Energy | Stanford University School of Engineering

Energy

The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in the Mojave Desert. | Photo: BrightSource Energy

Jul 22, 2014

A clean energy roadmap for California

Jul 22, 2014

Stanford-led team develops self-cooling solar cells that last longer and have more power

Energy, Materials

Jul 16, 2014

Stanford team aims to improve storage in batteries used in cellphones, iPods, more

Energy, Materials

Miniaturized fuel cells probed with high brilliance X-rays at the Advanced Light Source at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. | Photo: Chueh Lab, Stanford Engineering

Jul 9, 2014

Researchers led by Stanford engineer figure out how to make more efficient fuel cells

Jun 25, 2014

Storing solar energy in the strangest places

Energy, Technology & Society

Stanford and MIT researchers have developed a four-stage process that uses waste heat to charge a battery. First, an uncharged battery is heated by waste heat. Then, while the battery is still warm,

May 21, 2014

Stanford and MIT engineers find new way to harness waste heat

Artist’ rendering of the nickel-gallium active site, which synthesizes hydrogen and carbon dioxide into methanol. Nickel atoms are light grey, gallium atoms are dark grey and oxygen atoms are red.

Mar 4, 2014

Newly discovered catalyst could lead to the low-cost, clean production of methanol, scientists say

Energy, Materials

Professor Mark Jacobson believes that financial incentives could help overcome political resistance to installing offshore wind turbines. | Rod Searcey

Feb 26, 2014

Offshore wind farms could tame hurricanes before they reach land, Stanford-led study says

Energy, Environment

Pomegranate-style battery design

Feb 18, 2014

New ‘pomegranate-inspired’ design solves problems for lithium-ion batteries

Energy, Materials

Professor Reinhold Dauskardt

Nov 25, 2013

Study to assess how heat and moisture will affect the lifespan of utility-scale photovoltaic arrays

Energy, Environment

Stanford scientists may have resolved a debate about how organic solar cells turn sunlight into electricity. The question: What causes electron-hole pairs (excitons) to split apart? The likely answer

Nov 19, 2013

Stanford study could lead to paradigm shift in organic solar cell research

This prototype lithium ion battery contains a silicon electrode protected with a coating of self-healing polymer. The cables and clips in the background are part of an apparatus for testing the batte

Nov 15, 2013

Stanford engineers and SLAC scientists invent self-healing battery electrode

Hydrogen generating cluster of atoms

Oct 29, 2013

Work by Stanford chemical engineers could lead to greener fuels, fertilizers and petrochemicals

Energy, Environment, Materials

This bristly, bumpy membrane designed by Stanford engineers is the centerpiece of the most powerful, coolest-running solid oxide fuel cell of its size. | Reprinted with permission from An, J.; Kim,

Oct 21, 2013

Stanford engineers develop fuel cell that can deliver record power-per-square inch at record-low temperatures

Energy, Materials

The cross-section micrograph of the thermal emitter shows the ceramic-coated tungsten retained structural integrity after being subjected to 2,500 F (1,400 C) for one hour. | Kevin Arpin

Oct 17, 2013

Scientists develop heat-resistant materials that could vastly improve solar-cell efficiency

A new study finds that it may be better for the environment to temporarily shut down a wind turbine than to store the surplus electricity it generates. | Photo by Charles Barnhart

Sep 9, 2013

Stanford scientists calculate the energy required to store wind and solar power on the grid

These X-ray images reveal the microscopic structure of two semiconducting plastic polymers. The bottom image, with several big crystals stacked in a row, is from a highly ordered polymer sample. The

Aug 5, 2013

A dash of chaos boosts the efficiency of plastic solar cells, Stanford scientists say

Energy, Materials

Engineers in Stanford’s Predictive Science Academic Alliance Program will embrace exascale computing while developing complex computer models of technologies that could increase the efficiency of s

Aug 1, 2013

Stanford engineers receive award to improve supercomputing and solar efficiency

These four wafers contain the thinnest light-absorber ever built. The absorber layer consists of billions of gold nanodots. Each round dot has a volume equivalent to a flat particle of gold 1.6-nanom

Jul 18, 2013

Stanford Scientists Break Record for Thinnest Light-Absorber

Energy, Materials

Professor Yi Cui holds a lab demonstration of his group’s new lithium-polysulfide flow battery contained in a simple flask. The design could serve as a model for a low-cost, long-life battery that

Apr 26, 2013

New Battery Design Could Help Solar and Wind Energy Power the Grid

To be considered a success, PV panels must ultimately pay back all the energy that went into them, said Michael Dale, a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford'’Global Climate & Energy Project. Photo c

Apr 2, 2013

Global solar photovoltaic industry is likely now a net energy producer, Stanford researchers find

Professor Shanhui Fan (center) with graduate students Aaswath Raman (left) and Eden Rephaeli (right). | Photo: Norbert von der Groeben

Mar 25, 2013

New type of solar structure cools buildings in full sunlight

Energy, Environment, Materials

Nick Melosh (left), associate professor of materials science and engineering at Stanford and a researcher with SIMES, and graduate student Jared Schwede. | Photo: Brad Plummer / SLAC

Mar 19, 2013

Materials Scientists Make Solar Energy Chip 100 Times More Efficient

Energy, Materials

Wind turbines on the Tug Hill plateau in upstate New York. A new study, co-authored by Stanford researcher Mark Z. Jacobson, details how to convert New York’s energy infrastructure to one powered b

Mar 12, 2013

Researchers map out an alternative energy future for New York