In the future, a wireless charging system will allow electric cars not only to charge their batteries, but also to feed energy back into the power grid, helping to stabilize it. The cost-effective charging system achieves high levels of efficiency across the whole power range, from 400 watts to 3.6 kilowatts, while the car and the charging coil can be up to 20 centimeters apart.
Katie HerzogThe Bernie Sanders campaign released a new ad in Iowa this week, and it’s not like anything you’ll see from the GOP side. For one thing, it’s not an attack ad. Rather than talk about Hillary Clinton’s haircut or Martin O’Malley’s shoe size, Sanders sticks to the issues — and the issue, in this ad, is Big Oil. The ad features two Iowa farmers, Patti Edwardson and George Naylor, discussing the Bakken pipeline, a proposed project that would move 570,000 barrels of crude oil through the state daily. The farmers, like Sanders, oppose the pipeline, which would be built at least partly on farmland seized through eminent domain. “The fact that Bernie Sanders stands up against the pipeline is one of the…
Scientists develop lithium-ion batteries with clay-based electrolytes for high-temperature environments.
Some of the natural gas harvested by hydraulic fracturing operations may be of biological origin — made by microorganisms inadvertently injected into shale by oil and gas companies during the hydraulic fracturing process, a new study has found.
Suzanne JacobsThe modern-day “hacker,” as portrayed in popular culture, is a human subspecies native to basements, back rooms, and warehouses. They often sport multiple piercings and complicated hairstyles. They tend to wear perpetual looks of disdain and, indifferent toward mental or physical health, feed on fast food and vending machine fare — a peculiar preference, given the inconvenience of sticky fingers on keyboards. But this stereotype might be changing, the Wall Street Journal reports, because just as the hackers of yore co-evolved with the internet boom, there’s a new kind of hacker co-evolving with the biotech boom. Sebastian Cocioba, a 25-year-old resident of Queens, NY, is one such “biohacker.” Here’s more from the Wall Street Journal: Born into…
Silicon wafers are the heart of solar cells. However, manufacturing them is not cheap. Over 50 percent of the pure silicon used is machined into dust. A new manufacturing technique puts an end to these material losses, with raw material savings of 50 percent along with an 80 percent reduction in energy costs.
Germany’s renewable energy federation BEE said it is supporting a proposal by energy minister Sigmar Gabriel to convene a round table on an exit from coal and lignite in Europe’s largest economy.
