Burtonsville, MD – July 20, 2010 – New Energy Technologies, Inc. (OTCBB: NENE) is pleased to announce that researchers developing its proprietary SolarWindow™ technology have achieved major scientific and technical breakthroughs, allowing the Company to unveil a working prototype of the world’s first-ever glass window capable of generating electricity in the upcoming weeks.

Until now, solar panels have remained opaque, with the prospect of creating a see-thru glass window capable of generating electricity limited by the use of metals and various expensive processes which block visibility and prevent light from passing through glass surfaces.

New Energy’s ability to generate electricity on see-thru glass is made possible by making use of the world’s smallest working organic solar cells, developed by Dr. Xiaomei Jiang at the University of South Florida.  Unlike conventional solar systems, New Energy’s solar cells generate electricity from both natural and artificial light sources, outperforming today’s commercial solar and thin-film technologies by as much as 10-fold.

Click here to view press release, announcing test results which show New Energy’s see-thru SolarWindow™ cells surpass thin-film and solar in artificial light:

http://www.newenergytechnologiesinc.com/NENE20090624.html

New Energy’s SolarWindow™ technology is under development for potential application in the estimated 5 million commercial buildings in America (Energy Information Administration) and more than 80 million single detached homes.

“We’re always keen to see innovations in our laboratories turn into meaningful commercial products,” stated Valerie McDevitt, Assistant Vice President for Research, Division of Patents and Licensing, University of South Florida.  “We very much look forward to the commercial development of New Energy’s SolarWindow™ technology, which, if successful, could literally transform the way in which we view the use of solar energy for our homes, offices, and commercial buildings.”

The University of South Florida Research Foundation has licensed Dr. Xiaomei Jiang’s groundbreaking discovery and important commercial processes and applications to New Energy Solar Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of New Energy Technologies, Inc.

“It’s very exciting to see that our ongoing research has led to several significant breakthroughs with transparency and the production of electricity on see-thru glass,” explained Mr. Meetesh V. Patel, President and CEO of New Energy Technologies, Inc.  “For the first time ever, these advances have allowed us to develop an early-scale working prototype of the technology, which I very much look forward to unveiling in the upcoming weeks.”

In recent months, numerous technical milestones have been surpassed by researchers developing New Energy’s see-thru SolarWindow™ coatings, including:

1. The use of the world’s smallest functional solar cells, measuring less than ¼ the size of a grain of rice, and shown to successfully produce electricity in a published peer-reviewed study in the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy of the American Institute of Physics.  Importantly, these cells generate electricity from both natural and artificial light sources, outperforming today’s commercial solar and thin-film technologies by as much as 10-fold;

2. Development of a novel, patent-pending process to spray SolarWindow™ coatings onto see-thru glass using commercially available technologies (presented in AZoNano’s Journal of Nanotechnology Online; Dec. 20, 2009, “Nanotechnology Thought Leaders” series); and

Click here to view press release, announcing development of patent-pending technology to spray SolarWindow™ coatings onto see-thru glass:

http://www.newenergytechnologiesinc.com/NENE20100111.html

3. The ability to spray SolarWindow™ coatings onto glass at room temperature, eliminating expensive high-temperature or high-vacuum production methods commonly used by current solar manufacturers.

About University of South Florida
The University of South Florida is one of the nation’s top 63 public research universities and one of only 25 public research universities nationwide with very high research activity that is designated as community engaged by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.  USF was awarded $380.4 million in research contracts and grants in FY 2008/2009. The university offers 232 degree programs at the undergraduate, graduate, specialist and doctoral levels, including the doctor of medicine. The USF System has a $1.8 billion annual budget, an annual economic impact of $3.2 billion, and serves more than 47,000 students on institutions/campuses in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota-Manatee and Lakeland. USF is a member of the Big East Athletic Conference.

About New Energy Technologies, Inc.
New Energy Technologies, Inc., together with its wholly owned subsidiaries, is a developer of next generation alternative and renewable energy technologies. Among the Company’s technologies under development are:

* MotionPower™ roadway systems for generating electricity by capturing the kinetic energy produced by moving vehicles – a patent-pending technology, the subject of nine patent applications in the United States and two international patent filings. An estimated 250 million registered vehicles drive more than six billion miles on America’s roadways, every day; and

* SolarWindow™ technologies which enable see-thru windows to generate electricity by ‘spraying’ their glass surfaces with the world’s smallest known solar cells. These solar coatings are less than 1/10th the thickness of ‘thin’ films and make use of the world’s smallest functional solar cells, shown to successfully produce electricity in a published peer-reviewed study in the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy of the American Institute of Physics.

Through established relationships with universities, research institutions, and commercial partners, we strive to identify technologies and business opportunities on the leading edge of renewable energy innovation.  Unique to our business model is the use of established research infrastructure owned by the various institutions we deal with, saving us significant capital which would otherwise be required for such costs as land and building acquisition, equipment and capital equipment purchases, and other start up expenses. As a result, we are able to benefit from leading edge research while employing significantly less capital than conventional organizations.

For additional information, please call Ms. Briana L. Erickson toll-free at 1-800-213-0689 or visit: www.newenergytechnologiesinc.com.

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http://www.newenergytechnologiesinc.com/NENE20100720

For media inquiries please contact Mr. Jerry Schranz at 1-201-465-8020, or visit our
Media Relations page for additional contact information:

http://www.newenergytechnologiesinc.com/media_relations

Researchers believe they have developed a more efficient, lower-cost method of manufacturing compound semiconductors by depositing multiple layers of the material on a single wafer, creating a “pancake” stack of gallium arsenide thin films, then individually peeling off the layers and transferring them.

Suzanne Deffree — EDN, May 21, 2010

Through the use of a multilayer technique, researchers at the University of Illinois claim to have developed a more efficient, lower-cost method of manufacturing compound semiconductors such as gallium arsenide.

Professors John Rogers and Xiuling Li lead a team that explored lower-cost ways to manufacture thin films of gallium arsenide that also allowed versatility in the types of devices they could be incorporated into. The research is particularly targeted at photovoltaic cells, as gallium arsenide and related compound semiconductors offer nearly twice the efficiency as silicon in solar devices, yet are rarely used in utility-scale applications because of their high manufacturing cost, the university said.

“If you can reduce substantially the cost of gallium arsenide and other compound semiconductors, then you could expand their range of applications,” said Rogers, the Lee J Flory Founder Chair in Engineering Innovation and a professor of materials science and engineering and of chemistry, in a statement.

The university explained that typically gallium arsenide is deposited in a single thin layer on a small wafer. Either the desired device is made directly on the wafer, or the semiconductor-coated wafer is cut up into chips of the desired size. The researchers decided to deposit multiple layers of the material on a single wafer, creating a layered, “pancake” stack of gallium arsenide thin films.

“If you grow 10 layers in one growth, you only have to load the wafer one time,” said Li, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, in the statement. “If you do this in 10 growths, loading and unloading with temperature ramp-up and ramp-down take a lot of time. If you consider what is required for each growth – the machine, the preparation, the time, the people – the overhead saving our approach offers is a significant cost reduction.”

The stacks alternate layers of aluminum arsenide with the gallium arsenide. A solution of acid and an oxidizing agent is used to dissolve the layers of aluminum arsenide and free the individual thin sheets of gallium arsenide. The researchers then individually peel off the layers. A soft stamp-like device picks up the layers, one at a time from the top down, for transfer to another substrate, allowing the wafer to be reused for another growth, the university explained.

“By doing this we can generate much more material more rapidly and more cost effectively,” Rogers said. “We’re creating bulk quantities of material, as opposed to just the thin single-layer manner in which it is typically grown.”

The researchers noted that freeing the material from the wafer also opens the possibility of flexible, thin-film electronics made with gallium arsenide or other high-speed semiconductors. “To make devices that can conform but still retain high performance, that’s significant,” Li said.

As the layers are removed from the stack, they can be laid out side by side on another substrate to produce a much larger surface area, whereas the typical single-layer process limits area to the size of the wafer, the university noted. This is considered an advantage for solar cells.

“For photovoltaics, you want large-area coverage to catch as much sunlight as possible. In an extreme case we might grow enough layers to have 10 times the area of the conventional route,” Rogers said. “You really multiply the area coverage, and by a similar multiplier you reduce the cost, while at the same time eliminating the consumption of the wafer.”

A shift from silicon-based panels to more efficient gallium arsenide models could make solar power a more cost-effective form of alternative energy. The researchers plan to explore more potential device applications and other semiconductor materials that could adapt to multilayer growth.

A paper on the research was published online Thursday in the journal Nature.

Among the paper’s co-authors are Matthew Meitl and Etienne Menard, two scientists from Semprius Inc, a North Carolina-based start-up company that is beginning to use this technique to manufacture solar cells.

The Department of Energy and National Science Foundation-funded team also includes University of Illinois postdoctoral researchers Jongseung Yoon, Sungjin Jo and Inhwa Jung; students Ik Su Chun and Hoon-Sik Kin; and electrical and computer engineering professor James Coleman, along with Ungyu Paik, of Hanyang University in Seoul.

Link til artikel her.

World’s first leaf shaped crystalline silicon solar panel News article

Publication date: 18 May 2010
World’s first leaf shaped crystalline silicon solar panel

In order to provide a new life to a conventional technology and help it merge more naturally into our surroundings, a team at Greendix has developed a new process to design and produce leaf shaped solar panels. The new design is claimed to revolutionize users and designer’s stereotypical thinking that Solar panels can only come in rectangular shapes. The main technical data supplied are:

Efficiency: >13%

Average power: 1.25 watts

Max. output voltage: 5.0 V

Max. output current: 250 mA

Size: 170.5 x 83.5 x 3 mm

Weight: 4.5 g

The new product should allow solar trees to be planted even in places where real trees can’t grow or survive.

Other than the cosmetic advantages of this product, the solar tree concept can be a renewable energy source for different types of applications, for example it can be used in decorative home and garden products, infrastructure projects, electric car charging station, consumer products, etc.

More info

* http://www.greendix.com

Link to article:

http://www.elektor.com/news/world-s-first-leaf-shaped-crystalline-silicon.1359875.lynkx

Dansk verdenspatent inden for solenergi kan skabe et nyt industrieventyr på linje med vindmøllerne.

Ved at kombinere traditionelle solceller med en verdenspatenteret styring er det lykkedes det danske teknologiselskab SunSil A/S at udvikle en ”plug and play” løsning, der kan gøre solceller til hver mands eje.

Prototypen er på vej til typegodkendelse, og den egentlige produktion begynder i Toftlund i Sønderjylland umiddelbart efter sommerferien. Virksomheden, der i dag beskæftiger knap 20 medarbejdere, venter i løbet af andet halvår at fordoble antallet af ansatte. Udviklingen af løsningen beløber sig indtil nu til godt 70 mio. kr.

Strøm sendes direkte ud i elnettet
Hemmeligheden bag konceptet er den måde, hvorpå solcellerne indbyrdes er forbundet til en styring, der igen er knyttet til en inverter. Det gør det muligt at omdanne jævnstrømmen til vekselstrøm, og dermed sende den direkte ud i det almindelige elnet. Den enkelte bruger får altså strømmen leveret fra eget anlæg, mens eventuel overskydende strøm sendes ud i det offentlige net, hvor det afregnes til dagspris.

De enkelte solcellepaneler på to gange en meter kan sættes sammen til individuelle løsninger ved hjælp af et ”plug and play”-system. Det muliggør løsninger, der kan tilpasses private, boligselskaber, landbrug og industrivirksomheder.

Netop den indbyrdes forbindelse mellem solcellerne gør, at SunSil har løst problemet med nedfaldne blade, mågeklatter og skyggen fra træer og skorstene. I et traditionelt anlæg kan et enkelt eller to nedfaldne blade betyde, at et helt solcellepanel falder ud. Det sker ikke i SunSils løsning. Her er det blot de solceller, der direkte er dækket af bladet, der holder op med at producere energi. Resten af panelet fungerer. Det betyder, at SunSils løsning per år leverer mellem 30 og 40 % mere energi end standardløsninger.

Automatisk produktionslinje
SunSil vil i 2010 producere 1.000 systemer på virksomheden i Toftlund. I 2011 planlægger man at tage en automatisk produktionslinje i brug og derved øge antallet til 50.000 paneler svarende til en effekt på 15 Megawatt. I 2016 når produktionen op på en halv million med en total effekt på 150 Megawatt.

99 % af produktionen ventes i første omgang eksporteret til Tyskland og det sydlige Europa, hvor de klimatiske forhold gør det endnu mere rentabelt at investere i solcelleteknologi.

Bag SunSil står en gruppe institutionelle og private investorer med iværksætteren Erik Hansen i spidsen.

http://www.electronic-supply.dk/article/view.html?id=48057&ref=newsletter

Like the story of a fictional movie, but Japanese space agency plan so serious: In 2030 they will capture solar energy in space and sends it to Earth via laser or microwave.

The Japanese government recently chose a group of companies and research teams who are assigned to achieve this ambition, a dream worth billions of dollars, to produce clean energy in an unlimited amount in the next few decades. With few sources of energy they have and a high dependence on imports, Japan has long wanted to be a leader in solar energy and other renewable energy. This year Japan has set an ambitious target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

But Japan’s most daring plan today is the development of Space Solar Power System (SSPS), which form a series of Photovoltaic panels measuring several square kilometers of floating geostationary orbit, far above the earth’s atmosphere.

Solar panels to capture solar energy, which at least five times stronger in space than on earth, and radiate it to earth through a laser beam or microwave. This energy will be collected by a giant parabolic antenna, which placed a particular location at sea or in the dam.

Researcher hopes to one gigawatt system, equivalent to a nuclear power plant medium size, which will produce electricity at a price of eight cents per Kwh, six times cheaper than rates in Japan now.

Various challenges, including bringing the components into space, can appear enormous, but the Japanese have been running this project since 1998, with 130 researchers who conduct research under the supervision of JAXA.

A few months ago, Minister of Economy and Trade with the Minister of Science and Technology, made a step forward toward the realization of the project by selecting some of Japan’s leading technology companies to implement the project. This consortium named the Institute for Unmanned Space Experiment Free Flyer, consisting of Mitsubishi Electric, NEC, Fujitsu and Sharp.

Roadmap project consists of several steps that must be done before a full launch in 2030.

The next step, expected to occur around 2020, will launch a large structure Photovoltaic with a capacity of ten megawatts, followed by a 250 megawatt-sized prototype.

This step will help evaluate the financial capacity of the project, where the end result is to produce cheap electricity that can compete with other alternative technologies.

JAXA says the technology is safe but acknowledged the transmission must first convince the public, which is often linked picture will be fired laser beams from outer space, roasting birds or cutting planes in flight.

According to research by JAXA in 2004, the word “laser” and “microwave”, was most attention among the 1000 respondents.

Det er socialdemokraternes medlem af Europaparlamentet, Britta Thomsen, der nu har henvendt sig til EU-Kommisionen for at gøre opmærksom på den debat, der har været i Danmark om strømforbruget i B&O’s produkter. Det skriver Ingeniøren.

B&O mener, at flere af deres produkter kan omgås de nye krav om et standby-forbrug på 1 watt, fordi der er tale om netværksprodukter. Det vil Britta Thomsen nu have EU-Kommissionens syn på.

Vil have smuthuller lukket
Hun har derfor sendt et spørgsmål til Kommissionen, hvor hun gør opmærksom på B&O’s nye definitioner af produkternes standby-forbrug.

- Jeg vil nu gøre kommissionen opmærksom på de smuthuller, der er i lovgivningen og spørge dem, om de har tænkt sig at tage initiativ til at lukke dem. Ideen med lovgivningen har været, at vi skulle have den maksimale energibesparelse, og det skal vi holde fast i, udtaler Britta Thomsen til Ingeniøren.

Hun roser i øvrigt de nye regler, som efter planen vil kunne spare 7 % af de europæiske husstandes strømforbrug.

Af Henrik Eilers

www.electronic-supply.dk

Ny EU-lovgivning stiller krav til strømforbruget, når et produkt er på standby. Men reglerne kan undviges.

Elektroniske apparater, der sælges i EU, må nu kun bruge 1 watt, når den røde standbydiode lyser. Det kan bringe producenter i problemer, påpeger ekspert i forbrugerelektronik.

- De mere luksuriøse produkter i små styktal, som ikke har været produktudviklet i lang tid, vil have et enormt stort problem, og i AV-branchen vil der være mange amerikanske produkter, som må trækkes ud af EU, siger Christian M. Andersen, som også selv udvikler elektroniske koncepter og produkter til Børsen.

Mange produkter skal af hylden

En markedsscreening foretaget af Energistyrelsen i efteråret 2009, inden loven trådte i kraft, viser, at en ud af tre elektroniske apparater ikke ville kunne leve op til de nye krav, og derfor skal tages af hylden. Det bliver dog ikke lige med det samme, at forbrugerelektronik med strømslugende standbytilstand tvinges ud af de europæiske butikker, Der er nemlig en overgangsperiode.

- Produkterne må sælges, indtil lagrene er tomme. Der må ikke importeres eller produceres nye produkter i EU, der ikke lever op til kravene, mens det, der er markedsført i EU inden 7. januar, fortsat må sælges indtil der er udsolgt, forklarer Michelle Peled.

Computere går fri

Standbykravene gælder dog ikke for produkter, som er forbundet i et netværk, så en del computere kan snige sig uden om reglerne.

- Hele computerindustrien er gledet flot forbi, selvom det jo virkelig er noget, der bruger energi. Der er jo ikke noget til hinder for at kræve et minimumsstrømforbrug, bare fordi det er på netværk. Teknologien og knowhowen er der, men det vil koste virksomhederne en masse penge, fordi de ikke har patenterne til at gøre det, siger Christian M. Andersen.

Kilde: Børsen.

Publication date: 10 December 2009

Stanford scientists are harnessing nanotechnology to quickly produce ultra-lightweight, bendable batteries and supercapacitors in the form of everyday paper.

Yi Cui, assistant professor of materials science and engineering confirms that simply coating a sheet of paper with ink made of carbon nanotubes and silver nanowires makes a highly conductive storage device. Like batteries, capacitors hold an electric charge, but for a shorter period of time. However, capacitors can store and discharge electricity much more rapidly than a battery.

Cui’s work is reported in the paper “Highly Conductive Paper for Energy Storage Devices,” published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The nanomaterials used are a one-dimensional structure with very small diameters. The small diameter helps the nanomaterial ink stick strongly to the fibrous paper, making the battery and supercapacitor very durable. The paper supercapacitor may last through 40,000 charge-discharge cycles – at least an order of magnitude more than lithium batteries. The nanomaterials also make ideal conductors because they move electricity along much more efficiently than ordinary conductors.

Cui had previously created nanomaterial energy storage devices using plastics. His new research shows that a paper battery is more durable because the ink adheres more strongly to paper (answering the question, “Paper or plastic?”). What’s more, you can crumple or fold the paper battery, or even soak it in acidic or basic solutions, and the performance does not degrade.

The flexibility of paper allows for many clever applications. “If I want to paint my wall with a conducting energy storage device,” Cui said, “I can use a brush.” In his lab, he demonstrated the battery to a visitor by connecting it to an LED (light-emitting diode), which glowed brightly.

A paper supercapacitor may be especially useful for applications like electric or hybrid cars, which depend on the quick transfer of electricity. The paper supercapacitor’s high surface-to-volume ratio gives it an advantage.

Cui predicts the biggest impact may be in large-scale storage of electricity on the distribution grid. Excess electricity generated at night, for example, could be saved for peak-use periods during the day. Wind farms and solar energy systems also may require storage.

Cui’s research team includes postdoctoral scholars Liangbing Hu and JangWook Choi, and graduate student Yuan Yang.

Source: Stanford News

Image: L.A. Cicero