Queensland businesses are being hit with daily service charges of more than $500 a day on their electricity bills, in a move the solar industry says is designed to kill the roll-out of commercial-scale rooftop solar across the state. The charges were quietly unveiled by the Queensland Competition Authority and the state government in July. But their implications are only
Over the course of the next two columns, I plan to finish up the recent look at BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy 2014. The final two columns will focus on renewable energy, and carbon dioxide emissions. Today I want to provide an update on the natural gas picture, as prices declined sharply at the end of July. I have
Reducing the renewable energy target would cost the federal budget about $680 million more to meet Australia’s target of 5% emissions reduction by 2020, according to modelling released today by climate and conservation groups. The modelling found that cutting the RET would increase the profits of coal power stations while boosting the costs for the public through more pollution without
Do you remember Twin Creeks Technologies? The VC-funded startup was attempting to commercialize an ion-implant machine that would allow solar manufacturers to produce super-thin photovoltaic cells from crystalline silicon. It was a wildly ambitious bet, and the company went from unstealthing in early 2012 to having its assets purchased for approximately $10 million by GT Advanced Technologies in late 2012.
Starting a new car company isn’t easy. Given the complexity and cost of cars, buyers are often hesitant to try an unknown quantity. If a car gets even a hint of a reputation for unreliability, that task could turn impossible. Which is why news that a Tesla Model S electric car on long-term test by Edmunds had its drive unit
The research team described their work at the 248th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS). The device works by detecting and responding to lactate, which is naturally present in sweat. Lactate is a very important indicator of how you are doing during exercise, explained Wenzhao Jia, Ph.D. In general, the more intense the exercise, the more
The ultralow-density, ultrahigh surface area bulk material with an interconnected nanotubular makeup could be used in energy storage and conversion, thermal insulation, shock energy absorption and high energy density physics. The three-dimensional nanotubular network architecture developed by the team also opens new opportunities in the fields of energy harvesting, catalysis, sensing and filtration by enabling mass transport through two independent
Energy storage systems are a boon for generators, especially renewable energy generators, as they can regulate their energy supply while maintaining grid discipline. But energy storage systems can be of great advantage to large consumers such as industrial units and commercial buildings to keep their power bills in control. Sharp has launched an energy storage system aimed at large individual
Claimed as the smallest bidirectional 18-V, 5-A protection switches, with high power efficiency, TI intends these devices to be used in portable and adapter-powered devices, and enterprise and client solid state drives (SSDs). TPS25940 and TPS25942 integrated circuits include back-to-back FETs to provide bidirectional current control, while reducing system size by 50% compared to discrete solutions. These smart eFuse ICs
There are growing concerns that new cars, but especially all-electric vehicles, could be extremely vulnerable to hackers with cruel intentions. As the world’s foremost electric car maker, Tesla has a duty to customers past, present, and future to safeguard against would-be hackers. So how do you fight hackers? With hackers. Tesla made news earlier this year when it hired the