College Teams Compete on Wind Energy & Water Energy Tech — Winners Announced
NREL-Managed Events Give Students the Opportunity To Advance Water Power, Wind Energy, and Their Careers
Kansas State University
U.S. Energy Department Announces Winners of Annual Collegiate Wind Competition
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) joined universities and wind energy experts from across the country on Friday to announce the winners of the Collegiate Wind Competition. Over the course of the academic year, thirteen undergraduate teams designed, built, and tested model wind turbines, developed project plans, collaborated with industry … [continued]
Two Nifty Little Nanoscale Lifts For Energy Storage
Two new nanoscale research studies on energy storage show that lithium batteries are still king, but there could be stiff competition ahead from sodium.
A Kansas State University engineer has made a breakthrough in rechargeable battery applications. The bottom image shows a self-standing molybdenum disulfide/graphene composite paper electrode and the top image highlights its layered structure.
Image Credit: Gurpreet Singh
Sodium-Ion Batteries Receive Boost From Graphene Nanosheet Composite Paper
Sodium-ion batteries are now one step closer to being a reality, thanks to new research from Kansas State University. Researchers there have developed a new composite paper — utilizing graphene nano-sheets — that can be used as a negative electrode in sodium-ion batteries. The “breakthrough,” as the researchers have referred … [continued]
Concrete With Lower-Carbon Footprint Created From Biofuel Waste
A new form of concrete, stronger and with a lower carbon footprint, has been created by researchers utilizing some of the waste products of biofuel production. Concrete is an extremely widely-used material, and because of this has a rather significant carbon footprint, accounting for between 3-8% of global carbon dioxide … [continued]
Next-Generation Lithium-Ion Batteries Being Developed by Kansas State University
Researchers from Kansas State University are currently developing new materials to be used in future lithium-ion batteries that will dramatically improve their storage capacity, potentially allowing the batteries of electric cars, laptops, cellphones, and various other mobile devices to last much longer between charges. The researchers are also working on … [continued]
It’s a Biofuel, It’s a Rubber Glove…No, It’s Guayule!
Federal researchers have been calling Guayule the biofuel plant of the future for a while now, and it looks like they’re ready to bet the ranch on it. Well, maybe not the whole ranch, but the Department of Energy’s high-tech funding agency, ARPA-E, has just awarded $5.7 million to … [continued]
Cheap, Next-Gen Solar Cells Could Come from Corn Flakes
A new generation of low cost solar cells could be as close as your next bowl of corn flakes if a grad student at Kansas State University has a say in the matter. The doctoral student in chemistry, Ayomi Perera, is working on a new dye-sensitized solar cell that eschews … [continued]
