SRNL microsphere filled with palladium where the top of the microballoon has been removed to view the inside. Source: The Bulletin, Vol. 87, No. 6, p. 26 The R&D 100 awards for 2011 have been released, and the list of winners includes a strong representation from the field of materials science. There were more entries this…
Read MoreI DOE webinar, June 21 For two consecutive years, Fuel Cells 2000 has named California, Connecticut, New York, Ohio and South Carolina to its list of top five fuel cell states (see last week’s post about the just-released 2010 “State of the states” report (pdf)). DOE is sponsoring a lunch-time webinar tomorrow on how local…
Read MoreFrom CLS 2010: Rodney Lanthorne (Kyocera) , Joel Moskowitz (Ceradyne) and David Morse (Corning) jointly spoke on the topic, “Emerging Business and Technology Opportunities and Challenges for the Ceramics Community.” Similarly, representatives of small, medium and large enterprises will be featured in the CLS 2011 program. Last week we reported that the employment outlook for…
Read MoreCalisolar silicon is purified in a unique, liquid-phase process producing solar silicon without the high energy and specialized equipment of conventional vapor-phase silicon purification. Credit: Calisolar. As I have written several times before, the costs tied to the processing and manufacturing of photovoltaic units are dropping, but they are still the main impediment to PV…
Read MorePraxair hydrogen fueling station at LAX. Credit: Fuel Cells 2000. Fuel Cells 2000 has just released its latest report, “State of the States: Fuel Cells in America,” (pdf) which is available free from their website. The 106-page report was assembled by the Washington-based nonprofit organization from public records, websites and communication with state and industry…
Read MoreMaybe not a zugzwang yet, but rare-earth strategies are getting more complex and riskier. Credit: Wikipedia. It’s been a while since I have addressed strategic materials, but several recent developments are worth noting. Let’s start by going back a few months. In late March, a ripple went out among rare-earth supply watchers when China’s Ministry…
Read MoreRelative job growth trends for engineers from Indeed.com. The Indeed.com search engine searches openings at thousands of job sites. Credit: Indeed.com The Society for Automotive Engineers just released a survey-based study on anticipated employment trends for engineers in the 2011-2016 timeframe. The study focused on the so-called mobility industries: automotives, aerospace and commercial vehicles (e.g.,…
Read MoreSolar concentration mirror for PV energy generation. Credit: Replex Plastics. Yesterday, the DOE announced $27 million in new funding for projects aimed at reducing the non-hardware costs of solar energy – things like streamlining zoning, building codes, regulations, etc. and the IT systems that will support them. It’s part of meeting the Obama administration’s SunShot…
Read MoreCdTe array. Credit: NREL. For the first time that I am aware of, it General Electric seems to have jumped on the Sach’s Law bandwagon and decided that solar power very soon will be competitive with fossil fuel and nuclear energy sources. In a recent interview with Bloomberg News, GE’s global research director, Mark M.…
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