Five Top Benefits of Selling "Clean" with Green
Missoula MT (SPX) Oct 01, 2015 -
To sell truly clean, green solar power that increases the energy savings, longevity, and effectiveness of solar and other home equipment, proactive dealers are now adding a power conditioning and protection component to typical solar panels, racking, and inverters.
By providing a more complete electrical solution that handles household dirty power such as surges, spikes, interference and h ...
more
Auto CO2 emissions 40% higher than claimed: report
Paris (AFP) Sept 30, 2015 -
Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from cars registered in Europe in 2014 were 40 percent higher on average than their manufacturers claimed, said a report prompting calls Wednesday for an investigation.
The gap between real-world pollution and industry lab results has grown by more than 30 percent since 2001, said the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), an independent research ...
more
Japan factory output shrinks again in August on China slowdown
Tokyo (AFP) Sept 30, 2015 -
Japanese factory production fell unexpectedly for a second month in August, data showed Wednesday as a slowdown in China and weak domestic spending hit Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's efforts to kickstart the world's number three economy.
The 0.5 percent contraction in industrial production followed a negative figure in July and missed market expectations for growth in output last month.
The ...
more
VW revs up recall plan, hunts for culprits in pollution scam
Frankfurt (AFP) Sept 30, 2015 -
German auto giant Volkswagen shifted up a gear Wednesday in its plans to recall millions of cars fitted with pollution-cheating software as it boosted efforts to find the masterminds behind the scam.
Following the departures of chief executive Martin Winterkorn and sales chief Christian Klingler in VW's deepest-ever crisis that broke 12 days ago, more heads looked set to roll after the new C ...
more
Study outlines how to achieve improved airline fuel savings
Blacksburg VA (SPX) Oct 01, 2015 -
The airline industry has the ability to sustain significant fuel savings and greatly reduce its greenhouse emissions, according to the conclusions reached in a Virginia Tech led study for the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) for traffic in the North Atlantic oceanic airspace.
Antonio Trani, director of Virginia Tech's Air Transportation Systems Laboratory and a professor of civil and environm ...
more
Finding a way to boost efficiency of CIGS solar cells
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Oct 01, 2015 -
CIGS (copper-indium-gallium-selenide) solar cells are compound thin-film solar cells and the most established alternative to silicon solar cells. Solar conversion efficiencies of over 20% have recently been achieved in CIGS solar cells.
One of the factors known to strongly affect the conversion efficiency is the buffer layer (see Figure 1). However, the structure of the buffer layer and it ...
more
ORNL demonstrates road to supercapacitors for scrap tires
Oak Ridge TN (SPX) Oct 01, 2015 -
Some of the 300 million tires discarded each year in the United States alone could be used in supercapacitors for vehicles and the electric grid using a technology developed at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Drexel University.
By employing proprietary pretreatment and processing, a team led by Parans Paranthaman has created flexible polymer carbon composite fi ...
more
The rise of X-ray beam chemistry
Lemont IL (SPX) Oct 01, 2015 -
For scientists to understand a system, they often push it to its limits. In geochemistry, that means putting minerals under extreme conditions and watching how they react.
This can be done in a number of ways, but the approach is usually the same: develop tools necessary to observe reactions in better detail and look at how minerals react when their natural environment is destabilized.
...
more
New tech automatically 'tunes' powered prosthetics while walking
Raleigh NC (SPX) Oct 01, 2015 -
When amputees receive powered prosthetic legs, the power of the prosthetic limbs needs to be tuned by a prosthetics expert so that a patient can move normally - but the prosthetic often needs repeated re-tuning. Biomedical engineering researchers at North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have now developed software that allows powered prosthetics to t ...
more
Embedded optical sensors could make robotic hands more dexterous
Pittsburgh PA (SPX) Oct 01, 2015 -
Optical sensors may be uniquely suited for use in robotic hands, according to Carnegie Mellon University researchers who have developed a three-fingered soft robotic hand with multiple embedded fiber optic sensors. They also have created a new type of stretchable optical sensor.
By using fiber optics, the researchers were able to embed 14 strain sensors into each of the fingers in the robo ...
more
TransCanada tries new legal route for Keystone XL
Bismarck, N.D. (UPI) Sep 30, 2015 -
Pipeline company TransCanada said it was filing an application with state regulators in Nebraska to build Keystone XL, ending a bid to challenge eminent domain.
Spokesman Mark Cooper said in an emailed statement the company was ready to file an application with the Nebraska Public Service Commission for pipeline construction.
"We believe that going through the Public Service Comm ...
more
A different type of 2-D semiconductor
Berkeley CA (SPX) Oct 01, 2015 -
To the growing list of two-dimensional semiconductors, such as graphene, boron nitride, and molybdenum disulfide, whose unique electronic properties make them potential successors to silicon in future devices, you can now add hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites. However, unlike the other contenders, which are covalent semiconductors, these 2D hybrid perovskites are ionic materials, which gives ...
more
Bravo to biomass
Iowa City IA (SPX) Oct 01, 2015 -
Biomass burning sometimes gets a bad rap. That's because many associate the burning of living and dead vegetation with human-caused fires and clearing of land that release unhealthy particles and gases that spur global warming.
But what if you burned biomass in a controlled environment, such as in a power plant, that at least partially replaces using a fossil fuel? Would there be demonstra ...
more
China to halve car purchase tax amid flagging sales
Beijing (AFP) Sept 30, 2015 -
China said Wednesday it will halve purchase taxes on vehicles with small engines, in an attempt to boost sales in the world's largest car market where demand has weakened.
Car sales in China have been falling for five straight months since April as expansion of the world's second-largest economy has slowed.
The cut effective from Thursday applies to passenger cars with engines of 1.6 lit ...
more
New York City to divest from coal
New York (UPI) Sep 30, 2015 -
In the coming months, all five New York City pension boards will consider a proposal to divest from coal, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
"New York City is a global leader when it comes to taking on climate change and reducing our environmental footprint," the mayor said. "It's time that our investments catch up - and divestment from coal is where we must start."
For Ne ...
more
First optical rectenna converts light to DC current
Atlanta GA (SPX) Oct 01, 2015 -
Using nanometer-scale components, researchers have demonstrated the first optical rectenna, a device that combines the functions of an antenna and a rectifier diode to convert light directly into DC current.
Based on multiwall carbon nanotubes and tiny rectifiers fabricated onto them, the optical rectennas could provide a new technology for photodetectors that would operate without the nee ...
more
UAF model used to estimate Antarctic ice sheet melting
Fairbanks AK (SPX) Oct 01, 2015 -
To see how burning up the Earth's available fossil fuels might affect the Antarctic ice sheet, scientists turned to a computer program developed at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute. The ice would disappear, they found, and that conclusion is making UAF model used to estimate Antarctic ice sheet meltings across the world.
UAF's Parallel Ice Sheet Model "was the perfe ...
more
Keeping cells in good shape
Houston TX (SPX) Oct 01, 2015 -
People often talk about how important it is to stay in shape, something humans usually can accomplish with exercise and a healthy diet, and other habits. But chances are, few of us ever think about the shape of our individual cells.
An experiment aboard the International Space Station looked at how cells change shape in microgravity and the ways those changes affect their function. Cells h ...
more
EUTELSAT 115 West B arrives in geostationary orbit
Paris, France (SPX) Oct 01, 2015 -
EUTELSAT 115 West B, the first all-electric satellite of the Eutelsat Communications' (NYSE Euronext Paris: ETL) global fleet, has completed the ascent to geostationary orbit and today began in orbit tests. Eutelsat's new satellite is scheduled to enter full commercial service in mid-October, one month ahead of schedule.
EUTELSAT 115 West B is equipped with 24 C-band and 41.5 Ku-band equiv ...
more
How do atoms alter during a supernova explosion?
Osaka, Japan (SPX) Oct 01, 2015 -
A research group from Osaka University, in collaboration with an international research team, successfully realized in laboratory the world of exotic atoms under extreme state through high - brightness X-ray sources, typically realized in supernova explosions.
A world first research produced highly unusual plasma composed of hollow atoms by utilizing the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) K ...
more
Searching for Orphan Stars Amid Starbirth Fireworks
Manoa HI (SPX) Oct 01, 2015 -
A new Gemini Observatory image reveals the remarkable "fireworks" that accompany the birth of stars. The image captures in unprecedented clarity the fascinating structures of a gas jet complex emanating from a stellar nursery at supersonic speeds. The striking new image hints at the dynamic (and messy) process of star birth. Researchers believe they have also found a collection of runaway (orpha ...
more
NASA extends Boeing contract for International Space Station
Houston (UPI) Sep 30, 2015 -
NASA has decided to keep Boeing as the International Space Station's prime contractor through September 30, 2020, Boeing announced on Tuesday.
The contract is valued at $1.18 billion, and includes engineering support services, resources, and personal. Boeing will also be tasked with determining how to extend the life of the station's primary structural hardware past 2020, through the en ...
more
Layman help sought in solving dwarf planet mysteries
Paris (AFP) Sept 30, 2015 -
Throwing open the doors to the hallowed halls of science, stumped researchers welcomed help from the public Wednesday in solving a number of nagging mysteries about dwarf planet Ceres.
NASA's space probe Dawn, which travelled seven-and-a-half years and some 4.9 billion kilometres to reach Ceres in March this year, is the first to orbit a dwarf planet.
The probe is seeking to learn more ...
more
Small-scale nuclear fusion may be a new energy source
Gothenburg, Sweden (SPX) Oct 01, 2015 -
Fusion energy may soon be used in small-scale power stations. This means producing environmentally friendly heating and electricity at a low cost from fuel found in water. Both heating generators and generators for electricity could be developed within a few years, according to research that has primarily been conducted at the University of Gothenburg.
Nuclear fusion is a process whereby a ...
more
Lockheed's Space Fence Program Completes Critical Design Review
Moorestown NJ (SPX) Oct 01, 2015 -
Lockheed Martin's (LMT) Space Fence System, including the large-scale digital radar and turn-key facility were deemed technically mature and provided evidence that all requirements will be met through the program's Critical Design Review (CDR) conducted by the U.S. Air Force.
Government representatives met with Lockheed Martin engineers in Moorestown to review the Space Fence S-band radar ...
more
