Low-Cost Battery Triples Driving Range of Electric Cars

The new batteries, which are expected to be commercialised in a year's time, can also double the running life of laptops, smartphones and tablets, according Dr Qichao Hu, lead developer of the device. He collaborated with Donald Sadoway, a battery expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Sadoway said that Li-ion batteries are expensive and run down too fast. They account for as much as 30 per cent of the cost in electric vehicles. In addition, there have to be temperature control systems in place to prevent them from overheating or catching fire.

The new component, Hu said, can safely operate at a wide range of temperatures, does not need the costly cooling systems and is about 20 per cent less expensive than current generation batteries. With this innovation, EVs can become more affordable in the near future, helping them to become widely adopted by consumers.

The report added that U.S. experts confirmed that prototype cells of the new battery are capable of storing energy more than twice as much as conventional ones do. The secret is an ultra-thin metal anode with higher energy density than the graphite and silicon anodes used in current Li-ion batteries. The novel component also utilises safer electrolyte materials.

Hu plans to have his company, SolidEnergy, commercialise the new battery and bring it into production for consumer electronics in the first half of 2016 and in electric cars by the second half of the same year.

Community-Scale Photovoltaic-Powered Electrodialysis Desalination Systems for Indian Villages

Photovoltaic-powered electrodialysis (PV-ED) is justified as an energy- and cost-effective means of desalinating groundwater in rural India, and the design requirements are presented for a village-level system.

Saline groundwater, which underlies 60% of India, can negatively impact health as well as cause a water source to be discarded because of its taste.

A quarter of India's population live in villages of 2000–5000 people, many of which do not have reliable access to electricity. Most village-scale, on-grid desalination plants use reverse osmosis (RO), which is economically unviable in off-grid locations.

Here researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology justify photovoltaic-powered electrodialysis (PV-ED) as an energy- and cost-effective means of desalinating groundwater for inland villages in rural India. They also present the design requirements for a village-level system.

Technical and ethnographic factors are used to develop an argument for PV-ED for rural locations, including:

• system capacity
• biological and chemical contaminant removal
• water aesthetics
• recovery ratio
• energy source
• economics of water provision
• maintenance, and the
• energetic and cost considerations of available technologies.

Within the salinity range of groundwater in India, ED requires less specific energy than RO (75% less at 1000 mg/L, and 30% less at 3000 mg/L). At 2000 mg/L, this energetic scaling translates to a 50% lower PV power system cost for ED versus RO.

Thus PV-ED has the potential to greatly expand the reach of desalination units for rural India.

First Commercial ‘Green’ Hydrogen Refueling Facility Opens in UK

he UK’s first commercial-scale, solar-powered hydrogen production and refueling facility has been opened at the Honda car manufacturing site in Swindon. Hydrogen for vehicles and a building: The publicly accessible station employs hydrogen fueling technology supplied by BOC, a member of The Linde Group. It serves the world’s first hybrid vans running on sustainable biodiesel and hydrogen, the UK’s first fuel cell powered forklift trucks, and a fuel cell powered Education Centre on the site. The new facility has been integrated into the existing hydrogen refueling station, which opened in September 2011. It is hoped that this facility will be a benchmark for other refueling stations to follow, as well as reinforce the UK’s attractiveness as a location for major car manufacturers to roll out fuel cell electric vehicles. 

Celebrated Waste Recycling Service Coming to Nagpur

Realizing that most people would prefer to recycle their waste if the process was easier and less time-consuming, Bhopal-based engineering students Anurag Asathi and Probin Kumar have started a web-based service that allows people to sell off the scrap and ensure it is recycled. The process begins by visiting the portal set up by the two youngsters called www.thekabadiwala.com. Customers have to fill up a form and make a request to collect specified items from their place at the time convenient for them. 

There is also a provision that allows one to keep track of what happened to the scrap they sold off. The service has gained much popularity in several towns of Madhya Pradesh since it began in February 2013. It would now also be available in the city as the start-up is being incubated by city-based firm Lemon Ideas.

Nanoparticle Technology Triples the Production of Biogas

Researchers of the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), a Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence, and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) have developed the new BiogàsPlus, a technology which allows increasing the production of biogas by 200% with a controlled introduction of iron oxide nanoparticles to the process of organic waste treatment. The development of BiogàsPlus was carried out by the ICN2's Inorganic Nanoparticle group, led by ICREA researcher Víctor Puntes, and by the Group of Organic Solid Waste Composting of the UAB School of Engineering, directed by Antoni Sánchez. 

The system is based on the use of iron oxide nanoparticles as an additive which "feeds" the bacteria in charge of breaking down organic matter. This additive substantially increases the production of biogas and at the same time transforms the iron nanoparticles into innocuous salt. 

In Two Years, Rooftop Solar Will Cost The Same As Grid Electricity

The price of rooftop solar power is falling fast. Just recently, the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory said solar energy prices dropped by up to 19% countrywide in 2013, and by 12% this year. Prices now are 59% lower than what people said they would be back in 2010, showing how rapid the advances have been. In the public mind, solar may still be something that only relatively well-off people can afford (people who have houses and who can afford to finance solar panels either upfront or a long-term lease). But increasingly that idea looks outdated. In a few short years, solar won't be an expensive luxury. It will be cheaper than everything else available.

A game-changing "killer app" may arrive and change the global car market soon as a new lithium-ion battery promises to significantly cut cost and triple the driving range of electric cars, Financial Times reported. The new batteries, which are expected to be commercialised in a year's time, can also double the running life of laptops, smartphones and tablet. Li-ion batteries are expensive and run down too fast. They account for as much as 30 per cent of the cost in electric vehicles. In addition, there have to be temperature control systems in place to prevent them from overheating or catching fire.

Turn Your Bike into a Smart Electric Hybrid

Superpedestrian Inc. recently launched the Copenhagen Wheel, a technology that transforms bicycles into a smart electric hybrid. It is a self-contained unit that includes a motor, batteries, a powerful computer and a dozen sensors, packaged into a sleek red unit. It powers the rider so that cycling great distances and climbing hills becomes effortless. The wheel was initially developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's SENSEable City Lab, in partnership with the City of Copenhagen.