To make electricity from sunlight you can convert it directly, using a photovoltaic cell. Or you can use the heat of that sunlight to boil water, and then drive a turbine with the resulting steam. These are both established technologies. But there is, in principle, a third way: use heat directly, without steam or turbines.
More...
What if all the energy we needed was stored underneath the ground we walk on every day? Geothermal power, generated from capturing earth's core heat stored deep underground, has become a growing reality as the industry marks a total US generation capacity of 3,000 MW this year. But unlike more recognized renewable energy sources like wind, solar and biomass, geothermal power is not widely recognized for its capability to produce base load, dependable, renewable energy.
More...
The future of atomic energy in Europe looked bleak after the nuclear disaster in Japan, but some European leaders now see nuclear power as the only clean alternative to dirty coal-fired plants or unreliable wind and solar energy.
More...
The IPO calendar for the first quarter of 2012 is shaping up to be a busy one for energy companies. The fourth quarter saw 38 companies file to go public. Energy companies lead the group with eight new issuers, followed by seven filings for consumer companies.
More...
The same principle that causes figure skaters to spin faster as they draw their arms into their bodies has now been used by Michigan State University researchers to understand how molecules move energy around following the absorption of light.
More...
Atomic force microscope cantilever tips with integrated heaters are widely used to characterize polymer films in electronics and optical devices, pharmaceuticals, paints, and coatings. These heated tips are also used in research labs to explore new ideas in nanolithography and data storage, and to study fundamentals of nanometer-scale heat flow. Until now, however, no one has used a heated nano-tip for electronic measurements
More...
In a paper published in Nature Materials, a group of researchers at the Catalan Institute of Nanotechnology (ICN, Spain) led by Prof. Sergio O. Valenzuela reports the observation of the magnon drag. This work ends a 50-year long effort to isolate this elusive thermoelectric effect.
More...
The surprising discovery of a new way to tune and enhance thermal conductivity -- a basic property generally considered to be fixed for a given material -- gives engineers a new tool for managing thermal effects in smart phones and computers, lasers and a number of other powered devices.
More...
Microscopic water droplets jumping from one surface to another may hold the key to a wide array of more energy efficient products, ranging from large solar panels to compact laptop computers. Duke University engineers have developed a new way of producing thermal diodes to regulate heat by bleeding it away or keeping it in. The method solves several shortcomings of existing devices.
More...
The world's smallest working "steam engine" has been built in Germany, according to a team of researchers. The microscopic model was based on a 195-year-old design by the inventor Robert Stirling
More...
