Balls of DNA Could Fix Geothermal Energy's Biggest Problem
Shara Tonn for Wired.com: Geothermal Power has the potential to be cheap, reliable, and abundant—running off the heat of the Earth 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That’s especially true thanks to a new generation of home-grown geothermal plants, which don’t run off the steam of natural hot springs and geysers. No need to find those hydrothermal gems; today, geothermal engineers are making their own reservoirs by drilling down into hot rock and pumping in water.
The catch? Engineers can’t see what’s happening underground. Drilling wells in just the right spot can be like playing golf blindfolded: Even if someone faces you in the right direction, you could still hit the ball way off the green. But tiny fragments of DNA dropped into the wells could soon help engineers follow the path of water underground, helping them sink their putts every time.
In a basic geothermal plant set-up, engineers actually have to drill two types of wells. The first kind, which goes down two or three miles, carries cold water down deep, where it fractures the hot rock and creates new paths for water to move. It’s kind of like fracking, but without the chemicals. Cont'd...
Balls of DNA Could Fix Geothermal Energy's Biggest Problem
Shara Tonn for Wired.com: Geothermal Power has the potential to be cheap, reliable, and abundant—running off the heat of the Earth 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That’s especially true thanks to a new generation of home-grown geothermal plants, which don’t run off the steam of natural hot springs and geysers. No need to find those hydrothermal gems; today, geothermal engineers are making their own reservoirs by drilling down into hot rock and pumping in water.
The catch? Engineers can’t see what’s happening underground. Drilling wells in just the right spot can be like playing golf blindfolded: Even if someone faces you in the right direction, you could still hit the ball way off the green. But tiny fragments of DNA dropped into the wells could soon help engineers follow the path of water underground, helping them sink their putts every time.
In a basic geothermal plant set-up, engineers actually have to drill two types of wells. The first kind, which goes down two or three miles, carries cold water down deep, where it fractures the hot rock and creates new paths for water to move. It’s kind of like fracking, but without the chemicals. Cont'd...
Researchers develop cool way to improve solar cell efficiency
By Kelly Hodgkins for Digital Trends: A team of engineers from Stanford University have invented a cool way to improve the performance of solar panel arrays. A new material that the team produced literally will lower the temperature of solar cells even while they are operating in full-strength sunlight. As the solar cells cool, their efficiency will rise, leading to significant gains in the amount of energy harvested from the sun.
Solar panel technology has improved by leaps and bounds, but the technology has a flaw that limits the efficiency of the system. The panels must face the sun to operate, but the heat from this exposure diminishes their ability to convert light into energy. The hotter they get, the less efficient they become. This issue has perplexed the industry for years, but the Stanford team may have discovered a material that can help dissipate this excess heat without affecting the operation of the solar array.
The solution, proposed by Stanford electrical engineering professor Shanhui Fan, research associate Aaswath P. Raman, and doctoral candidate Linxiao Zhu, uses a material that is able to capture and emit thermal radiation (heat) away from the solar call. While deterring heat buildup, the thin, patterned silica material does not block sunlight, allowing the photons to enter the solar panel where they are converted to energy. It’s a win-win situation, allowing the free flow of sunlight and the removal of excess heat from the system. Cont'd...
Evaluating the Case for Module-Level Shutdown
An Increase in Safety or the Creation of Perceived Danger?
IoT and Solar Energy
Because solar installations can operate anywhere there is cellular service available, AT&T is a perfect technology provider for the wireless connectivity needs of solar companies.
Shunfeng Arrives With a Strong Commitment To The US Market
Our energy cost saving solution will have a very positive effect on the US economy as it will enable building owners to redeploy money they save to hire or retain more people or invest in equipment, and grow their businesses.
Wind turbine technology stores excess wind power for when gusts turn to breezes
Megan Treacy for TreeHugger: A new technology developed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln electrical engineering doctoral student Jie Cheng solves both of those problems by harnessing the excess wind energy usually wasted as spillage and storing it for use when wind speeds dip, making wind turbines more efficient and consistent.
Cheng's system converts and directs the extra wind energy to an air compression tank, where the energy is stored until wind speeds dip below the maximum capacity. Using a rotary vane machine that is connected between the turbine's gearbox and generator, excess energy is diverted and stored in the air compression tank. When the wind dies down, the tank then kicks in and reverses airflow back to the rotary vane machine to generate electricity.
In a recent study of his prototype, Cheng found that a 250-kW system would produce an additional 3,830 kWh of electricity per week or an additional 16,400 kWh per month based on historical wind data from Springview, Nebraska. That extra electricity is about 18 times the monthly energy use of a typical American household. Cont'd...
Biofuel Production is Complex
Introduction of biofuels is proceeding so quickly, that the environmental risks of biofuel production are being disregarded. Without careful and thorough assessment and regulation, the promise of biofuels may well be delayed.
Global solar photovoltaic manufacturing production slows in recent years
The market is reacting to the slow growth of module production and the decreased utilization of PV manufacturing capability by downsizing and consolidating PV manufacturing companies.
El Niño Buffers U.S. Wind Power Dreams
Tim Maverick for Wall Street Daily: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) made it official last week. The current El Niño is classified as a strong event.
An El Niño falls into the “strong” category if weekly sea surface temperatures depart from the average by more than two degrees Celsius.
In fact, this El Niño has nudged ahead of the 1997 El Niño as the strongest in the modern era!
Meteorologists believe this occurrence is actually the most potent since 1948. And it’s expected to persist through winter and into spring.
Every El Niño’s effects are different. At the moment, this one is having a surprisingly negative effect on the wind power industryin the United States.
You see, this occurrence of El Niño has produced the weakest winds across the United States in 40 years. Forecasters say this situation will continue and may even worsen through the spring of 2016. Cont'd...
SPI 2015: Tax credit sunset preoccupies a fast-maturing industry
By Herman K. Trabish for UtilityDIVE: Solar photovoltaic (PV) installed capacity is expected to reach 7.7 GW in 2015, up 24% from 2014, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and GTM Research.
From July 2015 to December 2016, the report forecasts the U.S. solar PV marketwill add 18 GW, which is more than the cumulative capacity built by the industry up to the middle of 2014.
But there are some headwinds for the sector. In a sign it has reached a level of maturity achieved recently by the wind industry, solar advocates now face an uphill political battle for the industry's most vital federal incentive
The mandated term of solar's vital 30% federal investment tax credit (ITC), in place continuously since 2008, will end on December 31, 2016. Beyond that deadline, the tax credit provided at the end of a project’s first year of operation will fall to 10% for commercial investments in solar and to zero for residential solar investments.
SEIA is mounting a multi-million dollar lobbying campaign to secure a five-year extension that will get the industry to 2020, when it hopes the Clean Power Plan can take over to help boost growth. Cont'd...
Solar Surges in the Middle East and North Africa
Driving Need for Latest in Efficient Technology
After Years of Lying Dormant, the Geothermal Market is Ready to Take Off
Though the potential and power of geothermal energy is massive, setting up a large-scale plant to harness this energy is not an easy goal.
Obama pledges $120M toward solar power, clean energy
By Timothy Cama for The Hill: The Obama administration announced Wednesday morning a series of efforts worth more than $120 million aimed at boosting solar and other clean energy sources.
The initiatives focus on the Department of Energy, where the bulk of the funding will go to programs to develop solar power technology and get it into homes, businesses and other facilities.
“President Obama and Vice President Biden are committed to promoting smart, simple, low-cost technologies to help America transition to cleaner and more distributed energy sources, help households save on their energy bills, and to address climate change,” the White House said in a fact sheet outlining the efforts.
“All told, this funding will drive the development of affordable clean energy throughout the country,” it said.
The actions aim to help out solar power in 24 states, officials said. Cont'd...
Solar Power International 2015 Tradeshow Report
AltEnergyMag.com has once again partnered with SPI 2015 to bring all the industry news and exciting new products to help our readers make sense of this key industry event. Here we have compiled a list of some product releases from this years show.
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Featured Product
KACO New Energy - Residential PV Systems - 2.0 - 5.0 KW, blueplanet 2.0 - 5.0 TL1
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With a line-up of 1-phase transformerless units, KACO new energy will be inaugurating the new "blueplanet" solar PV inverter series.
Newly designed and constructed from scratch, the blueplanet TL1 fulfil the highest requirements for optimum use in residential solar power plants.