Alternative Energy Technology

Previously, I've written about the potential for a future smart grid, where homes with solar panels and batteries intelligently interconnect to form a cleaner, more-robust distributed power system.

A graphite disk resting on carbon foam collects sunlight to heat water directly to steam with 85 percent efficiency. Cynthia Graber reports 

 

Few tourists travel explicitly to see a city’s or country's mode of transportation, but I dare say that besides transport nerds such as myself, there are examples which qualify as must-see, including Japan's Shinkansen high-speed train, Lisbon's old tram system, and the streetcars of New Orleans, among others.

A Government Accountability Office report says environmental regulators are failing to adequately enforce rules for wells used to dispose of toxic waste from oil and gas drilling

Stanford researchers claim they have made a breakthrough in creating a lithium anode

A new report shows that failing to combat global warming would dramatically increase the cost of such climate insurance

Moth eyes absorb almost all incident light, thus reducing reflection that predators would notice. Researchers have now used the moth eye structure as the basis of a highly efficient solar absorbing cell. Larry Greenemeier reports

 

Start-ups in fusion-energy research are fueled by venture capital and a lot of hope

A new agreement between China and the U.S. may stimulate research on capturing CO2 pollution

Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) could be a key technology option in reducing carbon dioxide emissions from the world's fossil fuel power plants.

Biodiversity hotspots are golden places on earth where the number and diversity of animals and plants is exceptional. Environmentalists say that hotspots are the most critical of all places to protect against the ill effects of human development and climate change.

Researchers hope to use the fernlike Azolla to reverse the global warming effects of burning fossil fuels