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. Transforming solar energy into a usable form is a real challenge. One technique is to use semiconductors to store the energy as hydrogen. Unfortunately, the most efficient semiconductors are not the most stable. An Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (Switzerland) team has just discovered that it is possible to protect the semiconductor with a uniform layer just a few nanometers thick. http://phys.org/news224253567.html Nanotechnology Tue, 10 May 2011 13:39:50 EST news224253567 A German solar energy firm said Monday it would build South-East Asia's largest commercial solar power plant, based around 70 kilometres (45 miles) north of Thailand's capital Bangkok. http://phys.org/news188483388.html Technology Mon, 22 Mar 2010 13:50:03 EST news188483388 (PhysOrg.com) -- Engineers from the University of Cincinnati devise a foam that captures energy and removes excess carbon dioxide from the air -- thanks to semi-tropical frogs. http://phys.org/news187951045.html Nanotechnology Tue, 16 Mar 2010 09:37:57 EST news187951045 One piece of the American effort to find a way to make solar energy cheap enough that everyone will want it is unfolding in a modest redbrick building in this Midwestern city once known as one of the nation's top makers of glass. http://phys.org/news187880516.html Technology Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:30:02 EST news187880516 Europe's most powerful solar power plant is set to start operations in Italy later this year, the US company building the installation on an area as large as 120 football pitches said on Thursday. http://phys.org/news187555663.html Technology Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:20:02 EST news187555663 (PhysOrg.com) -- With one bottle of drinking water and four hours of sunlight, MIT chemist Dan Nocera claims that he can produce 30 KWh of electricity, which is enough to power an entire household in the developing world. With about three gallons of river water, he could satisfy the daily energy needs of a large American home. The key to these claims is a new, affordable catalyst that uses solar electricity to split water and generate hydrogen. http://phys.org/news187031401.html Technology Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:10:20 EST news187031401 French energy giant EDF is building the world's biggest photovoltaic solar power plant at an abandoned NATO air base and plans to have it open by 2012, a spokesman said Tuesday. http://phys.org/news186770590.html Technology Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:44:08 EST news186770590 At least 10 times a day Andrew Kin clicks onto the Internet for the pure joy of watching his electricity meter run backward. http://phys.org/news186398769.html Technology Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:00:01 EST news186398769 French scientists have transformed the chemical energy generated by photosynthesis into electrical energy. They thus propose a new strategy to convert solar energy into electrical energy in an environmentally-friendly and renewable manner. The biofuel cell thus developed could also have medical applications. These findings have just been published in the journal Analytical Chemistry. http://phys.org/news185730131.html Chemistry Thu, 18 Feb 2010 16:00:04 EST news185730131 Cleantech's vast ecosystem includes a dizzying array of emerging technologies, from green building materials to electric vehicles, lighting and wind power. But as Silicon Valley reinvents itself as a global center of clean technology, two sectors -- solar power and "smart" upgrades to the electric grid -- already are reshaping the valley and changing the way energy is produced and used. http://phys.org/news185207844.html Technology Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:10:01 EST news185207844 (PhysOrg.com) -- A novel strategy for engineering semiconductor materials can boost the performance of water-splitting solar cells for hydrogen production, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz. http://phys.org/news184856578.html Nanotechnology Mon, 08 Feb 2010 13:04:25 EST news184856578 New scientific discoveries are moving society toward the era of "personalized solar energy," in which the focus of electricity production shifts from huge central generating stations to individuals in their own homes and communities. That's the topic of a report by an international expert on solar energy published in the ACS' Inorganic Chemistry. It describes a long-awaited, inexpensive method for solar energy storage that could help power homes and plug-in cars in the future while helping keep the environment clean. http://phys.org/news180189541.html Technology Wed, 16 Dec 2009 12:52:52 EST news180189541 (PhysOrg.com) -- Beginning in mid-December, scientists will undertake a special mission to squeeze the secrets out of ice crystals in cirrus clouds. The SPARTICUS, or Small Particles in Cirrus, campaign will weave together data from an instrumented airplane and ground-based instruments to gather the most comprehensive set of ice crystal measurements yet. Scientists from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are part of the team that will define the scientific mission and they are leading the project's daily operations. http://phys.org/news180032371.html Space & Earth Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:20:05 EST news180032371 Chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is planning its first foray into solar energy with an investment in the island's largest producer of solar cells, a spokesman said Thursday. http://phys.org/news179652960.html Technology Thu, 10 Dec 2009 07:36:33 EST news179652960 The World Bank announced Wednesday 5.5 billion dollars would be invested in solar energy projects in five countries of the Middle East and North Africa in a bid to combat climate change. http://phys.org/news179607351.html Technology Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:56:51 EST news179607351 A year ago, U.S. Marines operating in the Arabian Desert only viewed the sun as the source of the region's relentless heat. Recently, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) Advanced Power Generation Future Naval Capabilities program introduced technology that allows the Marines to harness some of that sunshine to help power their field equipment. http://phys.org/news179501481.html Technology Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:33:11 EST news179501481 (PhysOrg.com) -- Chemistry professor Harry Frank led an international group of researchers that identified the molecules in algae which direct the organisms to convert sunlight into oxygen. The findings may ultimately help in developing new solar energy conversion devices. http://phys.org/news178964604.html Chemistry Wed, 02 Dec 2009 08:24:06 EST news178964604 Seventy percent of households always separate their rubbish for recycling, but only 2 percent buy their energy on a green tariff, according to the early findings of a major new annual household survey, called "Understanding Society," funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. http://phys.org/news178182064.html Space & Earth Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:02:51 EST news178182064 A pioneer in solar power in the 1990s before it became "sexy," University of Houston Professor Alex Freundlich recently entered into a collaborative research agreement with U.K.-based start-up QuantaSol for the development of the next generation of super efficient solar cells. http://phys.org/news176999193.html Technology Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:40:02 EST news176999193 (PhysOrg.com) -- A Californian company, SolarReserve, is developing a solar power system that can store seven hours' worth of solar energy by focusing mirrors onto millions of gallons of molten salt, allowing the plant to provide electricity 24 hours a day. http://phys.org/news176632405.html Technology Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:34:37 EST news176632405 New scientific discoveries are moving society toward the era of "personalized solar energy," in which the focus of electricity production shifts from huge central generating stations to individuals in their own homes and communities. http://phys.org/news176557158.html Chemistry Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:39:46 EST news176557158 (PhysOrg.com) -- Europe has long been interested in developing alternative energy sources. And, one of the more interesting places that some Europeans are looking for solar power is the Sahara. With the vast amounts of sun beating down on the Saharan desert, it seems an ideal place for solar panels. The Desertec Industrial Initiative, a consortium of 12 companies, including Siemens and Deutsche Bank, aims to make Saharan solar power for Europe a reality. But it won't exactly be easy. http://phys.org/news176541300.html Technology Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:00:02 EST news176541300 Danish nanophysicists have developed a new method for manufacturing the cornerstone of nanotechnology research - nanowires. The discovery has great potential for the development of nanoelectronics and highly efficient solar cells. http://phys.org/news176377185.html Nanotechnology Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:50:01 EST news176377185 (AP) -- Greg Bove steps into his pickup truck and drives down a sandy path to where the future of Florida's renewable energy plans begin: Acres of open land filled with solar panels that will soon power thousands of homes and business. http://phys.org/news175584369.html Technology Sat, 24 Oct 2009 06:26:50 EST news175584369 For more than 100 Indian villages cut off from grid electricity, life no longer comes to an end after dark thanks to an innovative solar-powered lantern that offers hope to the nation's rural poor. http://phys.org/news175501636.html Technology Fri, 23 Oct 2009 07:50:02 EST news175501636 (PhysOrg.com) -- At last Friday's Energy Night at the MIT Museum, Dr. Keith Collins described his approach to fighting global warming with all the gusto of a really good insurance salesman. But Collins, who graduated from MIT in 1970 with a degree in political science, wasn't actually selling anything. He was just proclaiming to anyone who would listen just how easy it is to go green. http://phys.org/news175256785.html Technology Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:28:39 EST news175256785 Most of the technology needed to shift the world from fossil fuel to clean, renewable energy already exists. Implementing that technology requires overcoming obstacles in planning and politics, but doing so could result in a 30 percent decrease in global power demand, say Stanford civil and environmental engineering Professor Mark Z. Jacobson and University of California-Davis researcher Mark Delucchi. http://phys.org/news175173974.html Technology Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:27:37 EST news175173974 The American Solar Energy Society's 2009 National Solar Tour took place Oct. 3 in 3,000 communities. http://phys.org/news173971060.html Technology Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:30:02 EST news173971060 German solar energy firms are in a bind, the head of a federation said in a report due out on Monday amid concern that the new German government will abandon the sector. http://phys.org/news173710837.html Technology Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:01:14 EST news173710837 Plants and algae may be a source of green, renewable hydrocarbons that could replace the ancient, finite hydrocarbons in fossil fuels, according to a team of researchers led by Iowa State University's Jackie Shanks. http://phys.org/news173635525.html Chemistry Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:10:02 EST news173635525