Related topics: energy

Miracle light: Can lasers solve the energy crisis?

Next year will mark the 50th birthday of the laser, one of the most productive and widely used mega-inventions of the last century. Scientists hope that 2010 also will see the launch of laser technology's greatest challenge: ...

New technique for sustaining high-performance fusion plasmas

(Phys.org) —A multinational team led by Chinese researchers in collaboration with U.S. and European partners has successfully demonstrated a novel technique for suppressing instabilities that can cut short the life of controlled ...

Hints of universal behavior seen in exotic three-atom states

A novel type of inter-particle binding predicted in 1970 and observed for the first time in 2006, is forming the basis for an intriguing kind of ultracold quantum chemistry. Chilled to nano-kelvin temperatures, cesium atoms ...

Interactive tool lifts veil on the cost of nuclear energy

Despite the ever-changing landscape of energy economics, subject to the influence of new technologies and geopolitics, a new tool promises to root discussions about the cost of nuclear energy in hard evidence rather than ...

Understanding the turbulence in plasmas

A longstanding joke holds that practical fusion power is about 20 years away—and always will be. One simple phenomenon explains why practical, self-sustaining fusion reactions have proved difficult to achieve: Turbulence ...

Germany to scrap nuclear power by 2022

Germany on Monday announced plans to become the first major industrialised power to shut down all its nuclear plants in the wake of the disaster in Japan, with a phase-out due to be wrapped up by 2022.

Graphene could yield cheaper optical chips

Graphene—which consists of atom-thick sheets of carbon atoms arranged hexagonally—is the new wonder material: Flexible, lightweight and incredibly conductive electrically, it's also the strongest material known to man.

Quantum Dots Could Boost Solar Cell Efficiency

(PhysOrg.com) -- The transition to environmentally benign energy sources is one of the most significant challenges of the 21st century. Solar power, which uses sunlight to generate electricity, is one promising source. It ...

Japan to be nuclear-free as last reactor switched off

Japan on Sunday began switching off its last operating nuclear reactor for an inspection, with no date scheduled for a restart amid strong public hostility towards atomic power.

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