Power and Electrical Engineering

Using a carbon nanotube, Cornell University researchers have produced a tiny electromechanical oscillator that might be capable of weighing a single atom. The device, perhaps the smallest of its kind ever produced, can be tuned across a wide range of radio frequencies, and one day might replace bulky power-hungry elements in electronic circuits.

Recent research in nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) has focused on vibrating silicon rods so small that they oscillate at radio frequenc

Untapped reserves of methane, the main component in natural gas, may be found deep in Earth’s crust, according to a recently released report* in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS). These reserves could be a virtually inexhaustible source of energy for future generations.

The team of researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Carnegie Institution’s Geophysical Laboratory, Harvard University, Argonne Nation

Whether the search for alternative energy sources is driven by our concern about global fossil fuel supplies or over the atmospheric effects of burning of fossil fuels, the government has laid out its aim to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 60% of 1990 levels by 2050, and aims to over- achieve its goal of sourcing 10% of energy from renewables by 2010.

In a significant step to achieve these targets, an enormous £4.5 million award has been made under the UK SuperGen programme to drive

Solar Photovoltaic Systems converting sunlight into electricity are a key technology in reaching Europe’s objectives of safe, secure and sustainable energy supply. World-wide production of solar electricity has continued to increase by more than 30% per year, reaching 1000 megawatts (enough to meet the domestic needs of 660.000 European citizens) in 2004 and has become one of Europe’s foremost growth industries. Certified power measurements are crucial to guaranteeing the competitiveness of solar

To develop ever-smaller chips that consume less. These are the indispensable requirements of the current market for portable applications such as mobile telephone technology and biomedical systems, obtaining correct and trouble-free operation of the devices over the maximum possible duration of time. One of the techniques which, in fact, can be used for the development of this type of reduced-size, low-consumption microchip is one analysed by Carlos Aristóteles de la Cruz in his PhD defended at t

Another important step towards realizing the promise of lightning fast photonic technology has been taken by scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California at Berkeley. Researchers have demonstrated that semiconductor nanoribbons, single crystals measuring tens of hundreds of microns in length, but only a few hundred or less nanometers in width and thickness (about one ten-millionth of an inch), can serve as “wa