Energy, features and articles | Educational Science

May 26, 2014

Drilling Surprise Opens Door to Volcano-Powered Electricity (Op-Ed)

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Can enormous heat deep in the earth be harnessed to provide energy for us on the surface? A promising report from a geothermal borehole project that accidentally struck magma...

May 29, 2014

Every Four Minutes, Another American Home or Business Goes Solar (Op-Ed)

Keya Chatterjee is the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) director of Renewable Energy and Footprint Outreach. This article was adapted from one that appeared on the WWF Climate Blog. Chatterjee contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Every four minutes, another American home or business goes solar....

Jun 5, 2014

Higher Solar-Cell Efficiency Achieved With Zinc-Oxide Coating

Leah Markum is an intern at the University of Arkansas. She contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Cufflink-sized solar cells have a limited capacity to generate electricity because of their lower photocurrent (associated with their smaller short-circuit currents and size). However, by coating tiny cells with...

Jun 24, 2014

Whirling Snowflakes Unmask Turbulent Air on Wind Farms

The way snow dances around wind turbines is shedding light on the mysteries of how air turbulence behaves, a new study reveals. This research could help improve how efficient and reliable wind turbines are, and could yield insights on where to best place wind farms, scientists said. Wind turbines harness...

Jul 22, 2014

Affordable Batteries for Green Energy are Closer than We Think

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. At the heart of the current debate around energy is the question of storage. In cars, how to build batteries that run for hundreds of kilometres; in electricity, storing...

Jul 23, 2014

Clean Energy, Batteries Not Included (Op-Ed)

Sonia Aggarwal is director of strategy at Energy Innovation: Policy and Technology. She contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. People often argue that, without cheaper batteries, more renewable energy can’t be added to the electric grid. But the truth is, there are several options —beyond...

Jul 23, 2014

More Efficient, Durable Solar Cells are Possible Thanks to Glass (Op-Ed)

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Self-cooling, longer lasting and more efficient solar cells are within reach simply by adding a thin layer of glass. A paper published today in the online journal Optica outlines...

Jul 24, 2014

Corporations are Driving the Energy Revolution (Op-Ed)

Marty Spitzer is the director for U.S. Climate and Renewable Energy Policy at WWF. He contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. What can rotary dial telephones, cathode ray tube (CRT) televisions and door-to-door milk delivery teach us about the renewable energy revolution? They show us...

Aug 5, 2014

Gallery: Harnessing the Energy of Ocean Currents

Underwater turbine farm (Image credit: Crowd Energy)A group of scientists and engineers wants to build giant, underwater turbines, which they think could provide a source of limitless clean energy. The Crowd Energy project grew out of a desire to find a source of limitless clean energy, as an alternative to...

Aug 5, 2014

Underwater Ocean Turbines: A New Spin on Clean Energy?

A new technology that harnesses the power of ocean currents could provide a clean and limitless form of renewable energy, some scientists say. A group of scientists and engineers who describe themselves as nerds in wetsuits and flippers has launched a crowdfunding campaign, called Crowd Energy, to do just that....

Aug 12, 2014

Is Recycled Sewage a Water Solution?

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. The amount of water at the Earth’s surface is pretty constant, but in many parts of the developed world we are running out of the right sort of water,...

Aug 28, 2014

Wind Power Has Soared, But is It About to Crash? (Op-Ed)

Kit Kennedy, director of the Energy & Transportation Program at NRDC, contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. For U.S. wind power, last year was both the best of times and the worst of times. That's the conclusion from the new Wind Technologies Market Report released...

Sep 25, 2014

Abu Dhabi to Host First Solar-Powered Flight Around World

The first solar-powered flight around the world will take off from and touch down in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, officials announced today (Sept. 25). In March 2015, pilots Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg plan to make the round-the-world journey in the Solar Impulse 2, an aircraft...

Oct 7, 2014

Green Energy Falters in Ohio (Op-Ed)

Seth Shulman is a senior staff writer at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), a veteran science journalist and author of six books. This op-ed, and Shulman's other Got Science? Columns, can be found on the UCS website. Shulman contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights....

Oct 17, 2014

New Solar Battery Could Generate Cheaper Clean Energy

A new kind of solar cell could store electrical energy without any help from traditional batteries, according to a new study. Researchers at Ohio State University, in Columbus, have developed what they're calling the world's first solar battery — a hybrid device that combines the energy-capturing abilities of a solar...