Innovation Spotlight
July 10, 2017
New research from the U.K. could help make it easier to design and deploy unmanned vehicles used to survey underwater landscapes.
Autonomous underwater vehicles – robotic vehicles that travel underwater without requiring input from an operator – have been around and in use for almost 50 years, but ensuring their...
June 26, 2017
On the topic of energy efficiency in large data centers, it actually may be possible to have the best of both worlds … at least when it comes to methods used to help them respond to energy demand fluctuations.
That’s because a group of Ohio State University researchers have designed...
March 30, 2017
Several elements must fall into place for any technology to achieve mainstream adoption. First and foremost, the technology obviously must work reliably. The technology’s ability to be cost efficient is also important. In the case of wind energy, though, the costs associated with ensuring turbines work reliably actually presents a...
January 6, 2017
Not only can wearable devices use vibration energy to charge their own batteries, but they could one day have a big impact on our communities.
That’s the conclusion reached by a group of international researchers experimenting with kinetic energy harvesting. The group – comprised of researchers from the University of ...
November 22, 2016
Big data generally leads to more intelligence, which leads to greater efficiencies. But when it comes to energy, big data threatens to reverse everything the modern smart grid stands for, according to researchers who spent the last several years studying big data energy consumption around the world.
The relationship...
July 25, 2016
Buildings may be becoming “smarter,” but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re saving energy. In fact, according to a recent study, smart buildings could actually have little to no effect on energy consumption because – despite technology advancements – human habits die hard.
Unlike previous research that has tested energy...
May 9, 2016
Energy efficiency has long been touted as one of the benefits of the Internet of Things (IoT). Thanks to greater connectivity between devices, data analytics can lead to less waste and equipment can power down when it’s not needed. But what if the actual infrastructure that makes up the IoT—the...
March 25, 2016
Researchers have created an algorithm that is showing to be 5 to 10 percent more accurate at forecasting wind speeds – potentially a key development for energy companies struggling with how to improve the reliability of, and justify investing in, wind power.
The new data is a result of testing...
December 31, 2015
Is it really possible to measure “robustness?” If initial results from a recent simulation are any indication, it may not be as far-fetched as some may think, and it could have significant implications for electrical power grids.
A team of researchers recently completed simulations for a computational tool that...
November 9, 2015
Can a car battery that “gives back” to the grid help spur a greater adoption of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs)? Or lead to more urban development?
Those are some of the possibilities to consider as a team of researchers at Bilecik University in Turkey continues to work on commercializing a...
