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UrduCase Western Reserve University chemical engineers are working on a new generation of smaller, safer and less expensive batteries they say could allow electrical energy to be stored four times longer.
Tag: Energy
Desperate for change, island nations explore suing polluters
Facing an increasing amount of extreme weather and ever-rising sea levels, two island nations raised the possibility of claiming damages from major polluting countries through judicial means. The Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda and the Pacific nation of Tuvalu…
100% Renewable Energy Using Building Science
In the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy National Renewable Energy Laboratory describe results from a techno-economic analysis aimed at identifying pathways to 100% renewable power systems. By analyzing readily available supply and demand strategies within specific U.S. regions, the team found a combination of resource diversification, excess generation, building efficiency, and demand flexibility improvements could reduce or even eliminate the need for long-duration energy storage in some regions.
UCI becomes two-time recipient of STARS Platinum rating for sustainability efforts
For a second time, the University of California, Irvine has achieved a rare platinum rating through the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System, maintaining its status as one of the environmentally outstanding universities in the world.
Europe’s energy crisis shows electricity and gas still ‘intimately’ tied
European officials are grappling with an energy crisis that is sending gas prices soaring and creating divisions over how to tackle the issue as the winter months approach. Jacob Mays, an assistant professor in the School of Civil and Environmental…
Renewable Energy Pioneer Wins Lifetime Achievement Award
Peter Lehman, founding director of Humboldt State University’s Schatz Energy Research Center and a professor emeritus of Environmental Resources Engineering at HSU, will receive this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award from the California Energy Commission’s Clean Energy Hall of Fame.
Affordable policy which could stop fossil fuels causing global warming – report
Imagine a single policy, imposed on one industry, which would, if enforced consistently, stop fossil fuels causing global warming within a generation.
California’s climate crisis examined on UCI special report website
For the past half century, the University of California, Irvine has been home to some of the world’s leading experts on the environment, energy, oceans and atmosphere in the Golden State. To share their stories, UCI today is launching a web special report, “California’s Climate Crisis.”
Agricultural decarbonization gets new emphasis at ORNL
Finding a way to reduce metric tons of carbon dioxide while sustaining food products to feed the country and the world is becoming an area of increased focus in national decarbonization efforts and is attracting increased attention at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
The Lab in the living room: Summer interns delve into plasma and fusion research from their homes
Summer interns working for PPPL did hands-on research from their computers in their bedrooms or on their dining room tables all over the U.S. They worked closely with PPPL physicists and engineers on research aimed at understanding ionized gases called plasmas.
UCI is No. 2 in Sierra magazine’s 2021 ‘Cool Schools’ ranking of sustainability leaders
Irvine, Calif., Sept. 9, 2021 — The green streak continues! Sierra magazine has named the University of California, Irvine No. 2 overall in its annual “Cool Schools” ranking of sustainability leaders among U.S. and Canadian universities and colleges, marking the 12th time in a row that UCI has placed in the top 10 of the widely acclaimed list.
When walked on, these wooden floors harvest enough energy to turn on a lightbulb
Researchers from Switzerland are tapping into an unexpected energy source right under our feet: wooden floorings.
LED Material Shines Under Strain
A team led by researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and UC Berkeley has demonstrated an approach for achieving LEDs with near 100% light-emission efficiency at all brightness levels.
First sort, then refurbish
Switzerland’s building stock is quite impressive. There are around 1.8 million buildings in the country, but only one percent of this building stock is renovated each year. In other words, it will take 100 years for the entire building stock in the country to be renovated – which would be too slow to achieve the energy transition. But before politicians decide on stimulating subsidies, this daunting task must first be structured: Which measures make sense for which buildings? And where to start?
We can expect more emissions from oil refineries in the near-term future, analysis finds
A global inventory has revealed that CO2 emissions from oil refineries were 1.3 Gigatonnes (Gt) in 2018 and could be as large as 16.5 Gt from 2020 to 2030.
Family values outweigh politics in U.S. Latinos’ climate beliefs
For many in the U.S., human-caused climate change is a political tug-of-war between the left and the right. But for Latinos in this country, the issue hits much closer to home.
Key Improvements to Efficiency and Safety Will Enable Expansion of Nuclear Energy
Nuclear power plants produce about 20% of the United States’ electricity. In order to increase the amount of carbon dioxide-free energy these plants can yield, improvements in efficiency and safety must be made. With support from $1.5 million in grants from the Department of Energy (DOE), researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute will lead projects aimed at upgrading nuclear power plants with those goals in mind. The grants are part of more than $61 million in awards recently announced by the DOE to support nuclear energy research.
Powering Navigational Buoys With Help of Ocean Waves
Traditionally used energy harvesting technologies, like photovoltaic panels or wind turbines, suffer from several limitations. In the absence of daylight and wind, neither of the two can supply any power. In the case of ocean buoys, a potential solution is omnipresent: wave energy. Abundant, predictable, and consistent, the ocean’s waves can be used to power navigation buoys. Researchers have developed sphere-based triboelectric nanogenerators that can be incorporated directly into navigational buoys to provide electricity from ocean waves.
Measuring Photovoltaic Performance Indoors
As photovoltaic technology continues to progress, PV devices’ applications in harvesting energy from indoor ambient light have become more realistic. Some combinations of PV material and light source can be more efficient in converting power than the same material under solar illumination, and a better understanding of these relationships is needed to fully characterize the behavior of solar cells under very low illumination conditions.
Hydrogen Technologies Take Leading Role Toward Net Zero
Achieving Net Zero energy, where the total amount of energy used is equal to the amount of renewable energy created, is closer than ever before, and hydrogen technologies will play an important role in achieving that goal, but needs and gaps need to be addressed before a true hydrogen-powered future can take form. There are many opportunities in the global public and private sectors for research, development, and deployment collaboration.
The U.S Department of Energy and the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities Provide Sustainability Planning Resources for Resilient Municipal Microgrids
The New Jersey Institute of Technology’s Center for Resilient Design announces the launch of microgrids.io, a web-based resource focused on planning and developing sustainable, resilient local government microgrids locally and nationally.
MEDIA ADVISORY: AIP Publishing Hosts Expert Sessions on Energy Storage and Conversion at Virtual Conference
Twelve distinguished speakers will be covering critical topics impacting energy storage and conversion at the upcoming AIP Publishing Horizons Virtual Conference on Aug. 4-6. The three-day event is organized by the journal Applied Physics Reviews and brings together leaders in the field of energy science to present their latest research in six sessions
US Subsidies Boost the Expected Profits and Development of New Oil and Gas Fields
Researchers at the Stockholm Environment Institute (Somerville and Seattle, USA) and Earth Track, Inc. (Cambridge, MA, USA) examined 16 subsidies and environmental regulatory exemptions, providing one of the first estimates of how government subsidies will affect investment decisions for new gas fields in the coming decade.
Experts Cite Challenges, Progress Toward Geothermal’s Holy Grail
Challenges and progress toward the holy grail of geothermal energy—tapping into the superhot rock deep beneath our feet that could help wean the world from fossil fuels—were the focus of two hour-long sessions at PIVOT21, a geothermal conference July 19-23 featuring more than 165 experts in the field from around the world.
UC San Diego Receives $35 Million in State Funding for New California Coastal Research Vessel
California legislators have allocated UC San Diego $35 million to design and build a new coastal research vessel with a first-of-its-kind hydrogen-hybrid propulsion system.
The new vessel, which will be operated by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, will serve as a platform for essential education and research dedicated to understanding the California coast and climate change impacts to the coastal ecosystem.
Scientists Offered Using Methanol in Power Generation for Electric Cars
Professors at Ural Federal University (UrFU, Russia) Sergey Shcheklein and Aleksey Dubinin have developed a technology for generating energy for an electric car engine using methanol. An article describing the technology was published in the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy.
Sensor Data Identifies Turbine Wake Clustering, Improves Wind Farm Productivity Via Yaw Control
In the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, researchers describe a real-time method for potentially helping turbine farms realize additional power from the clustering of their turbines. Their method requires no new sensors to identify which turbines at any given time could increase power production if yaw control is applied, and validation studies showed an increase of 1%-3% in overall power gain.
Renewable energy OK, but not too close to home
When it comes to transitioning from carbon-based to renewable source energy systems, Americans are on board. They’re less keen, however, having these new energy infrastructures—wind turbines or solar farms—built close to their homes, which creates hurdles for policymakers.
Baylor Study Evaluates Biodiversity Impacts of Alternative Energy Strategies
Climate change mitigation efforts have led to shifts from fossil-fuel dependence to large-scale renewable energy. However, renewable energy sources require significant land and could come at a cost to ecosystems. A new study led by Ryan McManamay, Ph.D., assistant professor of environmental science at Baylor University, evaluates potential conflicts between alternative energy strategies and biodiversity conservation.
Calling all couch potatoes: this finger wrap can let you power electronics while you sleep
A new wearable device turns the touch of a finger into a source of power for small electronics and sensors. Engineers at the University of California San Diego developed a thin, flexible strip that can be worn on a fingertip and generate small amounts of electricity when a person’s finger sweats or presses on it. What’s special about this sweat-fueled device is that it generates power even while the wearer is asleep or sitting still.
Save The Date: AIP Publishing Horizons Meeting Examines Energy Storage and Conversion
Energy conversion and storage is a critical part of modern society as applications continue to develop at a rapid pace. At the 2021 AIP Publishing Horizons Virtual Conference, researchers will unveil and discuss the latest advances in energy science and how the field will change over the next decades. In addition to speaker sessions, a poster program will provide a wide view of the exciting research going on now by scientists around the world.
Researchers Create Better Method to Predict Offshore Wind Power
Rutgers researchers have developed a machine learning model using a physics-based simulator and real-world meteorological data to better predict offshore wind power.
Alex Harris Named Energy Sciences Director at Brookhaven Lab
UPTON, NY—The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory has named Alex Harris as Director of the Lab’s Energy Sciences Department, effective May 1, 2021. In his new position, Harris will manage several divisions of the Laboratory, including the Center for Functional Nanomaterials, the Chemistry Division, and the Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Division.
Driving clean-energy research in the right direction
Fuel cells, part of a promising path toward zero-emission vehicles, are making progress at overcoming some specific challenges on the road to powering heavy-duty vehicles.
Changing a 2D Material’s Symmetry Can Unlock Its Promise
In research published today in Nature Nanotechnology, a team of materials scientists and engineers, led by Jian Shi, an associate professor of materials science and engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, used a strain gradient in order to break inversion symmetry, creating a novel optoelectronic phenomenon in the promising material molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) — for the first time.
Swiss-cheese design could help scientists harness the power of the sun
The big holes in Swiss cheese help make it a tasty treat. Now, scientists at PPPL are adding tiny, Swiss-cheese-type holes to components to improve the process of bringing to Earth the fusion energy that powers the sun and stars.
Tulane wins share of $35 million Department of Energy clean energy grant
Tulane University will share in a U.S. Department of Energy award designed to advance new technologies to decarbonize the biorefining processes used to convert organic material, such as plant matter, into fuel.
New technology in train to reduce rail energy costs and improve driver safety via iPad app
An app developed by Australian mathematician Professor Peter Pudney to make trains safer, more fuel efficient and run to time, is now used in 8000 passenger, freight and heavy haul trains on four continents.
ORNL partners on science kits for STEM schools
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Center of Science and Industry and the Tennessee STEM Innovation Network have partnered to deliver hundreds of free science kits called Learning Lunchboxes to STEM-designated schools in East Tennessee.
Expanded Partnership Helps Secure Texas Tech’s Place in Energy Industry’s Future
American Resources Corporation will operate its sponsored research program in electrolytic cells through the Innovation Hub at Research Park and in collaboration with Gerardine Botte.
Researchers unveil roadmap to expand NY solar energy, meet green goals
Solar-power developers need to explore using lower-quality agricultural land for solar energy, incentivize dual-use (combined agriculture and solar) options, avoid concentrated solar development and engage communities early to achieve New York’s green energy goals, according to forthcoming Cornell University research.
Empowering citizens for successful energy transitions
A new study explored options for empowering citizens as a driver for moving from awareness about the need to transform energy systems to action and participation.
Battery parts can be recycled without crushing or melting
Researchers at Aalto University have discovered that electrodes in lithium batteries containing cobalt can be reused as is after being newly saturated with lithium. In comparison to traditional recycling, which typically extracts metals from crushed batteries by melting or dissolving them, the new process saves valuable raw materials, and likely also energy.
Pathways clear for decarbonising heavy industry
The production of green steel will be a critical step to enable the world’s heavy industry to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and Australia is well placed to be an important player in this space.
Thermal Power Nanogenerator Created Without Solid Moving Parts
As environmental and energy crises become more common, a thermal energy harvester capable of converting abundant thermal energy into mechanical energy appears to be a promising mitigation strategy. The majority of thermal power generation technologies involve solid moving parts, which can reduce reliability and lead to frequent maintenance. This inspired researchers in China to develop a thermal power nanogenerator without solid moving parts. In Applied Physics Letters, they propose a thermal power nanogenerator that converts thermal energy into electrical energy.
Shining, Colored LED Lighting on Microalgae for Next-Generation Biofuel
As biofuels continue to present challenges, microalgae are gaining momentum as a biofuel energy crop. In the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, researchers show how a combination of monochromatic red and blue LED illumination on one type of microalga can enhance its growth and increase the biosynthesis of critical components, such as lipids, for microalgae feedstock development. The researchers focused on Dunaliella salina, typically extracted from sea salt fields and found in salt lakes.
Do You Know the Way to Berkelium, Californium?
Scientists at Berkeley Lab have demonstrated how to image samples of heavy elements as small as a single nanogram. The new approach will help scientists advance new technologies for medical imaging and cancer therapies.
Critical mass of talent and expertise
Ongoing and secure supply of critical minerals is essential to the transition to a high-tech and clean energy world.
Launched on Thursday 11 March, the University of Adelaide’s Australian Critical Minerals Research Centre will carry out multidisciplinary research in the discovery and extraction of critical minerals to benefit society.
Tired at the Office? Take a Quick Break. Your Work Will Benefit.
Recent research shows that people are more likely to take “microbreaks” at work on days when they’re tired – but that’s not a bad thing. The researchers found microbreaks help tired employees engage with their work better over the course of the day.
MTU Experts in Snow, Solar, and Power Outages
Michigan Technological University resides in the Keweenaw, a part of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula that gets more than 200 inches of snow every winter. Michigan Tech researchers—engineers, sociologists, computer scientists—study renewable energy grids, their strengths and weaknesses, community resilience and impact…