http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. The vision of a society in which each inhabitant of the earth manages to consume only 2000 watts (48 kilowatt-hours per day) has already been around for 15 years. During this time, there has been a steady increase in environmental awareness in the West. Technology has become more efficient and there appears to be very little standing in the way of a sustainable lifestyle. However, as a study by Empa and the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich now shows, Mr and Mrs Swiss are still a long way from achieving this. http://phys.org/news288599132.html Technology Fri, 24 May 2013 07:25:44 EST news288599132 (Phys.org) —A new energy map of Los Angeles developed at UCLA lets residents find how much electricity the average customer in their neighborhood uses, see how a neighborhood's energy use relates to its average income level and track energy use over time. http://phys.org/news283762149.html Technology Fri, 29 Mar 2013 07:49:17 EST news283762149 (Phys.org) —A new-generation analog-to-digital converter (ADC) developed by a joint IBM-EPFL team has the potential to greatly increase the speed and volume of data that can be transferred over the Internet. http://phys.org/news283594801.html Technology Wed, 27 Mar 2013 09:20:19 EST news283594801 (Phys.org) —A smartphone application bringing gaming dimensions to energy awareness has helped householders in Finland, Sweden and Italy reduce their electricity consumption by up to 19%. http://phys.org/news283175020.html Technology Fri, 22 Mar 2013 12:43:51 EST news283175020 Energy consumption by China, the world's leading emitter of CO2, rose 3.9 percent in 2012 from the previous year but fell by 3.6 percent per unit of gross domestic product, the government said. http://phys.org/news280913596.html Technology Sun, 24 Feb 2013 07:33:26 EST news280913596 Recycling, reusing and reducing are all ways in which Europeans are assisting in efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It is a far cry from the days when we threw everything away without thought. Now we know it is the simple solutions that are making the difference. One example is lighting, which accounts for 14 % of electricity consumption in the EU. As a result, incandescent bulbs are being phased out in Europe and replaced with new energy-efficient and eco-friendly lighting technologies. http://phys.org/news276761378.html Technology Mon, 07 Jan 2013 06:09:43 EST news276761378 British renewable energy firm Blue Energy announced Tuesday that it will build a giant solar power plant in Ghana which it claimed will become the biggest in Africa. http://phys.org/news273848015.html Technology Tue, 04 Dec 2012 12:54:08 EST news273848015 (Phys.org)—EPFL scientists have found that reorganizing the inner architecture of the processors used in massive data processing centers can yield significant energy savings. Their work is part of the EcoCloud program. http://phys.org/news273135602.html Technology Mon, 26 Nov 2012 07:00:16 EST news273135602 According to a European research project, cities may be able to reduce their energy consumption by 30 % by leveraging information and communication technologies (ICTs). This breakthrough was made by the ENERSIP project, which is formed by 10 partners from 5 European countries, and has received EUR 3.99 million in funding from the EU's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) under the theme for ICT support to energy-positive buildings and neighbourhoods. Their results were presented after analysis showed how to optimise the use of residential consumption and generation infrastructures. http://phys.org/news272270282.html Technology Fri, 16 Nov 2012 06:38:10 EST news272270282 (Phys.org)—Intruders of the break-in and snooping variety have their work cut out for them by just picking up wireless signals that are broadcast by utility meters, say researchers from the University of South Carolina at Columbia, IEEE and Rutgers. As with many other technological advances that bring new pathways for criminals, advances in meters have created concerns about intrusions. Millions of analogue meters to measure water, gas and electricity consumption have been replaced by automated meter reading (AMR) in the U.S. The newer method enables devices to broadcast readings by radio every 30 seconds for utility company employees to read as they walk or drive around with a receiver. http://phys.org/news269931303.html Technology Sat, 20 Oct 2012 06:30:01 EST news269931303 (Phys.org)—Households with plug-in hybrid vehicles, or PHVs, and smart meters actively managed how, when and where they charged their cars based on electricity rates but rarely took advantage of online feedback, a University of Colorado Boulder study found. http://phys.org/news269676747.html Technology Wed, 17 Oct 2012 07:12:38 EST news269676747 Databases have revolutionized the business world. Every bottle of shampoo you buy, every purchase you make, is just one more data point sent out to your bank's and your supermarket's servers. This enormous quantity of detailed information allows merchants to optimize their inventories and displays and bankers to optimize the flow of money. Gigantic farms of servers are deployed in an effort to keep up with this breakneck pace of information storage and transfer. Researchers in EPFL's DATA Laboratory have developed DBToaster, a system that speeds up the pace of operations by a factor of 100 – 10,000. The latest version has just been made available on www.dbtoaster.org. http://phys.org/news267439041.html Technology Fri, 21 Sep 2012 09:37:32 EST news267439041 Strict targets for mitigating climate change require effective climate policy and emission reduction measures. In his thesis, Sampo Soimakallio, Senior Scientist at VTT, analyses uncertainties relating to the effects of greenhouse gas reduction methods and policy measures by examining biofuel production and network electricity consumption, as well as the differentiation of emission reduction commitments among nations and groups of nations. http://phys.org/news267095390.html Space & Earth Mon, 17 Sep 2012 10:10:06 EST news267095390 Honda Motor today announced that it has newly developed a technology for the continuous welding of the dissimilar metals of steel and aluminum and applied it for the first time in the world to the subframe of a mass-production vehicle, a key component of a vehicle body frame. Honda will adopt this technology first to the North American version of the all-new 2013 Accord, which will go on sale in the United States on September 19, 2012, and will expand application sequentially to other models. http://phys.org/news266142070.html Technology Thu, 06 Sep 2012 09:21:32 EST news266142070 A surge in carbon emissions from power demand in the developing world is overwhelming progress by nations including China and the United States in improving efficiency, new research shows. http://phys.org/news265303162.html Space & Earth Mon, 27 Aug 2012 16:30:02 EST news265303162 Energy storage systems are one of the key technologies for the energy turnaround. With their help, the fluctuating supply of electricity based on photovoltaics and wind power can be stored until the time of consumption. At Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), several pilot plants of solar cells, small wind power plants, lithium-ion batteries, and power electronics are under construction to demonstrate how load peaks in the grid can be balanced and what regenerative power supply by an isolated network may look like in the future. http://phys.org/news263730944.html Technology Thu, 09 Aug 2012 11:35:55 EST news263730944 Dutch researchers from the Eindhoven University of Technology have successfully made a 'magnetic domain-wall ratchet' memory, a computer memory that is built up from moving bits of magnetised areas. This memory potentially offers many advantages compared to standard hard disks, such as a higher speed, lower electricity consumption and much longer life. Using concentrated ion bundles the researchers have influenced the magnetic wires the bits move through, and they have successfully controlled bits at the nanometre scale and subsequently constructed a new memory. The research results were published online by Nature Nanotechnology on July 15. http://phys.org/news262249158.html Nanotechnology Mon, 23 Jul 2012 08:20:01 EST news262249158 China said Thursday that from next month people who use a lot of electricity will have to pay more under a trial scheme aimed at encouraging consumers to save energy. http://phys.org/news258885406.html Technology Thu, 14 Jun 2012 09:36:53 EST news258885406 Consumers could save on power bills thanks to an energy saving solution devised by two savvy students at the University of Sydney's Faculty of Engineering and Information Technologies. http://phys.org/news257486500.html Technology Tue, 29 May 2012 05:01:46 EST news257486500 (Phys.org) -- Meters displaying live data on home electricity consumption have become commonplace in recent years, but researchers are now seeking ways to deliver even more useful information to householders. http://phys.org/news254972027.html Technology Mon, 30 Apr 2012 02:50:02 EST news254972027 Clever, inexpensive design can cut the energy used in new homes by up to 80 per cent, says a Queensland University of Technology (QUT) researcher. http://phys.org/news252834245.html Technology Thu, 05 Apr 2012 08:44:13 EST news252834245 The State of Illinois is facing an important renewable energy deadline in 2025, and Northwestern University's Harold H. Kung has a piece of advice for Springfield to consider now: Investment Tax Credit. http://phys.org/news252246686.html Technology Thu, 29 Mar 2012 13:32:06 EST news252246686 Chemicals giant Solvay hailed Monday the successful entry into service in Flanders of what it said was the largest fuel cell of its type in the world. http://phys.org/news247751595.html Technology Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:53:22 EST news247751595 (PhysOrg.com) -- Molybdenite, a new and very promising material, can surpass the physical limits of silicon. EPFL scientists have proven this by making the first molybdenite microchip, with smaller and more energy efficient transistors. http://phys.org/news242292078.html Nanotechnology Mon, 05 Dec 2011 07:21:26 EST news242292078 A new report commissioned by the New York Times, shows that electricity consumption used by data centers in the United States and around the world grew at a much slower pace then was predicted by a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report released in 2007. The slower pace is attributed to both a downturn in the economy and improved efficiency in data servers. http://phys.org/news231495757.html Technology Tue, 02 Aug 2011 10:30:07 EST news231495757 Air conditioning has been switched off, office hallways are darkened and escalators have ground to a halt as a government decree to reduce power usage forces Tokyo to sweat out a hot summer. http://phys.org/news228630232.html Technology Thu, 30 Jun 2011 07:00:05 EST news228630232 Wind power became Spain's main source of electricity for the first time ever this month, in a country renowned for its focus on renewable energy, the power-generating authority REE said Thursday. http://phys.org/news220785896.html Technology Thu, 31 Mar 2011 11:40:02 EST news220785896 Taiwanese scientists on Tuesday unveiled an advanced microchip technology which they claimed marks a breakthrough in piling ever more memory into ever smaller spaces. http://phys.org/news211525983.html Technology Tue, 14 Dec 2010 05:13:20 EST news211525983 During the winter months the days grow colder and the nights longer causing households to use more electricity, often resulting in higher bills. Most households have no way of monitoring how much electricity is being consumed; however, researchers in Pittsburgh believe a new monitoring system may soon be available for residential use. The research is published in a special issue of Yale's Journal of Industrial Ecology on environmental applications of information and communication technology sponsored by CSC's Leading Edge Forum. http://phys.org/news207478557.html Technology Thu, 28 Oct 2010 09:56:09 EST news207478557 (PhysOrg.com) -- Home energy monitors (smart meters or Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS)), monitor the energy used by households and/or individual appliances within the home, and they are often recommended to encourage energy conservation. Now a new study has analyzed the effectiveness of installing the devices and discovered that savings were not sustained over the longer term. http://phys.org/news203664280.html Technology Tue, 14 Sep 2010 07:00:01 EST news203664280