Carbon nanotubes offer new way to produce electricity

MIT scientists have discovered that a moving pulse of heat traveling along the miniscule wires known as carbon nanotubes can cause powerful waves of energy. These “thermopower waves” can drive electrons along like a collection of flotsam propelled along the surface of ocean waves, creating an electrical current. The previously unknown phenomenon opens up a new area of energy research and could lead to a new way of producing electricity…

Tags: Electricity, MIT, Nanotubes, Nanowires

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GizmagEmergingTechnologyMagazine/~3/1D9Q9b8UdWc/

Cruise in comfort: the all-electric Sofa Boat

The appropriately named ‘sofa boat’ is essentially a sofa slapped on top of a floating platform that is sure to make maneuvering among other craft in crowded marinas a most relaxing affair. The all-electric craft employs a joystick for steering, a folding sun canopy covering for some protection from the sun’s rays and a solar version is on the way…

Tags: Boat, Electric vehicle, Marine

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Plant-based fuel is cheap, easy, and ready to power your jet

Engineers at University of Wisconsin-Madison have found a way to convert 95% of the energy of cellulosic biomass into jet fuel using stable, inexpensive catalysts, basic equipment and minimal processing. The end hydrocarbon product is so similar to jet fuel that it is ready for application by present internal engine designs. ..

Tags: Biofuel, Biomass, cellulosic, Ethanol, University of Wisconsin

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GizmagEmergingTechnologyMagazine/~3/ktzYJu77_HM/

Solar panels made three times cheaper and four times more efficient

As regular readers will know, we cover more than our fair share of breakthroughs promising next-generation super-efficient solar cells. Everything from growing photovoltaic crystals, applying special coatings or using carbon nanotubes teases us with cheaper, more efficient solar energy – eventually. In this latest news, scientists are using current technology in a new type of concentrating array which they say is four times more efficient and three times cheaper than current solar cells…

Tags: Electricity, Photovoltaic, Solar

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• U.K. team researches thinner, cheaper solar cells
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• Carbon nanotubes used to build a near-ideal efficiency solar cell
• 750kW CIGS thin film solar array goes online in Arizona

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Tea Room Heated By Compost

If you have ever turned a compost pile you understand how hot it can get inside the pile as it decomposes. You can feel and sometimes see the heat rise as you turn the pile. A Japanese design firm called Bakoko has taken note of this heat, which can reach up to temperatures of 120 degrees F, and come up with a way to capture that heat to warm up a room.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/inventorspot/articles/~3/CWBqVKUocqM/tea_room_heated_compost_38362