Virginia Tech

Development of energy dense sugar battery

A research team has developed a battery that runs on sugar and has an unmatched energy density, a development that could replace conventional batteries with ones that are cheaper, refillable, and biodegradable.

Study on jellyfish energy consumption to improve robotic designs

Researchers are part of a national study that has cracked how jellyfish move with the lowest cost of transport of any animal.

Hydrogen fuel production could revolutionize alternative energy market

A team of Virginia Tech researchers has discovered a way to extract large quantities of hydrogen from any plant, a breakthrough that has the potential to bring a low-cost, environmentally friendly fuel source to the world.

Progress with autonomous robotic jellyfish

Virginia Tech College of Engineering researchers are working on a multi-university, nationwide project for the U.S. Navy that one day will put life-like autonomous robot jellyfish in waters around the world.

Researchers hope to reap benefits of energy harvesting

University of Texas at Dallas researchers and their colleagues at other institutions are investigating ways to harvest energy from such diverse sources as mechanical vibrations, wasted heat, radio waves, light and even movements of the human body.

Advanced wind blade

A project that could fundamentally change the way wind blades are designed, manufactured and installed.

Friction could charge mobile phones

Researchers at Georgia Tech have created a device that takes advantage of static electricity to convert movement—like a phone bouncing around in your pocket—into enough power to charge a cell phone battery.

Self powered robot jellyfish

Researchers at The University of Texas at Dallas and Virginia Tech have created an undersea vehicle inspired by the common jellyfish that runs on renewable energy and could be used in ocean rescue and surveillance missions.

Highlights of the IWPMA conference, Virginia Tech, 8-10 August

Professor Ray Baughman from the University of Texas at Dallas discussed in his keynote presentation the bi-scrolled yarns developed by his team.

Paper electronics ready for prime time

The term paper electronics refers to electronic and electric circuits printed onto paper - increasingly both at the same time. Paper electronics has its origins in the screen printing of electrodes onto battery separators for cylindrical batteries and it has been used for conductors and sensors in such things as T-Ink toys and novelties.

Energy harvesting network

The Energy Harvesting Network held its first one-day dissemination event on 7th February 2011 at the IET, Savoy Place, London. The Network is EPSRC-funded, and is for academia, industry and end-users of energy harvesting technology.

Energy Harvesting 2011

Interested in advances in energy harvesting research and development? Want to understand whether or not energy harvesting can address your particular applications? If so then the following event could be a great opportunity to find out more.

New revelations at future of electric vehicles San Jose

The inaugural IDTechEx electric vehicle event in San Diego California was a great success and it will now be repeated annually in three continents.

PST Sensors spin-out launched from Cape Town

PST Sensors (pty) Ltd is a spin-out of the University of Cape Town, initially headed up by Margit Harting and David Britton, to commercialise their printed silicon technology.

Control system for electric aircraft

Bye Energy an integrator of alternative energy technologies is poised to provide the aviation community with a safe, economical, efficient, and quiet, low-emission "green" aircraft propulsion alternative to the internal combustion engine through an electric hybrid propulsion system (EHPS).

Reducing EV weight

The race is on to reduce EV weight with a ground up reappraisal of every structural material and every component and subsystem.

Heavy duty electric land vehicles

There are about 250 manufacturers of heavy industrial vehicles worldwide but most do not make EVs. Between them they will make about 700,000 of these vehicles in 2010.

Wireless electric vehicles

At the unique IDTechEx event, "Future of Electric Vehicles" in San Jose USA December 7-8, these "sea changes" will be tracked by the experts involved in land, air and, yes, seagoing electric vehicles.

Honda ranked greenest among automakers

Honda has been named America's "Greenest Automaker" for the fifth consecutive time by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). The award is earned by the company with the lowest combined score of its smog-forming and greenhouse gas emissions (primarily CO2) in its U.S. automobile fleet.