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Critical Minerals: will there be enough to meet the 2050 net-zero emissions target?

March 14, 2023 by Lilly Yejin Lee and James Glynn

If the production and processing of critical minerals cannot keep up with the accelerating adoption of batteries, EVs, wind turbines and solar PV technologies, the pace and success of the global energy system transformation will be put at risk. In this explainer, Lilly Yejin Lee and James Glynn at the Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University address the big questions, drawing on the data underlying the IEA’s “The Role of Critical … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Resources Tagged With: australia, batteries, Chile, China, chromium, cobalt, copper, critical, DRC, EVs, graphite, IEA, lithium, manganese, minerals, netzero, nickel, processing, production, REEs, silicon, solar, SouthAfrica, turbines, wind, Zinc

Comparing the efficiency and progress of the 5 leading Solar PV cell technologies

December 7, 2022 by Wayne Hicks and Harrison Dreves

NREL’s “Best Research-Cell Efficiency Chart” allows researchers to easily compare the performance of specific PV technologies, stretching back 50 years. It’s regularly updated and is free to use, explains Wayne Hicks and Harrison Dreves at NREL. A new “interactive” version is now available. The focus is on crystalline silicon cells, single-junction gallium arsenide cells, multijunction cells, thin films, and emerging PV. For example, you can … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Innovations, Renewables Tagged With: arsenide, crystalline, efficiency, gallium, multijunction, perovskite, PV, silicon, solar, ThinFilm

Perovskites: the next generation of solar cells and lighting?

September 23, 2020 by Sam Stranks

Enthusiasm about the discoveries being made about perovskite materials is spreading, explains Sam Stranks at the University of Cambridge. Perovskite solar cells hit 25.2% efficiency in 2019, not far off crystalline silicon cells at 26.7%. Research is suggesting that figure could rise higher still. Perovskite can be “tuned” to absorb particular frequencies of light, allowing different layers of perovskites to absorb different and therefore more … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Innovations, Renewables Tagged With: efficiency, electricity, LEDs, lighting, perovskite, silicon, solar

The search for “thin film” solar PV: stable, efficient, non-toxic, abundant

December 11, 2019 by Samantha Hood

Around 95% of the world’s solar modules are made with silicon. It’s stable against temperature and humidity fluctuations and we’ll never run out of it. But it’s quite inefficient at absorbing sunlight, and very brittle. So the silicon layers in PV have to be quite thick to capture sunlight and resist cracking, leading to heavy and bulky solar panels. The remaining 5% of solar modules are “thin film”, opening the way for game-changing lightweight … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Renewables Tagged With: buildings, efficiency, electricity, Kesterite, silicon, solar, ThinFilm, transport

New solar cell allows a photon to release two electrons, not just one

July 15, 2019 by David Chandler

In conventional silicon-based solar cells, each photon of light can only knock loose a single electron, creating electricity. That’s even if the photon carries more than enough energy to do so. One hammer, one nail. Now, for the first time researchers at MIT and Princeton University in the U.S. have got high-energy photons to strike silicon and kick out two electrons instead of one, opening the door for a new kind of solar cell with greater … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Innovations, Renewables Tagged With: efficiency, electrons, excitons, MIT, photons, Princeton, silicon, solar, solarPV

Most read this week

  • Blending Hydrogen into the gas network: the challenges of pipeline fractures, faster flow rate + more by NREL | posted on March 10, 2023
  • Critical Minerals: will there be enough to meet the 2050 net-zero emissions target? by Lilly Yejin Lee | posted on March 14, 2023
  • Fulfilling U.S. wind and solar ambitions will use under 1% of its land (that’s less than the fossil fuel footprint) by Steve Clemmer | posted on March 16, 2023
  • Germany: does the LNG infrastructure build-up deliver energy security or go too far? by Julian Wettengel | posted on March 13, 2023
  • 10 Carbon Capture methods compared: costs, scalability, permanence, cleanness by Ella Adlen | posted on November 11, 2019
  • Analysis: U.S. IRA subsidies put two-thirds of Europe’s battery production pipeline at risk by Transport & Environment | posted on March 9, 2023
  • “Combustion” can make cathodes for lithium-ion batteries more cheaply, quicker, using less energy by Nancy Stauffer | posted on March 15, 2023
  • U.S. IRA: what can Europe do to stop its firms relocating to America? by Charles Wessner | posted on March 17, 2023
  • EU Energy Outlook to 2060: how will power prices and revenues develop for wind, solar, gas, hydrogen + more by Alex Schmitt | posted on December 6, 2022
  • Micro-nuclear reactors: up to 20MW, portable, safer by Christina Nunez | posted on April 22, 2021
  • Electricity Market Design: how can reforms accelerate the transition and help cut energy prices? by Simon Göss | posted on February 13, 2023
  • Understanding the new EU ETS (Part 2): Buildings, Road Transport, Fuels. And how the revenues will be spent by Simon Göss | posted on February 6, 2023
  • EU: data shows Russia–Ukraine war has not increased Coal and emissions. It’s quite the opposite by Lauri Myllyvirta | posted on March 6, 2023
  • What’s best for Hydrogen transport: ammonia, liquid hydrogen, LOHC or pipelines? by Herib Blanco | posted on May 5, 2022
  • Direct capture of CO2 from seawater: new research cuts costs, ready for pilot in 2025 by David Chandler | posted on March 8, 2023
  • The 10 big problems with simply replacing fossil cars with electric by Schalk Cloete | posted on December 6, 2021
  • Germany is developing a strategy for Carbon Capture and Storage to meet its 2045 net zero target by Simon Göss | posted on February 23, 2023
  • Hydrogen production in 2050: how much water will 74EJ need? by Herib Blanco | posted on July 22, 2021
  • Gravity Batteries: any nation can do it at scale using rocks by Simon Read | posted on July 27, 2022
  • Can Aluminium-air batteries outperform Li-ion for EVs? by Helena Uhde | posted on September 8, 2021

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      Recent Posts

      Buildings “Energy Performance Certificates”: piloting new tools to ramp up renovations

      U.S. IRA: what can Europe do to stop its firms relocating to America?

      Fulfilling U.S. wind and solar ambitions will use under 1% of its land (that’s less than the fossil fuel footprint)

      “Combustion” can make cathodes for lithium-ion batteries more cheaply, quicker, using less energy

      Critical Minerals: will there be enough to meet the 2050 net-zero emissions target?

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