Science and Technology - Briefs

Material Sciences Live wire Here is a wire you can stretch, bend or cut and it would still work. Scientists have created the self-healing, elastic wire using liquid metal and a polymer. Small tunnels are bored in polymer sheath and are filled with a liquid alloy of indium and gallium, forming a liquid metal wire inside the stretchable sheath.

Power hat trick

Clouds over solar

India’s solar power policy is now entering round two. And there is much that needs to be reviewed and reworked as the business of solar energy has seen massive turbulence in India as well as globally. In the first phase (2010 to 2013) of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) the target was to set up 1,000-2,000 MW of grid-based solar power in the country.

Sunshine sector loses sheen

Pressure tactics

HOW often do you bang the remote to get it working and run for chargers once the mobile battery is dead? Well, soon there could be an end to all this frustration, if researchers from Korea have their way. They have designed a flexible nanogenerator from ceramic materials that can produce energy under external mechanical stress.

Solar energy is everybody's business

Solar mission is too important to let doubtful dealings hijack it

The truth about solar mission

Time to Plug in

There is a prominently held view that dissemination of renewable energy technology is marred by high costs. It's true that a few technologies like wind power have become cheaper, but others are still expensive. Solar photovoltaics (PV) and wind energy now cost one-tenth of what they did in the early 1980s. Today a wind energy plant costs just about the same as a coal-fired thermal power plant of the same capacity; it could be even cheaper at places with high wind speeds.

Time to plug in

There is a prominently held view that dissemination of renewable energy technology is marred by high costs. It's true that a few technologies like wind power have become cheaper, but others are still expensive. Solar photovoltaics (PV) and wind energy now cost one tenth of what they did in early 1980s. Today a wind energy plant costs just about the same as a coal-fired thermal power plant of the same capacity; it could be even cheaper at places with high wind speeds.

THE FUTURE OF CLEAN ENERGY

W e can start this story like a science fiction thriller. But we want to talk reality. So, before discussing the hype that fuel cells generate, let us start on a rather elementary note. The dictionary will tell you that a cell is a unit in a device for converting chemical energy into electricity. Which is good. But there's a problem. The best of cells are useless after the chemical stops creating electricity.