Ceramic Tech Today

Germany’s Fraunhofer: Diamond–ceramic composites, sepsis test-on-a-card, hot-embossed glass microlenses

By / December 22, 2010

Germany’s Fraunhofer Institutes have been churning out a fascinating collection of announcements this year that showcase the group’s ability to successfully span the research-demonstration-deployment worlds. Deservedly, a lot of countries…

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1366 continues to draw interest of investors, DOE

By / December 21, 2010

Ann’s earlier post regarding the accelerating drop in costs in 2009 and 2010 for installed photovoltaic solar energy systems general jibes with the estimates by Emanual Sachs, of 1366 Technologies/MIT. Sachs…

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LBNL releases study on solar installation cost trends; wholesale costs drop 40% 1998-2009

By / December 21, 2010

A Lawrence Berkeley National Lab study (PDF) finds that the price of installing residential solar systems has fallen due to cheaper solar panels and improved efficiency. The study, “Tracking the…

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DOE rare earths, critical materials strategy 1.0

By / December 21, 2010

A much as I gripe about DOE’s funding delays, I do think kudos should go to the agency for making a first attempt at a crafting a modern plan for…

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Friday federal funding facts: DOE, NSF trailing other agencies in ability to distribute Recovery Act funding

By / December 17, 2010

Continuing from my earlier griping about DOE’s inability to deliver on its promises, as the graph above (source: Recovery.gov) shows, the agency has spent less than 1/3 of what it…

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DOE unleashes blitz of end-of-the-year funding announcements

By / December 17, 2010

I can’t help but feel like someone high up in DOE recently looked at the calendar and had a panic attack: “OMG, didn’t we promise a lot more things by…

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U.K.’s Nexeon announces record Li-ion performance

By / December 17, 2010

Nexeon, a U.K.-based silicon anode producer, claims to have developed the world’s highest energy-capacity Li-ion batteries proportional to size, based on its silicon technology. According to a company press release,…

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DOE study poinpoints public land for solar development

By / December 17, 2010

Peter offered readers a heads up Wednesday about yesterday’s meeting with Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Secretary of Energy Steven Chu. Here’s what transpired. According to a DOE…

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Big DOE energy investment news tomorrow?

By / December 15, 2010

A DOE press release tells me, “Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar will hold a news media teleconference tomorrow, Thursday, December 16, 2010 to…

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Video of the week: “Carbon Smackdown” – Smart Windows

By / December 14, 2010

The Lawrence Berkeley National Lab this summer hosted a brilliant lecture series enthusiastically called “Carbon Smackdown,” which, as illustrated by the cool poster, is based on the idea of Berkeley…

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