Recently in Technology Category

This might be a real shot in the arm for solar electric technology.

MIT has developed a hybrid photovoltaic/electrolysis system that may make it possible to generate electricity around the clock.

A liquid catalyst was added to water before electrolysis to achieve what the researchers claim is almost 100-percent efficiency. When combined with photovoltaic cells to store energy chemically, the resulting solar energy systems could generate electricity around the clock, the MIT team said.

Currently, MIT is working with photovoltaic cell manufacturers to incorporate electrolysis using their catalyst into solar energy systems. By combining the two, excess capacity during the day could be stored as hydrogen and oxygen, then used in fuel cells at night when needed.

One of the biggest problems with photovoltaic systems has been a means of efficiently storing excess power generated during the day. While batteries have been the primary means of doing so, they aren't nearly efficient enough and need to be replaced on a regular basis in order to maintain system efficiency. But if the excess power can be used to electrolyze water, splitting it into hydrogen and oxygen, and the hydrogen stored in a low pressure system, the hydrogen can then be used to generate electricity in a fuel cell when the sun goes down.

MIT's system greatly reduces the cost of the electrolysis equipment while at the same time increasing the electrolysis efficiency to almost 100%.

This is but one more step towards affordable and efficient solar energy systems.

I've been playing around with a new search engine called Cuil (pronounced "cool"), developed by a husband and wife team who formerly worked for Google. Their search engine does not prioritize the hits on a search by popularity, making it quite a bit different than Google. So far I like what I see, though it will take me a little while to get used to the differences from Google.

Give it a try.

Is it possible the transition to digital television in the US will be halted due to a lawsuit filed by a consumer electronics manufacturer?

Samsung, one of many makers of television sets and other consumer electronics claims, a number of their patents have been infringed indirectly by the Advanced Television Systems Committee, or ATSC, in the United States. I find it interesting, considering Samsung's patents are part of the patent pool incorporated into the America digital TV standard, meaning Samsung was part of the consortium that helped develop the ATSC standard.

Seems like it's a little late to say "We've changed our minds!"

Samsung's suit is directed towards Polaroid Corporation and Westinghouse Digital Electronics.

Should they succeed, it could mean that the digital TV transition could be stopped cold, leaving millions of consumers as well as broadcasters stuck in the middle.

Frankly, the timing of the suit seems a little suspicious to me.

What if one of the answers to our energy problems turns out to be nothing more than a fancy ink jet printer?

Researchers at Colorado State University have been using an ink jet printer to deposit materials on a substrate in order to create what has been called a photoelectrolytic solar cell. Rather than generating electricity when sunlight strikes the cell, the photoelectrolytic cell generates hydrogen by splitting water atoms into its constituent elements. The hydrogen released could be collected and stored for use by a fuel cell or hydrogen burning internal combustion engine.

To be practical, a solar-photoelectrolytic material must not only split water efficiently, but should have a bandgap that is not so large that it prevents most of the solar spectrum from being absorbed; the material should also operate stably for many years in harsh sunlight. The CSU group believes that a nanostructured oxide semiconductor will be the ultimate practical material; it will be deposited on the backside of a glass substrate--allowing for back illumination, which reduces scattering of sunlight. The material, they also believe, will contain multiple metals that, when added together, will create stability, high absorption, and efficient catalysis.

Such a system could be a more efficient way to store solar energy than batteries, such as is done now. It might also be able to generate enough hydrogen to fuel the family automobile, something that should appeal to just about everyone that drives.

Let's hope the folks at CSU succeed in their efforts.

Hmm. I wonder how easy it would be to retrofit my boat for hydrogen tanks, a fuel cell, and that big honkin' electric motor I've had my eye on....