Electricity

Toyota and Honda recently started testing a fuel-cell bus designed as a mobile power source for disaster relief. Now Nissan has driven out an emergency response vehicle based on its Leaf electric car that will also provide emergency power.

A surprisingly simple new energy storage system is built on blocks that store thermal energy like melted chocolate chips in a muffin. The team says they’re efficient, scalable, safe, inexpensive, and can be used in existing coal-fired power plants.

When disaster strikes, the power often goes out, and it may be a good while before it's restored. Toyota and Honda start testing the Moving e system this month, a fuel cell bus designed to serve as a mobile power source for disaster relief.

A Scottish company called Gravitricity has now broken ground on a demonstrator facility for a creative new system that stores energy in the form of “gravity” by lifting and dropping huge weights.

Yesterday we covered the news that New Zealand's second-largest electricity distributor has signed a deal with startup Emrod to trial long-range wireless power transmission. Today we follow up with an interview with Emrod's founder, Greg Kushnir.

A new type of hybrid solar energy converter can use energy from the Sun to create both electricity and steam. The device reportedly has high efficiency and runs at low cost, allowing industry to make use of a wider spectrum of solar energy.

Making biofuel from algae is showing promise as a green energy source, but it does create large amounts of toxic wastewater. Now, researchers in Australia have found a way to clean up that wastewater, with a simple and scalable electrical process.

Scientists have long hoped to give plastic conductive properties by adding extra materials, and one team of researchers has now put forward a promising possibility its hoped could find uses in large touchscreens or window-mounted solar cells.

When it comes to regular photovoltaic panels, the fewer shadows that are cast upon them, the better. An experimental new device, however, actually generates electricity via the contrast between shadows and light on its surface.

Bacteria that produce their own electricity could be useful in batteries, but so far, attempts have been inefficient. A new “biohybrid” system is built around a hydrogel and can support the microbes while effectively collecting their energy.

We've already heard about so-called "fog harps" that use thin wires to collect airborne water droplets, providing drinking water. Well, an experimental new device also uses wires to capture water vapor, although it proceeds to generate electricity.

Rolls-Royce has announced that it plans to build, install, and operate up to 15 mini-nuclear reactors in Britain that can be mass-produced in factories and assembled on site, with the first set to go online in nine years.