New Kind of Solar Cell Opens the Door for Surpassing Efficiency Limit
In any conventional silicon-based solar cell, there is an absolute limit on overall efficiency, based partly on the fact that each photon of light can…
Green Technology
Scientists Show Renewable Energies Can Save Millions of Lives
Reducing global air pollution can prevent millions of premature deaths according to an international team of scientists, led by the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry….
Researchers Use Gelatin to Make Powerful New Hydrogen Fuel Catalyst
A cheap and effective new catalyst developed by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, can generate hydrogen fuel from water just as efficiently as…
“Sun in a box” Stores Renewable Energy & Delivers It on Demand
MIT engineers have come up with a conceptual design for a system to store renewable energy, such as solar and wind power, and deliver that…
Imaging Techniques Will Help Bring Fusion Energy Closer to Reality
Harnessing nuclear fusion, which powers the sun and stars, to help meet earth’s energy needs, is a step closer after researchers showed that using two…
Scientists Develop New Material That Cleans and Splits Water
Researchers at EPFL’s Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering have developed a photocatalytic system based on a material in the class of metal-organic frameworks. The…
Wind Farms Cause More Environmental Impact Than Previously Thought
When it comes to energy production, there’s no such thing as a free lunch, unfortunately. As the world begins its large-scale transition toward low-carbon energy…
New Lithium-Based Battery Design Makes Use of Greenhouse Gas
New lithium-based battery could make use of greenhouse gas before it ever gets into the atmosphere. A new type of battery developed by researchers at…
Scientists Develop a New Way to Turn Sunlight Into Fuel
The quest to find new ways to harness solar power has taken a step forward after researchers successfully split water into hydrogen and oxygen by…
New Dual-Layer Solar Cell Sets Record for Efficiently Generating Power
Materials scientists from the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering have developed a highly efficient thin-film solar cell that generates more energy from sunlight than typical…
Published Study Shows Algae Using Raw Plants as a Carbon Energy Source
Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory and partner institutions provided today the first published report of algae using raw plants as a carbon energy source….
Research Shows Advanced Biofuels Can Be Produced Extremely Efficiently
A chance to switch to renewable sources for heating, electricity and fuel, while also providing new opportunities for several industries to produce large numbers of…
Researchers Develop A Fuel Cell That Uses Lignin
Researchers from the Laboratory of Organic Electronics at Linköping University have developed a fuel cell that uses lignin, a cheap by-product from paper manufacture and…
When and Where Advanced Photovoltaics Are Economic to Install
Which is a better deal: an established, off-the-shelf type of solar panel or a cutting-edge type that delivers more power for a given area but…
Scientists Demonstrate Light Controlled Current Transport by Charged Atoms
Light controlled current transport by charged atoms, now demonstrated for the first time, makes new applications conceivable. Light makes some materials conductive in a previously…
Flexo-Photovoltaic Effect Squeezes More Power Out of Solar Cells
Physicists at the University of Warwick have published new research in the Journal Science that could literally squeeze more power out of solar cells by…
Engineers Discover Greener and Cheaper Technique for Biofuel
Natural bacterium isolated from mushroom crop residue converts plant-based material to butanol directly. A team of engineers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) recently…
Nanostructure Increases Solar-to-Hydrogen Conversion Efficiency by a Factor of Eleven
Polymeric carbon nitrides exhibit a catalytic effect in sunlight that can be used for the production of hydrogen from solar energy. However, the efficiency of…