Renewables

The ingenuity of four space engineers has created a zero-emission air-conditioning system that doesn't pollute our atmosphere when we turn it on. Air conditioning for offices, factories, shopping centres and homes has long been recognised as a large contributor to carbon dioxide emissions, and boosting its efficiency would help to combat climate change.

Funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, the e-mobility flagship project “Adaptive City Mobility (ACM) 2” opens up new approaches with its innovative lightweight electric car CITY eTAXI - especially designed for urban living spaces. Due to its novel modular battery replacement system, which was specially developed for this project by Europe’s leading lithium-ion battery producer BMZ, the CITY eTAXI ...

Cardiff based lighting company Sedna tasked students from Cardiff School of Art and Design to create a piece of art that incorporates LED lighting and expresses social message. The sculpture was recently presented at New Energy Cleantech Awards in London.

Researchers at PNNL have demonstrated that stored renewable energy can be interconverted efficiently and inexpensively by mimicking enzymatic catalysts used in biological processes. Enzymes consist of an active site-a metal where the reaction happens with connections to the rest of the protein-and a protein scaffold surrounding the active site. That PNNL research team, led by Dr. Wendy Shaw, predicted that many parts of the protein scaffold play ...

Recycling black plastics, such as those found in car instrument panels, used to be impossible because their absorption properties made them simply invisible to typical analysis systems. But Fraunhofer researchers have developed a new technology that can sort black plastics according to type – and at affordable prices. Shopping at the supermarket inevitably results in a trash bin overflowing with plastic refuse. Whether it's juice, meat, fru...

Renewable energy generation is being rolled out across Europe at unprecedented rates as the shift to green energy gathers momentum. But what happens when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining? Sim4Blocks, a project funded by the EC’s Horizon 2020 funding programme, is aiming to increase the flexibility of the grid to accommodate the unpredictable nature of renewables by testing out innovative systems for demand respon...

Toshiba has developed a fast, cable-free contactless charger for EV, and will field test it on a medium-sized EV bus designed to handle the power demands of regular high-speed journeys on expressways. Field tests will start from June 1st and continue until December. The 45-seat bus is powered by a long-life, high-output SCiB, Toshiba's advanced lithium-ion rechargeable battery, and will make regular trips between All Nippon Airways Co. Ltd. ...

Vincotech has announced the release of a new line of three-level power modules engineered to achieve highest efficiency for single-phase solar inverters, even at reactive power. Packaged in the most compact flow 1 housing, flowPACK 1 H6.5 combines excellent performance with remarkable cost efficiency.

Vincotech helped generate 13GW of solar energy in 2015 with power modules installed in solar inverters that account for around 25% of that year's global yield. Vincotech’s persistent innovation and quality service have produced components that are saving more than 17m tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (MMTCDE) every year, which is tantamount to planting some 440m trees.

A study by researchers at Uppsala University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences shows that the decomposition of organic materials in lakes, rivers and streams is controlled on a large scale by the climate, and in particular by the water balance. Knowing how quickly this decomposition happens is key to our ability to understand how the turnover of organic materials is affected by environmental changes.