Energy & Green Tech news

Energy & Green Tech

A robot begins removal of melted fuel from the Fukushima nuclear plant. It could take a century

A long robot entered a damaged reactor at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant on Tuesday, beginning a two-week, high-stakes mission to retrieve for the first time a tiny amount of melted fuel debris from the bottom.

Engineering

Is cooling paint the key to turning down the planet's temperature dial?

The summer of 2024 has been another scorcher, with the highest temperature ever recorded by NASA on July 22 and the city of Phoenix reaching a milestone of 100 straight days of 100 degrees.

Energy & Green Tech

Heat pumps are key to home electrification—but will Americans buy in?

On a hot summer day, contractors snake wiring through the basement of a townhouse in southeast Washington to install a heat pump, a key component of the United States' multi-billion dollar push towards greater home electrification.

Energy & Green Tech

Wireless charging track system facilitates EV charging while in transit

Advancements in electric vehicle (EV) technology are paving the way for solutions that reduce the need to search for charging stations. A research team, affiliated with UNIST has developed technology that enables wireless ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

Achieving a supercapacitor through the 'molecular coating' approach

Researchers at Tohoku University have successfully increased the capacity, lifetime durability, and cost-effectiveness of a capacitor in their pursuit of a more power-efficient future. The research is published in the journal ...

Engineering

Aurora borealis can light up the sky and shut down the grid

During a thunderstorm, you can feel rain pouring, see lightning flashing and hear wind howling. Unlike these phenomena, the Aurora Borealis cannot be heard or felt because it occurs through the earth's magnetic field's invisible ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

Passive radiative cooling can now be controlled electrically

Energy-efficient ways of cooling buildings and vehicles will be required in a changing climate. Researchers at Linköping University have now shown that electrical tuning of passive radiative cooling can be used to control ...

Engineering

Liquid windows: Energy-saving inspiration from squid skin

Inspired by the dynamic color-changing skin of organisms such as squid, University of Toronto researchers have developed a multilayered fluidic system that can reduce the energy costs of heating, cooling and lighting buildings.

Energy & Green Tech

Arctic cold 'no sweat' for electric cars in Norway

Norwegian electric car owners have a word for the way they feel when they look nervously at their battery indicators while driving in subfreezing weather: "rekkevideangst", or "range anxiety".

Energy & Green Tech

Electric car sales gain pace despite hurdles

The electrification of the car industry is gathering pace, particularly in Europe, where the sale of new cars running on petrol and diesel will end in 2035.

Energy & Green Tech

India's finance minister announces new clean energy funds

Indian finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced several new clean energy initiatives in the government's annual federal budget speech on Wednesday, saying "green growth" is a top priority for the country.

Energy & Green Tech

Radioactive capsule that fell off truck found in Australia

Authorities in Western Australia on Wednesday recovered a tiny but dangerous radioactive capsule that fell off a truck while being transported along a 1,400-kilometer (870-mile) Outback highway last month in what an official ...

Energy & Green Tech

New type of solar cell is being tested in space

Physics researchers at Lund University in Sweden recently succeeded in constructing small solar radiation-collecting antennas—nanowires—using three different materials that are a better match for the solar spectrum compared ...

Consumer & Gadgets

Bio-based plastics gain consumer favor over fossil fuels

When it comes to enhancing the sustainability of plastic beverage bottles, consumers are willing to pay a bonus for bio-based alternatives—the more so when the alternative is visually distinctive. This follows from research ...

Energy & Green Tech

Winter not over, but Europe braces for the next one

Europe has weathered the energy crisis that followed Russia's invasion of Ukraine so far, but businesses and households are already thinking about how to get through the next winter.