Power and Electrical Engineering
This topic covers issues related to energy generation, conversion, transportation and consumption and how the industry is addressing the challenge of energy efficiency in general.
innovations-report provides in-depth and informative reports and articles on subjects ranging from wind energy, fuel cell technology, solar energy, geothermal energy, petroleum, gas, nuclear engineering, alternative energy and energy efficiency to fusion, hydrogen and superconductor technologies.
MIT, Columbia begin new ’hot’ fusion experiment
MIT and Columbia University students and researchers have begun operation of a novel experiment that confines high-temperature ionized gas, called plasma, using the strong magnetic fields from a half-ton superconducting ring inside a huge vessel reminiscent of a spaceship. The experiment, the first of its kind, will test whether nature’s way of confining high-temperature gas might lead to a new source of energy for the world.
First results from the Levitated Dipole Experiment
Major advance made in transparent electronics
Researchers at Oregon State University and Hewlett Packard have reported their first example of an entirely new class of materials which could be used to make transparent transistors that are inexpensive, stable, and environmentally benign. This could lead to new industries and a broad range of new consumer products, scientists say.
The possibilities include electronic devices produced so cheaply they could almost be one-time “throw away” products, better large-area electronics
Clean and quiet snowmobiles: McGill leads the way
As the snow falls, many look forward to the thrill of a day spent snowmobiling, but this sport is not eagerly anticipated by all. Some find the noise and gas emission levels unbearable. McGill University researchers are at the forefront of looking for solutions to these concerns by making snowmobiles and other power-sport recreational vehicles clean and quiet.
“People associate snowmobiles with noise and gas pollution” said Simon Ouellette, project manager of the McGill University
New desalination technology taps waste heat from power plants
Desalination is often touted as one solution to the world’s water woes, but current desalination plants tend to hog energy.
Now University of Florida researchers have developed a technology that can tap waste heat from electrical power plants as its main source of energy, an advance that could significantly reduce the cost of desalination in some parts of the world.
“In the future, we have to go to desalination, because the freshwater supply at the moment can just
Rapid progress reported in emerging field of molecular electronics
The emerging field of molecular electronics — using nanoscale molecules as key components in computers and other electronic devices — is in excellent health and has a bright future, conclude UCLA, Caltech and University of California, Santa Barbara, chemists who assess the field in the Dec. 17 issue of the journal Science. “Molecular electronics is in its infancy, and its adolescence and adulthood will be very exciting as we push toward the promise of molecular electronics: smaller, more v
Scientists ’PAD’ their way to new metal-oxide film technology
University of California scientists working with a researcher from Washington State University at Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Superconductivity Technology Center have developed a novel method for creating high performance, inorganic metal-oxide films using polymer-assisted deposition, or PAD. The breakthrough could pave the way for a greater use of metal-oxide films into the electronics manufacturing industry.
“The successful creation of both simple and complex metal-oxide