New sensor for measuring electric field strength

Accurately measuring electric fields is important in a variety of applications, such as weather forecasting, process control on industrial machinery, or ensuring the safety of people working on high-voltage power lines. Yet ...

Cattle respond to magnetic fields from power lines

(AP) -- High-voltage power lines mess with animal magnetism. Researchers, who reported last year that most cows and deer tend to orient themselves in a north-south alignment, have now found that power lines can disorient ...

Opinion: Predicting the future of greenhouse gas emissions

With the U.S. federal government finally putting in place a major program to stimulate the decarbonization of our energy economy, news analysis has turned to the practical problems of the transition from fossil fuels. Some ...

Keeping tabs on aging power cables to prevent outages

Switzerland's power grid comprises over 250,000 kilometers of lines. Composed of a transmission and a distribution network, the voltage is gradually reduced from 380,000 to 230 volts enroute to the consumer. The aboveground ...

En route to better transformers

Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have found a way of looking inside the iron core of transformers. Transformers are indispensable in regulating electricity both in industry and in domestic households. The better ...

Five questions on Germany's green energy shift

Germany's 'Energiewende' or energy transition is its biggest infrastructure project of the post-World War II era, and its greatest national challenge since reunification in 1990.

Drone revolution draws near, but big obstacles remain

The drones are coming. Not as flying deliverymen that bring diapers, books or soup cans to your home, a vision put forth by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to much fanfare a little more than a year ago.

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