In the U.S., pumped-storage hydropower (PSH) already provides 95% of all utility-scale energy storage. So any innovations that cut costs or extend PSH usability should be well received. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and its partners Obermeyer Hydro, Microtunneling Inc. and Small Hydro Consulting are demonstrating the advantages of a small pump installed in a vertical “well” rather than an underground powerhouse, one of the most … [Read more...]
“Electro-swing cell” captures CO2 direct from the air
The problem with capturing carbon from a power plant is that the CCS system is itself huge, expensive, consumes a lot of energy, and only works on exhaust streams with high concentrations of CO2. What’s more, to meet global CO2 targets, total atmospheric CO2 has to be reduced, not just held at today’s concentrations by capturing new emissions alone. Writing for MIT, Nancy Stauffer explains how researchers there are piloting an “electro-swing … [Read more...]
New lithium-metal battery electrolyte can lengthen range of EVs
The higher the energy density of your battery, the further your EV can travel. But the standard lithium-ion batteries used in EVs are reaching their theoretical upper limit for energy density. A new design is needed to break through that ceiling and make it commercially viable. Mark Shwartz at Stanford University describes their research into lithium-metal batteries, which should double the energy per unit weight. One big challenge was to create … [Read more...]
IEA: Without accelerating clean energy innovations we cannot hit net zero by 2050
The impressive rise of renewables and energy efficiency, alone, will not be sufficient to meet the world’s 2050 emissions goal, says the IEA in its flagship Clean Energy Innovation report. New technologies, taken all the way through to widespread adoption by the market, must become an essential part of the net zero pathway. The stark warning is that existing policies to decarbonise shipping, trucks, aviation and heavy industry are not nearly … [Read more...]
Dutch-Spanish startup navigates coronavirus fallout while also guiding utilities into the digital age
In late summer 2015 at a research university in Belgium, an Italian graduate student new to campus attended a welcome event hosted by engineering department faculty. Sampling beer brewed by an electrical engineering student association, Simone Accornero mingled with a dozen other new classmates in his program at KU Leuven. Accornero began chatting with an engineering master’s student who had just arrived from Poland. “We hit it off,” Accornero … [Read more...]
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