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Assessing quality of flowing waters with DNA analyses
The quality of waters can be assessed using of the organisms occurring therein. This approach often results in errors, because many species look alike. Therefore, new methods focus on DNA analyses instead.
Posted: Jul 9th, 2015
Read moreE-waste: What we throw away doesn't go away
Consumer desire for the best and latest technology is creating a new environmental challenge for the world.
Posted: Jul 8th, 2015
Read moreFive properties of physics that affect your gas mileage
Exploring some of the forces at work in your engine when it's on the road.
Posted: Jul 7th, 2015
Read moreA bridge to better batteries
New Berkeley Lab energy storage website aims to expand collaborations with industry.
Posted: Jul 7th, 2015
Read moreProducing biodegradable plastic just got cheaper and greener
Biodegradable drinking cups or vegetable wrapping foil: the bioplastic known as polylactic acid (PLA) is already a part of our everyday lives. And yet, PLA is not yet considered a full alternative to traditional petroleum-based plastics, as it is costly to produce. Researchers now present a way to make the PLA production process more simple and waste-free.
Posted: Jul 6th, 2015
Read moreResearchers develop new storage cell for solar energy storage, nighttime conversion
A materials science and engineering team has developed a new energy cell that can store large-scale solar energy even when it's dark.
Posted: Jul 1st, 2015
Read moreCarbon Capture and Storage safety investigated
A significant step has been made for potential Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) deployment, with the publication of the results from the world's first experiment into the realistic simulation of potential environmental impact of a submarine CO2 leakage.
Posted: Jul 1st, 2015
Read moreFuel and chemicals from steel plant exhaust gases
Carbon monoxide-rich exhaust gases from steel plants are only being reclaimed to a minor extent as power or heat. Researchers have developed a new recycling process for this materially unused carbon resource: They successfully produced fuel and specialty chemicals from these exhaust gases on a laboratory scale.
Posted: Jul 1st, 2015
Read moreSodium-ion batteries offer surprising stability over cycles
3D measurements of microstructures reveal that sodium's larger ion size does not degrade battery materials as much as previously thought.
Posted: Jun 29th, 2015
Read more'Sharc25' aims at 25% efficiency with thin-film solar cells
Sharc25, a European research project launched in May, is setting out to develop extremely efficient thin-film solar cells for the next generation of more cost-effective solar modules.
Posted: Jun 26th, 2015
Read moreEurope: 50% renewable energies by 2030 possible with greater integration
By 2030 around half of all electricity in Europe should come from renewable energies in order to reach EU climate targets. This applies to Germany, France, the Benelux countries, Austria and Switzerland. Varying volumes of national wind and solar supply can be balanced out through the cross-border integration of power systems.
Posted: Jun 25th, 2015
Read moreFive seismic shifts to shake global electricity over next 25 years
Global power generation will experience five dominant trends over the next 25 years, putting unprecedented pressure on energy companies, utilities and policy-makers, according to the New Energy Outlook 2015, published today.
Posted: Jun 24th, 2015
Read moreDistributed technique for power 'scheduling' advances smart grid concept
Researchers have developed a new technique for 'scheduling' energy in electric grids that moves away from centralized management by tapping into the distributed computing power of energy devices. The approach advances the smart grid concept by coordinating the energy being produced and stored by both conventional and renewable sources.
Posted: Jun 24th, 2015
Read moreSolar fuels: how planes and cars could be powered by the sun
Research in solar-derived liquid fuels, or solar fuels, aims to make a range of products that are compatible with our energy infrastructure today, such as gasoline, jet fuel and hydrogen. The goal is to store sunlight in liquid form, conveniently overcoming the transient nature of sunlight.
Posted: Jun 23rd, 2015
Read moreNew manufacturing approach slices lithium-ion battery cost in half
An advanced manufacturing approach for lithium-ion batteries promises to significantly slash the cost of the most widely used type of rechargeable batteries while also improving their performance and making them easier to recycle.
Posted: Jun 23rd, 2015
Read moreNew formula expected to spur advances in clean energy generation
Researchers have devised a new formula for calculating the maximum efficiency of thermoelectric materials, the first new formula in more than a half-century, designed to speed up the development of new materials suitable for practical use.
Posted: Jun 22nd, 2015
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