Energy in the News
Pink Silicon is the New Black
The Harvard University researchers who first discovered black silicon
are now studying a modified form of the material that has no cones but
exhibits the same unique optoelectronic properties. Because of its
faint coloring, the new stuff is nicknamed pink silicon, although it
can barely be distinguished from a regular silicon wafer...
Read the full story
Understanding materials to make microdevices
In the 1990s, semiconductor companies began to incorporate a wider
variety of materials into the construction of computer chips, selecting
materials based on how they would perform electrically and not
necessarily on how they would stand up to the rigors of the
manufacturing process or continued use...
Read the full story
Harvard, IBM teaming up to look for cheaper source of solar cells
Scientists at Harvard University and IBM are hoping to harness the
power of a million idle computers to develop a new, cheaper form of
solar power that could revolutionize the green energy world...
Read the full story
Professor Daniel Schrag discusses clean coal with BBC/PRI's The World
The words "clean coal" have been uttered a
lot on the campaign trail this year. A number of countries are in the
race to come up with the technology, but as The World's Jason Margolis
reports, an American company may be in the lead...
Listen here
It started with a Harvard physicist acting on a hunch. It ended up producing a new material, called black silicon, that could have a broad impact on technologies ranging from ultrasensitive sensors to photovoltaic cells...
Read the full story
The head of the nation’s largest nuclear power plant owner decried America’s lack of an energy policy Monday night (Oct. 6) and laid out a five-point plan featuring a mix of new regulations and financial incentives for coal, nuclear, and renewable power sources as a way to ‘green’ America’s energy supply...
Read the full story
Professor Ted Betley recognized as "top innovator" for recreating photosynthesis
PROBLEM: Every day, plants,
algae, and bacteria generate more energy than all the world's power
plants, using sunlight to split water into hydrogen and oxygen and then
storing the energy in sugar molecules. Artificial photosynthesis--the
process of using solar power to split water through the creation of
chemical bonds, as plants do--holds promise as a clean, cheap source of
hydrogen to power fuel cells...
Read the full story
Undergraduates develop "dirt-powered" microbial fuel cells to light Africa
A team composed of Harvard students and alumni was among the winners of
the World Bank's Lighting Africa 2008 Development Marketplace
competition, held in Accra, Ghana from May 6 to 8, 2008. The
innovation, microbial fuel cell-based lighting systems suitable for
Sub-Saharan Africa, netted the group a $200,000 prize...
Read the full story
Harvard University research team receives funding to commercialize novel solid oxide fuel cell technology
Harvard University's Office of Technology Development (OTD) and Allied
Minds, a pre-seed investment corporation specializing in early stage
university business ventures, today announced that Allied Minds has
committed $500,000 in SiEnergy Systems, LLC, a new Harvard spin-off
that is commercializing a new solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology
developed at Harvard University's School of Engineering and Applied
Sciences (SEAS)...
Read the full story
Nanowire makes own electricity
Harvard chemists have built a new wire out of photosensitive materials that is hundreds of times smaller than a human hair. The wire not only carries electricity to be used in vanishingly small circuits, but generates power as well...
Read the full story
Have a news item you would like to see posted in this section? Send the article title, a brief description, and a link to full text to jenn_goodman@harvard.edu.
