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German energy company RWE said Monday the Polish renewable energy sector is a core market, with 73 megawatts of new wind power expected on the grid this year. The German company said construction work started Monday for the 14 wind tower systems of an installation called Nowy Staw near the Polish city of Gdansk. Once completed by the end of the year, the wind farm will have an installed capacity of 73 MW. "At the end of the year, one of the largest wind farms in Poland will produce green…

A clever, bizarre-looking drone that may one day save your butt has won a million bucks in the UAE's Drones for Good competition. Flyability's GimBall has the unusual ability to squeeze into tight indoor spaces and search for potential disaster victims, thanks to its geodesic design. The entire UAV is effectively a two-prop, electronically stabilized gimball surrounded by a tough, lightweight carbon fiber cage. Instead of trying to pull off the daunting task of avoiding obstacles, the GimBall…

It's a balloon that lifts a wind turbine. That's the easiest way to describe the technology being developed by Altaeros Energies, led by Ben Glass, inventor and CEO of the young company. Glass has reimagined the possibilities of balloon and airship technology to lift a wind turbine Most wind turbine manufacturers are competing to build taller turbines to harness more powerful winds above 500 feet, or 150 meters. Altaeros is going much higher with their novel Buoyant Airborne Turbine—the BAT.…

“We want to be able to understand this technology before big corporates and big government come to us and say everyone should get chipped – the tax authority chip, the Google or Facebook chip.” These are the words of Hannes Sjoblad who believes he is preparing us for the day when the government wants everyone to be chipped. He believes that starting a voluntary program now will allow much greater knowledge later, when we have little choice about it. Want to gain entry to your office, get on a…

A hybrid power aircraft has been successfully tested in the UK in an important step towards cleaner low-carbon air travel. The aircraft, developed by researchers from Cambridge University with funding support from Boeing, is powered by a parallel hybrid-electric propulsion system where an electric motor and petrol engine work together to drive the propeller. It uses up to 30 per cent less fuel than a comparable plane with a petrol-only engine, and is also able to recharge its batteries in…

It must be unnerving for a new driver to prepare to enter the passing lane only to see, at the last possible moment, a metallic monster streaking by. How much more nerve-wracking would it be if the monster had no driver at the wheel? For some, that would be the true test of robocar reliability. And, if Germany’s government has its way, it’ll happen first on that country’s autobahn system, famous for its speed-limit-free stretches. In an announcement earlier this week, the government said that…

Researchers in Norway have succeeded in getting bacteria to power a fuel cell. The "fuel" used is wastewater, and the products of the process are purified water droplets and electricity.The biological fuel cell is powered by entirely natural processes – with the help of living microorganisms. "In simple terms, this type of fuel cell works because the bacteria consume the waste materials found in the water", explains SINTEF researcher Luis Cesar Colmenares, who is running the project together…

Journalists, PR folk, and anyone else who needs to keep accurate copies of calls over the phone or Skype should check out the Bluewire, a new Bluetooth headet that just launched on Indiegogo. While there are plenty of headsets out there that give you a comfortable fit or decent sound quality compared to the earbuds that come with our phones, the Bluewire actually records conversations to a pre-installed MicroSD card – 1,000 hours of conversations, to be more precise. You don’t even have to…

Shale gas—that is, natural gas from shale deposits—may seem at first glance a huge, indisputable success for the United States. In 2007 it accounted for just 8 percent of the gas extracted; by 2013 its share had risen to nearly 40 percent. As a result, in 2009 the United States became the world’s largest producer of this, the cleanest of all fossil fuels. This surge has led to two far-reaching decouplings of price: between those of natural gas and crude oil, and between those of natural gas in…

eZelleron Inc., based in Wilmington, Delaware, is currently experiencing a huge rush. It has developed the smallest power plant in the world – just 200 g. The plant generates power from lighter gas or camping gas. On January 5, 2015, eZelleron Inc. introduced the pocket power plant on www.kickstarter.com. Since then, the company has been receiving thousands of advance orders. Even Apple has signaled interest in the product. eZelleron Inc. is collecting funds on www.kickstarter.com for its…

Smartphones and wearable computers have become incredibly popular in recent years, but batteries can’t always keep pace with our ever-increasing demand for power. These personal electronics can just about do it all, but after a few hours of heavy usage, it’s time to recharge. Can we ever move past our addiction to the wall socket? Researchers in Germany have designed a tiny system embedded in a pair of shoes that effectively harvests the energy expended by the simple act of walking. With this…

Interlinkage of the power and gas grids is planned to make electricity supply sustainable and robust in the future. Fluctuating amounts of wind and solar power, for instance, might be stored in the form of the chemical energy carrier methane. Researchers of the KIT and DVGW have now proved that this element of the Energiewende is technically feasible. The DemoSNG pilot plant constructed by the KIT will be used in Sweden for the reliable and efficient production of methane from biomass-based…

Prospective members of the European Union have agreed to honour the targets to enhance renewable energy, energy efficiency, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions that were recently agreed to by the EU for 2030. Balkan countries have pledged to meet the targets to reduce GHG emissions by 40% by 1990 levels, increase their share of renewable energy to 27%, and improve energy efficiency by 27% by 2030. Serbia and Macedonia are preparing to implement national policies to the fulfil these targets…

Scientists say they have developed a synthetic skin that acts a lot like the real deal — it's stretchable and even has a sense of touch. A team of researchers based in South Korea said their version could result in the most advanced prosthetic skin yet, according to their new study. It details how the skin uses electronics to imitate real skin. It has humidity and temperature sensors to regular body heat, for starters, and it uses something called ultra-thin nanowire to transmit touch…

The sun could be the world’s largest source of electricity by 2050, ahead of fossil fuels, wind, hydro and nuclear, according to a pair of reports issued today by the International Energy Agency (IEA). The two IEA technology roadmaps show how solar photovoltaic (PV) systems could generate up to 16% of the world’s electricity by 2050 while solar thermal electricity (STE) from concentrating solar power (CSP) plants could provide an additional 11%. Combined, these solar technologies could prevent…