erica snyder | Engineering Recruiting

August 15, 2019

Electric Boats Could Be Floating Batteries for Island Microgrids

by erica snyder in Energy, Engineering, Engineering News

aside.inlay.xlrg.XploreFree { font-family: “Georgia”, serif; border-width: 4px 0; border-top: solid #888; border-bottom: solid #888; padding: 10px 0; font-size: 19px; font-weight: bold; text-align: center; } span.FreeRed { color: red; text-transform: uppercase; font-family: “Theinhardt-Medium”, sans-serif; } span.XploreBlue { color: #03a6e3; font-family: “Theinhardt-Medium”, sans-serif; } In developed countries, lights roar to life with the flick of a switch […]

August 8, 2019

Run Saltwater Over This Nanofilm to Make Electricity

by erica snyder in Energy, Engineering, Engineering News

A new form of electricity generation involving saltwater (or other liquids with ions in them) running over ultrathin metal strips promises to add new life to the tidal or wave-energy power marketplace. The new method centers around ultrathin iron or nickel surfaces that have been evaporated onto a plastic or glass slide. Ocean water droplets, for […]

July 29, 2019

A Novel Thermal Battery Promises Green Power Around the Clock

by erica snyder in Energy, Engineering, Engineering News

You can fry an egg on the ground in Las Vegas in August, but try that in Iceland or Alaska and you’ll just end up with the stuff on your face—unless you know how to tap into the Earth’s vast reservoirs of geothermal energy. Researchers at the Tokyo Institute of Technology have developed a new […]

July 23, 2019

A Half Century Ago, Better Transistors and Switching Regulators Revolutionized the Design of Computer Power Supplies

by erica snyder in Energy, Engineering, Engineering News

Photo: David Arky Intel Not Inside: X-rays reveal the component parts of a switching power supply used in the original Apple II microcomputer, released in 1977. Computer power supplies don’t get much respect. As a tech enthusiast, you probably know what microprocessor is in your computer and how much physical memory it has, but […]

July 22, 2019

Unplugging From Digital Controls to Safeguard Power Grids

by erica snyder in Energy, Engineering, Engineering News

Late last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation to mandate federal research on a radically ‘retro’ approach to protect power grids from cyber attack: unplugging or otherwise isolating the most critical equipment from grid operators’ digital control systems. Angus King, an independent senator from Maine whose identical bill passed the Senate last month, says such a […]

July 17, 2019

Startup Aims to Tackle Grid Storage Problem With New Porous Silicon Battery

by erica snyder in Energy, Engineering, Engineering News

A new Canadian company with roots in Vermont has emerged from stealth mode and has ambitious plans to roll out a new grid-scale battery in the year ahead. The longshot storage technology, targeted at utilities, offers four times the energy density and four times the lifetime of lithium-ion batteries, the company says, and will be […]

July 16, 2019

A (Very) Close Look at Carbon Capture and Storage

by erica snyder in Energy, Engineering, Engineering News

A new kind of molecular-scale microscope has been trained for the first time on a promising wonder material for carbon capture and storage. The results, researchers say, suggest a few tweaks to this material could further enhance its ability to scrub greenhouse gases from emissions produced by traditional power plants. The announcement comes in the […]

July 11, 2019

This Cell Tower in the Swiss Alps Is Struck by Lightning More Than 100 Times a Year

by erica snyder in Energy, Engineering, Engineering News

Atop a rocky peak in the Swiss Alps sits a telecommunications tower that gets struck by lightning more than 100 times a year, making it perhaps the world’s most frequently struck object. Taking note of the remarkable consistency with which lightning hits this 124-meter structure, researchers have adorned it with instruments for a front-row view […]

July 1, 2019

Algorithms Help Turbines Share the Wind

by erica snyder in Energy, Engineering, Engineering News

“Logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” So declares Spock, Star Trek’s Vulcan hero, as he sacrifices himself to save the Starship Enterprise and its crew in the 1982 film Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan. Today Stanford University researchers presented the clearest proof to date that self-sacrifice can […]

July 1, 2019

Best Algorithms to Make Solar Power Storage Profitable

by erica snyder in Energy, Engineering, Engineering News

By analyzing the kinds of algorithms that control the flow of electricity between solar cells and lithium-ion batteries, scientists have identified the best types of algorithms to govern electrical grid storage of solar power. A dizzying number of algorithms exist to help manage the flow of electricity between photovoltaic cells and lithium-ion batteries in the […]

All posts by: erica snyder