July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

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Apple scored two patents today that are a clear reminder of its obsessive attention to detail and design.

Both patents were initially reported by AppleInsider. They show that Apple isn’t slowing down when it comes to innovation, even on seemingly mundane things like the way its logos and indicators appear on its computers.

The first, U.S. Patent No. 8,303,151 for “microperforation illumination,” describes an expanded way for Apple to light up touch interfaces, or simply its logo on the cover of future MacBooks, without any visible holes for the light to pass through. Basically, imagine a future MacBook where the Apple logo completely disappears into its metal case.

Apple already relies on lasers to create tiny microperforated holes to shine light through metal, which is used for things like the the glowing sleep light and the green webcam status indicator on MacBooks. But the patented process goes a step further, allowing Apple to create similar “invisible” elements for multitouch surfaces. The process is also significantly more complicated for something like creating an invisible Apple logo.

The second, U.S. Patent No. 8,305,728 for “ionic wind generation,” describes a way Apple can cool its future computers without mechanical fans, which are noisy and prone to failure. Instead of just using fans to blow cool air indiscriminately through electronic devices, the patented method uses an ionic generator that can push ionized air more efficiently to hot components such as a computer’s CPU or graphics processor.

Intriguingly, the patent notes that the ionic cooling method could also be used in future mobile devices.

At the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, researchers combined quantum physics and nano physics to create a new way to cool semiconductor chips, which are the brains of everything electronic. Cooling technology is increasingly important as low-power consumption has become the biggest priority in new chip design, particularly for mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets and other portable gadgets.

The researchers created semiconductor “membranes” 160 nanometers thick with a surface area of 1 millimeter by 1 millimeter, according to researcher Koji Usami, associate professor at the Niels Bohr Institute, in an interview with TG Daily. A nanometer is a billionth of a meter.

In the experiments, the membrane interacts with the laser light in a way that its mechanical movements affected the light that hit it. By getting the membrane to oscillate in a certain way, the researchers could cool it down from room temperature to minus 269 degrees Centigrade.

The lasers paradoxically work by heating the semiconductor material as a whole, but the membrane itself cools down at the certain oscillation level.

“It is cooling by warming,” Usami said.

The research has been under way for several years in the quantum optical labs of the Quantop research group at the Niels Bohr Institute. There’s no telling yet when the technology can be commercialized.

Image credit: TG Daily

The company plans to do this with its thermoelectric, energy-efficient module (pictured below), which could one day replace traditional refrigerator technology and has potential in other cooling and heating markets. Right now, most refrigerators use compressors, CEO Anthony Atti says are comparatively large, noisy, involve chemicals and “expensive compared to the amount of cooling they provide.”  Phononic, backed in part by a $3 million government ARPA-E award, wants to replace those with its thermoelectric materials and engineering. The company previously raised a $2 million round.

“The idea is to take advantage of the very same quiet, compact, lack of moving parts [traits] that thermoelectric devices already have, but introduce a materials systems with more efficiency,” Atti said.

Thermoelectric technology basically harvests energy as heat is transferred from hot to cold. Waste heat can be converted to power, or, conversely, electricity can be used to remove heat for refrigeration or cooling purposes. Waste heat-to-energy isn’t a new concept, and in fact is capturing the attention of a few companies. GE, for example, last year acquired Calnetix, a company whose systems can convert waste heat from industrial processes into electricity.

Thermoelectrics isn’t a new thing, but in the past, it has been crippled by cost and low efficiency — it’s used today for applications like portable heaters, Att says.He thinks Phononic’s technology can solve those issues with modules that manufacturers can integrate into their products.

The company will be using the newly raised funds to create and test prototypes and prepare for commercialization. It plans to bring products to market in 2013.

[Top image via Flickr/akeg]

The company makes a unique product in the energy storage sector, using ice to reduce energy required by AC systems. Ice Energy says it can reduce energy demand by AC systems by up to 95 percent, and its Ice Bear units can shift 32 kilowatt-hours of peak time energy use to off-peak hours.

How it works: The Ice Bear system (pictured) freezes 450 gallons of water at night, when electricity is usually cheaper, so the cost to power the unit’s freezing process is low. During peak cooling hours (daytime), it uses the stored ice to cool refrigerant for the AC system, replacing the energy-gobbling compressor in the AC unit.

The system has gotten the attention of Target, which is working with SunPower and Ice Energy to build a pilot project that will combine solar power with ice energy to reduce peak-time energy use.

Ice Energy initially started out marketing its product to big-box retailers like Target, says spokesman Marc Marton. But a few years ago it shifted its strategy to utilities, signing deals with Austin Energy, Toronto Hydro and several Southern California utilities that will install 50 megawatts’ worth of the storage systems.

Utilities can purchase the Ice Bear systems as an asset and place them in commercial and government buildings to reduce peak load.

“It’s a strategy that the utility can use rather than build another peak gas plant and go through all of the citing and permitting processes and expense to build and maintain it,” Marton said. “They can build this approach and essentially shift peak demand to off-peak.”

Energy storage — in particular, using it to reduce peak-time energy use — is a big issue in the renewable energy world, and yields an enticing promise for utilities and customers — customers can save money by using less of the pricey peak energy, and utilities lower the strain on the grid and save the expense of building more capacity to accommodate increasing peak demand. Ice Energy attacks the off-peak energy storage issue in a rather unique way, but there’s also been talk of creating grid-scale batteries that can store off-peak energy from renewable resources (say from wind, which is strongest at night). Some utilities are offering incentives for electric car owners to charge at night, and electric carmakers are working on energy storage uses for discarded electric car batteries.

The final amount raised by Ice Energy includes the $4.5 million from a new green building partnership formed by financial services firm TIAA-CREF and cleantech investment firm Good Energies.

Other investors in the company include Energy Capital Partners, Sail Ventures and Second Avenue Partners.

Are you a green executive or entrepreneur? If so, sign up now for GreenBeat 2010 — the year’s seminal conference on the smart grid — November 3-4 at Stanford University. World leaders in smart grid initiatives will debate how the new “Super Grid” is creating huge opportunities in cars, energy storage, and renewables. GreenBeat 2010 is hosted by VentureBeat and SSE Labs of Stanford University. Go here for full conference details and to apply for the 2010 Innovation Competition. Early-bird tickets are available until October 15th.

Financial services company TIAA-CREF announced it will put $50 million venture capital investments in energy efficient and green building technologies. The cash will be invested alongside VC investments made by cleantech investment firm Good Energies in a partnership between the two companies. So far, the partnership has invested $4.5 million in Ice Energy, which makes energy-efficient cooling systems. Side note: Good Energies also took a stake equal to Google’s in the Atlantic wind project announced last week.

Brazilian energy giant Petrobras will team with Danish enzyme maker Novozymes to create advanced biofuels, Reuters reports.

Demand for solar in the U.S. is growing, but financing is still scarce for big, billion-dollar projects that would be needed for the industry to catch up with the growth seen in places like Germany, the New York Times writes.

Could Google be building a “highway to nowhere“? NPR tackled the question over the weekend, pointing out that cross-state transmission lines — like the billion-dollar Atlantic seaboard offshore wind transmission project that Google is investing in — have to go through a “regulatory quagmire,” earning approval from state, federal and regional entities. The project aims to spur the development of offshore wind farms by first investing in transmission capacity, but it could be stalled by requirements that transmission-builders prove demand for the energy it will transmit — or by the failure of offshore wind farms built to service the line.

Wind-farm developer First Wind Holdings will raise up to $312 million from its initial public offering, selling 12 million shares between $24 and $26 each, Dow Jones Newswires reports. Of the amount raised, $98 million will go towards debt service.

Are you a green executive or entrepreneur? If so, sign up now for GreenBeat 2010 — the year’s seminal conference on the smart grid — November 3-4 at Stanford University. World leaders in smart grid initiatives will debate how the new “Super Grid” is creating huge opportunities in cars, energy storage, and renewables. GreenBeat 2010 is hosted by VentureBeat and SSE Labs of Stanford University. Go here for full conference details and to apply for the 2010 Innovation Competition. Early-bird tickets are available until October 15th.