Feature Channels: Energy

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Wind turbines may be one of the best renewable energy solutions, but as turbines get larger they also get noisier, become more of an eyesore, and require increasingly larger expanses of land. One solution: ocean-based wind turbines. While offshore turbines already have been constructed, they've traditionally been situated in shallow waters, where the tower extends directly into the seabed. That restricts the turbines to near-shore waters with depths no greater than 50 meters -- and precludes their use in deeper waters, where winds generally gust at higher speeds.

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Making better solar cells: Cornell University researchers have discovered a simple process – employing molecules typically used in blue jean and ink dyes – for building an organic framework that could lead to economical, flexible and versatile solar cells.

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Nominations are invited for the 2011 Karl W. Böer Solar Energy Medal of Merit until Sept. 3, 2010. The bronze medal and $50,000 cash prize will be awarded to an individual who has made significant pioneering contributions to the promotion of solar energy as an alternate source of energy through research, development, or economic enterprise, or to an individual who has made extraordinarily valuable and enduring contributions to the field of solar energy in other ways.

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Fly over Manhattan in the year 2150. Witness a virtual colonoscopy that is non-invasive, fast and inexpensive. Experience the movement of jellyfish and soap bubbles blowing in the wind. Break the barrier between illusion and reality in what will be the world's largest visualization facility.

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The American Physical Society, a leading organization of physicists, presses congressional leaders to increase research investments for future energy technologies that will strengthen energy security and reduce the likelihood of disastrous effects associated with fossil fuel exploration as evidenced by the BP oil spill.

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A new green, bio-based method for producing a much-used fuel additive and industrial chemical that is currently made from petroleum products has been developed by Iowa State University researcher Thomas Bobik.

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The University of Delaware Institute of Energy Conversion (IEC) is part of an industry-academic team that has been awarded $3.8 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the research and development office of the U.S. Department of Defense, to demonstrate solar cells that can stand up to battle conditions and environmental extremes.

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“Linking Transformational Materials and Processing for an Energy Efficient and Low-Carbon Economy: Creating the Vision and Accelerating Realization,” also called the “Vision Report,” culminates the first phase of work in a two-part study commissioned by the Department of Energy (DOE) Industrial Technologies Program (ITP) and convened by The Minerals, Metals& Materials Society.

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Two scientists in India have conceptually designed a new, cleaner motorcycle engine that uses compressed air to turn a small air turbine, generating enough power to run a motorcycle for up to 40 minutes. Their design is described in a recent issue of the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy.

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Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a simple new method for producing large quantities of the promising nanomaterial graphene. The new technique works at room temperature, needs little processing, and paves the way for cost-effective mass production of graphene.

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University of Maryland, Baltimore researchers discovered that cyanobacteria possess a natural light-dependent electrogenic activity. The bacteria can generate and transfer high-energy electrons--generate electricity--to the external environment under illumination.

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Sandia National Laboratories computational scientists will lead two of five technical areas in a U.S. Department of Energy effort to create a “virtual” nuclear reactor, to be headquartered at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).

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A research team at the DOE Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) has developed a powerful new tool that promises to unlock the secrets of biomass degradation, a critical step in the development of cost-effective cellulosic biofuels. The details of this method were published online on June 11 in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

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The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at UC San Diego and CLUMEQ, a Canadian High Performance Computing consortium led by McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, have been awarded grants from Canada's Advanced Research and Innovation Network (CANARIE) and the Canada-California Strategic Innovation Partnership (CCSIP) to design an ultra-efficient data center as part of a program to promote ‘green’ IT initiatives.

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As of today (Wednesday, June 9), if all the oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico had been used for fuel, it could have powered 38,000 cars, and 3,400 trucks, and 1,800 ships for a full year, according to University of Delaware Prof. James J. Corbett. He has launched a website (http://www.ceoe.udel.edu/getinvolved/oilSpill.aspx) that reports the impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in terms of lost uses of the lost fuel on a daily basis.

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If battery-making is an art, then University at Buffalo scientist Esther Takeuchi is among its most prolific masters, with more than 140 U.S. patents, all in energy storage. Now Takeuchi is applying to the electrical grid -- the vast, national network that delivers energy from suppliers to consumers -- her unique perspective on how to coax the best performance out of battery chemicals.

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No matter how events in the Gulf play out, coming months and years will reveal the extent to which nuclear power might serve as a safer alternative to the offshore drilling of oil as a way of satisfying our nation’s ever-growing energy needs.

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UC San Diego’s director of strategic energy initiatives, Byron Washom, was recognized in the June issue of Fast Company magazine as one of the “100 Most Creative People in Business 2010,” ranking him number two in its green category. Since joining the university in 2008, Washom has teamed with faculty researchers, campus-operations engineers and students to pursue projects related to solar power, smart-grid technology, alternative-energy projects and novel renewable-energy financing.

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Iowa State students are busy preparing to race the university's tenth solar-powered car. They'll attempt to prove and qualify their car during the June 12-18 Formula Sun Grand Prix in Texas. If that goes well, they'll enter the June 19-26 American Solar Challenge, a race from Tulsa, Okla., to Chicago.

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Three researchers have been awarded a $1.2 million, four-year grant from the National Science Foundation to develop a more energy-efficient processor for mobile embedded systems that will perform as well as traditional pipelined processors. Mobile embedded systems involve computer processors that are embedded in cell phones, handheld game consoles, e-book readers and other devices that can be carried and run on batteries.

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A team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory has received $122 million and access to the world's most powerful computers to speed the development of the next generation of nuclear reactors. The award from the Department of Energy creates the first energy innovation hub -- the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors -- headquartered at Oak Ridge.

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A new way to make valuable chemicals and green biofuels from solar power, bacteria and CO2 may be “truly transformative” if it works on a larger scale, says Derek Lovley, head of a group developing carbon neutral microbial electrosynthesis. It also solves a major problem of solar energy: Storage.

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Our water needs are interfering with our energy plans and our energy needs are damaging our water supply.

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Michigan Tech students are developing a "smart" electric meter. Meanwhile, they say thoughtful scheduling of high-demand electrical appliance use can cut household power costs.

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A species of clover that doesn’t typically perform well in the dry uplands of the Northern Plains could find its niche by helping producers grow biomass crops for energy in prairie lowlands.

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Scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory are improving strains of microorganisms used to convert cellulosic biomass into ethanol, including a recent modification that could improve the efficiency of the conversion process.

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Scientists at the Nuclear Science and Technology Division of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) are merging decades of nuclear energy and safety expertise with high-performance computing to effectively address a range of nuclear energy- and security-related challenges.

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American University plans to neutralize greenhouse gas emissions and become a carbon-neutral campus by 2020.

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Student researchers at Northeastern University have designed an apparatus to convert plastic waste into clean energy without releasing harmful emissions.

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Biofuel combustion chemistry more complex than petroleum-based fuels, say Sandia and Lawrence Livermore researchers.

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Iowa State University engineers are developing new and improved poles to carry electricity across the countryside. They say the new structures -- which can bend and deflect an extreme load -- would be cheaper, easier to install, more secure and more resistant to cascading failures. That means better electrical service for everybody.

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Sandia National Laboratories is using its expertise and long history in photovoltaic (PV) research and development to accelerate the adoption of reliability tools within the growing industry of PV power generation.

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Creighton University will begin assembling a large array of solar panels and wind turbines at various locations across campus. When completed, the solar array will be the largest in the state. The alternative energy project will be part of a new degree program for students studying technology and applied science in the College of Arts and Sciences.

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University of Virginia students who converted a Honda to run on electricity will now try to power it – at least partly – with solar energy.

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Top honors in the second annual University of Virginia Student Sustainability Project Competition went to a proposal to better educate local homeowners on saving energy.

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Algae--already being eyed for biofuel production--could be put to use right away to remove nitrogen and phosphorus in livestock manure runoff, according to an Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientist.

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National and regional biofuel, biopower and bioproducts experts will convene in Syracuse for the Northeast Sun Grant 2010 Regional Conference, at Renaissance Syracuse Hotel, on May 24-26, 2010. The conference is hosted by Cornell University.

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Developing a Dual-Purpose Corn that can be bred for both food and cellulosic ethanol.

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The environmental and economic impacts of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will likely be devastating, says Dr. Julia Cherry, assistant professor in New College and Biological Sciences.

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A design for a hydrogen-powered community in California by students from Missouri University of Science and Technology captured the grand prize in the national Hydrogen Student Design Contest sponsored by the Hydrogen Education Foundation.

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Help America's high school students learn how they can solve the world's energy crisis! The 2011 JETS TEAMS Competition will focus on energy and experts are needed to develop questions regarding energy diversification, efficiency, security and ecological sustainability.

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Ken Rosenberg, director of conservation science at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and a specialist on the conservation of birds throughout the Western Hemisphere, comments on the ecological threat posed by the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

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Sandia National Laboratories has won two national Federal Laboratory Consortium awards for its efforts to transfer technology to supercomputer manufacturer Cray Inc., and solar energy supplier Stirling Energy Systems, Inc.

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A new supercomputer that more quickly models the most efficient ways to harness energy from the sun, wind and other renewable resources is now operating at Sandia National Laboratories.

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In a discovery that could solve one of the biggest hurdles blocking affordable fuel cell development, a team of UMass Amherst scientists has found a way to improve proton conductivity under very low humidity conditions where few materials perform well at present, they report in Nature Chemistry.

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Industries such as nuclear detection, oil and gas, and medical diagnostics could face crippling shortages of Helium 3, a nuclear weapons production byproduct that has become increasing scarce.

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Pokeberries – the weeds that children smash to stain their cheeks purple-red and that Civil War soldiers used to write letters home – could be the key to spreading solar power across the globe, according to researchers at Wake Forest University’s Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials.

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Heating and squishing microalgae in a pressure-cooker can fast-forward the crude-oil-making process from millennia to minutes.

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Zensi, a research startup from the UW and Georgia Tech that uses simple technology to monitor electricity and water use in the home, has been acquired by international electronics company Belkin.

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Students at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are creating novel solar power systems to improve the situation of an impoverished Haitian school and jumpstart a new dairy industry in rural Peru.