Laboratories around the world are racing to make printable perovskite solar cells, produced in abundance and so thin they can be wrapped around almost anything. It’s a huge advantage over the typical silicon cell that is relatively big and fragile. And perovskite is much less expensive to produce. David Beynon at Swansea University describes research there that has demonstrated how a roll of plastic film can be loaded into a printing press to … [Read more...]
Europe: preventing a “carbon wall” between the West and the ten Central and Eastern EU nations
Diana-Paula Gherasim at the IFRI Centre for Energy & Climate summarises her 36-page data-rich report on the progress and challenges for the ten Central and Eastern EU (CEECs) countries in decarbonisation. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has focussed all minds on energy security and the best solutions: less fossils, efficiency gains and clean energy made in the EU. Gherasim says that vitally important progress is being made in avoiding a … [Read more...]
4 CEOs explain their innovations: EV charging, aviation fuel, hydrogen fuel cells, nuclear waste-to-energy
To meet our global climate targets, new solutions, technologies and pathways will be needed. Existing technologies, on their own, can’t be scaled up fast enough to do it. Robin Pomeroy and Kate Whiting at the World Economic Forum pick out highlights from their podcast that hears from four CEOs of innovative companies, covering EV charging, aviation, hydrogen fuel cells, and new nuclear. Today’s millions of EV charging points needs to rise to 450m … [Read more...]
Geothermal’s full potential: 24/7 power everywhere, storage, environmental mineral extraction
Geothermal is not just for generating energy. It can be used for storage and extracting minerals too. Kelly MacGregor at NREL summarises the research into taking geothermal to the next level and making it a solution to multiple challenges. Depending on how far down you dig, geothermal is available for running utility-scale power plants as well as heating and cooling individual districts, buildings and houses. And new techniques are being … [Read more...]
Silicon Valley Bank failed. Don’t blame the Climate Tech it backed
Silicon Valley Bank in the U.S. was a favourite for climate tech start-ups. So its recent collapse inevitably raised questions over whether those start-ups and by extension the whole climate innovation ecosystem was much more fragile than previously thought. Rushad Nanavatty, Colm Quinn and Amy Yanow Fairbanks at RMI explain why that’s not the case. Instead, it was an old-fashioned bank run caused by poor risk management, weakened regulation of … [Read more...]
“Combustion” can make cathodes for lithium-ion batteries more cheaply, quicker, using less energy
Burning things produce soot. And that soot contains materials that have been morphed into something else. As Nancy Stauffer at MIT explains, new research there has shown the burning process can be used to produce cathodes far more cheaply, quicker, more simply, and with less energy than the standard method. It’s another example, from an unexpected direction, of innovations cutting the costs of an essential component of the energy transition: … [Read more...]
Direct capture of CO2 from seawater: new research cuts costs, ready for pilot in 2025
Direct capture of CO2 from the air is already established in pilot phase in sites around the world, but costs are very high. So it is puzzling that capturing CO2 direct from the sea is yet to be tested properly. After all, the concentration of CO2 in seawater is more than 100 times greater than in the air, pointing at a process that should be much more efficient. David Chandler at MIT looks at research there that has uncovered cheaper and more … [Read more...]
Steel decarbonisation: Australia must stop making excuses and follow Europe’s lead
Australian steel makers, major global exporters, must stop making excuses about decarbonisation and look to Europe for a role model, argues Simon Nicholas at IEEFA. A pattern of behaviour by Australia’s steel makers reveals that their excuse is that low-carbon solutions are not yet ready, leaving only promises of carbon capture (as yet unproven at scale) some time in the future. Nicholas notes that these promises will never have to be kept by the … [Read more...]
From lab to commercialisation: what is the optimal pathway for Clean Energy Technologies?
It’s a considerable challenge to predict, decades in advance, what the world will need and get it from lab to market. Madeline Geocaris and Andrea Wuorenmaa at NREL summarise four case studies that reveal the key elements required: a good balance of technology, R&D, and public-private partnership; regulatory and market force alignment; good timing for market opportunities. The goal is the optimal pathway to the successful first … [Read more...]
Laser-driven Nuclear fusion achieves “ignition”: lab gets more energy out than in
Though nuclear fusion serving the grid is surely still decades away, it has got one important step closer, explains John Pasley at the University of York. For the first time, in the U.S. the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory achieved “ignition” for laser driven fusion. That means more energy was taken out, by a factor of 1.5, than put in. However, the two million Joules of laser light fired at the fuel pellets needed 300 million Joules to … [Read more...]
Solar PV windows on highly glazed skyscrapers can cut energy by 40%+
Around a third of the world’s energy consumption and CO2 emissions come from buildings. Highly glazed skyscrapers and buildings may look beautiful and let in plenty of light, but waste a lot of energy due to the extra cooling needed in summer and heating in winter. Modern skyscrapers can have window-to-wall ratios of 70%+. But modern thermally efficient photovoltaic windows not only provide insulation but turn the absorbed light into power. Wayne … [Read more...]
Wave Energy Converter performance tool, publicly available online
Advancements in wave energy technology (WEC) have been slow, mainly because of the harsh marine environments WECs must operate in, as well as the complex regulatory requirements. Tiffany Plate at NREL explains it’s why the U.S. Department of Energy and NREL have collaborated on the Small WEC Analysis tool, publicly available online. Its purpose is to provide baseline information about the performance of different types of WECs in various ocean … [Read more...]
China: decades of support for innovation is now delivering results
The evolution of China’s clean energy sector used to be based on a technology catch-up approach, which meant secondary innovation based on imported technologies. Daisy Chi at ECECP looks at the IEA’s recent report, “Tracking Clean Energy Innovation: Focus on China”, to conclude that the nation is now a major force in clean energy innovation. Decades of innovation-focussed policies, strong funding support, institutional reforms, big targets and … [Read more...]
Aluminium, sulphur and salt batteries. Cheaper than lithium-ion, for homes and EV charging stations
The high and escalating demand for the lithium-ion batteries that dominate the market is driving the search for alternatives. Ideally, they will be made from inexpensive, abundant materials. David Chandler at MIT describes research there into a design that uses aluminium and sulphur as its two electrode materials, with a molten salt electrolyte in-between. The results point at batteries that have a projected cost per cell of about one-sixth that … [Read more...]
New research into making water boil using less energy
Can the boiling of water be done more efficiently? If so, a wide range of processes can save energy, not least the standard use of steam turbines in electricity generators. David Chandler at MIT describes research there that modifies the surface of the heating element. A combination of microscale dents and nanoscale bumps and ridges on the surface, and pillars that allow the “wicking” of water by capillary action, improves the efficiency of … [Read more...]
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