Plug-In Hybrid Retrofit Kit designed for mileage savings - YouTube

Powered by at least nine MTSU students' work since 2008, Dr. Charles Perry continues driving toward success in the development of the plug-in hybrid retrofit kit for any car.

Perry, who holds the Russell Chair of Manufacturing Excellence, and a five-member team saw gas mileage increase anywhere from 50 to 100 percent on a 1994 Honda station wagon retrofitted with laboratory prototype plug-in hybrid capability.

Learn more about the project.

Glass is no longer Dumb: The growing market for Smart glass

Smart glass is a unique type of material used in windows that is able to electronically control glare and heat. It is primarily used in architecture and transportation, privacy glass and museum artwork expositions.

As a result of new production capacity entering the market within the year, production costs will go down, allowing the sector grow.

A new report from Pike Research predicts that smart glass production could become a nearly $700 million area of the flat glass market by 2020, eight time more than it’s worth today.

“High-performance buildings require a level of control over energy that many of today’s automation systems are only now starting to address,” senior analyst Eric Bloom says in a statement. “Smart glass is an innovative technology that both provides building owners unprecedented control over solar heat gain and offers a visually impressive alternative to flat glass.”

North America and Europe are expected to take the lead in this growth, but researchers also see the potential for a lot of growth in China, where a building boom is now underway.

And as more people start to adopt green building standards, industry will look to smart glass to address these needs.

Pike Research reports:

“This class of high-performance glazing products offers significant energy efficiency, aesthetic, and user comfort and wellbeing benefits as compared to conventional ’static’ glazing.”

To learn more about the report, visit Pike Research.