Cleantech and Environmental News – Latest Headlines

RSS Subscribe to our Cleantech News feed

Greener engine designs from advanced predictive tools

The development of combustion engines is under increasingly stringent constraints with regard to fuel efficiency and emissions. Advanced modelling tools will help meet performance objectives starting from the early phases of design.

Nov 19th, 2013

Read more

Making greenhouses greener

The EU-funded 'Efficient use of input in protected horticulture' (EUPHOROS) project was established to develop a greenhouse system that does not rely on fossil fuels.

Nov 19th, 2013

Read more

Renewable energy from existing high-rise buildings

The 'Resource and cost-effective integration of renewables in existing high-rise buildings' (COST-EFFECTIVE) project developed five new facade components and systems. Each system was customised according to the building under consideration, taking into consideration size, wind load and safety barrier function.

Nov 19th, 2013

Read more

Converting natural gas to liquid transportation fuels via biological organisms

Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories will use their expertise in protein expression, enzyme engineering and high-throughput assays as part of a multiproject, $34 million effort by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) aimed at developing advanced biocatalyst technologies that can convert natural gas to liquid fuel for transportation.

Nov 19th, 2013

Read more

Connecting generations: Meeting the energy challenge

Securing affordable energy supplies, changing the energy mix towards a more sustainable and renewable portfolio, as well as providing energy to those who currently have no access ranks high on the global agenda. In order to discuss these issues as part of Swiss Re's 150-year anniversary event series 'connecting generations', Swiss Re organised a small conference entitled 'Meeting the energy challenge'.

Nov 18th, 2013

Read more

Intelligent energy: the future of power in Europe

The EU-funded IURBAN project, which kicked off in October 2013, aims to develop an intelligent tool that gives consumers greater control of their energy use and energy suppliers greater flexibility in providing the energy needed.

Nov 15th, 2013

Read more

New approach advances wireless power transfer for electric vehicles

Engineering researchers have developed new technology and techniques for transmitting power wirelessly from a stationary source to a mobile receiver - moving engineers closer to their goal of creating highway stations that can recharge electric vehicles wirelessly as the vehicles drive by.

Nov 14th, 2013

Read more

Lignin-feasting microbe holds promise for biofuels

Nature designed lignin, the tough woody polymer in the walls of plant cells, to bind and protect the cellulose sugars that plants use for energy. For this reason, lignin is a major challenge for those who would extract those same plant sugars and use them to make advanced biofuels. As part of their search for economic ways to overcome the lignin challenge, researchers have characterized the enzymatic activity of a rain forest microbe that breaks down lignin essentially by breathing it.

Nov 13th, 2013

Read more

Solar cells utilize thermal radiation

Thermal radiation from the sun is largely lost on most silicon solar cells. Up-converters transform the infrared radiation into usable light, however. Researchers have now for the first time successfully adapted this effect for use in generating power.

Nov 13th, 2013

Read more

New design tools for the deployment and improvement of ocean energy arrays

The DTOcean (Optimal Design Tools for Ocean Energy Arrays) initiative will allow a suite of design tools to be developed for the deployment of ocean energy arrays. These tools will be contributing towards open-sea demonstration in ocean energy arrays of the technologies for capturing ocean current energies and wave energies.

Nov 13th, 2013

Read more

Improving analysis of greenhouse gas emissions

The Centre for Carbon Measurement at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is partnering with Astrium Services to deliver a new emissions measurement service to enable countries and cities to better quantify their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Nov 13th, 2013

Read more