Nov

30

Combining Graphene and Nanotubes for Electrodes

November 30, 2012 | Leave a Comment

Rice University chemist James Tour led his researchers to successfully growing forests of carbon nanotubes that rise quickly from sheets of graphene to astonishing lengths of up to 120 microns forming a single surface with three dimensions. The seamless graphene/nanotube hybrid creation may be the best electrode interface material possible for many energy storage and [...]

Nov

29

A New Cheap and Abundant Thermoelectric Material Found

November 29, 2012 | 2 Comments

A team of Michigan State University researchers have developed a new thermoelectric material based on natural minerals known as tetrahedrites, the most widespread sulfosalts on Earth. So where are these tetrahedrites?  They’re found pretty much anywhere there is dirt, common ordinary dirt. The researchers, led by Donald Morelli, a professor of chemical engineering and materials [...]

Nov

28

Concentrating Solar Energy

November 28, 2012 | Leave a Comment

Ju Li, an MIT is a professor and corresponding author of a paper proposing a “solar energy funnel” that takes advantage of materials under elastic strain. The MIT idea tries to answer a quest to harness a broader spectrum of sunlight’s energy to produce electricity.  Li said, “We’re trying to use elastic strains to produce [...]

Nov

27

Energy Ideas Need to Go to Houston

November 27, 2012 | Leave a Comment

Houston is home to SURGE Accelerator, an incubation and mentorship program for startups in the energy software space.  At a year and a half old SURGE can provide the accepted startup company with $30,000 in seed funding, free office space, and access to dozens of mentors in Houston’s vibrant energy sector in exchange for a [...]

Nov

26

Thorium To Be Used In a Working Reactor

November 26, 2012 | 4 Comments

A Norwegian company led by Alf Bjørseth will start burning thorium fuel in a conventional test reactor owned by Norway’s government with help from U.S.-based nuclear giant Westinghouse. Bjørseth is now running his private company Scatec AS, and establishing new companies within Scatec based on the latest technologies in the areas of renewable energy and [...]

Nov

23

The Algae That Eats Other Plants

November 23, 2012 | 1 Comment

A research team at Bielefeld University has made a groundbreaking discovery that one plant, the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, not only engages in photosynthesis, but also has an alternative source of energy: it can draw it out from other plants. Plants need water and light to grow using sunlight energy to produce their biomass from [...]

Nov

22

A Thanksgiving Day For One Small Nuclear Reactor

November 22, 2012 | 1 Comment

The Obama Administration’s Energy Department has announced an award to support a  project to design, license and help commercialize a small modular reactor (SMR) in the United States.  The lucky partnership members are Babcock & Wilcox with the Tennessee Valley Authority and Bechtel who will receive a dollar for dollar cost match in funding to [...]

Nov

21

Split Out Hydrogen with Gold and Sunshine

November 21, 2012 | Leave a Comment

Stony Brook University Assistant Professor of Materials Science & Engineering Alexander Orlov, PhD and his team are producing hydrogen from water using sunlight and gold nanomaterials. The university press release is claiming Orlov’s team has done the first-ever experiment of its kind demonstrating that clean energy hydrogen can be produced from water splitting by using [...]

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