EE&T News: March 28, 2011

Get ready for EE&T's second annual tech day

Plans are coming together for EE&T's second annual one-day educational conference on May 26 in Santa Clara, Calif. Attendees will hear presentations from the Calif. Energy Commission, Energy Star test lab CSA, and electric vehicle system builder Nuvation, among many others. Check it out at eetweb.com/sponsor/energy-efficiency-technology/. And as always, send your energy efficient news to us at [email protected]. -- Leland Teschler, Editor

No pistons, no crank - wave disk engine is super efficient

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A 20 MW wind turbine? Yup, it's practical

A new report from the EU-funded UpWind project concluded that it is feasible to construct wind turbines to 20 MW, though doing so would involve more than just a simple scaling up of today's wind turbine components. The dimensions on 20-MW turbines would be gigantic -- rotor diameters would be around 200 m, compared to some 120 m on today's 5 MW turbines. READ MORE

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Wanted: Batteries for solar and wind power

It's going to take reliable, durable, safe, and, most importantly, less expensive batteries before wind and solar power can be viable, according to report from researchers at the Energy Dept.'s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The researchers examined four stationary batteries considered the most promising and outline what technological advances are needed to make each economically feasible. One is Vanadium redox flow: A rechargeable battery that stores electrical energy is two tanks of electrolytes. When energy is needed, liquid is pumped from one tank to another. When energy needs to be stored, this process is reversed. It could provide backup energy for up to 12 hr and would work with wind or solar power in neighborhoods or industrial sites. READ MORE

Wind turbines will sport biggest direct drive generators ever

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In this video from last year's EE&T Tech Day, NXP Corp.'s Michael Pena talks about changes in form factors for solid-state lighting that designers need to be aware of. Run time, 7:30

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