The Future is Clear

Imagine a city that’s actually a vast solar energy harvesting system. A team of Michigan State University researchers has developed a technology that can turn transparent surfaces, from building windows to cell phones, into solar collecting surfaces – without obstructing the view.

Aquion Energy Unveils Next Generation of AHI Battery Technology Delivering a 40 Percent Increase in Energy

Inside an Aquion AHI Battery

LAS VEGAS, Oct. 21, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aquion Energy, Inc., developer and manufacturer of Aqueous Hybrid Ion (AHI™) batteries and energy storage systems, today unveiled the second generation of AHI technology, delivering energy gains of up to 40 percent. The increased energy is achieved without an increase in the size or weight of either the S-Line Battery Stack or M-Line Battery Module product lines and directly translates into improved performance and delivered value in all of Aquion's target applications.



"We have been hard at work making the world's best long duration battery even better. The improved chemistry of the second generation Aqueous Hybrid Ion battery yields more energy, and will deliver more value for our customers," said Scott A. Pearson, CEO of Aquion Energy. "We are unveiling the new technology at Solar Power International because Aquion's unmatched long duration batteries enable optimal self-consumption of distributed solar generation and ease the burden of intermittent renewable energy on the grid. These two applications are the key to unlocking broad adoption of clean solar electricity as a mainstream energy source." - See more at: 

Aquion Energy Unveils Next Generation of AHI Battery Technology Delivering a 40 Percent Increase in Energy

US researchers propose Earth's infrared radiation as renewable energy source - SCI_TECH - Globaltimes.cn

Infrared energy emitted from the Earth into space may be potentially harnessed as a renewable energy source in the future, US researchers said Monday.

Physicists at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) proposed a device that would resemble a photovoltaic solar panel. But instead of capturing incoming visible light, it would generate electric power by harvesting energy from Earth's infrared emissions into outer space.

"The energy flow from earth to outer space provides a hitherto neglected opportunity to generate a potentially enormous amount of renewable energy," the researchers reported in the US journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"The technology does not yet exist to siphon renewable energy out of this flow, but we argue that it is possible to make a device that does exactly that."

The researchers proposed two possible designs for an emissive energy harvester (EEH) to harness such infrared emissions.

The first design, a thermal EEH, would generate electricity by drawing the heat of surface ambient air through a cold plate that could radiate the energy into the atmosphere, with the flow of heat generating work.



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SCI_TECH - Globaltimes.cn

Ion-Conducting Polymer Improves Solar Cell Performance

by The Daily Fusion

DSSC panel is tested in the laboratory at the School of Chemical Science and Engineering. (Photo: David Callahan)

Drawing their inspiration from photosynthesis, dye-sensitized solar cells offer the promise of low-cost solar photovoltaics and—when coupled with catalysts—even the possibility of generating hydrogen and oxygen, just like plants. Researchers at KTH Royal Institute of Technology have found a way to make dye-sensitized solar cells more energy-efficient and longer-lasting.

A research team that included James Gardner, Assistant Professor of Photoelectrochemistry at KTH, reported the success of a new quasi-liquid, polymer-based electrolyte that increases a dye-sensitized solar cell’s voltage and current, and lowers resistance between its electrodes.

The study highlights the advantages of speeding up the movement of oxidized electrolytes in a dye-sensitized solar cell, or DSSC. Also on the team from KTH were Lars Kloo, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry and researcher Muthuraaman Bhagavathi Achari.

“We now have clear evidence that by adding the ion-conducting polymer to the solar cell’s cobalt redox electrolyte, the transport of oxidized electrolytes is greatly enhanced,” Gardner says. “The fast transport increases solar cell efficiency by 20 percent.”

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Ion-Conducting Polymer Improves Solar Cell Performance | The Daily Fusion