Tag: battery industry

They had us at microbial nanowires, but apparently some scientists have been skeptical of research showing that a mud-loving bacteria called Geobacter can produce electricity and conduct it through tiny wires, much in the same way that copper wire conducts electricity. If you can imagine low cost, tunable, biodegradable, self-assembling components for electronic devices, then you can imagine some of

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Compared to the often-clunky infotainment systems of conventional cars, the 17-inch touchscreen in the Tesla Model S is a breath of fresh air. So how did Tesla do it? A teardown of the Tesla Model S computing systems show more in common with smartphones and tablets than your traditional car, and that explains a lot. In less than a decade,

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Solar power news keeps getting better. Stem and Kyocera Solar have joined forces to provide both solar panels and an intelligent energy storage system. Stem says that up to 50% of an energy bill can be based on peak charges. The company’s advanced battery storage and predictive analytics help customers to avoid buying electricity when it is most costly. The

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Projects allocated under South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer programme are taking shape and boosting renewable energy infrastructure in the country. Moncada Energy Group, through its South African subsidiary, has commissioned the largest thin-film solar power project. The Solar Capital De Aar 3 project has a total installed capacity of 85.26 MWp and will supply electricity to Eskom, South

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Arguments and counter-arguments between China and the US over the anti-dumping duties on solar photovoltaic modules continue as China aims to block an attempt by the US Department of Commerce to expand the scope of the duties. The Department of Commerce had earlier asked industry stakeholders to comment on a proposal that would see anti-dumping duties levied on modules assembled

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The new Indian government has delivered on its promise to enhance the solar power capacity addition targets under the ambitious National Solar Mission announcing revised guidelines for capacity allocation. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy recently released revised guidelines for auction of solar photovoltaic power projects with a significant hike in overall capacity. As per the revised target (pdf),

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Elon Musk touting the idea of franchise Tesla dealerships? Sounds about right, doesn’t it? Wait, what? In a rather surprising comment — but I guess he makes those a lot, doesn’t he? — Musk recently noted that as Tesla continues to expand it may need to utilize franchised dealerships, in addition to its Tesla Stores. That’s a bit of a

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A new, somewhat clever means of managing and improving the efficiency of the power grid was recently unveiled by a coalition of some of the world’s largest automakers. To be precise, this new “means” is in fact simply a technology that allows for the direct communication of utility companies and plug-in electric vehicles, via the cloud. That doesn’t sound like

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Many of the programmable logic, microcontroller and microprocessor IC’s on the market require multiple voltage rails for operation. Many interface standards also require various voltages to power transceivers, line drivers, sensors, data converters, etc. In a perfect world, all of these voltages are the same, have wide regulation accuracy requirements and draw very little current. We, however live in the

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Just in case Night of the Living Dead becomes a reality, zombie enthusiasts across the globe are gearing up to plan for the potential zombie apocalypse. The folks at Architects Southwest have devised a fun contest for designers and architects to create a Zombie Safe House. One horrific entry is a self-sustaining vertical farm that uses a zombie-powered energy system,

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