The featured publication for today is from Youssef Habib of Illuminex Corporation, who developed  a photovoltaic device where the charge carrier collection occurs in an array of semiconducting nanowires.    See: U.S Publication 20090050204.  
    Figure 1  from Habib:

     Robert E. Goozner - February 26, 2009

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    The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issues patents once a week, on Tuesday.  On Tuesday, the USPTO issued 3,764 patents.

      Of the 3,764 patents issued,

  23 contained the word "photovoltaic";

   15 contained the phrase "solar cell";

   0 contained the term "biodiesel";
   
  2 contained the word "geothermal"; and

  5 contained the term  "wind turbine".

  An interesting patent for today is by Franz B. Boncodin, who developed a solar powered thermoelectric vehicle lacking an internal combustion engine. The vehicle may include a fiber optics bundle heat collector/conductor, a heating element embedded within a heat sink, and thermoelectric chips mounted around the outer surface of the heat sink. See: USP 7,493,974.  For a view of the car, see below.

    From Sane et al.:

    The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issues patents once a week, on Tuesday.  On Tuesday, the USPTO issued 3,792 patents.

      Of the 3,792 patents issued,

  23 contained the word "photovoltaic";

   18 contained the phrase "solar cell";

   4 contained the term "biodiesel";
   
  6 contained the word "geothermal"; and

  2 contained the term  "wind turbine".

  An interesting patent for today is by Craig and Gretchen Seymour, who developed a self propelled infant stroller that can include solar cells. See: USP 7,490, 684.  For a view of the stroller, see below.

    
    On Thursday, the USPTO issued 6,261 publications .

    Of the 6,261 publications,

    40 contained the word "photovoltaic";

    39 contained the phrase "solar cell";

   17 contained the term "biodiesel";
   
    5 contained the word "geothermal"; and

   7 contained the phrase  "wind turbine".

     The featured publication for today is from Scott D. Redmond, who developed an inflatable electric and hybrid vehicle system.    See: U.S Publication 20090043438.   An overhead view of  the inflatable hybrid car can be seen below

           Robert E. Goozner - February 12, 2009

    The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issues patents once a week, on Tuesday.  On Tuesday, the USPTO issued 3,279 patents.

      Of the 3,279 patents issued,

  9 contained the word "photovoltaic";

   5 contained the phrase "solar cell";

   4 contained the term "biodiesel";
   
  1 contained the word "geothermal"; and

 0 contained the term  "wind turbine".

  An interesting patent for today is by Tatsuya Takamoto et al. of Sharp, who developed a compound solar battery on a gallilum arsenide substrate. See: USP 7,488,890. 

       Robert E. Goozner - February 10, 2009

    The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issues patents once a week, on Tuesday.  On Tuesday, the USPTO issued 3,761 patents.

      Of the 3,761 patents issued,

  16 contained the word "photovoltaic";

   13 contained the phrase "solar cell";

   2 contained the term "biodiesel";
   
  3 contained the word "geothermal"; and

 2 contained the term  "wind turbine".

  An interesting patent for today is by Aloys Wobben, who developed a method for controlling a wind turbine. See: USP 7,484,933. 

    There is lots of buzz in the media about how silicon valley types and Google are going to solve the world's problems with a new university called Singularity University.  For example,  this reprot in the LA times.  However, their web site hasn't gone active yet.   There is more on their stub web site at Singularity Hub.