The Department of Defense is a major funder behind a new biomimicry-based approach to lighting which harnesses the power of fireflies to create an energy efficient glow. How important could bug-powered light become? Well, as one indicator, the grant came through the U.S. government’s most prestigious channel for supporting … [continued]
The next generation of low-cost fuel cells could take your home off the grid and free your car from the gas pump with clean, renewable energy, and researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have brought us one step closer to that future. The team has deployed a biomimicry-based hydrogen … [continued]
Boy Scouts, well known for helping that apocryphal little old lady cross the street, have become the inspiration for a new kind of rescue robot that will help guide fish away from oil spills and other aquatic hazards. The new robot-fish is under development by an interdisciplinary team of … [continued]
Despite its economic travails, Spain has continued to ramp up its position as a global solar power leader. In the latest development, the Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (IREC) has announced that it will undertake a three-year research project aimed at producing low cost solar cells using a new approach … [continued]
Titanium dioxide, better known as a key ingredient in white paint, is beginning to carve out an all-purpose spot for itself in the field of air pollution control. While not yet up to the ShamWow standard for range of applicability, this common substance could be on the verge of playing … [continued]
With a name like Bombyx mori, the silkmoth would seem to be tailor made for bomb detection, and a team of researchers in Europe has set out to prove just that. Taking a cue from the moth’s highly evolved antennae, the team created a sensor made up of almost … [continued]
The wind power industry is looking for a few good people to work as wind technicians, through an Energy Department job training program aimed at military veterans. Wind technician is a rather dry term to describe an occupation that entails traveling around the country to work at dizzying heights outdoors … [continued]
Green Earth Technologies has started to promote its line of eco-friendly motor oils through the NASCAR circuit, and it has just stepped things up a notch through a new partnership with the paint company Sherwin Williams. The new effort dovetails with the Obama Administration’s national initiative for transitioning out of … [continued]
Inventors, start your engines: the Obama Administration has just launched the $26 million Advanced Manufacturing Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge, a cross-agency competition designed to fire up innovators in the private sector to develop the next generation of high tech, energy efficient manufacturing systems. The Jobs Accelerator This Innovation Accelerator … [continued]
Last year the solar company HyperSolar, Inc. filed a patent application for a solar powered system that creates renewable methane gas from water, which it has been testing out at California’s Salton Sea. Just last week, the company announced that it has completed a proof-of-concept prototype for a solar-powered hydrogen … [continued]
