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A New Energy-Efficient Hydrogel Pulls Water From Air

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Using a new kind of hydrogel material, researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have pulled water out of thin air at temperatures low enough to be achieved with sunlight. Atmospheric water harvesting draws water from humidity in the air. The material is a hydrogel, a polymer network that naturally retains a lot of water.

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MIT researchers propose subsea version of pumped hydro for renewable energy storage

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Researchers at MIT are proposing using a variation on pumped hydroelectric systems for storage of electricity produced by offshore wind farms. Geologic pumped hydroelectric storage works by pumping water to a reservoir behind a dam when electricity demand is low. Earlier post.).

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MIT Researchers Engineer Viruses as Scaffolds for Photocatalytic Water Oxidation

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A team of MIT researchers, led by Dr. Angela Belcher, has engineered a common bacteriophage virus (M13) to function as a scaffold to mediate the co-assembly of zinc porphyrins (photosensitizer) and iridium oxide hydrosol clusters (catalyst) for visible light-driven water oxidation. Source: Nam et al., Supplementary materials.

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Harvard hybrid “bionic leaf” converts solar energy to liquid fuel isopropanol

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Scientists from a team spanning Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard Medical School and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University have developed a scalable, integrated bioelectrochemical system that uses bacteria to convert solar energy into a liquid fuel. Earlier post.).

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MIT Energy Initiative announces 2014 seed grant awards

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The MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) announced its latest round of seed grants to support early-stage innovative energy projects. Past themes have included topics as diverse as the role of big data and the energy-water nexus. A total of more than $1.6 million was awarded to 11 projects, each lasting up to two years.

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DOE announces $11.5M in Phase 1 funding for carbon capture and storage program; ARPA-E FLECCS

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The post-combustion outlet gas is more easily separated into water and CO 2 to the pipeline, thereby lowering the electricity costs of grids with high levels of VRE. Southwest Research Institute will apply energy storage concepts to this power generation cycle by incorporating oxygen storage adjacent to the air separation unit (ASU).

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ARPA-E Selects 37 Projects for $106M in Funding in Second Round; Electrofuels, Better Batteries and Carbon Capture

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More than 540 initial concept papers were received in the three focus areas. Electrofuels approaches will use organisms able to extract energy from other sources, such as solar-derived electricity or hydrogen or earth-abundant metal ions. Water will be the primary byproduct. Electrofuels. per gallon. Harvard, Univ. of Delaware).

Carbon 249