Energy

IBM researchers have created a subatomic snapshot of the electric charge within a molecule, an advance that could have applications in ever-smaller transistors or in solar power.

Scientists from IBM Research in Zurich, Switzerland, published a paper in Nature Nanotechnology today that describes a technique for measuring how electrons move when forming molecular bonds. This method allows them to create images of how the electric charge is distributed within molecules, giving science a better picture of chemistry at the molecular level, said Fabian Mohn, who coauthored the paper.

Having a picture of the electric charge distribution could be useful tool … Read more

An engineering company in Italy has thought of a way to boost solar panels' production with concentrators while not taking up valuable land: put them on rafts.

Scienza Industria Tecnologia (SIT) this week detailed the solar generating system called Floating Tracking Cooling Concentrator, which is being tested in Italy and South Korea. The research company's hope is that these solar concentrators will be used on small lakes or artificial reservoirs on farms and quarries.

There are already solar arrays put on ponds, including a winery in California. But SIT is trying to use the water as an advantage for … Read more

Materials scientists have spun together carbon nanotubes into a fabric that promises a versatile and inexpensive way to transform heat into usable electricity.

Researchers at Wake Forest's Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials announced yesterday the creation of a thermoelectric device they say could open up new energy-harvesting applications.

The university is seeking to find investors to commercialize the technology, called Power Felt. If successfully developed further, it has the potential to use body heat from clothing to power an iPod or cell phone or power medical monitoring equipment from a wound wrap. Its makers also hope Power Felt … Read more

If you've invested over $100,000 into a Tesla Roadster, you might want to sign up for an alert to avoid your battery dying.

Electric-car blogs have been buzzing today over a report about a potential problem with Tesla Motors' electric cars that could turn an expensive battery pack into a "brick."

The Understatement blog said that five Roadster owners had their battery charges go to zero and that the only recourse was to replace the $40,000 battery pack. In the one case cited, the batteries died after six weeks of being idle and in another … Read more

The distributed sensor revolution is coming to office buildings, starting with overhead lights, according to startup Enlighted.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company today detailed the energy savings of some its first corporate customers who are using its computerized lighting controls. Enlighted said that customers, including Google, Turner Broadcasting, and Interface Global, have saved on average 60 percent on lighting energy. The return on investment, which depends on the price of electricity, is about two years, according to the company.

Rather than build a more efficient light source, Enlighted and a few other lighting startups are designing better controls. Automatically adjusting … Read more

For the most part, solar panels can safely be ignored and simply keep turning your meter backwards. But thanks to some local squirrels, I realized the perils of not regularly monitoring solar panels' output.

These days, it's not difficult to view the electricity generated by solar photovoltaic panels online. And homeowners are increasingly choosing to lease panels, rather than buy them upfront. That means a solar installer or financing company will own the panels and they'll have a financial interest--in the form of renewable energy credits--to monitor rooftop panels' output.

When I had my PV panels installed four … Read more

GreatPoint Energy has completed a $1.25 billion deal to build the first large-scale plant for converting coal to natural gas in China, a sign of how U.S. energy technologies are often being commercialized overseas.

The Wall Street Journal on Friday reported that China Wanxiang Holdings will invest $420 million in Cambridge, Mass.-based GreatPoint Energy, the largest equity investment by a Chinese company in a venture-backed U.S. company. Wanxiang will finance construction of the plant, with the first phase to be completed by 2015, according to the Journal.

The project in China, which the company has been … Read more

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--To those who say the world needs dramatic technology breakthroughs to get off of fossil fuels, energy guru Amory Lovins has a succinct answer: integrated design.

Lovins has been working in the trenches of energy and efficiency for more than 30 years, gaining a reputation as a radical thinker able to imagine possibilities others can't. He was here at MIT yesterday giving a presentation on his latest book, "Reinventing Fire" and speaking to entrepreneurs and investors at an event organized by Xconomy.

The book, written by Lovins and colleagues at his "think and do … Read more

Lemnis Lighting is taking a foot-in-the-door approach to LED lightbulbs.

The startup company today announced a new line of bulbs, priced at $4.95 and $6.95, respectively, aimed at getting consumers to try out LEDs for general lighting. The bulbs, though, have some limitations.

The Pharox Blu line comes in 200-lumen and 350-lumen versions, both of which give off less light a 40-watt incandescent bulb's 450 lumens. That means that the bulbs, which consume less than 5 watts and 8 watts, respectively, won't give off enough light for many uses, such as lighting a whole room.

The … Read more