innovation
By 2016, many of the little energy aggravations that inconvenience you today — a run-down cellphone battery, a laptop with dwindling reserve power — could be a thing of the past, thanks to parasite power. Researchers at IBM believe that parasitic power collection could be one of the top innovations that radically
oil
Will 2012 be the year we see oil prices rise to crushing record highs? Or will the cost of crude collapse as doomsayers’ predictions about the death of the euro, the bursting of China’s real-estate bubble and other economic calamities come true? We can’t tell you. With so
Technology
Researchers at Kyoto University have discovered a way to unleash an “avalanche” of excitons — electron-hole pairs — 1,000 times as dense as normal from semiconductor material. The finding could help lead to the development of extra-efficient solar cells and ultra-high-speed transistors, they say. Scientists at the university’s Institute for
Energy
Among the startups vying to earn the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) title of “America’s Next Top Energy Innovator” are a firm looking to double the energy capacity of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, a business that’s developing “smart boxes” for electronic cargo tracking and a company working on
data centers
Environmental activist group Greenpeace has made a lot of friends over the years through its campaigns and communication efforts on Facebook, but up until now, Facebook itself wasn’t among them. Blame it on the social networking giant’s 2010 decision to choose coal-fired power for its new Oregon data
cloud computing
Across the US, large utilities like investor-owned Pacific Gas & Electric and municipally operated Austin Energy have been working for several years to roll out smarter energy metering and advanced technologies designed to bring electricity services and operations into the 21st century. Smaller community utility providers, on the other hand,
fossil fuels
An 11th-hour deal by US Senators this past weekend paved the way for a two-month extension of unemployment benefits and a cut in payroll taxes. But Republicans wouldn’t say yes until they got something in return: an agreement to fast-track approval of the Keystone XL pipeline. (And now their
lighting
As the old saying goes, there’s more than one way to skin a cat. And the same applies to methods for flaying a government regulation you don’t like. That seems to be the case for US House Republicans who, according to a report released yesterday, have yet to
fossil fuels
The inextricable link between energy and economic growth has been painfully clear to many people since mid-2008, when crude oil prices peaked at more than $145 per barrel … followed by the global economy taking a nose-dive. (Other factors also helped to bring on the recession, of course, but there’s
wind energy
Nuke-rejecting Germany plans to expand its renewable energy base even further with a new offshore power wind-energy plant featuring 80 massive turbines with rotors 120 meters (394 feet) across. Siemens Energy plans to supply the 3.6-megawatt (MW) for the Amrumbank West project in the North Sea. Being developed by
fossil fuels
While it’s common knowledge to anyone who follows energy news that the world’s appetite for coal keeps growing, this is ridiculous: over the next five years, global coal demand is projected to expand by 600,000 tons a day. That news tends to tarnish any enthusiasm about the
green buildings
We already have energy efficiency ratings for appliances, electronics, light bulbs, windows and doors … what’s next: a ratings scheme for bricks, lumber and siding? Why not? Buildings around the world account for a major portion of our energy consumption, and the choice of facade materials can make a big
