New Energy Strengthens Patent Portfolio

New Energy Technologies, Inc. announced that significant advancements to the company’s first-of-their-kind systems for generating sustainable electricity have prompted more than 33 new international and U.S. patent filings in 2011, bolstering its portfolio to 43 patent submissions to-date.

“Earlier this year, we took proactive steps to confidently escalate the development of our brand-new clean and sustainable energy technologies to a fast paced, deliberate path towards commercialization,” explained John Conklin, president and CEO of New Energy Technologies, Inc. “In so doing, we’ve worked to construct an increasingly deep foundation of intellectual property to help protect the many discoveries, inventions, methods, processes and materials that our research and engineering teams have developed in our bid to advance these technologies towards product and commercial launch. The net result is the filing of several dozen patents this year.”

The announcement follows the successful public demonstration of important technical, prototyping, and product development achievements related to New Energy’s novel technologies, namely:

• MotionPower, a roadway-embedded system which creatively captures and converts kinetic energy from decelerating vehicles into usable electricity.
• SolarWindow, capable of generating clean electricity on see-through glass windows, by making use of the energy of natural sunlight and artificial sources such as fluorescent and LED lighting typically installed in offices, schools, and commercial buildings.

SolarWindow inventions and discoveries include coatings which generate electricity while remaining see-through when sprayed onto glass and flexible plastics. This month, researchers discovered a new solution-coating technique for applying New Energy’s electricity-generating coatings onto glass windows; this process has already been demonstrated as compatible with roll-to-roll (R2R) high-speed and high-volume fabrication methods, potentially providing for very large-scale manufacturing.

Last month, New Energy Technologies, Inc. and the city of Roanoke, VA successfully debuted the company’s latest MotionPower technology advancements to nearly 6,000 visitors. As drivers slowed down or came to a stop, their vehicle tires depressed small rumble strip-like treadles, allowing for the capture of kinetic energy. This captured energy was converted to electricity, which powered a series of brightly illuminated lights displayed to drivers.