Could A Lithium Shortage De-Rail The Electric Car Boom?
Lithium has the purest of fundamentals of any 'commodity' out there, and the next oil barons look set to actually be lithium barons.
'Ideal' energy storage material for electric vehicles developed
Walt Mills for Phys.org: The energy-storage goal of a polymer dielectric material with high energy density, high power density and excellent charge-discharge efficiency for electric and hybrid vehicle use has been achieved by a team of Penn State materials scientists. The key is a unique three-dimensional sandwich-like structure that protects the dense electric field in the polymer/ceramic composite from dielectric breakdown. Their results are published today (Aug. 22) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
"Polymers are ideal for energy storage for transportation due to their light weight, scalability and high dielectric strength," says Qing Wang, professor of materials science and engineering and the team leader. "However, the existing commercial polymer used in hybrid and electric vehicles, called BOPP, cannot stand up to the high operating temperatures without considerable additional cooling equipment. This adds to the weight and expense of the vehicles." Cont'd...
Why Businesses Should Care About Energy & Energy Management
The added bonus of energy management is that it will make it easier to implement policies that will be more sustainable in our changing world - both environmentally and economically.
US Energy Dept says "holy grail" of clean energy storage is imminent
Cat Distasio for inhabitat: Many countries are on the brink of becoming self-sufficient in their clean energy production, thanks to advances in battery technology that allow electricity from renewable sources to be stored and used on demand. Over the years, as renewable energy generation methods have charged forward, utility companies have struggled with how to integrate that clean energy in usable ways. Now, scientists at Harvard, MIT, Stanford, the Lawrence Livermore and Oak Ridge labs, and other agencies are working on energy storage projects funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, with their sights set on what the department calls the ‘holy grail’ of energy policy. The department says the industry could be transformed in as little as five to ten years.
Earlier this year, Advanced Research Projects-Energy (ARPA-E), the division of the U.S. Department of Energy founded in 2009 to oversee these projects, claimed to have achieved that goal. Without pointing to a specific invention or discovery, ARPA-E insists that the solution lies amid the 75 projects the agency is funding. The breakthrough technology—the next generation of renewable energystorage—is expected to be developed for large-scale usage in as little as five to ten years. Cont'd...
A Danish Wind Turbine Maker Harnesses Data in a Push to Stay Ahead
Stanley Reed for The New York Times: A project to install hundreds of wind turbines in the Fosen peninsula area of Norway at one point was shelved as unfeasible. The strong breezes that whip off the sea can shift and swing unpredictably, while the soaring cliffs and steep drop-offs create turbulence that wears out expensive equipment.
The venture was rescued with a lot of help from the mathematical calculations of Vestas Wind Systems, a Danish wind power company. Vestas used data to figure out how to use more powerful turbines for the project, and precisely where to place them. That meant the utility developing the facility could buy fewer turbines, helping cut costs and balancing the economics of the $1.2 billion project.
The company is at the forefront of efforts to make wind a competitive source of energy, rather than just a subsidized experiment. In doing so, it has become a model for the renewables industry, which has struggled at times to remain viable while facing cuts to government subsidies and volatile oil and gas prices. Vestas understands the fickleness of the renewable energy business. Cont'd...
SPI 2016 - Don't Miss The Solar Power International Show
This show is ideal for solar installers, contractors, commercial builders, utility companies, smart home builders, engineering firms and product developers. Of course, anytime is a good time to visit Vegas. So, dont miss this show.
Q2 2016 Deal Volume Comparison
Overall, solar companies categorized as wafer/ingot producers experienced the strongest margin performance over the last year, while each sector exhibited certain levels of improvement.
SolarCity to develop roofs made of solar cells
Lucas Mearian for ComputerWorld: Five million roofs are replaced each year in the U.S., so instead of simply swapping out old shingles with new ones, why not turn the whole roof into a solar power generator that's integrated with your home's electrical utility?
That is SolarCity's plan for a new product it expects to begin producing next year, according to statements made during the company's second-quarter earnings calllast week.
During the call, SolarCity Chief Technology Officer Peter Rive alluded to a new product that would be produced at the soon to open Buffalo, N.Y., solar panel manufacturing facility. Then SolarCity co-founder and Chairman Elon Musk interjected and said the product would be a solar roof, "as opposed to a [solar] module on a roof." Cont'd...
AltEnergyMag.com - Special Tradeshow Coverage of Solar Power International 2016
Solar Power International 2016 will take place from September 12th to 15th in Las Vegas, Nevada. This AltEnergyMag.com Special Tradeshow report aims to bring you news, articles and products from this years events.
Why SPI 2016 - Interview with EcoFasten Solar
The main goal of our SPI booth and presence is to increase brand awareness, as well as to collaborate with other key players in the solar industry.
Why SPI 2016 - Interview with Samantha Dalton, Marketing Director at SolarRoofHook
We have our QuickBOLT in an aquarium demonstrating its leak-proof abilities, we have our color-coded system boasting all of the roofing styles we supply mounting hardware for, and we have our full line of roof mounts out on rotating displays.
Audi converts potholes to power with new eROT system
JAKE LINGEMAN for AutoWeek: Aim for those bumps; save the planet. Audi is working on a new suspension system called eROT (electromechanical rotary damper) that turns the kinetic energy of damper travel into usable, fuel-saving power.
“Every pothole, every bump, every curve induces kinetic energy in the car. Today’s dampers absorb this energy, which is lost in the form of heat,” said Dr. Stefan Knirsch, board member for technical development at Audi AG. “With the new electromechanical damper system in the 48-volt electrical system, we put this energy to use. It also presents us and our customers with entirely new possibilities for adjusting the suspension.”
The electromechanical dampers are arranged horizontally and feed electricity from the motion -- 100 to 150 watts on an average road during testing in Germany -- to a lithium-ion battery. A DC converter connects the 48-volt electrical subsystem to the 12-volt primary. Cont'd...
Wind power fiercer than expected, study finds
Phys.org: University of Delaware researchers report in a new study that offshore wind may be more powerful, yet more turbulent than expected in the North Eastern United States.
The findings, published in a paper in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, could have important implications for the future development of offshore wind farms in the U.S., including the assessment of how much wind power can be produced, what type of turbines should be used, how many turbines should be installed and the spacing between each.
The study, led by Cristina Archer at UD and Brian Colle at Stony Brook University, analyzed historical data from 2003-2011 at the Cape Wind tower located near the center of Nantucket Sound off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, and collected complementary data at the same location in 2013-2014.
Co-authors on the paper, titled "On the predominance of unstable atmospheric conditions in the marine boundary layer offshore of the U.S. northeastern coast," include UD professors Dana Veron and Fabrice Veron, and Matthew Sienkiewicz from Stony Brook.
The paper's main finding is that atmospheric conditions around Cape Wind are predominantly turbulent, or unstable, which is in stark contrast to prevailing data from European offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. European studies of offshore wind document that atmospheric conditions there are predominantly neutral— meaning neither too windy nor too still, but somewhere in the middle, with unstable wind conditions occurring only 20 percent of the time. Cont'd...
U.S. ethanol plant capacity increases for third consecutive year
The majority of the 195 ethanol plants, and most of the U.S. fuel ethanol production capacity, are located in the Midwest region
Floating solar power sector has "considerable" bank support
Mark Lammey for EnergyVoice: A major bank’s decision to throw its weight behind a floating solar power scheme shows the sector is rich with commercial potential, bosses at engineering consultancy OST Energy said.
OST acted as technical adviser for Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) during the early stages of the project to bring Europe’s largest floating photovoltaic solar project to financial close earlier this year.
The 6.3 Megawatt peak (MWp) array, installed by Lightsource Renewable Energy, is the first project of its kind to secure European bank financing.
It now provides a source of clean energy to water utilities company, Thames Water, on the Queen Elizabeth II reservoir west of London.
Thames Water will buy all energy generated by the project as part of a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Lightsource. Cont'd...
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