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U. of Iowa researchers find smoke impacts on severity of tornados

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University of Iowa researchers have found that smoke resulting from spring agricultural land-clearing fires in Central America and transported across the Gulf of Mexico intensified tornado conditions already in process in the United States. In fact, the simulation including the smoke resulted in a lowered cloud base and greater wind shear.

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Iowa State/Ames Lab researcher receives $3M from ARPA-E for solid-state sodium battery

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When we look at ways to efficiently store energy from wind and solar sources, lithium-based batteries are expensive and world-wide geological resources of lithium are actually quite limited. Led by Steve W. A sodium-based battery, on the other hand, has the potential to store larger amounts of electrical energy at a significantly lower cost.

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U-M Solar Car Team wins a fourth consecutive American Solar Challenge, sets record

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The University of Michigan Solar Car Team won the 2012 American Solar Challenge (ASC) with its car Quantum, snagging a fourth consecutive ASC title, and also breaking the record the team set in 2008. Final time for the 1,650-mile (2,655 km) competition was 44:36:21—10 hours and 18 minutes ahead of second-place Iowa State.

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Argonne and University of Illinois to form Midwest Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Coalition

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The states of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, North and South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas are home to a quarter of the US population and consume 30% of electric power generated in the US. As a consequence, the Midwestern states have some of the highest levels of renewable energy on their grids.

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Opinion: Why Buffett Bet A Billion On Solar: Miles Per Acre Per Year

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During the late innings of the ICE-age (as in the Internal Combustion Engine age) it has become clear that feeding gasoline and diesel to the next billion new cars is not going to be easy, or cheap. The first eye-opener for large scale solar was the Austin Energy PPA last year that was priced at 5 cents. It really isn’t a fair fight.

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Arizona State University Professor’s Work to Stabilize the Grid Pays Off

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He is a professor of power systems engineering in the Fulton program at Arizona State University , in Tempe. Vijay Vittal Employer Arizona State University, in Tempe Title Regents professor of electrical, computer, and energy engineering Member grade Life Fellow Alma mater B.M.S. There is this system memory that is fast disappearing.”

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3 winners of DOE’s “America’s Next Top Energy Innovator” Challenge: hydrogen-assisted lean-burn engines, graphene for Li-air and -sulfur batteries, and titanium process

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The three winning companies are: Umpqua Energy , a startup company based in Medford, Oregon, is using an Argonne National Laboratory technology to develop a system that allows a gasoline engine to operate in an extreme lean burn mode in order to increase gasoline mileage.

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