Energy Harvesting

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The Department of Energy has announced about $6 million in funding for projects that will develop and demonstrate supply chain technologies to deliver commercial-scale lignocellulosic biomass feedstocks to biorefineries across the country.
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Vanderbilt University researches have developed a way to combine Photosystem 1 (PS1), the photosynthetic protein that converts light into electrochemical energy in spinach with silicon (the material used in solar cells), in a fashion that produces substantially more electrical current than has been reported by previous biohybrid solar cells.
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Today there are multiple devices available for harnessing solar energy. Each device offers a different set of characteristics. Wafer-based devices consist of mono or polycrystalline and are the most mature technology due to the experience borrowed from the microelectronics industry.
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Scientists at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Electronics Science and Technology Division, have developed high-band-gap solar cells capable of producing sufficient power to operate electronic sensor systems at water depths of 9 meters.
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Berkeley Lab scientists have developed a way to generate power using harmless viruses that convert mechanical energy into electricity. Their generator is the first to produce electricity by harnessing the piezoelectric properties of a biological material.
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Harnessing solar energy can be as simple as tuning the optical and electronic properties of metal oxides at the atomic level by making an artificial crystal or super-lattice ‘sandwich.’ "Metal oxides can be tailored to meet all sorts of needs, which is good news for technological applications, specifically in energy generation and flat screen displays,” said Louis Piper, assistant professor of physics at Binghamton University.
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University of California, San Diego electrical engineers are building a forest of tiny nanowire trees in order to cleanly capture solar energy and harvest it for hydrogen fuel generation. Nanowires, which are made from abundant natural materials like silicon and zinc oxide, offer a cheap way to deliver hydrogen fuel on a mass scale.
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Power Felt is a new thermoelectric device developed by researchers at the Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials at Wake Forest University. By touching a small piece, body heat is converted into an electrical current.
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The University of Maryland has won top honors at the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2011 by designing, building, and operating the most cost-effective, energy efficient, and attractive solar-powered house. Purdue University took second place followed by New Zealand (Victoria University of Wellington) in third.
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Marlow Industries (Dallas, TX) has introduced the EverGen series of thermoelectric-based energy harvesting devices, offering a zero-maintenance power solution for wireless sensor applications. EverGen thermal energy harvesters power wireless sensors without a battery, reducing replacement costs.
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Engineering researchers Tom Krupenkin and J. Ashley Taylor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have developed a new energy-harvesting technology that could reduce our dependence on batteries and instead capture the energy of human motion to power portable electronics.
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UCLA engineers have created a novel concept for harvesting and recycling energy for electronic devices — one that involves equipping these devices' LCD screens with built-in photovoltaic polarizers, allowing them to convert ambient light, sunlight, and even their own backlight into electricity.
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NASA, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Department of State, and NIKE formed LAUNCH to identify, showcase, and support innovative approaches to global challenges through a series of forums. The LAUNCH: Energy Challenge has begun and focuses on sustainable energy challenges for the developed and developing worlds.
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Nextreme Thermal Solutions (Durham, NC) and Arkansas Power Electronics International, Inc. (APEI) (Fayetteville, AR) are developing a thermal energy harvesting solution for a wireless sensor system to monitor the health of bearings in turbine engines. The energy harvester is based on Nextreme's Thermobility wireless power generation platform and will be integrated into APEI's high-temperature wireless sensor electronics package.
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Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have used small-angle neutron scattering to analyze the structure of chlorosomes in green photosynthetic bacteria. Chlorosomes are efficient at collecting sunlight for conversion to energy, even in low-light and extreme environments.
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University of Illinois engineers have developed a form of ultra-low-power digital memory that is faster and uses 100 times less energy than similar available memory. The technology could give future portable devices much longer battery life between charges.
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Cymbet Corporation (Elk River, MN) has introduced its EnerChip™ EP CBC-EVAL-09 Universal Energy Harvesting evaluation kit. The EVAL-09 supports all types of ambient energy harvesting from light, vibration, thermal gradients, and flow/motion.
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The High Altitude Airship (HAA) has various application potential and mission scenarios that require onboard energy harvesting and power distribution systems. The power technology for HAA maneuverability and mission-oriented applications must come from its surroundings, e.g. solar power.
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Cerium oxide — or ceria — is a common metal most famously used in self-cleaning ovens, and it is the centerpiece of a new technology from California Institute of Technology that concentrates solar energy and uses it to efficiently convert carbon dioxide and water into fuels.
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