Cleantech and Environmental News – Latest Headlines

Europe's largest cleantech idea competition launched

Climate-KIC, the EU's main climate innovation initiative, has kicked-off Europe's largest business idea competition, CleanLaunchpad.

June 3, 2014 Read more

Energy saving strategies during production processes

New research suggests advantages of the smart analysis in energy consumptions of discontinuous production processes, all in terms of minimizing production costs. This research opens the door to improvements in the sequencing techniques and machine scale work assignment.

June 3, 2014 Read more

Enhancing safety of domestic solar power storage

At Intersolar, Munich, researchers will present results relating to the safety and service life of battery-based domestic storage systems for private photovoltaics facilities.

June 3, 2014 Read more

Supercritical solar - a new frontier for power generation

CSIRO has used solar energy to generate hot and pressurised 'supercritical' steam, at the highest temperatures ever achieved in the world outside of fossil fuel sources.

June 3, 2014 Read more

Transforming hydrogen into liquid fuel using atmospheric CO2

Scientists have completed their solution for transforming hydrogen gas into a less flammable liquid fuel that can be safely stored and transported. Another possible application of their technology would be to use atmospheric CO2to synthesize a number of useful chemical products.

June 2, 2014 Read more

Electromobility as privacy hazard

Consumers who charge an electric vehicle on a regular basis may leave a data trail. With each charging process, the system saves when and where it took place and which customer paid for it - a privacy risk, say researchers.

June 2, 2014 Read more

The fuel cell for home

It converts chemical energy directly into electrical energy. Still, there hadn't been a market breakthrough for the fuel cell. The systems were too complex. Now, Fraunhofer and Vaillant have developed a simple device for home use.

June 2, 2014 Read more

Solar modules embedded in glass

Organic solar modules have advantages over silicon solar cells. However, one critical problem is their shorter operating life. Researchers are working on a promising solution: they are using flexible glass as a carrier substrate that better protects the components.

June 2, 2014 Read more

Photovoltaics with full concentration

New manufacturing concept lowers costs.

May 30, 2014 Read more

Torrefaction: the bioenergy newcomer

Torrefaction - the slow roasting of biomass material to improve its energy content - has been touted as part of a solution for the large-scale implementation of bioenergy. Experts, researchers and manufacturers gathered in Brussels earlier this month to discuss progress and prospects for torrefaction at the recent European Biomass Association (AEBIOM) conference.

May 30, 2014 Read more

An environmental standards information portal for Europe

Europe has a vast wealth of research results that support standards in relation to environmental aspects such as air, water, soil and waste. SIPE, an EU-funded project, brings all these results together and combines them with information on standards and policies in a single dedicated web-based portal.

May 30, 2014 Read more

Satisfying metals' thirst vital for high-capacity batteries

Scientists show how to stabilize certain multiply charged metal cations and keep them from shredding water molecules.

May 30, 2014 Read more

New laser lab on wheels to reduce emissions

The Environmental Measurements Group and the Centre for Carbon Measurement at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) have launched a new mobile laboratory to detect and measure emissions that are harmful to the environment.

May 30, 2014 Read more

Aircraft wings that change their shape in flight can help to protect the environment

The EU project SARISTU aims to reduce kerosene consumption by six percent, and integrating flexible landing devices into aircraft wings is one step towards that target.

May 30, 2014 Read more

Solar panel manufacturing is greener in Europe than China, study says

Solar panels made in China have a higher overall carbon footprint and are likely to use substantially more energy during manufacturing than those made in Europe.

May 30, 2014 Read more

Need a new fuel cell? Let's print one using inkjet printing

Researchers at DTU Energy Conversion has transformed an ordinary HP 1000 ink jet printer into a printer able to print efficient energy conversion devices such as Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC).

May 29, 2014 Read more

Climate change now a mainstream part of city planning

An increasing number of cities around the world now include preparations for climate change in their basic urban planning - but only a small portion of them have been able to make such plans part of their economic development priorities, according to a unique global survey of cities released today.

May 29, 2014 Read more

Novel laser system mimics sunlight to test solar cell efficiency

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a laser-based instrument that generates artificial sunlight to help test solar cell properties and find ways to boost their efficiency.

May 28, 2014 Read more