Construction

New pre-approved contracts speed access to DOE labs

By / November 24, 2008

DOE has developed two pre-approved, standardized contracts that will now make it easier for academia and industry to use its world-class research facilities. One of the model contracts covers proprietary…

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Waterless concrete to cut building costs on moon

By / November 23, 2008

If you think building a house on Earth is expensive, try building a space station on the moon. That’s what NASA hopes to be doing in 2020, as part of…

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Energy ‘harvesting,’ structure monitoring confab at Virginia Tech

By / November 15, 2008

Virginia Tech’s Center for Energy Harvesting Materials and Systems is hosting its 4th Annual Energy Harvesting Workshop Jan 28-29 in Blacksburg, VA. Energy harvesting refers to efforts to tap unused…

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Video of the week – aerogels

By / November 12, 2008

This week’s video is actually a three-in-one aerogel feature. Aerogel is wispy, translucent, highly insulating material often described as “solid smoke.” It’s worth noting that aerogel is not a new…

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Market for structural ceramics to reach $3.7 billion by 2012

By / October 31, 2008

A new report from BCC Research pegs the North American market for advanced structural ceramics at $2.7 billion in 2007 and predicts it will grow to $3.7 billion in 2012, for…

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Video of the week: The making of Solyndra solar tubes

By / October 29, 2008

We know from watching the blog post traffic that the post last week about the Solyndra’s cylindrical photovoltaic system was popular. Today, we offer a short video from Solyndra that…

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Learning from lizards how to improve dry adhesives

By / October 28, 2008

What can a team of highly trained researchers from four different U.S. universities learn from the feet of a gecko lizard? According to the researchers, how to improve carbon nanotube-based…

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Tubular solar – the shape of things to come?

By / October 21, 2008

Business is beginning to take shape at Solyndra, and the shape it’s taking is tubular. The Fremont, Calif.-based solar power manufacturer began selling its novel cylindrical-shaped solar tubes in July ’08…

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Light-emitting glass – the next big thing?

By / October 14, 2008

If you can get beyond the heavy hype, it appears Planilum – billed by its developers as “the world’s first light-emitting material,” a “technology that redefines our relationship with light” and light that…

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ACerS announces ‘best’ 11 papers

By / October 9, 2008

As part of The American Ceramic Society’s recently concluded 110th Anniversary Celebration, the Society identified the 11 best papers published by ACerS to commemorate the 11 decades that ACerS has…

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