Renewables

Despite high expectations and extensive research and investment in the last decade, technological options are still in developing stages and key resources for algal growth are still too onerous for economically viable production of algal biofuels, according to a JRC literature review. No large-scale, commercial algae-to-biofuels facilities have been implemented up until the end of 2015.

Imagine solar cells so thin, flexible, and lightweight that they could be placed on almost any material or surface, including your hat, shirt, or smartphone, or even on a sheet of paper or a helium balloon. Researchers at MIT have demonstrated just such a technology: the thinnest, lightest solar cells ever produced. Though it may take years to develop into a commercial product, the laboratory proof-of-concept shows a new approach to making solar ...

A team led by William Chueh, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering, and Nicholas Melosh, an associate professor in the same department, has made a discovery that could make large-scale solar power storage a reality. The breakthrough is based on the fact that ordinary metal oxides, such as rust, can be fashioned into solar cells capable of splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen.

Students at the Dalian Nationalities University in China have designed a bike washing machine that will wash your clothes while you pedal. The invention is aptly called "Bike Washing Machine" or "BiWa," and it aims to "bring health and convenience to our life" by combining a stationary bike and a washing machine.

It can take Mother Nature 1,000 years to grow a forest. But Nikolay Strigul, assistant professor of mathematics and statistics, Washington State University Vancouver, can grow one on a computer in three weeks. He and Jean Lienard, a mathematics postdoctoral researcher, created the first computer simulation that grows realistic forests down to the branches, leaves and roots of individual trees.

Two Virginia Tech researchers have discoved a way to maximise the amount of electricity that can be generated from the wastewater we flush down the toilet. An article recently published in Scientific Reports detailing their findings speaks to a growing sustainability movement to capture energy from existing waste to potentially make treatment facilities more energy-efficient.

Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have shown for the first time that an enzyme can be tweaked to reduce lignin in plants. Their technique could help lower the cost of converting biomass into carbon-neutral fuels to power your car and other sustainably developed bio-products. Lignin is a polymer that's important to a plant's health and structure. But lignin also permeates plant cel...

Creating a sustainable workplace is becoming increasingly important for both professional and home users alike. Today, opting for energy-efficient, sustainably-produced technology is not only understood as being good for the planet, but also of benefit to users who can, for example, save ongoing electricity costs by choosing a monitor with low energy consumption.

Nowadays a major trend is the move to off-grid clean energy created by 'energy harvesting' to produce electricity where it is needed. This is more controllable and increasingly at lower cost than grid power or diesel gensets, cleaner and often less subject to interruption. It is taking new forms as revealed in the IDTechEx Research report, 'High Power Energy Harvesting 2016-2026'.

An assistant research specialist at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) has designed a new strain of yeast that could improve the efficiency of making fuel from cellulosic biomass such as switchgrass. Both the yeast strain and the method of its design could help overcome a significant bottleneck in the biofuels pipeline — namely, that the powerful solvents so good at breaking down biomass also sometimes hinder the next critica...