In the long sprint to find new sources of clean, low-cost power, slow and steady might win the race—the slow-moving water of currents and tides, that is. Just as wind turbines tap into the energy of flowing air to generate ...
Energy & Green Tech
Sep 17, 2013
5
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What happens to renewable energy programs in a country that gets whacked by a full-scale debt crisis, like the one that struck Greece beginning in 2009—do the programs whither and die in the winds of austerity? And how ...
Energy & Green Tech
Aug 14, 2013
2
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Incorporating wind power into existing power grids is challenging because fluctuating wind speed and direction means turbines generate power inconsistently. Coupled with customers' varying power demand, many wind-farm managers ...
Energy & Green Tech
Mar 25, 2013
8
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Chemical batteries power many different mobile electronic devices, but repeated charging and discharging cycles can wear them out. An alternative energy storage device called an ultracapacitor can be recharged hundreds of ...
General Physics
Jul 19, 2012
3
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Despite China's booming economy, many poor individuals continue to use traditional stoves that burn low-grade solid fuels like charcoal and coal. Such stoves generate high levels of indoor air pollution that cause dire health ...
Energy & Green Tech
Jul 3, 2012
0
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With China the largest growing economy in the world, scientists and policymakers alike are keenly interested in the country's increasing use of biomass – instead of polluting and climate-harming fossil fuels – for ...
Energy & Green Tech
Jul 3, 2012
0
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Sea waves are a renewable and inexhaustible resource found in abundance across the planet. But efficiently converting sea wave motion into electrical energy has been challenging, in part due to the difficulty of compensating ...
Energy & Green Tech
Jun 22, 2012
3
0
Depending on the weather, wind turbines can face whispering breezes or gale-force gusts. Such variable conditions make extracting the maximum power from the turbines a tricky control problem, but a collaboration of Chinese ...
Energy & Green Tech
Mar 27, 2012
16
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