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

7

Hybrid Design Comes to Power Plants

November 7, 2011 | 1 Comment

Prof. Avi Kribus of Tel Aviv University’s School of Mechanical Engineering and its innovative new Renewable Energy Center is applying the term “hybrid” to power plants. Prof. Kribus has developed a new technology that combines the use of conventional fuel with the lower pressures and temperatures of steam produced by solar thermal power, allowing plants [...]

Sep

6

The Best Thermal Solar Panel Might Be the Cheapest

September 6, 2011 | 1 Comment

The MSRP is $2749.00 Canadian.  One panel per 1000 square feet, more north than Maine’s northern tip.  The basic collector is made using recycled soda pop cans. Amazing.  This thermal panel works astonishingly well.  Note – don’t test the thermal conductivity of an aluminum can with a heat source that can burn skin – the [...]

May

10

Collecting Solar Heat to Make Electricity

May 10, 2011 | 1 Comment

Rice University researchers are describing a new way to harvest solar energy with a new paper this week in the journal Science. Naomi Halas, Rice’s Stanley C. Moore Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering, the paper’s lead researcher explains,  “We’re merging the optics of nanoscale antennas with the electronics of semiconductors. There’s no practical way [...]

Feb

19

Progress in the Solar Cell Two Step Method

February 19, 2009 | 10 Comments

Robert DiMatteo, the CEO of a startup based in Boston named MTPV has a new approach to converting heat into electricity using solar cells could make a technology called thermal photovoltaics more practical. Thermal photovoltaics are solar cells that convert the light that radiates from a hot surface into electricity. The first applications will be [...]

Sep

17

Checking Up On Low Temperature Geothermal By Raser and United Technologies

September 17, 2008 | 4 Comments

Raser Technologies, a publicly traded (NYSE Arca: RZ) Utah company involved in low temperature geothermal installations and alternating current electric motors is back in the press release business. With a stock price of about $5.50 ranging from $4 to over $18 in the past year the company has the volatility to be interesting. Barely a [...]

Aug

20

Go Where the Heat Energy Is

August 20, 2008 | 3 Comments

The U.S. alone has an estimated 19,000 square miles of asphalt paved roads and parking lots. As essentially everyone can attest, asphalt is a great infrared absorber and being very dense holds a lot of heat thus toasting bare feet with slight sun and barely warm temperatures. Now 19K square miles is a lot of [...]

Aug

18

Renewables Grow Up From Being a Carrot to Carrying a Whip

August 18, 2008 | 4 Comments

Congress can’t get the alternative energy credits renewed and on the books for the (I’ve lost count) time. By itself the missing tax credits will be a problem. But the price of coal, oil and natural gas will still be their own undoing as primary fuel sources. It’s about the money. Alternatives such as solar [...]

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