Energy Harvesting

This technology is critical for tomorrow's unmanned aerial vehicles, solar cars and other electric vehicles. It can be used to generate substantial power over small surfaces with minimal impact to vehicle design criteria.

This article provides an overview smart windows.

In thermoelectrics TE, there is currently no huge reinvention at the applicational level as with solar roads and windows reinventing photovoltaics or at the technology level as with airborne wind energy reinventing electrodynamic harvesting of wind.

Engineers have developed a thin-film system that can be applied to sources of waste heat to produce energy at levels unprecedented for this kind of technology.

Kinetic energy includes everything from the g-force and vibrations of the ride to the screams of the users. The devices fitted on to the train's carriages capture this energy before converting into electrical energy, which is stored in a power management unit throughout the day. This unit is then removed from the carriages by staff and deposited into the on-site mobile charging point, allowing guests to charge their mobile phone.

Electric cars are seen as the sustainable future of transport. But they are only truly sustainable if the electricity used to charge them comes from sustainable sources and not from fossil fuels.

Researchers have developed a fabric that converts kinetic energy into electric power. The greater the load applied to the textile and the wetter it becomes the more electricity it generates.

Wärtsilä announced that it has delivered the world's largest solar hybrid power plant. Wärtsilä will provide a reliable and sustainable supply of round-the-clock energy which is essential in operating the off-grid gold mine and demonstrate the enormous potential of integrating renewables as the baseload electricity.

A simple potassium solution could boost the efficiency of next-generation solar cells, by enabling them to convert more sunlight into electricity.

Catching a bus in Sydney just got a whole lot smarter, thanks to the new digital bus stops. These intelligent signs run on solar power and have been developed on energy-saving electronic paper technology reports Printed Electronics World.