Justin Daugherty at NREL describes research there on using generative AI to accelerate and improve the wind turbine blade design process. To keep up with the pace of change in the market (not just customer demands, but policy regulations and technological innovations), the current method uses simplified low-fidelity modelling because it’s quicker to turn around. But it is also less accurate. Researchers are exploring deep-learning models using … [Read more...]
Simple superconducting diode can dramatically cut energy use in transistors, data centres
Some estimates say data centres could be consuming up to 20% of all power globally in ten years. That’s largely because the billions of transistors have to be cooled. Elizabeth Thomson at MIT describes breakthrough research that has made a superconducting diode that’s twice as efficient as the standard, therefore generating and wasting far less heat. What’s surprising is that some straightforward physics of materials was utilised, in contrast to … [Read more...]
What can today’s Energy Revolution learn from the previous Industrial and Information Revolutions?
What can the Industrial Revolution and the more recent Information Revolution teach us about the Energy Revolution we are going through now, ask Yuki Numata, Laurens Speelman and Marissa Gantman at RMI. Importantly, the same questions that were ignored or dismissed in those past transitions will help us shape our energy transition to make it better, faster, less wasteful and polluting, as well as more equitable. The authors reveal a 4-part … [Read more...]
IRENA’s Innovation Week 2023: Renewable solutions to decarbonise end-use sectors
At the end of September IRENA held a four-day event “Innovation Week 2023: Renewable solutions to decarbonise end-use sectors” in Bonn, Germany. A wide range of speakers discussed tangible solutions to decarbonise energy intensive sectors such as transportation, buildings and industry, informed by first-hand project experiences and supported by insights from IRENA’s in-depth analyses. Topics included direct and indirect electrification, green … [Read more...]
Concrete supercapacitor: works like a battery, much cheaper, easy to make
Capacitors work like batteries. They store and discharge electricity. David Chandler at MIT explains how researchers there have designed a supercapacitor from concrete and carbon black, two cheap and common materials. The beauty of the idea is that they can be incorporated into building foundations, thus installing a battery virtually for free. A concrete capacitor cube 3.5m wide can store 10kwh, enough for a household. Similarly, concrete … [Read more...]
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