if the search-engine giant really wants to up the ante in its competition with Facebook, here are seven features the veteran social network boasts that are not yet offered by the newcomer.
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State of the Internet report – Asia still fastest, new source of attack traffic emerges Posted: 29 Jul 2011 02:41 AM PDT
Akamai might not be a household name but between 15 to 30 percent of the world's Web traffic is carried on the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company's internet platform at any given time. Using data gathered by software constantly monitoring internet conditions via the company's nearly 100,000 servers deployed in 72 countries and spanning most of the networks within the internet, Akamai creates its quarterly State of the internet report. The report provides some interesting facts and figures, such as regions with the slowest and fastest connection speeds, broadband adoption rates and the origins of attack traffic.
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Infographic: What if Solar Were on Every Roof? Posted: 29 Jul 2011 02:21 AM PDT
The annual energy bill for a typical single family American home is $1,255, resulting in $144 billion spent per year for 115 million U.S. households.
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UK sails ahead in offshore wind power generation Posted: 29 Jul 2011 02:04 AM PDT
The UK has sailed ahead in offshore wind power generation in the past six months, building more offshore windfarms than any other country in the world, and accounting for almost all of the turbines erected in European waters this year. Of only 108 offshore turbines built around Europe’s coastline from January to June, a whopping [...]
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