Power Grids: Making them smart and smarter
Sunday, August 8th, 2010
With increasing demand for power, it becomes necessary to optimize the utilization of electricity grid capacity. This is sought to be done by incorporating information technology solutions to measure and report, and to sense and self-heal into the grid. R&D in this area also seeks to increase the quantity of power transmitted through the lines.
Superconductive transmission lines can reduce power loss, and tackling bottlenecks in transmission where certain lines remain under-utilized owing to full capacity utilization of connecting lines can increase overall capacity. Instabilities in the system is another area that R&D focuses upon as these can reduce the effective capacity compared to the technical one.
Integrating power from renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power generators pose its own problems owing to the differing nature of current flow. Technical issues resulting from intermittency, ramp rates, over supply and inertia are the problems in this area, according to an article on integrating renewables at intelligentutility.com.
Smart meters that report power consumption levels to the supplying utility automatically, programmable thermostats that can automatically adjust power utilization and smart home appliances that reduce power consumption can all be part of the overall campaign for creating a smart grid.
The intelligentutility.com website has resources on the practical issues of smart grids.
Tags: energy efficiency, energy generation, information technology, power transmission
Posted in energy distribution, energy efficiency, energy generation, energy storage, information technology | No Comments »
Nanotechnology and the Environment
Saturday, June 19th, 2010
While the use of nanotechnology in food and medicine is viewed with some apprehension because of the possibility of unexpected dangers, clean energy is one area where its use is seen as highly promising. Nanomaterials and nanocoatings are considered to offer promising opportunities for energy-related applications such as batteries, supercapacitors, fuel-cells, hydrogen-storage, thermoelectrics and photovoltaics.
The Nano4Energy conference being organized by Nanotechnology Knowledge Transfer Network (NanoKTN) at the University of Birmingham will focus on the potential of nanotechnology for clean energy. The conference, to be held on June 30, 2010, will see representatives from Nissan and the Carbon Trust discussing the role of nanotechnology in clean energy solutions.
Reviewing new developments in nanotechnology related to energy generation and energy storage will be a focus area. In particular, new technologies nearing commercialization will be featured at the conference, as will be the companies leading clean energy solutions.
Success in this area requires adequate networking and interactions among the players constituting the supply chain and the conference will provide a forum for industry professionals and academics to discuss the developments and issues.
The representative of Nissan Europe will discuss their new 100% Electric, zero emission, compact car that is expected to push the boundaries of clean energy transport. Another participant, Nanoco, will discuss the use of quantum dots in the manufacture of high efficiency, low-cost solar cells.
Read the release about the conference at the Material Handling World magazine.
Tags: clean energy, clean energy solutions, energy generation, energy storage, nanotechnology
Posted in energy generation, energy storage, nano batteries, nanomaterials, nanotechnology | 1 Comment »
Energy Innovation: The Next Focus Area for the USA?
Wednesday, June 16th, 2010
The members of American Energy Innovation Council (AEIC) include top business leaders such as Bill Gates, Chairman of Microsoft; Norm Augustine, former Chairman of Lockheed Martin; Ursula Burns, chairman and chief executive of Xerox; John Doerr, partner at Kleiner Perkins; Chad Holliday, chairman of Bank of America and former CEO of DuPont; Jeff Immelt, chief executive of GE; and Tim Solso, chairman and chief executive of Cummins. These leaders have first hand experience of what innovation can do to the country and the world. And they think that the next focus area for US innovation should be in the area of low-cost and clean energy.
AEIC has now produced a report titled “A Business Plan for America’s Energy Future.” The recommendations of the plan include:
- Create a Congressionally mandated Energy Strategy Board charged with (1) developing and monitoring a National Energy Plan for Congress and the executive branch, and (2) oversight of a New Energy Challenge Program.
- Increase investment in clean energy research to more than three times the present amount to $16 billion, to change the present scenario of all the best energy innovations, such as fuel cells, energy storage technologies and wind technologies occurring outside the US.
- …
Read the news release at PR Newswire
Tags: clean energy, energy, energy generation, energy innovation, energy storage
Posted in energy generation, energy storage, environment | 1 Comment »
Nanotechnology’s Potential to Help with Sustainable Energy
Monday, June 14th, 2010
Using fossil fuels as the main energy source is not a sustainable solution as fossil fuels are exhaustible, sooner than later at current rates of consumption. These sources of energy also lead to increased carbon emissions and global warming. Hence, a serious search has been on for sustainable and environment friendly sources of energy.
Current solutions such as solar, wind and other such sources of energy have not yet become economic, while going for biofuels might lead to land being diverted from food crops to commercial crops, leading to food shortage.
The suggested solutions to energy problems include using renewable sources of energy, improving the energy use efficiency of industrial processes and preventing loss and wasteful use of energy. The new science of nanotechnology is promising some solutions to the energy problem.
Hydrogen is considered an almost inexhaustible source of energy if technology can be developed to tap it conveniently and economically. Nanomaterials such as Carbon nanotubes and nanofibers might be able to help in this area. Nanotechnology also promises better storage of energy preventing, for example, battery power leakage.
Nanotechnology can also help reduce the cost of solar energy by making it possible to produce less expensive PhotoVoltaic cells.
Read about the European inititatives of using nanotechnology for solving energy problems of the world at Nanotech-Now.com.
Tags: energy efficiency solutions, energy problem solution, energy storage solutions, renewable energy sources
Posted in energy generation, energy storage, nano batteries, nanotechnology | 1 Comment »
Energy Efficiency Using a Wasted Property of Electrons
Friday, May 28th, 2010
Electrical energy is presently obtained by utilizing the difference between positively and negatively charged electrons. Electrons have a third property, their spin, or a small magnetic field pointing up or down. This property is not used currently by electrical devices because the devices are too big compared to the nanoscale electrons.
A researcher in Israel is focusing on using the spin information to create energy efficient batteries and to prevent the huge quantities of power that we lose while transmitting electricity through conventional wires. Superconductors can prevent such energy loss; but technology now requires super cool temperatures for superconductors to work. Researchers are hoping that using nanotechnology, they might be able to develop superconducting materials that work at room temperatures.
Today’s solid state disk drives manage to use ordered atoms packed together. When atoms in a material are arranged in an ordered fashion, properties of the material change. Working at nanoscale, it is theoretically possible to design materials with customized properties.
Working at nanoscale is no simple matter, however. A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter and you need highly advanced tools like Scanning Electron Microscope to find what is happening at this scale. The Israel research facility has just been equipped with equipment like a Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry, Scanning Electron Microscope and Environmental Scanning Microscope.
Using these advanced facilities, researchers hope to understand how maerial properties change at nanoscale and other issues involved. Read the report at Israel21c.
Tags: energy efficiency, nanotechnology, spin property of electrons, spintronics
Posted in energy generation, energy storage, nano batteries, nanomaterials, nanotechnology | No Comments »
Reserve Batteries and Nanotechnology
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010
Reserve batteries are inactive batteries that can be activated in different ways. The basic principle of these batteries is to keep the electrolyte and electrode separate till activation becomes necessary. The activation can be initiated with water, air, heat and mechanical means.
Reserve batteries are different from backup batteries in that the latter are already active. The continued activated state can result in exhaustion of the power. Reserve batteries can carry their power for years till activated.
Reserve batteries find applications in varied contexts, including military applications, consumer products and advanced systems.
The traditional reserve batteries needed separate storage for the electrolyte and some mechanical means to bring it into contact with the electrode for activation. It was difficult to miniaturize it and the mechanical activation also meant slow power ramp up. These traditional batteries cannot also be integrated into microprocessor chips.
New generation nancotechnology based reserve batteries claim to eliminate these handicaps. Using nanoscale components, miniaturization is no problem. Nanotechnology also makes it possible to achieve the controlled chemical reactions involved in power generation in ways compatible with semiconductor processing, and do it far more quickly.
Read about the technology at mPhase Technologies website.
Tags: battery technology, nanotechnology, reserve battery
Posted in energy generation, energy storage, nanotechnology, technology commercialization | 1 Comment »
Infinite Power from Ambient Sources and Rechargeable Batteries
Thursday, April 8th, 2010
Infinite Power Solutions manufactures solid state, rechargeable thin film bateries in volume. The company announced recently that it has achieved the international quality certification, ISO 9001:2008.
The micro-energy storage devices are used in a variety of micro-electronic applications such as in the wireless sensor, RFID, powered smart card and medical devices industries, among others.
The company’s micro-energy cell products, THINERGY™ MEC are reported to be deeply embeddable and capable of providing perpetual power solutions when combined with ambient energy harvesting. According to the company, it is a battery that never needs to be replaced.
Ambient energy harvesting involves converting ordinary things into electricity. For example, the small movements we make, our body fluids, dirt, vegetation, light, UV rays, etc can act as sources of power generation. The small amounts of power so generated can be sufficient for small devices, which are proliferating in this age of micro-everything.
The bicycle dynamo and solar calculator are some “ancient” examples of ambient energy generation. While the dynamo converts our cycling effort into the power needed by the bicycle light, the calculator draws its energy from sunlight. The generated energy can be stored using a capacitor or rechargeable battery.
More details at the company’s website and in an ambient energy article.
Tags: ambient energy generation, micro energy storage devices, rechargeable battery, thin film battery
Posted in business, energy generation, energy storage, innovation, nanotechnology | No Comments »
Global Nanotechnology Market For Energy Storage to 2015
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010
CompaniesAndMarkets.com have published a market report titled “Global Nanotechnology Market For Energy Storage – Analysis And Forecasts To 2015.” The publisher’s release says that the report covers:
* Analysis of the market opportunities for nanotechnology enabled energy storage
* Challenges facing commercialization of nanotechnology
* Current R&D initiatives in nanotechnology R&D for energy storage
* An analysis of relevant patent activities
* Market forecasts for lithium ion and ultracapacitors for the period up to 2015
* Information about players in the market and
* Regulatory issues
The market report is priced at £ 2,178.
Information at: CompaniesAndMarkets
Tags: energy storage, market report, nanotechnology
Posted in energy storage, nanotechnology | No Comments »
