A push to replace old, heat-trapping paving materials with new, cooler materials could actually lead to higher electricity bills for surrounding buildings, engineers at the University of California, San Diego, have found.
Nov 8th, 2012
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Berkeley Lab researchers combine old fermentation process for making explosives with new chemical catalysis to boost biofuel production.
Nov 8th, 2012
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The world's first flight powered entirely by bio jet fuel has raised hopes for cleaner air travel and upped the prospects of a boon for farmers whose oilseed crops could supplant kerosene.
Nov 8th, 2012
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Limiting the quantity of catalysts - substances that trigger a chemical reaction - used in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals is important, and research from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, has now demonstrated that small quantities of copper work well in this respect.
Nov 8th, 2012
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LightSail Energy, a developer of breakthrough energy storage technology, announced today that it has raised $37.3 million in Series D funding led by San Francisco investor Peter Thiel. Khosla Ventures, which incubated the company and led LightSail?s earlier rounds, Bill Gates, Innovacorp, and several other investors also participated in the round.
Nov 8th, 2012
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New cell architecture can exceed 40 percent conversion efficiency at intensities up to 10,000 suns.
Nov 8th, 2012
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SLAC's Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource will play a central role in three research projects that seek cheaper materials and manufacturing techniques for solar panels, with support from a Department of Energy program called the SunShot Initiative.
Nov 7th, 2012
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A team of Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies (CO2CRC) researchers based at the University of Melbourne have developed a novel method of capturing carbon dioxide that will reduce the cost of separating and storing the gas.
Nov 7th, 2012
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MIT researchers develop tool to assess regional risks of climate change, potential impacts on local infrastructure and planning.
Nov 7th, 2012
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Conventional methods of filtering waste water in sewage treatment plants are unable to completely remove medicine residues such as the estrogens in birth control pills. Students from the Bielefeld University's Center for Biotechnology have now developed a biological filter in which specific enzymes (so-called laccases) break down these medicine residues.
Nov 7th, 2012
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The island nation of Tokelau switched on the third and final installment of its new solar energy grid last week, earning praise around the world as the first country to become entirely solar-powered - except it's not a country.
Nov 7th, 2012
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Mankind's emissions of fossil carbon and the resulting increase in temperature could prove to be our salvation from the next ice age. According to a new research article by researchers from the University of Gothenburg, the current increase in the extent of peatland is having the opposite effect, cooling down the climate.
Nov 7th, 2012
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A study to determine whether energy production can simultaneously be used to positively affect regional climates, including modifying rainfall patterns, has begun in CSIRO?s weather and energy research unit.
Nov 6th, 2012
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The Intersolar AWARD for the category Solar Projects in India was presented for the first time at Intersolar India, India's largest exhibition and conference for the solar industry. The international solar industry prize pays tribute to companies for particularly outstanding solar projects.
Nov 6th, 2012
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Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project begins two-year data collection period
Nov 6th, 2012
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Fuel economy of all new vehicles sold in the United States is at its highest level ever, according to UMTRI researchers.
Nov 6th, 2012
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Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are learning how to better understand these issues and are working toward effective solutions for the wind industry. Their goal is to maximize turbine performance and minimize structural loads, which will ultimately result in lower-cost wind energy. Toward that goal, NREL researchers are leveraging the lab's supercomputing resources and have developed high-tech modeling and simulation capabilities.
Nov 6th, 2012
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How accurate is the latest generation of climate models? Climate physicist Reto Knutti from ETH Zurich has compared them with old models and draws a differentiated conclusion: while climate modelling has made substantial progress in recent years, we also need to be aware of its limitations.
Nov 5th, 2012
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