• Solar energy conversion breakthrough

    Scientists say that sunlight falling on only 9 percent of California’s Mojave Desert could power all of the U.S. electricity needs — if the energy could be efficiently harvested; this is a big “if,” since current-generation solar cell technologies are too expensive and inefficient for wide-scale commercial applications; Northwestern University researchers show a way to increase solar cell efficiency

  • DOE, partners test commercial geothermal technology in Nevada

    Geothermal energy attracts more and more attention, and for good reason: One cubic kilometer of hot granite at 250 degrees centigrade has the stored energy equivalent of 40 million barrels of oil

  • Researchers: Computers' "secure" memory systems utterly insecure

    Attacks on computer memory reveals vulnerability of widely used security systems; information stored in a computer’s permanent memory readily accessible to hackers; laptops especially vulnerable

  • Bacteria and nanofilters -- the future of clean water technology

    University of Nottingham researchers combine contaminant-eating bacteria with nanoscale filtration membranes to purify fouled water; additional side benefit: The waste products created by purifying water have a very high calorific value, and can be used as fuel

  • Astrium’s Spanish expansion

    With growing interest in exploiting space-based assets for observation and monitoring, Astrium collaborates with Catalan, Spanish companies to create Infoterra SGSA; new venture will be exclusive distributor of TerraSAR-X high-resolution radar data for the Spanish market

  • Major security vulnerabilities in proposed World Trade Center complex

    Security experts say that the proposed World Trade Center complex has major security flaws: Towers contain too much glass; they are too close to the street where thousands of uninspected trucks and cars will drive daily; and the buildings do not meet Department of Defense or DHS blast standards

  • Cleaner water through nanotechnology

    As global warming causes more and more countries to have less and less fresh water for human consumption and irrigation, the purification and re-use of contaminated water becomes more urgent; Aussie researchers offer a nanotechnology-based method to purify water which is more effective and cheaper than conventional water purification methods

  • Utility plans first U.S. coal-fired plant to capture CO2

    Tenaska proposes a new 600-megawatt, coal-fired power plant in Texas which would be the first to capture and store carbon dioxide emissions underground

  • U.K. energy company to demonstrate its oxyfuel technology

    Oxyfuel combustion is the process of firing a fossil-fueled power plant with an oxygen-enriched gas mix instead of air; oxyfuel combustion produces a CO2-rich flue gas ready for sequestration

  • Graduate student invents gravity lamp

    Virginia Tech engineering student wins second place in a Greener Gadgets Conference competition for inventing a floor lamp powered by gravity; lamp can last 200 years

  • World's biggest wind energy farms to be built off the Dutch coast

    Two wind farms to be built sixty km off the shore of the Netherlands will generate 2,000 MW; Dutch government’s goal is to generate 6,000 MW by 2020

  • $1.6 trillion needed to shore up U.S. failing infrastructure

    Experts say that the U.S. needs to invest $1.6 trillion over five years to shore up the country’s crumbling infrastructure; estimates show that each billion dollars invested in infrastructure creates between 40,000 and 50,000 new jobs, and that every $1 billion invested in transportation infrastructure generates $2 billion in economic activity throughout our economy

  • Indian high-tech companies tighten security procedures

    Indian high-tech and software companies, with their constant need for new employees, are easy targets for terrorist infiltration; these companies now take much tougher approach to vetting — and continuously checking — employees

  • Bain's effort to acquire 3Com on verge of collapse

    Bain Capital and a Chinese partner wanted to buy 3Com for $2.2 billion; 3Com’s TippingPoint unit sells security software used by U.S. government agencies, and persistent questions were raised over the national security ramifications of the deal; Bain and Huawei Technologies have now withdrawn their application to CFIUS

  • New malware capture method

    A DHS-funded project promises to give security researchers a new way to kill botnets and targeted malware attacks before they infect computers