Education

U-M scientists say: sunlight + batteries = energy

Scientists at U-M have made a discovery that could possibly convert sunlight into electricity at costs far below those for today's photovoltaic cells. They envision an "optical battery" of sorts.Excerpt:"The breakthrough – unveiled Friday in a scientific paper in the Journal of Applied Physics – shows that if light is intense enough, it can, when traveling through nonconductive material, generate voltage from magnetic effects 100 million times stronger than earlier expected. Such magnetic effects produce a strong electric field that can be harnessed for electric power production, Dr. Rand and Mr. Fisher say.“This could lead to a new kind of solar cell without semiconductors and without absorption to produce charge separation,” Rand said in a statement. “In solar cells, the light goes into a material, gets absorbed and creates heat. Here, we expect to have a very low heat load. Instead of the light being absorbed, energy is stored in the magnetic moment.""Read the rest of the story here.

Ann Arbor developer, Bubble Tea pioneer app to track rewards points

The newest mobile app technology could come from a Bubble Tea store in Ann Arbor.The founders of Bubble Island, the Ann Arbor version of the Bubble Tea craze in Asia, had become frustrated with reward programs for their loyal customers who couldn't always remember to bring their reward cards. "It defeats the purpose of these things if they keep forgetting," says David Linn, president of Bubble Island.So Linn, a University of Michigan graduate and MBA student, reached out to Keith Bourne, who runs the Mobile Monday meetups in Ann Arbor and Detroit. The two led a team that developed a smart phone app for customers to keep track of their reward points and to give retailers like Bubble Island the information they need to give better service.The free app keeps track of customer reward points for various participating retailers, allowing consumers to keep a few less punch cards in their wallets. It also comes with software for the retailers to keep track of their customers' habits. All consumers have to do is give a retailer their phone number and the information is logged. "You don't need your phone, in case it's dead or lost," Bourne says. "You just need your number."Bubble Tea is using the prototype of this app right now. Bourne hopes to find a larger market for their technology over the next year.Source: David Linn, president of Bubble Island and Keith Bourne, founder of Mobile Monday Ann ArborWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Get ready for 2nd annual Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition

The Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition will return for its second year this fall, bringing more than $1 million worth of seed capital cash and prizes for start-ups that plan to grow in the Great Lakes State."We're just excited to be back for a second year," says Lauren Bigelow, executive director of the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition. "We are excited to become a bigger part of Michigan's pipeline of start-ups."The competition works to showcase the best of the best start-ups in Michigan, along with attracting other out-of-state companies to move to the state. More than $1 million in cash and prizes were awarded last fall, including $500,000 to University of Michigan spin-off Armune Biosciences and $150,000 to Ann Arbor-based Arbor Photonics. This year's competition will feature the same prize pool and structure.Organizers are also pointing out that there is more at stake than just the seed capital prizes. Contestants will received valuable feedback from business experts, and get a chance to make their pitch to angel investors and venture capitalists from around the world. This year, organizers are working to have one-third of the people evaluating the start-ups to come from the coasts or outside of the U.S."We're looking to get a bigger critical mass of people looking at our deal flow," Bigelow says.The event will be held on Nov. 16-17 at the Eagle Crest Conference Center in Ypsilanti. The gala awards and dinner will be held at Henry Ford Museum on Nov. 17. Interested start-ups can submit applications starting on June 6, with a deadline of Aug. 10. The deadline for student-led start-ups is Sept. 21. For information, click here.Source: Lauren Bigelow, executive director of the Accelerate Michigan Innovation CompetitionWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

U-M student start-up Dodact bridges video games, education

The University of Michigan students behind the start-up Dodact are trying to bridge the divide between education and video games.The six students behind the TechArb-based company have watched the video gaming industry take big steps forward over the last decade. However, they noted that even though these games have done an excellent job of capturing the attention of today's youth, they do little to further their education. Dodact wants to change that."There is no educational benefit to these games," says Amar Anand, co-founder of Dodact. "We want to take these game mechanics and apply them to a socially valuable state so kids want to learn."Dodact is in the process of developing four video games, in both traditional and mobile formats. It plans to release its first game this month. Source: Amar Anand, co-founder of DodactWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Venture for America eyes U-M, Ann Arbor start-ups for summer launch

Summers-Knoll to move into bigger, greener school in Ann Arbor

Summers-Knoll School, the K-5 alternative Ann Arbor school that was founded by Ruth Knoll, wife of Photoshop creator Paul Knoll, is moving into a new (and bigger) set of digs.Leaving behind their 2,400-square-foot building on Manchester Road, the school of 42 students is relocating to Platt Road, where they have purchased a building and two wooded parcels. The new school, which will be just a stone's throw from County Farm Park, will be 20,000 square feet, allowing classrooms to accommodate 60 students next year and add three more grades, covering K-8. Summer-Knoll's five-year goal is to more than double enrollment to 130 students."We are considering options such as an energy playground, sustainable energy sources such as solar or wind energy, and a continued exploration of the benefits of providing a community hub for children outside of school hours," says Joanna Hastings, head of the school. "We plan to take our Green School certification to a new level through sustainable design and construction." Summers-Knoll became the first certified Michigan Green School in Ann Arbor in 2007.By increasing their space nearly ten-fold, Summers-Knoll sees opportunities for more dedicated learning spaces -- like science labs and performing art facilities. The building will also feature an internal open-air courtyard. Hastings particularly likes the school's proximity to a major bus route, woodland and wetland features in the nearby park, and the Meri Lou Rec Center, which is right across the street.Summers-Knoll centers its curriculum around project-based learning, focusing students on themes that allow contextual exploration, creativity, problem-solving, and collaboration. They hope to open their new space and resources to the community-at-large with weekend and after-hours courses and educational opportunities."This new building represents a new way of thinking about independent schools and their role in the community, as a space of convening, of idea sharing, of learning and of curiosity for many kids instead of just the ones enrolled during class time," says Fran Loosen, a member of the school's board.Summers-Knoll School hopes to move into its new facility by the start of the school year but has secured an alternative space as a security net should construction take them into the end of 2011.Full disclosure: IMG co-founder Paul Schutt is a member of the Summers-Knoll board of directors.Source: Head Of School Joanna Hastings; Fran Loosen, Summers-Knoll School board memberWriter: Jeff Meyers

U-M students are the brains behind Corner Brewery’s $1M green renovation

Ypsilanti's Corner Brewery is currently undergoing a $1 million expansion and clean energy renovation project, and a team of University of Michigan students played no small part in this green sweep. Beginning in February of 2010, a group of students in U-M's School of Natural Resources and Environment graduate program spent 14 months working on planning for this project at the brewery, which earlier had undergone an overview energy audit through the Clean Energy Coalition."Our goal was to help align the business practices of the owners more closely with their values of environmental conservation," Jarett Diamond, a dual master's degree candidate in U-M's school of natural resources and the department of mechanical engineering, says. "And our pathway to achieve that was to focus on energy and water efficiency on site, as well as options for renewable energy generation. And we wanted to tie all these options completely together with a program for employee and customer education and community engagement."Diamond and fellow team members Jazmine Bennett, Gary Fischer, and Kerby Smithson performed an energy and water resource audit. They measured where and how the energy and water were being used at the Corner Brewery's restaurant and brewing operations and then identified the most cost effective options to improve energy utilization efficiency and water efficiency, Diamond explains. "One example that was very surprising was how much energy their chiller was using," he notes. The chiller, used to cool beer during the fermentation process, was much larger and more powerful than what was actually needed. "So we put in a proposal for downsizing the chiller and also adding a heat recovery option, so instead of just dumping heat into the air that's removed from the fermentation tanks, that heat can be used to preheat water for the next batch of beer."  The Corner Brewery also sponsored the team's presentation at the Brewers Association annual gathering in San Francisco, where they were featured as one of the must-see seminars preceding the conference, Diamond says. And U-M made a short documentary film about the project.So did brewery management actually implement any of the students' recommendations? "That's what I'm working on right now," Diamond says. He has been hired on as energy director for the summer. Currently he's requesting bids for a downsized chiller and for different solar panel configurations. The brewery will also be showcasing its project at the Ann Arbor Green Fair on June 10."Look for big changes," Diamond promises. "It's great to be conserving energy at the brewery, but we want to show how easy and cost effective it can be to be more environmentally friendly, and that this is something people can do in their own homes and their own businesses and see very rapid paybacks and not only feel good about it, but actually see financial returns." Source: Jarett Diamond, MS/MSE candidate, U-M's School of Natural Resources and Environment & College of EngineeringWriter: Tanya Muzumdar

U-M Solar Car team hoping to cross Australian finish line first

No solar car building team in America has won the World Solar Challenge since the race's 1987 debut. U-M's Quantum --the U's 11th car-- is out to reclaim the trophy 24 years later. Excerpt: "Only two things matter when building a race car powered by the sun: maximizing efficiency and minimizing weight. Everything else is secondary when the goal is crossing a continent using just enough energy to power a hair dryer. All the top teams in the esoteric sport of solar racing embrace this “less is more” ethos to a degree that would please Colin Chapman. But the University of Michigan, arguably America’s best team, has taken it to fanatical levels in a relentless drive to win the World Solar Challenge in October. The biennial sprint across Australia is the oldest and most prestigious race of its kind, the Daytona 500 or Monaco Grand Prix of solar racing." Read the rest of the story here.

Garbage In, Energy Out: A Q&A with the Founders of ReGenerate

Paul Davis, Bobby Levine, Hunt Briggs, and Nolan Orfield are your everyday overachieving U-M grad students. And then some. They've founded ReGenerate, a company that is developing technology to convert food waste into energy. Sound pie-in-the-sky? Not to the half dozen business competitions they've won.