Nov

18

Good Thermoelectric Devices Coming Soon

November 18, 2011 | 7 Comments

Dr. Ole Martin Løvvik of Oslo University’s Center for Materials Science and Nanotechnology in Norway has been studying the thermoelectric effect at the nanoscale for several years.  Dr. Løvvik’s project in semiconductor physics is to develop oxidic thermoelectrics for generation of electricity from concentrated solar heat, waste heat from fuel cells and engines at high [...]

Nov

17

Fracking Reality Check

November 17, 2011 | 3 Comments

Many people, the media and press included, are getting progressively more misinformed about oil and gas field reservoir fracturing.  So lets have a big picture review of what the situation is before making silly conclusions. Petroleum field hydraulic fracturing is simply forcing fluids and tiny sand sized solids into cracks the pressure creates.  Fracking can [...]

Nov

16

Halfway to the Ultimate Lithium Battery

November 16, 2011 | 1 Comment

Northwestern University engineers show in the journal Advanced Energy Materials they have developed technology that could hugely improve lithium batteries.  The new anode technology suggests a cellphone battery might recharge in 15 minutes and last ten times longer. The scientists combined two chemical engineering approaches to address two major battery limitations — energy capacity and [...]

Nov

15

Energy Gathering Antennas Reach Further Into the Light Spectrum

November 15, 2011 | Leave a Comment

A solar panel composed of nano-antennas instead of semiconductors, made by adapting classic metallic antennas to absorb light waves at optical frequencies, has been announced by Tel Aviv University’s Department of Physical Electronics from its innovative new Renewable Energy Center. We have a prior work to consider that harvests the infrared from nearly four years [...]

Nov

14

New Insight For Cheaper Ammonia as NH3

November 14, 2011 | 2 Comments

A couple of barriers sit in the way of the ammonia NH3 folks looking for lower costs and a chance at the fuel business. The N part or nitrogen is great stuff, it makes up about 80% of the atmosphere and its highly non-reactive and stabile tendency is a very good thing.  If oxygen and [...]

Nov

11

Bussard Fusion Update

November 11, 2011 | 1 Comment

Dr. Robert Bussard’s EMC2 Corp. with the U.S. Navy using recovery act funding working on inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC) nuclear fusion based on the theory and prior work of Dr. Bussard has issued a very brief report.  The plan is to determine if the experimental plasma scaling agrees with the theoretical models. The U.S. Navy [...]

Nov

10

Absorbing All the Light and its Energy

November 10, 2011 | Leave a Comment

NASA engineers have developed a super black material that absorbs light across multiple wavelength bands.  The material absorbs on average more than 99 percent of the ultraviolet, visible, infrared, and far-infrared light that hits it — a development that promises to open new frontiers in space technology.  It also has implication for those seeking to [...]

Nov

9

He’s Back!

November 9, 2011 | 3 Comments

The grid failed due to wet snow and high winds last night about 12:55am.  So no post was made.  But what was written is now on the server to load tonight. We’re pretty busy here without the grid feeding 7500 volts to the transformer.  An 8 hp 4000 watt gasoline generator is powering this writing [...]

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