Stanford University sets up 100 mn dollar green energy centre
San Francisco: Stanford University is launching a $100 million energy institute to fund research into batteries, solar cells and other aspects of green energy. The California university has spawned technologies that led to the formation of companies like Hewlett Packard and Google, and the new institute is expected to boost the ability of Silicon Valley to become a world leader in green energy. The tech region already boast a $500-million energy institute at the University of California at Berkeley. "The biggest renewable resource is the sun," said Lynn Orr, who will direct the new institute, which was officially launched on Monday night. "But we need to lower the cost of converting sunlight into electricity and supplying it through a much improved electric grid. The new centre will allow us to expand significantly our effort to develop new nanostructured materials for solar energy and energy storage and to work on the host of social, market and policy issues involved in...