Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai stood smiling in a leafy-green California garden in September 2020 and declared that the IT behemoth was entering the “most ambitious decade yet” in its climate action. “Today, I’m proud to announce that we intend to be the first major company to operate carbon free — 24 hours a day, seven Read more about Google deletes net-zero pledge from sustainability website[…]
Today’s electric vehicle boom is tomorrow’s mountain of electronic waste. And while myriad efforts are underway to improve battery recycling, many EV batteries still end up in landfills. A research team from MIT wants to help change that with a new kind of self-assembling battery material that quickly breaks apart when submerged in a simple Read more about New self-assembling material could be the key to recyclable EV batteries[…]
[…] The American Chemical Society on Monday shared preliminary findings from Los Alamos physicist Terence Tarnowsky, who has uncovered evidence – albeit from simulations – that the waste from traditional nuclear reactors could be further refined into tritium, turning more than 90,000 metric tons of useless and deadly garbage into a valuable resource. And by Read more about Physicist simulates turning nuclear waste into fusion fuel[…]
[…]Researchers at Kyushu University in Japan have developed a new type of solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC) that operates at 300℃ (500°F) , a notable reduction from typical operating temperatures. “The team expects that their new findings will lead to the development of low-cost, low-temperature SOFCs and greatly accelerate the practical application of these devices,” said Read more about New electrolyte highway enables low-temperature hydrogen fuel cells[…]
“Rust battery” now operational in the Netherlands; first multi-day long-term energy storage system, designed to be implemented using exclusively European production and materials Ore Energy , the Dutch iron-air long-term energy storage startup, today announced that it has successfully connected its flagship iron-air battery to the Delft electricity grid – the world’s first known fully Read more about Ore Energy makes history with first grid-connected iron-air battery system[…]
Instead of a battery, the new concept is a kind of fuel cell — which is similar to a battery but can be quickly refueled rather than recharged. In this case, the fuel is liquid sodium metal, an inexpensive and widely available commodity. The other side of the cell is just ordinary air, which serves Read more about Sodium fuel cell could enable electric aviation, 3x more energy density than battery, sucks up CO2[…]
No more burning fossil fuels, playing with fissile material, damming rivers, erecting wind mills, or making solar panels. All of our energy needs could potentially be supplied by the angular kinetic energy of the Earth — and because of the mass of the planet, doing so would slow its rotation down by a mere 7ms Read more about Scientists May Have Discovered How To Extract Power From the Earth’s Rotation[…]
[…] researchers in Ohio have developed a small battery powered by nuclear waste. They exposed scintillator crystals—a material that emits light when it absorbs radiation—to gamma radiation, which is produced by nuclear waste. The crystals’ light then powered a solar battery. The study, published January 29 in the journal Optical Materials: X, demonstrates that background Read more about New Battery Harvests Energy From Radioactive Nuclear Waste[…]
Thousands of buildings across the United States are staying cool with the help of cutting-edge batteries made from one of the world’s simplest materials: ice. When electricity is cheap, the batteries freeze water. When energy costs go up, building managers turn off their pricey chillers and use the ice to keep things cool. A typical Read more about These buildings use batteries made of ice to stay cool and save money[…]
Lithium (Li) ions are central to the energy storing functionality of rechargeable batteries1. Present technology relies on sophisticated Li-inclusive electrode materials to provide Li ions and exactingly protect them to ensure a decent lifetime2. Li-deficient materials are thus excluded from battery design, and the battery fails when active Li ions are consumed3. Our study breaks Read more about External Li supply reshapes Li deficiency and lifetime limit of batteries[…]
Researchers have demonstrated new wearable technologies that both generate electricity from human movement and improve the comfort of the technology for the people wearing them. The work stems from an advanced understanding of materials that increase comfort in textiles and produce electricity when they rub against another surface. At issue are molecules called amphiphiles, which Read more about Researchers make comfortable materials that generate power when worn[…]
[…] In this article, we present a comparative analysis of the carbon emissions associated with AI systems (ChatGPT, BLOOM, DALL-E2, Midjourney) and human individuals performing equivalent writing and illustrating tasks. Our findings reveal that AI systems emit between 130 and 1500 times less CO2e per page of text generated compared to human writers, while AI Read more about The carbon emissions of writing and illustrating are lower for AI than for humans[…]
[…] new research suggests these batteries, once thought to have short-lived, inherently expendable shelf-lives, may actually last significantly longer than expected. In some cases, properly cared for EVs may even outlive their fossil fuel counterparts. That’s potentially good news: longer-lasting EVs might buy manufacturers much-need time to fabricate components needed to meet increasing global demands. Read more about Surprise: EV batteries might have a longer shelf live than once thought[…]
The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) and the University of Bristol have built a diamond battery capable of delivering power, albeit a tiny amount, for thousands of years. The university had an idea for a battery powered by carbon-14, the longest-lived radioactive isotope of carbon with a half-life of around 5,700 years. For safety reasons, Read more about Boffins build diamond battery that lasts millennia[…]
Oxford University scientists may have solved one of the greatest hindrances of expanding access to solar energy. Scientists from the university’s physics department have created an ultra-thin layer of material that can be applied to the exterior of objects with sunlight access in place of bulky silicon-based solar panels. The ultra-thin and flexible film is Read more about Oxford scientists’ new light-absorbing material can turn everyday objects into solar panels[…]
A flying-car-like vertical takeoff aircraft created by Joby Aviation has completed a first-of-its-kind, 523 mile test flight using hydrogen power. The aircraft, which reportedly left only a trail of water vapor in its wake, is being pitched as a more environmentally friendly alternative to traditional gas powered jets for mid-range, regional travel. Though questions remain Read more about A hydrogen-powered air taxi flew 523 miles emitting only water vapor[…]
“Nature recently published an open-access article (not paywalled) that studies the lifecycle of lithium-ion batteries once they are manufactured,” writes Slashdot reader NoWayNoShapeNoForm. “The study is a ‘cradle-to-grave’ look at these batteries and certain chemicals that they contain. The University researchers that authored the study found that the electrolytes and polymers inside lithium-ion batteries contain Read more about Lithium Ion Batteries a Growing Source of PFAS Pollution, Study Finds[…]
[…] “Although there have been previous sodium, solid-state, and anode-free batteries, no one has been able to successfully combine these three ideas until now,” said UC San Diego PhD candidate Grayson Deysher, first author of a new paper outlining the team’s work. The paper, published today in Nature Energy, demonstrates a new sodium battery architecture Read more about A breakthrough in solid state sodium batteries: inexpensive, clean, fast-charging[…]
A battery’s best friend is a capacitor. Powering everything from smartphones to electric vehicles, capacitors store energy from a battery in the form of an electrical charge and enable ultrafast charging and discharging. However, their Achilles’ heel has always been their limited energy storage efficiency. Now, Washington University in St. Louis researchers have unveiled a Read more about Capacitor Breakthrough: 19-Fold Increase in Energy Storage Potential – could kill batteries[…]
Windows welcome light into interior spaces, but they also bring in unwanted heat. A new window coating blocks heat-generating ultraviolet and infrared light and lets through visible light, regardless of the sun’s angle. The coating can be incorporated onto existing windows or automobiles and can reduce air-conditioning cooling costs by more than one-third in hot Read more about Window coating blocks sun heat from any angle but not view[…]
A shipping vessel left China for Brazil while sporting some new improvements last August—a pair of 123-feet-tall, solid “wings” retrofitted atop its deck to harness wind power for propulsion assistance. But after its six-week maiden voyage testing the green energy tech, the Pyxis Ocean MC Shipping Kamsarmax vessel apparently had many more trips ahead of Read more about Wind Wing sails saved cargo ship up to 12 tons of fuel per day[…]
The first experiment to transmit power to Earth from space could lead to a space-based solar power station within 10 years, according to one of the researchers involved. Such a station would benefit from greater exposure to the sun, due to the lack of clouds and atmosphere along with the ability to avoid nighttime darkness. Read more about Satellite beamed power from space to Earth for the first time ever[…]
[…] the idea behind gravity batteries is really simple. During times when energy sources are producing more energy than the demand, the excess energy is used to move weights (in the form of water or sometimes sand) upwards, turning it into potential energy. When the power supply is low, these objects can then be released, Read more about Deep Abandoned Mine In Finland To Be Turned Into A Giant Gravity Battery[…]
What happens when you expose tellurite glass to femtosecond laser light? That’s the question that Gözden Torun at the Galatea Lab at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, in collaboration with Tokyo Tech scientists, aimed to answer in her thesis work when she made the discovery that may one day turn windows into single material light-harvesting Read more about Turning glass into a ‘transparent’ light-energy harvester[…]
Two electric vehicle (EV) models powered by sodium-ion batteries have rolled off the production line in China, signaling that the new, lower-cost batteries are closer to being used on a large scale. A model powered by sodium-ion batteries built by Farasis Energy in partnership with JMEV, an EV brand owned by Jiangling Motors Group, rolled Read more about Two EV models powered by sodium-ion batteries roll off line in China[…]