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mobile

He Puts Sunshine In Your Pocket: Tespack’s Mobile Solar Power Plant Charges Gadgets On The Go

August 09, 2017
You can access 2 million apps on your mobile devices, but what are they good for when the battery runs out? Nada, says entrepreneur Mario Aguilera, who learned the drawbacks of quick-draining batteries the hard way in the late 1990s while serving in the Bolivian army.
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Green Day: GE Grabs Solar Panels And Shovels For Global Earth Day Celebration

April 26, 2017
Employees making steam turbines at GE Power in Schenectady, New York, recently realized they had an untapped energy resource outside their doorstep: a huge parking lot (see top image). So, in honor of Earth Day, they raised a metal canopy and covered the entire lot with 6,800 solar panels capable of generating 2.3 megawatts. They calculate this solar farm will generate enough power annually to cut electric utility bills at the research campus by 10 percent and save $2.5 million over 25 years.
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Renewables

This Idea Holds Water: A Rural Montana Town Is About To Make A Splash In Renewable Energy

Tomas Kellner
April 05, 2017
Born Mary Eager in 1926, the daughter of a physics professor blazed through her coursework, graduating in just three years at age 20 thanks to having taken college classes in high school and committing to a grueling year-round schedule. A strict family rule may also have helped. “Studying came first,” said Reynolds. “So no radio could be on if anyone was studying at home.” She was the second woman to graduate with a mechanical engineering degree at what was then Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University).
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power

High Light: The Night GE Electrified An Ancient Himalayan Village

Tomas Kellner
December 24, 2016

The night the 700-year-old mountain oasis of Rakuru was to see its first electric light, the whole village gathered in the largest room and waited for someone to flip the switch.
But nothing happened.

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Solar

The California Duck Must Die (But It's Not What You Think)

Kristin Kloberdanz
December 13, 2016
Solar power might be a shining example of a great renewable-energy source. But combined with existing infrastructure, it’s wreaking havoc on California’s electric power grid. So much so the problem already has a popular name: The California Duck Curve.
Here’s why. When legislators in the Golden State passed a climate-change law mandating that California gets a third of its electricity from renewable energy by 2020, they were hoping to encourage residents to install solar photovoltaic cells.
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Solar

Like A Diamond In The Rough, This Abrasive Material Finds Its Place In The Sun

September 27, 2016
In 1891, Edward Acheson was working at Thomas Edison’s famed Menlo Park laboratory, trying to make artificial diamonds by heating clay and powdered coke in an iron bowl with a carbon arc light. The result wasn’t pretty. Instead of diamonds, he created silicon carbide—a hard and rough compound used for decades mostly as an abrasive in industrial sandpaper, grinding wheels and cutting tools, and later a grip tape for skateboard decks.
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Renewables

Solar Has Big Limitations, But This Wonder Material May Change That

Jeffrey Carbeck
September 14, 2016

Three years ago, Oxford University physicist Henry Snaith, one of the earliest researchers of perovskite, said that material would usher in a "new era for low-cost, high-efficiency" solar cells. This year, it's one of the World Economic Forum's top 10 emerging technologies. Jeffrey Carbeck, a specialist leader in advanced materials with Deloitte, discusses the strengths that perovskite may have over silicon photovoltaic cells for solar use.


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Energy

Mind The Gap: How To Build A Power Plant Fueled By The Sun And CO2

September 06, 2016
In March this year, Doug Hofer, a steam turbine specialist at GE Global Research, designed a prototype of a supercritical CO2 turbine small enough to fit on his desk but powerful enough to generate electricity for 10,000 homes.
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Renewables

Times They Are a-Changin': The Renewable Energy Transition Is Happening, But Major Challenges Are Slowing It Down

Christine Lins Executive Secretary Ren21
June 05, 2016

Countries, provinces, cities and companies are increasing their renewable energy production targets at a rate that makes clear the transition away from fossil fuels is happening and unstoppable. But they must overcome major structural, political and perception hurdles if they hope to attain a future powered only by renewable sources.

 
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Renewables

Mix And Match: These Engineers Make Renewables Play Nice With Other Sources Of Energy

Tomas Kellner
March 10, 2016
New solar and wind energy farms added a whopping 68 percent of new power generation capacity in the United States last year, according to a report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance. When combined with hydropower, renewables now make up a fifth of America’s electricity generation capacity, more than double what it was in 2008.

This trend isn't going away. Getting all that clean electricity to homes and factories, however, is a challenging task.

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