Fuel Cells to light up into Belgian renewable energy market

Ceramic Fuel Cells (ASX:CFU) has inked a deal with Belgium's Solar Spirit to distribute its cutting edge BlueGen combined heat and power (CHP) systems in Belgium.whisky stonesCeramic Fuel Cells is a leading developer of generators which use fuel cell technology to convert natural gas into electricity and heat for homes and other buildings.The agreement is particularly significant as Belgium phases out solar subsidies, making publicly guaranteed certificates for power from small scale power plants more important.Menu Titanium KeychainSince the compensation is tied to the produced power output, Ceramic Fuel Cells' BlueGEN systems, with their electrical efficiency of up to 60% will suit the emerging market.

Solar Spirit, which has 15 years of distribution experience,metal machining also develops new models and product combinations that enable customers to independently generate power.Ceramic Fuel Cells is a leading developer of fuel cell technology to generate highly efficient and low-emission electricity from widely available natural gas.aluminum beamIt has sold its BlueGEN gas-to-electricity generator to major utilities and other foundation customers in Germany, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Italy, Japan, Australia, and the USA.The company is now focusing on markets in Germany, the United Kingdom and Benelux and is developing fully integrated power and heating products with leading energy companies E.ON UK in the United Kingdom and EWE in Germany.

In fact, I wonder if, by our current definition, this even counts as a planet.Self-drive to China It's bigger than Pluto (which is about 2400 km across), but still handily smaller than Mercury. I'm not a big fan of hard and fast definitions for what is or is not a planet, so honestly to me the question of whether or not Kepler-37b is a planet isn't terribly interesting. What is interesting is what this is telling us about how big (OK, planet-sized) objects form in solar systems. We hadn't seen anything this small until this one, so it's at least telling us that bodies smaller than Mercury can form, even closer in to their stars. Since this is the only one detected, we can't extrapolate too much about how many there are orbiting other stars, but it only takes one to let us know they can.I want to point out two things about how this planet was found. It was seen in the data by Kepler, but the size of the planet was uncertain because the size of the star was uncertain. You get the planet size by how much light it blocks from the star, but you need the star's physical size to get that number.

Solar firm Semprius cracks MIT 50 Disruptive Companies list

Semprius, a world leader in making solar power more financially attractive with proprietary technology that converts the sun's energy to electricity at record levels, is getting ever bigger on the radar screen at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.MIT, the titan of technology, is shining a bright light of recognition on Semprius for a second straight year. This time, the Durham-based solar tech firm earns a spot on MIT's "50 Disruptive Companies" list.solar mountingThree other firms with a big presence in the Triangle - ABB, Novartis and IBM - also cracked the list.A year ago, MIT selected Semprius to its prestigious "10 Breakthrough Technologies" list.Semprius, which recently opened a production plant in Henderson,knives supplier is cited in the "Disruptive" list for "using a novel method of concentrating sunlight through tiny lenses to boost the efficiency of solar power."

The company's technology is "Manipulating Light to Double Solar Power Output," MIT Technology Review says.In 2012, MIT declared Semprius as offering "Ultra-Efficient Solar.""Under the right circumstances, solar cells from Semprius could produce power more cheaply than fossil fuels," the magazine said.silk road travelThat technology breakthrough has secured Semprius much more important things than publicity - such as investors.The company launched in 2005, has some 65 employees, and has raised $45 million from a variety of investors, including In-Q-Tel, the investment arm of the CIA.Magnetic toe ringJason Pontin, publisher and editor in chief of MIT Technology Review,structural steel cited Semprius as " a solar company worth watching closely. It stands out for its novel method of concentrating sunlight onto tiny solar cells to deliver photovoltaic modules with cutting-edge efficiency and the potential to significantly lower the cost of generating solar electricity."

Joe Carr, CEO at Semprius, obviously liked the recognition."This recognition by MIT Technology Review validates our ongoing efforts to lower the cost of renewable energy,"he said."We anticipate a busy year filled with innovation and the continued expansion of our production facility to meet the increasing demand for our solar modules."ABB does a great deal of smartgrid research in the Triangle, and MIT praises the company for its efforts:"Perfecting a circuit breaker for high-voltage DC lines―a crucial step for widespread use of renewable energy."

Our solar system and people who are interested in other stars

The paper reporting the planet's discovery boasts 58 co-authors.One is Travis Metcalfe, a research scientist at the Space Science Institute of Boulder, and also director of the White Dwarf Research Corp., a nonprofit organization he founded, staffed by volunteers,solar mounting to support space exploration.Metcalfe was part of the seismology team that worked to determine the size of the new planet's host star, a critical step in the determining the size of its orbiting planets."It was about a year ago that we finished our contribution to this paper," Metcalfe said. "The wheels grind slowly over at NASA."Metcalfe in January 2008 launched what he calls the Pale Blue Dot project, which has the goal of raising funds for the Kepler Asteroseismic Science Consortium, which supports the goals of the Kepler mission.

People making $10 donations through the Pale Blue Dot project can then adopt a star, with 100 percent of their donations helping to fund an international team of astronomers who determine the size of parent stars from seismology -- measuring natural oscillations in brightness caused by continuous star-quakes.knife manufacturerSince initiating the Pale Blue Dot effort five years ago, it has raised nearly $60,000. About $20,000 was raised in 2012 alone, making it the most successful year to date.silk road culture tourAbout $5,000 of that went directly to pay for the seismic analysis of the parent stars of Kepler planetary systems, while an additional $15,000 was used to help students and early-career scientists present their research at annual conferences focused on stellar seismology. The balance is supporting an endowment to sponsor future research and conferences.Metcalfe said that due to the small size of Kepler-37b, it took a "huge effort" to determine that the signal the Kepler craft was detecting was a true signal, and not a "false positive."

"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence," Metcalfe said. "It's marvelous. I think it's a testament to how fruitful the collaboration has been, and will be in the future,aluminum profile between people who are interested in planets outside of our solar system and people who are interested in other stars -- because the two go hand in hand."NASA announced in April 2012 that the Kepler mission was being extended through fiscal year 2016. Kepler's ties to Boulder go beyond the fact of its having been built by Ball Aerospace.In addition, a team of about 20 students and 16 professionals from the Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics operate the Kepler craft from the LASP Space Technology Building in the CU Research Park.Solar Camping light

The number of cars with LED headlights nearly doubled in 2012

Looking forward, Shum projects that the packed LED market will grow to $15 B by 2017 with SSL being the largest driver. That reflects a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1.8%. LED unit growth is much steeper, about the unit price will decline. Moreover, Shum said the fametal machiningct that the research includes everything from single-die packages to ones with many die in an array makes an analysis of unit numbers mostly meaningless.In the SSL market, Bhandarkar said replacement lamp revenue grew from $2.1 B in 2011 to $$2.58 B in 2012. The largest jump came in Japan where energy concerns caused by the earthquake and tsunami that occurred in 2011 knocking out major energy-generation facilities.In the luminaire sector, revenue grew from $7.2 B in 2011 to $9.2 B in 2012. The commercial market segment is leading the adoption of SSL, representing 23% of the market. Growth in luminaires is fairly consistent across the globe. For the first time, Bhandarkar also reported on an other category that includes products such as flexible strings, furniture lighting, airplane lighting, toys and others that totaled $2.75 B bring the overall market total to $14.5 B.

Bhandarkar also addressed some specific types of products.She said "LED downlights became a commodity market in 2012 -- more than 50% of products sold in Japan were LEDs." Looking forward,bench grinder she said "Troffers will be the next major wave of SSL deployment starting this year." She expects the troffer market to be strong in 2014 and going into 2015.Overall, the SSL market will enjoy a CAGR of 12% through 2017. Bhandarkar projects that SSL luminaire revenue will exceed $20 B in 2017.The number of cars with LED headlights nearly doubled in 2012. Revenue for 2012 was Rs.530.05 crore ($97 million) and the five-year CAGR is projected to be 36 per cent. Revenue derived from daytime running lights (DRL) grew 31 per cent to Rs.1,092.90 crore ($200 million) in 2012. DRL growth is expected to slow down as the penetration rate is forecast to reach 45 per cent in 2017. The total market for LEDs in the automotive segment was Rs.7,650.27 crore ($1.4 billion) in 2012, and is projected to grow to Rs.11,475.41 crore ($2.1 billion) in 2017.While LED revenue from tablets grew 54 per cent to Rs.3,158.Mobile crusher47 crore ($578 million),fashion wholesale the overall mobile segment dropped 3 per cent. The drop in notebook backlight demand, the OLED success in smart phone display, and the general demand decline for other small and medium display will take the segment down to Rs.5,234.Belt conveyor97 crore ($958 million) in 2017, for a 5 year CAGR of -7 per cent.On the supply side, eleven companies accounted for more than 72 per cent of the LED market. Strategies Unlimited arrived at these figures after analysing market demand as well as the supply-side activity of more than 54 LED component suppliers.

Ecopoint releases revolutionary new LED bulb

Ecopoint are pleased to announce the addition of a new lightbulb, the LEDisong, to their comprehensive range of top quality, environmentally friendly LED lighting solutions.The LEDisong promises to revolutionise the energy efficient light bulb market. These bulbs are the first energy efficient light bulb that look and feel like a traditional light bulb, unlike the curly CFL bulbs which are awkward, ugly and slow to warm up.Remote control light The LEDisong is brighter than the average energy efficient lightbulb, uses much less power, fits into any light fitting and turn on instantly.kitchen knivesPaul Wilton, Ecopoint's founder and director, said: "We are incredibly thrilled to have added this product to our ecoLED range. It is truly a game changer in the sense that no changes need to be made to a light fitting, the bulb fits straight in. Then there is the fact that this bulb produces a much brighter light than other so called energy efficient curly bulbs, all while drawing less power. It doesn't get much better!

The LEDisong bulb is available in four different bulbs: traditional, candle, R80 and R95. They save up to 95% energy, and like all Ecopoint products, they come with a five year warranty; other bulbs,knives wholesaler including curly CFL bulbs and traditional bulbs, carry no warranty. To put their energy efficiency benefits into perspective, to run a 100W bulb for 12 months for 5.non-stick knife5 hrs/day @ $0.22c/kw it costs $44.00pa, while the cost of running a new LEDisong bulb in the same typical domestic setting is $2.86 pa. Like Ecopoint's other LED lighting solutions, the LEDisong boasts an ultra long life: when used for 5.5 hours per day, the LEDisong bulb will last for 25 years.This bulb is an exciting development as it has a wide use of applications. Domestic users in the residential market will be keen to get their hands on an energy efficient lightbulb that looks good and doesn't require an electrician to install or change light fittings.

Ecopoint is a Wellington-based, New Zealand owned company that specialises in the manufacture and supply of top quality, energy efficient, LED lighting solutions. The LEDisong joins Ecopoint's range of LED lighting solutions which comprises tubes; including those designed specifically for refrigeration, flood lights, high bays,Mobile crushing plant low bays and panels. All of Ecopoint's ecoLED range is mercury and UV free, RoHS compliant and approved to Australia and New Zealand safety standards. Additionally, all of their lights are 100% recyclable."We are really excited that we are able to provide a product like the LEDisong. This bulb meets every criteria; it looks like a bulb should, provides good light, is low maintenance and cheap to run. We are confident that consumers; whether they are looking for the best deal or simply want to be sustainable and environmentally friendly, will reach for the LEDisong," Paul Wilton said.