Blog

Harvesting Ambient Energy: Real World Use Cases in 2025

Catwell

Solar Harvesting for Remote IoT Networks Solar power. (Image Credit: Wikimediaimages/pixabay) Remote IoT nodes still rely on solar power as a source of energy. At the Myriota deployment in June 2025, isolated farms and island resorts had ultra-low-p...
- 30 Oct 2025
Teacher Transmits Sound using a Laser and Solar Panel Connected to a Speaker

Catwell

Chemistry teacher Phillip Cook noticed that when he fired a laser at a solar panel, it emitted sound. Cook found that he could wirelessly transmit sound, with the solar panel acting as a receiver. (Image credit Phillip Cook via YouTube) Chemistry te...
- 29 Oct 2025
Receiver Technology Wirelessly Delivers Power Using Lasers

Catwell

The laser enters the PRAD receiver through the center, reflects off a parabolic mirror, and hits photovoltaic cells that convert it into power. (Image Credit: DARPA) A team in the U.S. Army's White Sands Missile Range used lasers to wirelessly t...
- 22 Oct 2025
Don't leave Lithium Ion batteries charging overnight...

shabaz

This was a surprise! Going away for a bit, and charged up my camera batteries, only to see this; you can see the left battery has a curved surface, it's not flat like the one on the right. I measured the thickness at 20.4 mm, compared to 18.5 mm ...
- 14 Oct 2025
How Do Supercapacitors or Batteries Fare in IoT Devices?

Catwell

IoT devices like a smart watch are powered by a battery or a supercapacitor. (Image Credit: fancycrave1/pixabay) IoT devices typically use batteries as their primary source of power. But the type they use often depends on the application, environmen...
- 30 Sep 2025
The Latest Insight into Low-Power Design for Always-On Edge AI Devices

Catwell

(Image credit: Freepik) AI is no longer limited to cloud data centers or high-performance machines; it’s being pushed to the edge in the form of mobile devices, smart cameras, industrial sensors, wearables, and other consumer platforms. These ...
- 23 Sep 2025
Ice Can Generate Electricity

Catwell

Flexoelectricity occurring in ice. (Image Credit: Nature Physics (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-02995-6) Researchers at the Institute of Nanoscience of Barcelona, Xi'an Jiaotong University, and Stony Brook University have shown that ice can pr...
- 11 Sep 2025
Solid-State Batteries, and How They Shape the Future

Catwell

(Image Credit: ScienceDirect) Battery technology is advancing, and a new type, solid-state batteries (SSBs), is expected to emerge in the upcoming years. Researchers at the University of California, Riverside, published a review highlighting the po...
- 20 Aug 2025
Retired EV Batteries Could be Reused as Grid Storage to Cut Emissions

Catwell

(Image credit: Pexels) As electric vehicles (EVs) continue to rise in popularity, California is on track to retire millions of EV batteries over the next few decades. So, what happens to all those batteries once they can't power a car? A n...
- 7 Aug 2025
Vortex Bladeless Unveils Bladeless Wind Turbines

Catwell

The bladeless wind turbines rely on vortex-induced vibration rather than spinning blades to generate electricity. (Image Credit: Vortex Bladeless) Vortex Bladeless has introduced an innovative renewable energy solution: bladeless wind turbines. Inst...
- 29 Jul 2025
Aliaro’s Battery Cell Simulator Increases EV Efficiency and Range

Catwell

(Image credit: Aliaro) Swedish firm Aliaro is sparking innovation with its Battery Cell Simulator (BCS), which provides engineers with a new tool for optimizing EV and eVTOL battery systems, without requiring an actual battery. The BCS accurately si...
- 18 Jul 2025
Japan and Indonesia Launch a $500 Million Initiative to Expand Geothermal Capacity

Catwell

(Image Credit: WikiImages/pixabay) Indonesia and Japan have launched a $500 million initiative to add a second unit to the geothermal facility in West Sumatra, expanding capacity at the Muara Laboh site. Former Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida ...
- 17 Jul 2025
Japan Wirelessly Transmits Power from the Air to the Ground

Catwell

Flying 3.1 miles above the ground at 700km/hr, the jet transmitted power to ground-based antennae. (Image Credit: Japan Space Systems) Japan Space Systems (JSS) successfully achieved a breakthrough: wirelessly transmitting power from an in-flight je...
- 15 Jul 2025
OrangePi Power write up

obones

Last year, I asked a question on how to best maintain power long enough to allow my 3D Printer SBC to power off properly: /technologies/power-management/f/forum/54285/maintain-power-long-enough-for-sbc-to-power-down The easiest solution was simply to...
- 12 Jul 2025
The State of Solar Power in 2025

Catwell

Global solar power is growing by the day. (Image Credit: Bru-n0/pixabay) Solar power is growing at a rapid pace that humanity hasn't seen before. For instance, global solar grew tenfold over the last ten years, which saw installations doubling...
- 10 Jul 2025
6K6 Tube Amp

dang74

It feels funny posting about tubes on a site called element14. After all silicon was the great disrupter that pushed vacuum tubes to the sidelines. Setting all that aside I know the e14 community will welcome this blog... but it still beg...
- 6 Jul 2025
At 12 Years Old, Jackson Oswalt Built a Fusion Reactor in His Bedroom

Catwell

Jackson Oswalt and his fusion reactor that he built in his bedroom at 12 years old. (Image Credit: Guinness World Records) Like something out of a sitcom or movie. Every kid dreams big, and some turn those dreams into reality. In 2018, 12-year-old J...
- 2 Jul 2025
The United States Delivered the (Big) Central Solenoid to France

Catwell

The US recently delivered the central solenoid to the ITER site in France. (Image Credit: General Atomics) The ITER project, an international partnership, is getting closer to achieving nuclear fusion, an effort that involves the replication of the ...
- 13 Jun 2025
Arcela Unveils Machine That Turns the Air into Gasoline

Catwell

Aircela demonstrated its compact machine that turns CO2 into gasoline for vehicle use. (Image Credit: Aircela) New York-based fuels company Aircela built a compact machine capable of collecting carbon dioxide, converting it into clean, usable gasoli...
- 11 Jun 2025
AI Discovers a Large Lithium Deposit Beneath Arkansas

Catwell

Map showing highlighted areas of the Smackover Formation and the sampling area. (Image Credit: USGS) The USGS used water testing and machine learning to discover approximately 5 to 19 million tons of lithium beneath southwestern Arkansas from the Sm...
- 3 Jun 2025
China’s Survey Estimates That a One-Million-Ton Deposit of Thorium Could Produce Limitless Energy

Catwell

An experimental thorium-based nuclear reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the 1960s. (Image Credit: Oak Ridge National Laboratory/US DOE) In 2020, China conducted a national geological survey in 233 thorium-rich zones across the nation, find...
- 30 May 2025
CalTech Progresses with Making The Mini Lightsail a Reality

Catwell

Artist's concept of a lightsail propelled by a laser and blasting off through space. (Image Credit: Credit: Breakthrough Starshot / Breakthrough Initiatives) The Breakthrough Starshot Initiative isn't a new concept. Introduced by Stephen H...
- 19 Mar 2025
Building a 4 x AA Battery Pack Charger for Nickel-Metal Hydride (Ni-MH) Cells

shabaz

Table of Contents Introduction Circuit Current Limit Voltage Limit Building and Testing the Charger Summary Disclaimer Introduction Modern Nickel-Metal Hydride (Ni-MH) cells pack a lot of power, are low-cost, easily available, and are relativ...
- 12 Feb 2025
3D-Printed Fungi Battery Consumes Sugar to Power Temperature Sensors

Catwell

Empa’s 3D-printed biodegradable fungal battery can supply power to temperature sensors for days. (Image Credit: Empa) Researchers at Empa’s Cellulose and Wood Materials laboratory developed a 3D-printed fungal battery that doesn’t ...
- 7 Feb 2025
China’s East Fusion Reactor Breaks a New Record

Catwell

China's EAST fusion reactor achieved a steady state high-confinement plasma operation for 1,066 seconds. (Image Credit: HFIPS) Humanity is inching closer to an artificial sun, unlocking breakthroughs along the way. For the first time, rese...
- 28 Jan 2025