The design of efficient solar cells, which harness energy to generate electricity or produce hydrogen by splitting water, has received much attention globally. Another route to harnessing abundant, free solar energy: using it as a pumping source for lasers. High-power lasers are earmarked for several applications, including deep space communication, atmospheric sensing, high-temperature material […]
Solar power isn’t just for hippies or singles who want to “live online” anymore. In case you haven’t noticed, major manufacturers have been adding solar power to their operations lately. Lego A/S says its new injection molding plant in Virginia relies solely on solar energy. Sealed Air Corp. is investing $9 million to convert the […]
Quantum technologies, i.e. technological devices obtained by building and manipulating quantum mechanical systems, are becoming a reality in recent days. The most prominent example is certainly given by quantum computers, where the unit of information, the bit, is replaced by its quantum mechanical counterpart, informally called the qubit. Contrary to classical computers, quantum computers […]
Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), in collaboration with Malta Inc. has completed assembly and commissioning of the first-of-its-kind pumped heat (or thermal) energy storage (PTES) demonstration facility. Long-duration, large-scale storage capabilities, like PTES, can help balance energy volatility and reliability issues caused by high market penetration of variable renewable energy resources such as solar and […]
As the world builds out ever larger installations of wind and solar power systems, the need is growing fast for economical, large-scale backup systems to provide power when the sun is down and the air is calm. Today’s lithium-ion batteries are still too expensive for most such applications, and other options such as pumped […]
A relatively new kind of semiconductor, layered atop a mirror-like structure, can mimic the way that leaves move energy from the sun over relatively long distances before using it to fuel chemical reactions. The approach may one day improve the efficiency of solar cells. “Energy transport is one of the crucial steps […]
