Renewables

  A solar cell configuration developed by engineers at the University of New South Wales has pushed sunlight-to-electricity conversion efficiency to 34.5% – establishing a new world record for unfocused sunlight and nudging closer to the theoretical limits for such a device.

IBEC researchers have developed a self-propelled tiny ‘microbot’ that can remove lead from contaminated water. Working with colleagues in Stuttgart and Singapore, Samuel Sánchez’s group used graphene oxide to make their microscale motors, which are able to adsorb lead from industrial wastewater from a level of 1000 parts-per-billion to down to below 50 parts-per-billion in just an hour.

Peugeot Design Lab teams have implemented a project that develops the innovation and the environmental orientation of the DRIVECO Parasol. The wooden lattice structure accommodating the 150m² of solar panels forms a canopy, while the flared bases of the Parasol smoothly integrate the charging points and electricity storage batteries. This project has harnessed the skills of designers, 3D modellers and colour and materials experts.

A team from the University of Leicester has been awarded a prize for their proposal to crack down on wildlife crime using a portable DNA sequencing device, the MinION - developed by Oxford Nanopore Technologies - to read the ‘barcode genes’ of animals affected by illegal trafficking. The Leicester team will collaborate with organisations working in the field such as the Kenya Wildlife Service and Panthera.

Nissan and multinational power company Enel, has confirmed plans to launch a major vehicle-to-grid (V2G) trial – the first ever carried out in the UK. The trial will work by installing and connecting one hundred V2G units at locations agreed by private and fleet owners of the Nissan LEAF and e-NV200 electric van. By giving Nissan electric vehicle owners the ability to plug their vehicles into the V2G system, owners will have the flexibility...

Christian Ridley (Department of Plant Sciences) discusses why algae biofuel has failed to deliver, and what could be done to save this promising technology. Algal biofuels are in trouble. This alternative fuel source could help reduce overall carbon emissions without taking land from food production, like many crop-based biofuels do. But several major companies including Shell and ExxonMobil are seemingly abandoning their investments in this envi...

Controlled Power Technologies, in partnership with Ricardo, Tata Motors European Technical Centre (TMETC) and Provector, is applying its low voltage electric motor technology to the rear driveline of a B-segment city car. The consortium has secured a funding award from Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, who will contribute £1.8m of the total £3.4m investment.

This article shares some of the research for the new IDTechEx Research report, “Electric Vehicle Traction Motors, Belt Driven & Integrated Starter Generators 2016-2026”. It is no longer contentious to say that the future of land, water and air vehicles is to be more and more electric. The detail of how this is being achieved is rich and varied and it revolves around the electric motor and its variants far more than the more-discus...

Water is a resource and is used for cooling or as a solvent. Water is also indispensable in industrial production. Environmentally compatible processing of water now is subject of the 'Eco-UV' research project funded by the EU with €3.9m under the 'Horizon 2020' programme. Within the framework of the project, KIT engineers plan to develop efficient UV emitters and long-lived electronic systems.

Solliance demonstrates a record 10% aperture area power conversion efficiency for its up-scaled thin-film perovskite photovoltaic modules. The efficiency was measured on an aperture area of 168cm2. Twenty-five cells were serial connected through an optimised P1, P2, P3 interconnection technology. The PV module was realised on a 6x6 inch2 glass substrate using industrial scale-able slot die coating in combination with laser patterning. Further, th...