NC State nanoflowers can boost battery and solar cell capacity, make great prom accessories

NC State crafts nanoflowers that boost battery and solar cell capacity, would make great prom accessories

We see a lot of sleek-looking technology pass through our doors, but it’s rare that the inventions could be called beautiful by those who aren’t immersed in the gadget world. We’d venture that North Carolina State University might have crossed the divide by creating an energy storage technology that’s both practical and genuinely pretty. Its technology vaporizes germanium sulfide and cools it into 20-30 nanometer layers that, as they’re combined, turn into nanoflowers: elegant structures that might look like the carnation on a prom dress or tuxedo, but are really energy storage cells with much more capacity than traditional cells occupying the same area. The floral patterns could lead to longer-lived supercapacitors and lithium-ion batteries, and the germanium sulfide is both cheap and clean enough that it could lead to very efficient solar cells that are more environmentally responsible. As always, there’s no definite timetable for when (and if) NC State’s technology might be commercialized — so call someone’s bluff if they promise you a nanoflower bouquet.

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NC State nanoflowers can boost battery and solar cell capacity, make great prom accessories originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Oct 2012 20:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It Only Costs 41 Cents a Year to Charge an iPhone [IPhone]

The highly anticipated iPhone 5 is finally in millions of people’s hands.  Within three days of its September 21st launch, Apple had sold a record-breaking five million units. And within a year, analysts project that sales of the iPhone 5 will reach 170 million. More »

The World’s Most Powerful Wind Turbine Has Blades Bigger than a 747 Wing [Monster Machines]

When complete, the Vestas V164 is slated to be the world’s largest and most powerful wind turbine on the planet. Standing 443 feet tall, with a diameter spanning 538 feet, the turbine to generates eight megawatts of power. This is no child’s pinwheel. In fact, it cranks out enough juice to power a whole neighborhood. More »

Nest 2.0: The Smart Thermostat Is Thinner, Works With More Home Heating Systems Than Before [Nest]

Nest was not the first smart thermostat to reach the hands of consumers. But it was the first that made our parents (and maybe even some of our grandparents) raise an eyebrow. Its cylindrical form and simple GUI are nothing, if not inviting to use, and its ability to learn from your usage habits not only offers convenience, but possible savings when it comes to the power bill. Now with the second generation iteration of Nest—one that is slimmer and guaranteed to work with 95% of home heating systems—the product wants to go from being a buzzy new product to a mainstream, must-have home gadget. More »

Ikea Will Only Sell LED Lights Soon [Lighting]

By now, energy- and cash-conscious people probably know it’s a good idea to use compact fluorescent or halogen bulbs instead of incandescents. But Ikea wants to help move the needle further and faster towards energy-efficient lighting: The company says that by 2016 it will only sell LED lights. More »

Google data center in Oklahoma to get 48MW of wind power, boost renewable energy in the Sooner state

Google data center in Oklahoma to get 48MW of wind power, boost renewable energy in the Sooner stateGoogle has made a point of relying on renewable resources for its data centers whenever possible, even down to the cooling. It hasn’t had quite as unique an arrangement as what it’s planning for its data center in Oklahoma, though. The search firm wants to supply its Mayes County location with 48MW of wind energy from Apex’s Canadian Hills Wind Project, but it isn’t buying power directly from the source. Instead, it’s making a deal with the Grand River Dam Authority, a utility, to purchase the clean power on top of what’s already supplied from the GRDA at present. The deal should keep the data center on the environmentally friendly side while giving it room to grow. Wind power will come online at Google’s facility once the Canadian Hills effort is up and running later in 2012; hopefully, that gives us enough time to better understand why there’s a Canadian River and Canadian Hills to be found in the southern United States.

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Google data center in Oklahoma to get 48MW of wind power, boost renewable energy in the Sooner state originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Sep 2012 01:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sharp unveils semi-transparent solar panels, lets you see the sun while reaping its benefits

Sharp unveils semi-transparent solar panels, lets you see the sun while reaping its benefits

Sharp has announced an unusual photovoltaic panel for the Japanese market that collects energy from the sun while still allowing the light to shine on through. Though it’s rated at a lowly 6.8 percent / 98 watt max efficiency, the glass-like properties make it useful as a construction material (as shown in the balcony railing above), with the semi-transparent nature giving occupants privacy, to boot. The energy-producing cells are embedded in a laminated glass structure and an air slot provides a thermal barrier, allowing the panels to also be used as “windows, curtain wall and eaves” according to Sharp’s PR. Though the system won’t win any potency prizes, it has garnered a design award in Japan, so it won’t blight any landscapes. There’s no mention of pricing or western availability so far, but you can hit the source for all the technical details.

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Sharp unveils semi-transparent solar panels, lets you see the sun while reaping its benefits originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Sep 2012 05:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink CNET  |  sourceSharp Japan (translated)  | Email this | Comments

A Water-Cooled Chip That Concentrates the Sun to Desalinate Water [Science]

Anyone who’s dropped a cellphone in the bath knows that water and microelectronics don’t usually mix well. But at IBM’s Swiss lab in Zurich, marrying the two is becoming almost commonplace: microprocessors with water coursing through microchannels carved deep inside them are already crunching data in SuperMUC, an IBM supercomputer – with the heat that the water carries away used to warm nearby buildings. More »

Microsoft deliberately wasted energy at data center to avoid fine, says NY Times

Microsoft power wasting

Microsoft’s desire to avoid a fine combined with a power company’s strict electricity usage rules resulted in the software giant deliberately wasting millions of watts of power, according to the New York Times. Redmond’s Quincy data center, which houses Bing, Hotmail and other cloud-based servers, had an agreement in place with a Washington state utility containing clauses which imposed penalties for under-consumption of electricity. A $210,000 fine was levied last year, since the facility was well below its power-use target, which prompted Microsoft to deliberately burn $70,000 worth of electricity in three days “in a commercially unproductive manner” to avoid it, according to its own documents. The utility board capitulated and reduced the amend to $60k, but the messy situation seems a far cry from Redmond’s pledge to become carbon neutral by this summer.

[Image credit: New York Times]

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Microsoft deliberately wasted energy at data center to avoid fine, says NY Times originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 10:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Verge  |  sourceNew York Times  | Email this | Comments

Data Centers Waste a Ridiculously Massive Amount of Energy [Data Centers]

There is a lot of data out there, and more is being created every day. It takes a lot of resources to keep it around, and make sure that you and everyone else can access what they want, when they want, with minimal downtime. Naturally this takes a lot of energy, but the New York Times looked into exactly how much. It’s a ridiculous amount. More »