http://phys.org/technology-news/energy-green-tech/ en-us Phys.org Phys.Org provides the latest news on energy sciences and green technology, energy technology, energy renovation, alternative energy, and green energy. Electric sports car maker Tesla announced a recall Wednesday for some of its Model S vehicles over possible weak welds on back seats. http://phys.org/news290886148.html Technology - Energy & Green Tech 2013-06-19T18:42:35-07:00 Japan's nuclear watchdog formally approved a set of new safety requirements for atomic power plants on Wednesday, paving the way for the reopening of facilities shut down since the Fukushima disaster in a move critics charged was too hasty. http://phys.org/news290849146.html Technology - Energy & Green Tech 2013-06-19T09:00:01-07:00 The Cape Wind offshore wind project has secured a $200 million investment from a Danish pension fund in what the wind farm's president said Tuesday is a milestone for the long-delayed project. http://phys.org/news290835769.html Technology - Energy & Green Tech 2013-06-19T05:00:06-07:00 Cancer-causing radioactive substances have been found in groundwater at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, its Japanese operator said on Wednesday, as it pledged to prevent it getting into the sea. http://phys.org/news290828917.html Technology - Energy & Green Tech 2013-06-19T02:48:44-07:00 (Phys.org) —How are engineers doing in solving the problem of large-sized all electric transport vehicles traveling long distances without the burden of large batteries? One workaround that has been the topic of much discussion is the use of power lines that are built into the surface of the road. The Volvo Group has issued its state of progress and says it has come a long way in its research but that there's still work and planning decisions ahead. The goal is to find a cost-efficient way to supply electricity to vehicles in long-distance traffic. Work continues on technical development of the collector, electric motor and control systems, not to mention issues of road construction, road maintenance, electricity supply along the roads and payment models. Translation: You won't see long-distance buses using this method any time soon. http://phys.org/news290798046.html Technology - Energy & Green Tech 2013-06-18T18:50:01-07:00 The world's largest fully solar-powered boat, "Turanor PlanetSolar," docked in New York on Tuesday during a mission to study the effects of climate change on the Gulf Stream current. http://phys.org/news290797901.html Technology - Energy & Green Tech 2013-06-18T18:11:51-07:00 Poland could delay building its first nuclear power plants as natural gas, including shale gas, becomes less costly, the prime minister of the central European heavyweight said Tuesday. http://phys.org/news290791380.html Technology - Energy & Green Tech 2013-06-18T16:40:01-07:00 Tesla Motors said Thursday it would demonstrate a way to quickly recharge electric cars by swapping drained batteries for fresh power cells. http://phys.org/news290788812.html Technology - Energy & Green Tech 2013-06-18T15:40:22-07:00 German solar panel manufacturer Solarworld announced Tuesday a capital injection by Qatar, a move which will save the company from bankruptcy as the German sector struggles against Asian competition. http://phys.org/news290776350.html Technology - Energy & Green Tech 2013-06-18T12:30:01-07:00 Energy efficiency promises to cut emissions, reduce dependence on foreign fuel, and mitigate climate change. As such, governments around the world are spending tens of billions of dollars to support energy-efficiency regulations, technologies and policies. http://phys.org/news290766850.html Technology - Energy & Green Tech 2013-06-18T09:34:19-07:00 A million electric cars could be on roads across North America before the end of the decade with the help of research by the United States Department of Energy, Los Alamos National Laboratory and the University of Waterloo. http://phys.org/news290759259.html Technology - Energy & Green Tech 2013-06-18T08:00:01-07:00 To make a building sustainable, taking into account its climatic conditions is key. No better examples than the three showcase buildings under the EU funded DIRECTION project. They are based in Munich, Germany and Valladolid, Spain, and a third is in planning in Bolzano, Italy. Each has to deal with very different climate conditions and yet meet the challenge of being sustainable through different means. José Luis Alfranca, who is the head of installation services at the Spanish construction company DRAGADOS, in Madrid, and one of the project partners, talks about the relevance of tailoring the buildings for variable climate and weather conditions. http://phys.org/news290758571.html Technology - Energy & Green Tech 2013-06-18T07:16:37-07:00 A single advanced building control now in development could slash 18 percent – tens of thousands of dollars – off the overall annual energy bill of the average large office building, with no loss of comfort, according to a report by researchers at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. http://phys.org/news290748391.html Technology - Energy & Green Tech 2013-06-18T04:26:48-07:00 The plane parked outside the airport looks more like a giant exotic insect or maybe an outsized toy. http://phys.org/news290710614.html Technology - Energy & Green Tech 2013-06-17T18:10:01-07:00 (Phys.org) —You can always find some new story about the hunt for alternative power sources that involve ways to harness solar power. The SunPartner Group may not have found the single magic bullet that can get us to walk away from batteries, chargers and wall outlets for good, but they are getting various manufacturers to show interest in their idea. SunPartner is a small company in Aix-en-Provence, France, They propose a low-cost transparent panel that can use solar power to charge phones and other mobile devices. The panel is undergoing tests with a number of manufacturers. http://phys.org/news290587578.html Technology - Energy & Green Tech 2013-06-16T08:40:01-07:00 A solar-powered plane nearing the close of a cross-continental journey landed at Dulles International Airport outside the nation's capital early Sunday, only one short leg to New York remaining on a voyage that opened in May. http://phys.org/news290586405.html Technology - Energy & Green Tech 2013-06-16T07:26:54-07:00 Pilot Andre Borschberg oversaw the construction of a solar plane that can fly through the night, but these days the entrepreneur is more concerned with the limits of man than of technology. http://phys.org/news290442686.html Technology - Energy & Green Tech 2013-06-14T15:31:34-07:00 With up to 70 percent of used tyres ending up in landfills, there is an opportunity to find other ways of recycling this material, and in turn reduce the environmental damage. The EU-funded TyGRE project set out to find a use for Europe's tyre waste - estimated to be three million tonnes a year. http://phys.org/news290417809.html Technology - Energy & Green Tech 2013-06-14T11:33:46-07:00 A French plan to set up wind turbines near the site of the D-Day landings that changed the course of World War II has enraged many who say it desecrates the memory of the liberators. http://phys.org/news290418019.html Technology - Energy & Green Tech 2013-06-14T11:33:45-07:00 The single-person, solar-powered Solar Impulse aircraft departed St. Louis, Missouri early Friday en route to Cincinnati and then the US capital, organizers said. http://phys.org/news290417974.html Technology - Energy & Green Tech 2013-06-14T08:39:39-07:00 In an EU-funded project the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB in Stuttgart is developing, together with industrial and scientific partners, a modular system to purify dairy wastewater electrochemically. Using an integrated fuel cell, the generated hydrogen will be recovered to supply power to the system. http://phys.org/news290417504.html Technology - Energy & Green Tech 2013-06-14T08:35:21-07:00 The electricity from our sockets could soon come from a high-tech device flying in the sky. The innovative research project to generate wind energy with the aid of a kite won over the "Venture Kick" jury; it is providing CHF 10,000 of support for the Empa spin-off "TwingTec". http://phys.org/news290417298.html Technology - Energy & Green Tech 2013-06-14T08:28:25-07:00 Sharp Corporation has achieved the world's highest solar cell conversion efficiency of 44.4%, using a concentrator triple-junction compound solar cell. These solar cells are used in a lens-based concentrator system that focuses sunlight on the cells to generate electricity. http://phys.org/news290417252.html Technology - Energy & Green Tech 2013-06-14T08:27:42-07:00 The European Commission has taken a first step to ensure Germany's giant auto industry switches to a new air conditioning coolant deemed to be more environment friendly, a senior official said on Thursday. http://phys.org/news290359698.html Technology - Energy & Green Tech 2013-06-13T16:28:29-07:00 The European Commission called for stress tests every six years on the dozens of nuclear reactors operating in the European Union as it issued new safety rules in the wake of Japan's Fukushima disaster. http://phys.org/news290354262.html Technology - Energy & Green Tech 2013-06-13T15:20:01-07:00 According to VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, the lighting systems of the future could be multi-purpose devices not dissimilar to smart phones. In the future, lighting will not just allow us to see but could also be used to survey surroundings, transmit information, reflect moods and make our lives more comfortable. Smart lighting could also save as much as 80 per cent of energy compared to traditional lighting solutions. As more applications become available, the smart lighting industry will also be revolutionised. In addition to lighting, businesses could soon begin to offer their customers smart applications and comprehensive service concepts. http://phys.org/news290329183.html Technology - Energy & Green Tech 2013-06-13T08:30:01-07:00 A dramatic drop in the price of solar power technology last year helped the continued growth of renewable energy, according to a U.N.-backed report published Wednesday. http://phys.org/news290270034.html Technology - Energy & Green Tech 2013-06-12T16:00:01-07:00 A University of California, Riverside professor in the Chemical and Environmental Engineering Department edited a recently published book that provides in-depth information on aqueous processing of cellulosic biomass, which includes wood, grasses, and agricultural and forestry residues, for conversion into fuels. http://phys.org/news290269634.html Technology - Energy & Green Tech 2013-06-12T15:28:29-07:00 For only the second time since 2006, global investments in renewable energy in 2012 failed to top the year before, falling 12% mainly due to dramatically lower solar prices and weakened US and EU markets. http://phys.org/news290248850.html Technology - Energy & Green Tech 2013-06-12T09:42:23-07:00 (Phys.org) —A six-month study conducted by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and Northwestern University with funding from Google has found that moving common software applications used by 86 million U.S. workers to the cloud could save enough electricity annually to power Los Angeles for a year. The study is summarized in a report is issued today. http://phys.org/news290247615.html Technology - Energy & Green Tech 2013-06-12T09:20:28-07:00