A new article in Science magazine gives an overview of almost three decades of research into colloidal quantum dots, assesses the technological progress for these nanometer-sized specs of semiconductor matter, and weighs the remaining challenges on the path to widespread commercialization for this promising technology with applications in everything from TVs to highly efficient sunlight collectors.

About two-fifths of all the water that gets withdrawn from lakes, rivers, and wells in the U.S. is used not for agriculture, drinking, or sanitation, but to cool the power plants that provide electricity from fossil fuels or nuclear power. 

The University of Utah’s Intermountain Industrial Assessment Center (IIAC) is expanding its scope of helping local businesses save energy. 

Southwest Research Institute and The University of Texas at San Antonio are collaborating to combine two catalytic processes into a single reactor, with the overall goal of recycling carbon from CO2 to produce low-cost hydrocarbon fuels. 

A common farm weed could make a “greener” jet fuel with fewer production-related environmental impacts than other biofuels, a new study indicates.

Study shows that heat pumps would cut greenhouse gas emissions everywhere if the grid is moderately decarbonized.

Trillions of gallons of water are used annually to prevent power plants from overheating. A Texas A&M research group is looking into alternative methods of cooling steam turbines.

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering and the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation used the City of Pittsburgh to create a model built upon the design, materials and purpose of commercial buildings to estimate their energy usage and emissions.

In 1969, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers finished construction of the Red Rock Dam on the Des Moines River in Marion County, Iowa. 

The EU funded project DAFNE has developed a methodology for avoiding conflicts of use in transboundary rivers.