Hot Clean energy technologies - highlights from the MIT Clean Energy Prize
Here is a list of the technologies I found interesting and that I would recommend looking into:
Ubiquitous Energy
They transform any paper or textile surface into a renewable energy source by depositing ultra-lightweight and ultra-flexible solar cells that retain the feel and performance of the underlying substrate. Products composed of these ubiquitous materials become convenient new formats for distributing energy to consumers. This award-winning technology is based on a simple, surface-independent, vapor-printing process that was developed by members of a team in the labs of MIT.
Effimax Solar
Effimax is known for its innovative, high-efficiency nanotexturing methods. Their patented solar cell processes dramatically lower manufacturing costs (by getting rid of manufacturing steps) and produce solar cells 22% more powerful than anything else on the market (thanks to cone-shaped cells). This efficiency increase directly translates into higher market value for your solar cells.
Resolute Marine Energy
[Link]
Resolute Marine Energy, Inc. (RME) is developing wave energy converters (WEC) that generate clean energy from ocean waves. Our near-term goal is to complete development and commercialization of a wave-driven seawater desalination system that operates completely “off-grid” and fills a huge gap in the market for seawater desalination systems. We are also in the early stages of identifying opportunities to cost-effectively supply electricity to near-shore communities that currently rely upon diesel generators.
RME’s business model is to: target maritime commercial activities that would be enabled or greatly improved by the availability of an on-site renewable energy supply; identify specific industry leaders, customers or partners for a joint research/pilot project; and, use industry leaders, customers or partners to sell jointly-developed products into the targeted market.
S2E Solar
They make and sell S2E Solar Film(TM) — a proprietary “window electrode” product that enables solar shingles for rooftop electricity generation to be 50% less expensive than existing solar cells and lower cost than grid electricity. The foundational IP behind S2E Solar Film was invented at Northwestern University.
POW Solutions
POW (Power Optimized Workloads) Solutions is building an enterprise software platform that allows IT data centers to execute incoming workloads in the most energy efficient way possible. They achieve this by 1) dynamically and intelligently managing server speed (in GHz) and 2) by determining the exact number of servers that are needed at any point, given an incoming workload (demand). Initial implementations of POW’s technology have shown up to a 30% decrease in response time (for the amount of power) or up to 30% decrease in power consumption (with next to no impact on job response time).
LinkCycle
LinkCycle brings a novel approach to assessing the environmental performance of industrial products by bringing the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology to a collaborative, web-based environment. This allows the quantity of data to improve over time. Data quality also improves, because LCA standards are embedded in the functionality of the tool, which provide guided and easy-to-perform analysis. This significantly reduces the primary costs of conducting LCA of products–opening the market up to small and medium sized businesses.
MODRide
MODride (Mobility-On-Demand Ride) builds on research conducted at the MIT Media Lab SmartCities group (http://cities.media.mit.edu/). In partnership with General Motors, we have created a number of breakthroughs which will define the new era of clean, urban auto transportation.
Ubiquitous Energy
They transform any paper or textile surface into a renewable energy source by depositing ultra-lightweight and ultra-flexible solar cells that retain the feel and performance of the underlying substrate. Products composed of these ubiquitous materials become convenient new formats for distributing energy to consumers. This award-winning technology is based on a simple, surface-independent, vapor-printing process that was developed by members of a team in the labs of MIT.
Effimax Solar
Effimax is known for its innovative, high-efficiency nanotexturing methods. Their patented solar cell processes dramatically lower manufacturing costs (by getting rid of manufacturing steps) and produce solar cells 22% more powerful than anything else on the market (thanks to cone-shaped cells). This efficiency increase directly translates into higher market value for your solar cells.
Resolute Marine Energy
[Link]
Resolute Marine Energy, Inc. (RME) is developing wave energy converters (WEC) that generate clean energy from ocean waves. Our near-term goal is to complete development and commercialization of a wave-driven seawater desalination system that operates completely “off-grid” and fills a huge gap in the market for seawater desalination systems. We are also in the early stages of identifying opportunities to cost-effectively supply electricity to near-shore communities that currently rely upon diesel generators.
RME’s business model is to: target maritime commercial activities that would be enabled or greatly improved by the availability of an on-site renewable energy supply; identify specific industry leaders, customers or partners for a joint research/pilot project; and, use industry leaders, customers or partners to sell jointly-developed products into the targeted market.
S2E Solar
They make and sell S2E Solar Film(TM) — a proprietary “window electrode” product that enables solar shingles for rooftop electricity generation to be 50% less expensive than existing solar cells and lower cost than grid electricity. The foundational IP behind S2E Solar Film was invented at Northwestern University.
POW Solutions
POW (Power Optimized Workloads) Solutions is building an enterprise software platform that allows IT data centers to execute incoming workloads in the most energy efficient way possible. They achieve this by 1) dynamically and intelligently managing server speed (in GHz) and 2) by determining the exact number of servers that are needed at any point, given an incoming workload (demand). Initial implementations of POW’s technology have shown up to a 30% decrease in response time (for the amount of power) or up to 30% decrease in power consumption (with next to no impact on job response time).
LinkCycle
LinkCycle brings a novel approach to assessing the environmental performance of industrial products by bringing the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology to a collaborative, web-based environment. This allows the quantity of data to improve over time. Data quality also improves, because LCA standards are embedded in the functionality of the tool, which provide guided and easy-to-perform analysis. This significantly reduces the primary costs of conducting LCA of products–opening the market up to small and medium sized businesses.
MODride (Mobility-On-Demand Ride) builds on research conducted at the MIT Media Lab SmartCities group (http://cities.media.mit.edu/). In partnership with General Motors, we have created a number of breakthroughs which will define the new era of clean, urban auto transportation.
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