Energy

Stacked Solar Cells Can Handle Energy Of 70,000 Suns Without Losing Voltage

A new technique for improving the connections between stacked solar cells could one day improve the overall efficiency of solar energy devices and reduce the cost of solar energy production. Stacked solar cells consist of several solar cells that are stac ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 6 2013 - 2:19pm

Grid-Scale Batteries Work Well For Storing Solar Power, But Not Wind

While solar energy is clearly the future, it isn't ready yet. Two large obstacles are cost versus efficiency and storage. Wind power is advocated by a much smaller group, because its obstacles are far greater. A new paper adds evidence to that, notin ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 9 2013 - 1:52pm

China's Synthetic Gas Plants Will Produce 7X More Emissions Than Natural Gas

While America has drastically reduced its greenhouse gas emissions- CO2 from energy is back at early 1990s levels and emissions from coal are back at early 1980s levels- that isn't good enough for many environmentalists. Meanwhile, China is setting t ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Sep 25 2013 - 10:37am

Artificial Photosynthesis Gets A Boost From Rust

Chemists recently achieved a breakthrough in efforts to develop an economical means of harnessing artificial photosynthesis by narrowing the voltage gap between the two crucial processes of oxidation and reduction, according to a new paper. The team repor ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 12 2013 - 11:52am

Green Energy CEO Predicts Demise Of His Competition

Jeremy Leggett, who runs the largest solar power installer in the UK, is celebrating the World Energy Congress in South Korea by selling you a book predicting the demise of his competitors in conventional energy companies. Well, he is going to be right eve ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Oct 14 2013 - 7:30am

Wind Turbine Arrays Get Better Modeling

Wind turbines often disappoint because the models that justified them weren't all that accurate. But as wind turbines themselves hopefully improve, modeling may as well. And output power may get some extra energy from an unexpected direction: below.  ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 22 2013 - 3:52pm

Solar Cell Efficiency Gets A Boost From InGaN Crystals For Diodes

Crystals form the basis for the penetrating icy blue glare of car headlights- they could also be fundamental to the future in solar energy technology? Manufactured alloy crystals, such as indium gallium nitride or InGaN, form the light emitting region of ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 26 2013 - 10:34am

Staggering Wind Turbines Could Improve Performance 33 Percent, Says Numerical Model

Wind farms can be part of our future energy mix assuming the cost of offshore turbine energy versus their efficiency can be made manageable. A new computer projection found a better way to arrange the turbines is a step in the right direction. A team from ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 31 2013 - 10:30am

CO2 Injections Blamed For Texas Earthquakes

A new study correlates a series of small earthquakes near Snyder, Texas between 2006 and 2011 with the underground injection of large volumes of carbon dioxide (CO2), long before the adoption of current hydraulic fracking and a finding that is relevant to ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 5 2013 - 11:50am

What Makes A Thin Film Solar Cell Efficient?

For many years scientists and engineers have been trying to provide low-cost solar energy by developing a cheap solar cell that is both highly efficient and at the same time simple to build, enabling it to be mass produced. Now, the team led by Empa resea ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 29 2013 - 5:30am