Companiesandmarkets.com is offering a new 70-page report that analyzes the global market for aerogels by following end-use markets: thermal and acoustic insulation, consumer products, sensors and Instrumentation, medical, aerospace, energy and others. The report contains separate analyses for US, Europe and the rest of world, with forecasts through 2015.

The report profiles 11 companies including many key and niche players worldwide such as American Aerogel, Aspen Aerogels, Cabot, Marketech International and TAASI. The publisher says the market data and analytics are derived from primary and secondary research, noting that the company profiles are mostly extracted from online sources.

Material wise, the report covers silica and carbon aerogels plus cryogels and xerogels. It also covers technological developments including aerogel integration with fibers and yarns. On the business side, the report delves into recent product innovations and industry activities.

The report costs $4,500 but a view of the table of contents is provided for free.

Read more about aerogel:

Video: Aerogel insulation hits housing market

Aerogel-based -40°C hydration system to be licensed

Solar Decathlon entries make use of aerogel

Aeroclay research at Case Western

NASA’s aerogel grid captures amino acid in space

Cabot”s Nanogel aerogel insulation selected for 50 km of subsea pipelines

Artistic aerogel light demonstrations

Aerogel used in classic car remake

Aerogel’s potential to mop up oil spills

Aerogel has potential as tunable waveplate

Universe’s largest catcher’s mitt?

Birdair demonstrates aerogel membrane roofing systems

Nanotube aerogel sheets - better than real muscle?

Introduction to aerogel video

Credit: Kevin Bullis and Technology Review

Last August I wrote about the typical 50% waste created when wire saws are used to slice silicon ingots into PV-suitable wafers, and research being conducted in Germany to lower that waste.

Now 1366 Technologies, according to a story and video by Technology Review’s Kevin Bullis, is saying it might be able eliminate all saw waste, apparently by directly manufacturing each wafer from molten silicon. 1366 showed off their technology at the recent pre-ARPE-E Summit Innovation Showcase.

Although always happy to see basic PV science breakthroughs, 1366 has always proclaimed that its route to success in the industry is through process and manufacturing innovation. To put a finer point on this, 1366 says the cost of its PV units will reach parity with coal power in a decade.

According to Bullis, credit for the direct-wafer process invention goes to Emanuel Sachs, a professor at MIT who cofounded the company and is behind of portfolio of PV innovations. The company likens the potential for this new innovation to the shift from handcrafting glass windows to use of float-glass manufacturing.

While only small low-efficiency demonstrator wafers have been created so far, ARPA-E apparently likes what it sees and has given the company $4 million to continue this work. Read the whole article and watch the video (an interview with CEO and 1366 cofounder Frank van Mierlo at the showcase).

For more information on 1366 Technologies, see:

Cutting PV costs, part 1: New busbars, ‘fingers’ to cut PV costs by 20%?

Cutting PV costs, part 2: Process improvements versus science breakthroughs

Like shootin’ fish in a barrel. Me, six days ago:

Prediction: Tom will state that Bloom Energy changes everything!

Today from Friedman:

Several months ago, though, Sridhar took me into the parking lot behind Google’s Silicon Valley headquarters and showed me the inside of one of his Bloom Boxes, the size of a small shipping container. Inside were stacks of solid oxide fuel cells, stored in cylinders, and all kinds of whiz-bang parts that I did not understand.

[ . . . ]

Our politics has gotten so impossible lately, too many Americans have stopped dreaming.

Here’s my latest scorecard on Tommy’s ideas:

• Free trade!
• Invade the oil cartels! (aka, Suck On This)
  
• Free trade, except for Silicon Valley!
• Ambien!

Actually, he writes something even stupider today:

All I know is this: If we put a simple price on carbon, these new technologies would have a chance to blossom

There is already a simple price on carbon and TF knows it. Unfortunately, it is mispriced and artificial because of various policies, taxes and subsidies that will continue because there is an army of lobbyists screaming ZOMG! REAL CARBON PRICING IS THE END OF CIVILIZATION, and they know they have pet-dog pundits like Friedman who will provide the cover they need.

Until recently, Sage Electromatics made electrically tintable windows on a relatively small scale. All that’s about to change. On Friday, the DOE announced that it would provide Sage with a $72 million loan guarantee to build a 250,000 sq. ft. plant in Faribault, Minn.

The company’s SageGlass windows can turn from clear to opaque and back with a click of the switch. (Okay, not literally that quick, but more like in 3-5 minutes after a small amount of voltage is supplied or cut off.) Sage says its product is the only commercially available, electronically tintable window glass in the world.

The loan nicely complements a $31 million Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit the company snagged from the DOE earlier this year.

Sage says its panes are coated with five layers of ceramic materials and use a low voltage:

“When voltage [less than 5V DC] is applied to these layers in their “clear” state, they darken as lithium ions and associated electrons transfer from the counter electrode to the electrochromic electrode layer.Reversing the voltage polarity causes the ions and associated electrons to return to their original layer.”

The company uses a vacuum-deposition sputtering process coating conventional float glass. A second piece of glass is added to complete the sandwich, which is surrounded by an aluminum frame. The units can transmit less than 4% of the visible light in their tinted state.

The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, according to the DOE, says SageGlass could cut a building’s heating and air conditioning equipment size by up to 25% and reduce overall cooling loads for commercial buildings up to 20% (by lowering peak power demand) besides shrinking lighting cost. Use of SageGlass may provide LEED credits.

While the glass panels currently operate only in either clear or opaque modes, the company says it will sell an intermediate-level tint system later this year. Sage also says PV-powered units are under development - a good match because of the low-voltage requirements.

The units can be connected to either a simple wall switch or as units integrated into a building management control systems. They also come in four colors (interior appearance - the exterior of appearance of the four are the same): black, green, blue and gray. The largest size currently available is 40″ x 60″ (in either dimension, W x L, or L x W).

The company offers an interesting portfolio on its website of SageGlass installations.

Faribault is located about 25 miles south of St. Paul. The company says the new factory will create about 160 new jobs.

ACerS recently conducted a wonderful “Materials Challenges in Alternative & Renewable Energy 2010″ conference Feb. 21-24  in Cocoa Beach, Fla. Co-organizers Jack G. Simon and George G. Wicks, along with their advisory and technical planning committee, put together an outstanding technical program that included 160 presentations and posters, and 227 people from around the globe attended.

The first day of the conference opened with several 40-minute “tutorial” sessions led by some of the top people in the field. We will have videos available of some of the tutorials in a few weeks. In the meantime, ACerS and the tutorial presenters are making their PowerPoint presentations available for download:

Hydrogen Storage Technologies: A Tutorial with Perspectives from the US National Program [3MB]
Ned T. Stetson, Technology Development Manager, Hydrogen Program, DOE

Air Force Energy Program [2MB]
Bobby Diltz, Energy Systems Research Group, Air Force Research Laboratory Airbase Technologies Division

Photovoltaics: Past, Present, and Future [4MB]
Ryne P. Raffaelle, Director, National Center for Photovoltaics, National Renewable Energy Lab

Material Needs in Alternative and Renewable Energy for the Automotive Industry [6MB]
Mark Verbrugge, Director, Chemical Sciences and Materials System Lab, General Motors R&D

Wind Energy: Background, Technology, Opportunities, & Material Challenges [3MB]
Jose Zayas, Program Manager, Wind & Water Power Technologies, Sandia National Labs

Advanced Materials & Manufacturing for the Clean Energy Future
P.J. Dougherty, Strategic Marketing Innovations

Advances in Battery Technology (to come)
Yet-Ming Chiang, MIT and cofounder of A123 Systems

Materials Challenges in Nuclear Energy (to come)
Steve Zinkle, Oak Ridge National Lab