Archive for the ‘energy’ category: Page 306
The company’s RF energy harvesting technology breaks new ground in remote, wireless power by increasing the efficiency of converting RF energy (radio waves) into DC power and enabling that efficiency over a wide operating range.
Jun 15, 2017
Exploring the High Energy Universe with the Cherenkov Telescope Array
Posted by Roman Mednitzer in categories: energy, space
What is CTA and how will it work? This video produced by CTA Consortium member Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) explains how CTA will look at the sky in higher energy photons than ever measured before and give a behind the scenes look at the construction of a prototype of one of the proposed telescopes, the Medium-Size Telescope.
Credits: DESY/Milde Science Comm./Exozet
Jun 9, 2017
Nanotechnology reveals hidden depths of bacterial ‘machines’
Posted by Klaus Baldauf in categories: energy, nanotechnology, sustainability
New research from the University of Liverpool, published in the journal Nanoscale, has probed the structure and material properties of protein machines in bacteria, which have the capacity to convert carbon dioxide into sugar through photosynthesis.
Cyanobacteria are a phylum of bacteria that produce oxygen and energy during photosynthesis, similar to green plants. They are among the most abundant organisms in oceans and fresh water. Unique internal ‘machines’ in cyanobacteria, called carboxysomes, allow the organisms to convert carbon dioxide to sugar and provide impacts on global biomass production and our environment.
Carboxysomes are nanoscale polyhedral structures that are made of several types of proteins and enzymes. So far, little is known about how these ‘machines’ are constructed and maintain their organisation to perform carbon fixation activity.
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Jun 7, 2017
Transporting Massive Wind Turbine Blades
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: energy, sustainability, transportation
May 28, 2017
The Solar Industry Is Creating Jobs 17 Times Faster Than the Rest of the U.S. Economy
Posted by Dan Kummer in categories: economics, employment, energy, sustainability
Jobs in the solar field in the United States grew at a rate 17 times faster than the overall economy. This was part of a larger trend towards jobs in renewable energy and away from more dangerous, less sustainable jobs in fossil fuels.
A new report released by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) reveals that solar jobs in the U.S. (and other nations) are expanding quickly. As of November 2016, the American solar industry employed 260,077 workers. This is an increase of 24.5% from 2015, with a growth rate that is 17 times faster than the United States economy as a whole.
May 26, 2017
Small flying “cars” come a bit closer to reality | The Economist
Posted by Odette Bohr Dienel in categories: energy, robotics/AI, transportation
May 22, 2017
A fundamental quantum physics problem has been proved unsolvable
Posted by Andreas Matt in categories: energy, quantum physics
For the first time a major physics problem has been proved unsolvable, meaning that no matter how accurately a material is mathematically described on a microscopic level, there will not be enough information to predict its macroscopic behaviour.
The research, by an international team of scientists from UCL, the Technical University of Music and the Universidad Complutense de Madrid – ICMAT, concerns the spectral gap, a term for the energy required for an electron to transition from a low-energy state to an excited state.
Spectral gaps are a key property in semiconductors, among a multitude of other materials, in particular those with superconducting properties. It was thought that it was possible to determine if a material is superconductive by extrapolating from a complete enough microscopic description of it, however this study has shown that determining whether a material has a spectral gap is what is known as “an undecidable question”.
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May 22, 2017
Weird energy beam seems to travel five times the speed of light
Posted by Sean Brazell in categories: energy, space
The galaxy M87 emits a jet of plasma that looks like it’s breaking the cosmic speed limit – here’s how it manages the trick.
May 19, 2017
Scientists Found a Low-Cost Way to Produce the World’s Cleanest Energy Source
Posted by Montie Adkins in categories: energy, physics
Scientists have discovered a low-cost, efficient catalyst for splitting water to create hydrogen. This means that the world’s cleanest form of energy, hydrogen, may be more easily and cheaply produced.
Physicists at the University of Houston have discovered a low-cost, efficient, and easily available catalyst that can split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The catalyst is far more efficient than other options that have previously been employed, and because it is grown from ferrous metaphosphate on a conductive nickel foam platform, it is both more durable and cheaper to produce.