Tag Energy
New method for bio-designing yeast could improve biofuel production
Both the yeast strain and the method of its design could help overcome a significant bottleneck in the biofuels pipeline.
Power walk: Footsteps could charge mobile electronics
When you’re on the go and your smartphone battery is low, in the not-so-distant future you could charge it simply by plugging it into your shoe.
ExxonMobil, UW–Madison partner on biomass-to-transportation fuel research
The University of Wisconsin–Madison and ExxonMobil have announced a two-year agreement to research the fundamental chemistry of converting biomass into transportation fuels.
Scientists: Harnessing microbes could help solve hunger, health, chemical and energy problems
Tim Donohue, a UW–Madison bacteriology professor and director of the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, joined 17 other scientists from around the world and representing a wide range of disciplines today (Oct. 28, 2015) to lay out a case for an organized approach to harnessing the power of microbes to tackle many of the world’s most pressing problems.
Heavy-duty neutron accelerators paint promising future for UW–Madison spinoff
A Madison manufacturer of the world's most powerful commercial neutron generators is awaiting final regulatory approval for its first sale outside the research market. The device will be used to calibrate safety detectors at nuclear reactors in the United Kingdom.
Discovery of a highly efficient catalyst eases way to hydrogen economy
Hydrogen could be the ideal fuel: Whether used to make electricity in a fuel cell or burned to make heat, the only byproduct is water; there is no climate-altering carbon dioxide.
Holloway named inaugural fellow of AAAS Leshner Leadership Institute
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has named Tracey Holloway, a professor of environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, an inaugural Public Engagement Fellow of the Alan I. Leshner Leadership Institute for Public Engagement with Science for 2016-17.
UW leading $2.6 million effort to improve solar power plants
The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded $2.6 million to a research collaboration led by University of Wisconsin–Madison engineering physics research Professor Mark Anderson that aims to advance the technology of utility-scale concentrating solar power (CSP) plants.
Solar textile collaboration weaves chemistry and design
A new faculty member at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Marianne Fairbanks is bringing decades of experience with dyes, fibers and design to the development of a technology she's been dreaming of for years: the solar textile.
Cages offer new direction in sustainable catalyst design
University of Wisconsin–Madison engineers have developed a new approach to structuring the catalysts used in essential reactions in the chemical and energy fields. The advance offers a pathway for industries to wean themselves off of platinum, one of the scarcest metals in the earth's crust.
Fueled by nanoparticles, new catalyst does more with less platinum
Platinum is a highly reactive and in-demand catalyst across the chemical and energy industries, but a team of University of Wisconsin–Madison and Georgia Institute of Technology scientists could reduce the world's dependence on this scarce and expensive metal.
Bacterial boost makes biofuel production more efficient
A team of investigators at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Michigan State University have created a process for making the work environment less toxic - literally - for the organisms that do the heavy lifting in the increasingly important field of bio-products derived from cellulosic biomass.
New nanogenerator harvests power from rolling tires
A group of University of Wisconsin–Madison engineers and a collaborator from China have developed a nanogenerator that harvests energy from a car's rolling tire friction.
Fourth UW–Madison MOOC of 2015 explores big-picture energy questions
The debate over energy consumption and its consequences is constantly evolving, whether the subject is fossil fuels or renewables. The Massive Open Online Course “Energy and the Earth” will give thousands of people an online forum in which to explore these topics.
‘My Earth’ energy-tracking app encourages sustainable behaviors
For a generation motivated by technology and fast-moving information, a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison has created an energy-tracking app to make reducing day-to-day energy usage more accessible.
Better battery imaging paves way for renewable energy future
In a move that could improve the energy storage of everything from portable electronics to electric microgrids, University of Wisconsin–Madison and Brookhaven National Laboratory researchers have developed a novel X-ray imaging technique to visualize and study the electrochemical reactions in lithium-ion rechargeable batteries containing a new type of material, iron fluoride.
Plowing prairies for grains: Biofuel crops replace grasslands nationwide
Clearing grasslands to make way for biofuels may seem counterproductive, but University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers show in a study today (April 2, 2015) that crops, including the corn and soy commonly used for biofuels, expanded onto 7 million acres of new land in the U.S. over a recent four-year period, replacing millions of acres of grasslands.
UW and M-WERC expand Wisconsin’s energy industry
Researchers at the Wisconsin Energy Institute (WEI) at the University of Wisconsin–Madison are developing an industry partnership that promises to create jobs here in Wisconsin.
Researchers develop new approach that combines biomass conversion, solar energy conversion
In a study published March 9 in Nature Chemistry, University of Wisconsin–Madison chemistry Professor Kyoung-Shin Choi presents a new approach to combine solar energy conversion and biomass conversion, two important research areas for renewable energy.