Dim Prospects for Energy R&D Funding
As Congress prepares to vote on a comprehensive spending bill, U.S. energy projects such as ARPA-E hang in the balance.As Congress rushes to finish its business before the year’s end, it is likely to...
View ArticleReport Points to U.S. Vulnerability to China's Rare-Earth Supplies
A Department of Energy report brings attention to the need to diversify the supply of rare-earth metals needed for cleantech and defense.The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will release a report today...
View ArticleCleaner Coal Faces an Uncertain Future
The end of an ambitious carbon-capture project shows that it’s hard to economically justify the technology in the absence of a carbon policy.American Electric Power’s recent decision to scrap plans to...
View ArticleFisker's Woes Put A123 Systems at Risk
Both the plug-in hybrid startup, and the company that supplies its batteries, appear to be in trouble.After failing to meet the milestones required by a loan agreement with the U.S. Department of...
View ArticleCity with Superfast Internet Invites Innovators to Play
A Tennessee city with one-gigabit-per-second Internet runs a $300,000 contest to find ways of using it.Citizens in Chattanooga, Tennessee, have access to one-gigabit-per-second Internet—that’s 100...
View ArticleAnother Loan Guarantee Recipient Lays Off Workers
In a tough market for solar panels, Abound Solar is halting production.Abound Solar, which makes cadmium telluride thin-film solar panels, and had been awarded a $400 million conditional loan guarantee...
View ArticleCan ARPA-E Solve Energy Problems?
The young agency is popular, but its short-term research programs aren’t enough.Republicans and Democrats in Congress don’t agree on much, especially when it comes to the U.S. Department of Energy, but...
View ArticlePhysicists Crack Fusion Mystery
A new theory might help researchers double the power of fusion reactors.One reason it’s taking decades to develop fusion reactors that can generate electricity is that physicists don’t completely...
View ArticleA Solar Startup that Isn't Afraid of Solyndra's Ghost
Braving comparisons to the bankrupted Solyndra, SoloPower is going forward with the production of thin-film solar panels.There is no doubt that last year’s bankruptcy of Solyndra, a maker of thin-film...
View ArticleFuel Cells Could Offer Cheap Carbon-Dioxide Storage
A new type of fuel cell could make CO2 storage cheaper, but it could also prove to be a good way to pump more oil out of the ground.The electrochemical reactions that occur inside fuel cells to...
View Article
