Image: Jan Boedeker

Registration for the ECS Conference on Electrochemical Energy Conversion & Storage with SOFC-XIV is now open. The conference is set to take place this July in Scotland, a fitting venue when looking at the country’s goal of utilizing 100 percent renewable energy by 2020.

In 2012, Scotland pulled 40 percent of its power from renewable resources—a 24 percent increase over 2010.

Scotland is expected to hit the hallway point on the path of obtaining 100 percent renewable this year, making it the perfect platform for some of the top researchers globally in fuel cells and batteries.

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This year is shaping up to be a very green for the American energy sector. U.S. power emissions are expected to fall to a two-decade low in light of the year of “de-carbonization”.

Bloomberg New Energy Finance reports that CO₂ emissions from the power sector should drop to their lowest levels since 1994.

The factors most connect to this decline include:

• The instillation of more renewables than ever before—with around 18 new GW coming online.

• A record year for coal retirements—forecasting 23GW to come offline.

• The burning of more natural gas in 2015 than ever before.

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Just in time for the celebration of Saint Patrick’s Day, a day known for wearing green, we at ECS are making a conscious decision to become more “green” and environmentally friendly.

If you have renewed your ECS membership lately, you may have noticed a recent addition to all our email communications.

PS: Did you know? We are going green! In the era of sustainability, we want to do our part. Membership renewals for 2015 will be paperless. To request a paper invoice, please contact customerservice@electrochem.org.

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By combining green wall technology and solar panels, researchers have been able to generate renewable energy during both night and day.
Image: University of Cambridge

Researchers from Cambridge University have developed what is being considered “the greenest bus shelter” by combining solar power and plant power.

The scope of this project is much more vast than simply powering a bus shelter. Researchers are looking at this development as a possible answer to affordable power generation solutions for developing countries.

“To address the world’s energy needs, we need a portfolio of many different technologies, and it’s even better if these technologies work in synergy,” said Dr. Paolo Bombelli of Cambridge University’s Department of Biochemistry.

The bus shelter has the potential to power itself during both night and day times by harvesting the natural electron by-product of photosynthesis and metabolic activity, thus creating electrical current.

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Offshore wind farms in the United States have been met with a lot of resistance. While countries such as Europe have roughly 2,488 off shore wind turbines up and running, America has none.

Cape Wind – an initiative in offshore wind farms out of Massachusetts – has been attempting to establish their 130-turbine project for quite some time now, but have not been able to cut through the red tape.

While the outlook for the Cape Wind project appears to be grim, another initiative is rising in the ranks and is determined to get the United States on the offshore wind farm scoreboard.

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Request for Proposals

The Electrochemical Society with Toyota North America
Announces the ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship
for Projects in Green Energy Technology

Proposal Submission Deadline: January 31, 2015

ECS, in partnership with the Toyota Research Institute of North America (TRINA), a division of Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc. (TEMA), is requesting proposals from young professors and scholars pursuing innovative electrochemical research in green energy technology.

Global development of industry and technology in the 20th century, increased production of vehicles and the growing population have resulted in massive consumption of fossil fuels. Today, the automotive industry faces three challenges regarding environmental and energy issues: (1) finding a viable alternative energy source as a replacement for oil, (2) reducing CO2 emissions and (3) preventing air pollution. Although the demand for oil alternatives—such as natural gas, electricity and hydrogen—may grow, each alternative energy source has its disadvantages. Currently, oil remains the main source of automotive fuel; however, further research and development of alternative energies may bring change.

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The Lowline is not just a design project. It’s not just an example of innovative technology. It’s not just an effort to revitalize a community. The Lowline is an example of how science and drive can improve and transform the landscape of modern cities.

If you haven’t yet heard of Lowline, it will essentially be an underground park powered by innovative solar technology located in the 116-year-old abandoned Williamsburg Bridge Trolley Terminal in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

The technology is designed by James Ramsay of Raad Studio, who looks to overcome subterranean limitations with his underground oasis of plants and trees.

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An interdisciplinary team from the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science discovered that using the data storage pattern from a Blu-ray disc improves solar cell performance and that video content doesn’t matter.
Credit: Northwestern University

Since its launch, the Blu-ray disc has been promoted as the bigger, better, and more impressive way to view movies at home. But researchers from Northwestern University are now telling us that Blu-ray discs are good for more than just giving us a better home viewing experience.

An interdisciplinary team from the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University has published research stating that Blu-ray discs can be used to improve the performance of solar cells.

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A new chemical sponge out of the University of Nottingham has the potential to lessen the carbon footprint of the oil industry.

Professor Martin Schröder and Dr. Sihai Yang of the University of Nottingham led a multi-disciplinary team from various institutions, which resulted in the discovery of this novel chemical sponge that separates a number of important gases from mixtures generated during crude oil refinement.

Crude oil has many uses – from fueling cars and heating homes to creating polymers and other useful materials. However, the existing process for producing this fuel has not been as efficient as it could possibly be.

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