Engineering

Solar-powered desalination unit shows great promise

Despite the vast amount of water on Earth, most of it is nonpotable seawater. Freshwater accounts for only about 2.5% of the total, so much of the world experiences serious water shortages.

Engineering

Thermal power nanogenerator created without solid moving parts

As environmental and energy crises become increasingly more common occurrences around the world, a thermal energy harvester capable of converting abundant thermal energy—such as solar radiation, waste heat, combustion of ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

Mirror-like photovoltaics get more electricity out of heat

New heat-harnessing "solar" cells that reflect 99% of the energy they can't convert to electricity could help bring down the price of storing renewable energy as heat, as well as harvesting waste heat from exhaust pipes and ...

Software

Intelligent software for district renewable energy management

New homes are increasingly being outfitted with solar panels, heat pumps, rechargeable batteries and other means of producing and storing heat, electricity and gas, all of which interconnect with the electrical grid. At the ...

Energy & Green Tech

Thermal storage units that repair themselves

In the future, paraffin wax could help to make underground thermal storage units more durable. Such systems are used, for example, to store solar energy over a longer period of time. In a new study, geologists from Martin ...

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