Engineering Trends: Energy

A recent article on Wired.com highlighted “10 Companies Reinventing Our Energy Infrastructure.”

Four of the ten companies profiled have Tau Beta Pi members working for them. The following is a brief description of each company and the Tau Bates:

Agrivida – working on developing energy crops designed to produce chemicals, fuels, and bioproducts from non-food cellulosic biomass. [Jeremy C. Johnson, KS A ’97]

Phononic Devices – working with thermoelectric seminconductor materials to recapture waste heat and convert it into usable electric power.

Makani Windpower – developing high-altitude kites to maximize wind power extraction. [Eric Chen, ID A 2001]

Graphene Energy – developing ultracapacitors for energy storage using graphene. [Meryl Stroller, KS G ’84]

Superconductor Technologies – working on replacing copper and aluminum wires in power lines with ceramic, high-temperature superconductor, that would increase capacity and limit wasted electricity.

Velkess – developing a flywheel that can reduce energy storage costs.

Velocys – working to commercialize microchannel technology to yield greater energy efficiencies.
[Anna Lee Tonkovich, NY K ’87]

Wildcat Discovery Technologies – developing high throughput synthesis and screening platforms for rapid evaluation and discovery of complex materials.

Xtreme Energetics – working on photovoltaic technologies for ultra-high efficiency solar energy systems.

Potter Drilling – working to commercialize the Hot Dry Rock (or ESG) concept in drilling for geothermal energy.

ΤΒΠ