From the article:

Just a few days ago, the $41 million Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental & Energy Systems (SyracuseCoE), a 55,000 square-foot building designed to LEED Platinum certification, was dedicated. The facility was built to be a living laboratory and platform to showcase technological innovation. Currently, the south facade of the laboratory wing includes a spot to test building envelope and window systems, and it's currently testing this innovative integrated concentrating dynamic solar facade.

The facade system provides electrical power, thermal energy, enhanced daylighting, and reduced solar gain, all at the same time. It was designed by the Center for Architecture Science and Ecology (CASE), which is a research consortium co-hosted by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.

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A new study from NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies has identified on-road transportation as the most significant overall source contributing to global warming. Power generation, while having the greatest total impact, also includes a large number of compounds that increase cloud reflectivity and provide other effects to offset some of the warming they are responsible for.

The study looks at the range of gases and aerosols that are released by each of 13 sectors of the economy, and finds that on-road transportation has the greatest overall effect on global warming.

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Sun Catalytix is out to show that plants are not the only means to efficiently split water into its separate elements -- artificial photosynthesis. In a presentation at the ARPA-E conference (the Advanced Research Projects Agency) Sun Catalytix founder Dan Nocera indicates that the process his company is developing could generate 30 kilowatt hours of electricity with only four hours of sunlight, a bottle of water and a photovoltaic array. The company considers 30 kilowatt hours to be average for 1 home for 1 day.

The 30k assumption aside, I'm curious why the recipe described is so special that they can collect such a large amount of energy. The key to the article seems to be the quantities. As I can not find the original article, just other blogs, I take this with a big grain of salt. Before getting too excited, how big is the solar array and is the bottle of water the water cooler type or one that fits easily in a persons hand? I am curious and want to know more. If I find out more, I will post it.

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Researchers at the University of Michigan have unveiled their latest breakthrough: A tiny solar power system that contains a processor, battery, and solar cells all in 9 cubic millimeters!


The miniature system measures 2.5 by 3.5 by 1 millimeters - 1,000 times smaller than any comparable commercial system. It's extremely energy efficient and the scientists say that it could almost operate perpetually if the battery didn't have to be replaced after many years.

The first thing that comes to mind for me is the monitoring of aging monuments without distracting from their artistic beauty, like the Golden Gate Bridge or others that require maintenance.

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SCiB batteries are useful for a wide range of functions, from electric bicycles and hybrid and electric vehicles, to industrial equipment and renewable energy storage. Toshiba has now opened a US-based technical support center to aid in developing the SCiB, particularly for vehicles, grid storage, and wind and solar power applications.

The SCiB has characteristics that make it very appealing. It performs like an ultracapacitor with rapid charge times, reaching 90% charge in about 5 minutes. It is good for thousands of cycles without extensive capacity loss, and it has a life span of 10 years or more.

With these properties, solar and wind power generation as options for the power grid are actually increased as well as making electric vehicles more enticing. Imagine filling your electric vehicle with power in about 5 minutes, close to the time it takes to fill an average car with gas currently. I see this as a major advancement.