Energy News

NIST Measurement Advance Could Speed Innovation in Solar Devices
Wednesday, July 25, 2012 - 14:00

A new versatile measurement system devised by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) accurately and quickly measures the electric power output of solar energy devices, capabilities useful to researchers and manufacturers working to develop and make next-generation solar energy cells.

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Researchers create highly transparent solar cells for windows that generate electricity
Friday, July 20, 2012 - 14:42

UCLA researchers have developed a new transparent solar cell that is an advance toward giving windows in homes and other buildings the ability to generate electricity while still allowing people to see outside. Their study appears in the journal ACS Nano.

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Sorghum should be in the mix as a biofuel crop
Thursday, July 19, 2012 - 19:09

Sweet and biomass sorghum would meet the need for next-generation biofuels to be environmentally sustainable, easily adopted by producers and take advantage of existing agricultural infrastructure, a group of researchers led by Purdue University scientists believes.

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NIST Releases Test Framework for Upgrading Smart Electrical Meters
Monday, July 16, 2012 - 09:19

Next-generation "smart" electrical meters for residential and commercial buildings will have computerized operating systems just as laptops or mobile devices do. On July 10, 2012, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published its first-ever draft guidelines to help utility companies test their procedures for upgrading meters securely from a remote location.

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New biofuel process dramatically improves energy recovery
Wednesday, July 11, 2012 - 16:46

A new biofuel production process created by Michigan State University researchers produces 20 times more energy than existing methods. The results, published in the current issue of Environmental Science and Technology, showcase a novel way to use microbes to produce biofuel and hydrogen, all while consuming agricultural wastes.

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Researchers one step closer to new kind of thermoelectric "heat engine"
Wednesday, July 11, 2012 - 16:09

Researchers who are studying a new magnetic effect that converts heat to electricity have discovered how to amplify it a thousand times over - a first step in making the technology more practical. In the so-called spin Seebeck effect, the spin of electrons creates a current in magnetic materials, which is detected as a voltage in an adjacent metal. Ohio State University researchers have figured out how to create a similar effect in a non-magnetic semiconductor while producing more electrical power.

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