Frogs, foam and fuel: Solar energy converted to sugars

In natural photosynthesis, plants take in solar energy and carbon dioxide and then convert it to oxygen and sugars. The oxygen is released to the air and the sugars are dispersed throughout the plant — like that sweet corn we look for in the summer. Unfortunately, the allocation of light energy into products we use [...]

Cotton is the fabric of your lights, your MP3 player, your cell phone

Consider this T-shirt: It can monitor your heart rate and breathing, analyze your sweat and even cool you off on a hot summer’s day. Or a solar-powered dress that can charge your MP3 player? This is not science fiction — this is cotton in 2010.
Cotton is the fabric of your lights, your MP3 player, your [...]

New energy source from the common pea: Scientists create a solar energy device from a plant protein structure

Isolating the minute crystals of the PSI super complex from the pea plant, a biochemistry researcher suggests these crystals can be illuminated and used as small battery chargers or form the core of more efficient man-made solar cells.
New energy source from the common pea: Scientists create a solar energy device from a plant protein structure

Trapping sunlight with silicon nanowires

Researchers have found a better way to trap light in photovoltaic cells through the use of vertical arrays of silicon nanowires. This could substantially cut the costs of solar electric power by reducing the quantity and quality of silicon needed for efficient solar panels.
Trapping sunlight with silicon nanowires

Intelligent energy management for the home

In order to save energy, consumers need to be able to obtain up-to-date information at any time about the energy consumption of their appliances, and be able to control them while away from home. Scientists have developed two new applications that help consumers manage their power use.
Intelligent energy management for the home

Neighborhood grids promise energy gains

Researchers are creating technology that will treat neighborhoods like a miniature power grid, sharing energy generated at each house according to need. Allied to a host of other developments, the concept promises huge energy savings.
Neighborhood grids promise energy gains

Photosynthesis: A new source of electrical energy? Biofuel cell works in cactus

Scientists in France have transformed the chemical energy generated by photosynthesis into electrical energy by developing a novel biofuel cell. The advance offers a new strategy to convert solar energy into electrical energy in an environmentally-friendly and renewable manner. In addition, the biofuel cell could have important medical applications.
Photosynthesis: A new source of electrical energy? [...]

Highly absorbing, flexible solar cells with silicon wire arrays created

Using arrays of long, thin silicon wires embedded in a polymer substrate, scientists have created a new type of flexible solar cell that enhances the absorption of sunlight and efficiently converts its photons into electrons. The solar cell does all this using only a fraction of the expensive semiconductor materials required by conventional solar cells.
Highly [...]

Rethinking renewable energy strategy

Researchers suggest that policy makers examine greenhouse gas emissions implications for energy infrastructure as fossil fuel sources must be rapidly replaced by windmills, solar panels and other sources of renewable energy.
Rethinking renewable energy strategy

Scientists turn light into electrical current using a golden nanoscale system

Material scientists have created a system, using nano-sized molecules of gold, that induces and projects electrical current across molecules, similar to that of photovoltaic solar cells.
Scientists turn light into electrical current using a golden nanoscale system

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