Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers recently released a study examining the future of the U.S. electric grid.  MIT concluded that developing a modern grid through the anticipation of needed improvements can facilitate the integration of renewable energy resources, accommodate a growing number of electric vehicles, improve resiliency, and enhance efficiency.

The President and his Administration agree on the importance of a modernized grid – and in June the National Science and Technology Council released A Policy Framework for the 21st Century Grid.  The Policy Framework provides a roadmap to ensure that all Americans benefit from investments in the Nation’s electric infrastructure, and it features four policy pillars:

• Enabling cost-effective investments to catalyze the development and deployment of new technologies and infrastructure;

• Unleashing the potential of innovation in the electricity sector through a greater focus on standards and interoperability;

• Empowering consumers and enabling informed decision making by responsibly expanding access to energy usage information;

• Securing the grid from cyber-attacks and improving its recoverability in the event of one.

The Administration is taking a number of concrete steps to put these principles into action, building on the Department of Energy’s $4.5 billion in Recovery Act investments that are improving grid performance across the Nation. For example:

• The Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utility Service is investing up to $250 million in cost-effective smart grid technology in rural America by June 2012.

• To advance flexibility and interoperability within the grid, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released its Draft Standards Framework 2.0 for public comment.

• The Administration has also launched Energy.Data.gov, an open government platform that brings together free high-value datasets and tools, maps,and apps to increase awareness of and deepen insights into our Nation’s energy performance.

• And through its “microgrid” initiatives, the Department of Defense is working to test distributed generation and electricity distribution systems that will help enhance the security and efficiency of military bases both at home and abroad.

To empower consumers and foster innovation, the Administration will continue to promote the common-sense idea that consumers should be able to get access to and download their own energy usage information. That’s why U.S. CTO Aneesh Chopra recently issued the Green Button challenge to industry—and utilities in California are already stepping up.

In a similar spirit, I am excited to see this week’s announcement from the Biggest Energy Saver competition, which challenged electric utility customers in Texas to reduce their energy use. The top 10 percent of consumers cut their electric use by an average of 26 percent – and the grand prize winners in each region won a Chevy Volt.

And finally, the Administration is working to improve the overall quality and timeliness of electric transmission infrastructure permitting through the interagency Rapid Response Team for Transmission.

In his Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future, President Obama outlined a vision for safely and responsibly developing energy supplies while providing consumers with choices to reduce costs and save energy. In addition, as MIT’s new study confirms, modernizing our electric infrastructure is essential to America’s clean energy future.

Article by Nick Sinai, Senior Advisor to the U.S. Chief Technology Officer

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Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) say that replacing flat solar panels with three-dimensional structures could make photovoltaic systems as much as 20 times more effective.

In a series of tests, the researchers found that such 3D structures are able to pick up light even when the sun is at lower angles, and that internal reflections within the 3D panels help increase the amount of captured light.

The structures also can double the number of peak hours of generation. Scientists say even a simple cube shape, open at the top and covered with photovoltaic cells, could produce 3.8 times more power than a flat panel covering the same area. (By comparison, costly solar-tracking mount technology — which moves photovoltaic panels to follow the path of the sun — generates only 1.8 times more energy).

While the more complex structures would be more expensive than typical flat panels, researcher Marco Bernardi says the extra power would compensate for the cost difference.

Article appearing courtesy Yale Environment 360.

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Universities house the future, no one will deny that. Universities house the next generation of thinkers and doers, the ones that will work to make the planet better for the following generations to come. One of the primary universities that is taking clean technology to heart, understanding that its development is key for the future of not just the United States, but the world, is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT as it is more commonly known across the globe. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, MIT is a powerhouse when it comes to clean technology. Below are just ten of the highlights associated with MIT and all it has done for the clean technology sector.

1 ) MIT Clean Energy Prize. The MIT Clean Energy Prize is one of the foremost university competitions in the world that provides applicants with the opportunity to demonstrate new and exceptional ways to effectively make clean energy a cost-effective concept that will bring about positive environmental impacts. Its mission statement says thus, “The MIT Clean Energy Prize will catalyze a new generation of clean energy solutions to meet the world’s energy challenge through innovation and entrepreneurship.” Since established in 2008, this innovation and venture creation competition has aided in the startup of a number of energy ventures, including Covalent Solar and Levant Power.

2 ) Sustainable Design. MIT has long been integrating various innovative systems and technologies into renovations of current buildings and creation of new buildings. This has put the university at the very head of sustainable building. MIT created a number of standards and goals to ensure that all new capital projects as well as renovations earn the LEED Silver Plus certification from the US Green Building Council. Two recent projects, the Brain and Cognitive Sciences Building and the Stata Center are LEED registered and are planning for certification. For example, the Brain and Cognitive Sciences Building uses heat recovery techniques that are incorporated into all HVAC systems, thereby reducing energy consumption.

3 ) MIT Finds New Way to turn Heat from the Sun to Electricity. In May of 2011, a number of MIT researchers and collaborators determined a way to create a high performance, and even less expensive way of creating electricity from the heat of the sun. This new system is able to produce power with a level of efficiency that is approximately eight times higher than what has been reported in the past for solar thermoelectric devices. While this new system cannot substitute current solar photovoltaics, it will be another way to tap into solar energy in an inexpensive fashion.

4 ) Creating New Opportunities in Renewable Energy. MIT understands that developing renewable energy sources to provide power to the campus and all campus operations is crucial for their sustainable energy portfolio. MIT has explored a number of practical, viable options for the development of new innovative projects for renewable energy. For instance, departmental collaboration between Health and Safety, the Environmental Programs Office, Environment, Lab for Energy and the Environment, and the Bates Laboratory are looking at the feasibility associated with installing technology for wind turbine power generation at the Middleton, Massachusetts MIT Bates Laboratory.

5 ) Increase in Solar Photovoltaic Power Systems. Just recently, the MIT Community Solar Power Initiative finished the installation of 25 advanced solar photovoltaic systems throughout the campus as well as the surrounding community. The initiative is supported by a grant given by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative. The three systems on the campus at MIT has led the university to reach a very important milestone – this is the very first large scale renewable power systems that are inter-connected to the power grid at MIT. This project has showcased MITs capabilities in providing renewable energy to the campus in a practical and reliable fashion.

6 ) MIT Receives Recognition for their Energy Programs. In 2011, the energy programs supported by MIT have garnered recognition from two separate organizations. For example, MIT was awarded the 2011 Go Green Award from the City of Cambridge for its numerous campus programs that address climate and energy concerns. As well, the Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnership named the university a Business Leader for its partnership with NSTAR, a local utility provider, in creating the innovative MIT Efficiency Forward program.

7 ) MIT Energy Initiative. The MIT Energy Initiative, abbreviated as MITEI, was created in 2006. It is a campus-wide initiative that was designed to aid in the transformation of the global energy system into one that can meet future energy needs and improve current energy systems for tomorrow. Susan Hockfield, MIT president, said at her inaugural address in relation to the initiative, “[It is] our institutional responsibility to address the challenges of energy and the environment…Tackling the problems that energy and the environment present will require contributions from all our departments and schools…bringing scientists, engineers, and social scientists together to envision the best energy policies for the future.”

8 ) MIT and NSTAR Partner up for an Energy Efficiency Program. In 2010 MIT and NSTAR partnered together to create the MIT Efficiency Forward project to cut electricity use throughout the university by 15 percent in three years. It will be done through new and innovative programs, engagement by the staff, faculty, and students, as well as creating new approaches and technologies throughout MIT. In this three year time span, the university looks to save 34 million kilowatt hours.
“MIT Efficiency Forward will capitalize on one of MIT’s core strengths: the passion of our faculty, staff and students to tackle the world’s most challenging problems,” said MIT President Susan Hockfield. “Through this exciting new program, right here on the MIT campus, we will pursue one of the major opportunities to reduce energy consumption: finding smart, sensible, economic approaches to energy efficiency. Our participation in the program signals that the solutions for today’s climate and energy challenges will come not only from our research laboratories and classrooms, but also from practice-based management innovations.”

9 ) MIT Enhances their Bio-Based Energy Innovations. Recently, MIT has been hosting a new and innovative algae group at the roof of the Central Utility Plant. The algae being used is actually sequestering a portion of emitted carbon dioxide coming from the emission stream at the power plant. The algae also removes some of the nitrogen oxides, also known for polluting. The algae feeds on the carbon dioxide as well as the other pollutants, producing a type of biomass that may be converted into a number of biofuels, including biodiesel.

10 ) Turning MIT into a Learning Laboratory. A lot of MIT’s operations, including transportation fleets, systems for power generation, programs for recycling, and the building initiatives provide great opportunities to test and study new energy and environmental solutions. For instance, the Education Program of the Laboratory for Energy and the Environment and the Environmental Programs Office teamed together to develop the Campus Sustainability UROP program. This program looks to increase educational involvement of all MIT undergraduate in terms of sustainability initiatives throughout the campus.

Article by Shawn Lesser, Co-founder & Managing Partner of Atlanta-based Watershed Capital Group – an investment bank assisting sustainable fund and companies raise capital, perform acquisitions, and in other strategic financial decisions. He is also a Co-founder of the GCCA Global Cleantech Cluster Association ”The Global Voice of Cleantech”. He writes for various cleantech publications and is known as the David Letterman of Cleantech for his “Top 10″ series. He can be reached at shawn@watershedcapital.com

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Researchers at MIT have designed a device the size of a U.S. quarter that harvests energy from low-frequency vibrations, such as those that might be felt along a pipeline or bridge. The tiny energy harvester — known technically as a microelectromechanical system, or MEMS — picks up a wider range of vibrations than current designs, and is able to generate 100 times the power of devices of similar size.

“There are wireless sensors widely available, but there is no supportive power package,” says Sang-Gook Kim, a professor of mechanical engineering at MIT and co-author of the paper. “I think our vibrational-energy harvesters are a solution for that.”

The motivation behind the research is to overcome one limit that wireless sensors, which are ubiquitous across several industries, face: power. Their batteries need regular changes. In order to do away with them, researchers are trying to tap electricity from low-power sources such as vibrations from swaying bridges, humming machinery and rumbling foot traffic. These could replace batteries, MIT says.

How to do that is the question. MIT says the most common way to go about it is to use piezoelectric materials such as quartz and other types of crystals. Piezo means in Greek to squeeze or press and these materials naturally accumulate electric charge in response to mechanical stress. So far these materials have been exploited with tiny MEMS devices that generate small amounts of power.

One approach that has been tried is to use a small microchip with layers of PZT glued to the top of a tiny cantilever beam, which will move up and down like a wobbly diving board when exposed to vibrations. The beam bends and stresses the PZT layers, and the stressed material builds up an electric charge, which can be picked up by arrays of tiny electrodes. The problem with this approach is that the beam has its own resonant frequency and its wobbling response drops off outside of this frequency. As a consequence, so does the amount of power that can be generated.

“In the lab, you can move and shake the devices at the frequencies you want, and it works,” says co-author Arman Hajati, who conducted the work as a PhD student at MIT. “But in reality, the source of vibration is not constant, and you get very little power if the frequency is not what you were expecting.”

Researchers have dealt with the problem by taking a “power in numbers” approach. They simply increased the number of cantilever beams and PZT layers occupying a chip. But it’s expensive and wasteful.

“In order to deploy millions of sensors, if the energy harvesting device is $10, it may be too costly,” says Kim, who is a member of MIT’s Microsystems Technology Laboratories. “But if it is a single-layer MEMS device, then we can fabricate the device for less than $1.”

Kim and Hajati’s solution is a design that increases the device’s frequency range (or bandwidth), while maximizing the power density, or energy generated per square centimeter of the chip. Instead of taking a cantilever-based approach, they engineered a microchip with a small bridge-like structure that’s anchored to the chip at both ends. The researchers deposited a single layer of PZT to the bridge, placing a small weight in the middle of it.

During several tests carried out, the researchers found the device was able to respond not just at one specific frequency, but also at a wide range of other low frequencies. They calculated that the device was able to generate 45 microwatts of power with just a single layer of PZT, which represents an improvement of two orders of magnitude compared to current designs.

The results of the research appeared in the Aug. 23 online edition of Applied Physics Letters.

Article by Antonio Pasolini, a Brazilian writer and video art curator based in London, UK. He holds a BA in journalism and an MA in film and television.

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Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are developing a new battery technology that they say would significantly reduce the size of electric car battery systems and potentially double the range of electric vehicles.

The technology uses a type of semi-solid flow cell system, in which the battery electrodes take the form of tiny particles suspended in liquid electrolyte, a mixture nicknamed “Cambridge crude.”

Two streams of that slurry-like compound — one positively charged, the other negatively charged — are then pumped through the system, causing the exchange of lithium ions across a permeable membrane that triggers an external current.

Critically, while most standard battery systems consist largely of materials that provide structural support but no power, researchers say this system puts more of the materials to work.

Lead researcher Yet-Ming Chiang says the power-per-unit potential will be 10 times greater than conventional designs. Also, drivers looking to recharge their batteries would have the option of replacing spent slurry or re-charging the slurry with an electric current.

Article appearing courtesy Yale Environment 360.

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Lithium-ion batteries are everywhere these days. From cellphones to electric cars, they dominate the market for rechargeable devices. One of the main challenges faced by the electric vehicle industry is related to the energy density of electric car batteries.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) say they have found a way to improve the energy density of a type of battery known as lithium-air or lithium-oxygen. The promise is that it could pack several times more energy per pound than lithium-ion batteries that currently dominate the market.

Last year, researchers had demonstrated that lithium-air batteries showed improved efficiency with catalysts based on noble metal. Now they have found they can further improve it by creating carbon-fiber-based electrodes that are substantially more porous than other carbon electrodes.

This means they can store the solid oxidized lithium that fills the pores more efficiently as the battery discharges.

“We grow vertically aligned arrays of carbon nanofibers using a chemical vapor deposition process. These carpet-like arrays provide a highly conductive, low-density scaffold for energy storage,” explained Robert Mitchell, co-author of the paper. “We were able to create a novel carpet-like material – composed of more than 90 percent void space – that can be filled by the reactive material during battery operation,” said Yang Shao-Horn, a senior author of the paper.

Article by Antonio Pasolini, a Brazilian writer and video art curator based in London, UK. He holds a BA in journalism and an MA in film and television.

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MIT researchers have developed a method for producing photovoltaic cells on paper and fabric.

Innovative solar technologies are popping up at a staggering rate. Last week MIT announced a new method for producing PV cells that’s compares in price and simplicity to printing photos at home. Developed by a team of MIT researchers and financed by the Eni-MIT Alliance Solar Frontiers Program and the National Science Foundation, this solar film allows for solar collection on the go.

Special “inks” deposited as an array of rectangles on a foldable paper sheet is all that is required to collect power from the sun. This method of production limits the need for harsh chemicals or high temperatures, allowing the use of fine materials such as paper and fabric.

Five layers of material are “printed” onto one sheet via repetitive passes, all done within a vacuum chamber. MIT reported that the cells can also be printed on PET plastic and the film can be folded up to 1,000 times without any loss of functionality.

“We have demonstrated quite thoroughly the robustness of this technology,” Bulović says. In addition, because of the low weight of the paper or plastic substrate compared to conventional glass or other materials, “we think we can fabricate scalable solar cells that can reach record-high watts-per-kilogram performance. For solar cells with such properties, a number of technological applications open up,” he says.

Although the printed cells currently only have an efficiency rate of 1%, the cost effectiveness of using a cheap substrate (paper compared to the glass traditionally used for PV panels) provides an affordable option for solar energy collection. MIT researchers believe with further testing and research they will be able to improve the efficiency rate, but for now the printed cells will be limited to powering small electronic devices.

Article by Karen MacKay, appearing courtesy Crisp Green.

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The U.S. could cut its carbon dioxide emissions by 8 percent, almost half of the country’s unofficial 2020 emissions reduction goal, by increasing use of natural gas plants, according to a new M.I.T. report.

The report, “The Future of Natural Gas,” found that taking coal-fired power plants offline and ramping up natural gas plants is “the lowest cost way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to 50 percent.”

Released Thursday, the M.I.T. Energy Initiative study deals principally with the fuel’s future in the U.S. It follows close on the heels of a study of global gas by the International Energy Agency which asked in its title, “Are We Entering A Golden Age of Natural Gas?”

Both studies conclude that abundant natural gas, particularly “unconventional” gas locked in shale rock formations, will assume a critical position in the global energy mix.

“There’s a lot of gas in the world at very modest cost,” said Tony Meggs, a visiting engineer at M.I.T. and report co-chair at a press conference for the report’s release. “Gas is, still globally speaking, a very young industry with a bright future ahead of it.”

The M.I.T. report found that natural gas power will play an important role in backing up renewable energy sources but will not displace them, a fear voiced by IEA head Nobuo Tanaka earlier this week. In fact, increased use of renewable energy will likely come at the expense of natural gas-fired generation as solar, wind, and other renewable technologies grow more cost efficient/

The M.I.T. researchers also struck a more optimistic note about the climatic effects of increased gas usage and provided the most comprehensive rebuttal to date of a controversial recent study on the greenhouse gas emissions related to the hydraulic fracturing of shale gas.

The report took a harsh view of a recent study by Cornell University Professor Robert Howarth on the emissions of methane, the principal component of natural gas, from drilling, transportation and end use of gas.

The widely published conclusions found greenhouse gas emissions from shale gas drilling were worse than emissions from coal.

The M.I.T. report devotes an entire appendix to rebutting the Howarth study and notes the report does “not appear to be comprehensive, use common assumptions or recognize the progress made by producers to reduce methane emissions, often to economic benefit.”

In an interview, study co-chair Henry Jacoby, a professor of management at M.I.T., called the Cornell study, “a really poor piece of work.”

Still, the M.I.T. researchers acknowledged uncertainties about production methods such as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, including the migration of natural gas into freshwater zones.

Meggs said the industry must do a better job of cementing its wells when fracking gas, but he said the environmental impacts are “challenging but manageable.”

Article appearing courtesy Txchnologist.

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MIT chemist Daniel Nocera has unveiled details about his long-awaited “artificial leaf” invention, a small solar cell that mimics photosynthesis and has the potential to produce low-cost electricity for individual homes — an advance that could be particularly valuable in the developing world, where many people lack electricity.

About the size of a playing card, the solar cell — which uses inexpensive and widely available materials like silicon — is able to split water into its two components, hydrogen and oxygen. Placed in a gallon of water in bright sunlight, the device could produce enough electricity to supply a house in a developing country with electricity for a day.

The hydrogen and oxygen gases produced by the artificial leaf could be stored in a small fuel cell, which would use the gases to generate electricity. Nocera, who has been working on the technology for several years, released details about it during the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society in California. “Our goal is to make each home its own power station,” said Nocera.

While U.S. researchers had previously developed a so-called “artificial leaf,” Nocera’s recent discovery of inexpensive catalysts, including nickel and cobalt, has made the technology more efficient and cost-effective.

Article appearing courtesy Yale Environment 360.

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Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) report that they have used carbon nanotubes to concentrate solar energy 100 times more efficiently than regular photovoltaic cells. The researchers, reporting in the journal Nature Materials, said that the nanotubes — hollow tubes of carbon atoms — could form antennas that effectively capture and focus light energy, which could lead to the production of smaller and more powerful solar arrays.

Michael Strano, the MIT chemical engineering professor who leads the research team, said the nanotubes — which he described as “solar funnels” — could be manufactured by the millions to form a fibrous rope 10 millionths of a meter long and four millionths of a meter thick. Strano said the nanotubes could be used in conjunction with semiconductors to generate electricity on extremely small surfaces. “Instead of having your whole roof be a photovoltaic cell, you could have little spots that were tiny photovoltaic cells, with (nanotube) antennas that would drive photons into them,” said Strano.

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