Solar panel efficiency is a measurement of a solar panel’s ability to convert sunlight into usable electricity. If the same amount of sunlight shines on two solar panels with different efficiency ratings for the same period of time, the more efficient panel will produce more electricity than the less efficient panel. Most solar panels show efficiencies between 15% and 20%, with outliers on either side of the range....
Hydrogen is a very simple and abundant element on earth as it consists of only one proton and one electron. Hydrogen is able to store and deliver usable energy, but it does not typically exist by itself in nature and must be produced from compounds that contain it. It is an indispensable element in promoting the transition to renewables and meeting climate targets. It is also the essential building block of sector coupling. While it...
With diminishing fossil resources and rising concerns about global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions, biomass is regarded as a promising alternative to non-renewable fossil resources for the sustainable supply of fuels and chemicals. Because of its abundant content of carbon, biomass is considered as the best source to replace fossil fuels for producing various biofuels such as biodiesel, ethanol, and dimethylfuran. It can be...
Modern civilization is dependent upon fossil fuels. Fossil-fuel dependence, however, has serious consequences which concern energy security issues and greenhouse gas emissions. This could be avoided by fuel-producing artificial systems that emulate natural photosynthesis and directly convert solar energy into fuel. Researchers all over the world want to use this chemical reaction, which is initiated by sunlight and used by green plants...
Key indicators of patenting activity in the field of unconventional gas production in 2018 are considered in the present review. For this purpose, slightly more than 500 patent applications registered in patent offices around the world and related to main sectors of unconventional gas production, including associated petroleum gas (APG), coal bed methane (CBM) and methane hydrates (GHD) were collected from generally-accessible sources....
Batteries made from a nickel-metal-hydride or using lithium-ions as conductive membranes appeared in the early 1990s, fighting nose-to-nose to gain customer's acceptance. Today, lithium-ion batteries are the most widely used and most promising industry. Local distortions which occur in the atomic structure of the electrode during operation are responsible for the rapid storage and release of lithium ion - a discovery that has helped in...
In recent years China has been the undisputed world leader in wind energy, both in terms of the annual commissioning of new capacities and in the amount of accumulated power. According to Irena, 20.2 GW wind turbines were commissioned in China in 2018, representing an increase of 12%. For comparison, the global volume of newly-implemented wind energy capacity in 2018 was less than 10%. Preliminary data for 2019 shows that this dynamic...
About 500 patent applications were collected in total for the analysis of patent activity of main applicants in 2018 in the field of unconventional gas production, of which 279 relate to methane production from hydrates (GHD), 12 – to coal bed methane (CBM), and the remainder 94 – to associated petroleum gas (APG). All of the applications were found in generally-accessible patent sources by examining the texts of inventions. The main...
The QS World University Rankings is released annually by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) and presents the leading universities worldwide. The QS system includes a comprehensive global list and several subject rankings, alongside five independent regional tables (Asia, Latin America, Emerging Europe and Central Asia, the Arab Region, and BRICS). For the complete 2020 University Rankings by Subject, please visit the homepage of...
Traditionally, at the end of each year, the Global Dossier Task Force (GDTF) publishes a detailed statistical report on patent activity of the five leading patent offices in the world (IP5), including USPTO (USA), JPO (Japan), KIPO (South Korea), EPO (EPC states) and CNIPA (China). According to the data from the report, in 2017 they accounted for 91% of all patents in force worldwide, and if at the end of 2016 this totalled 11.8...
