Energy & Green Tech news

Engineering

Energy-efficient device uses solar power to turn seawater into fresh water

Researchers at the University of Waterloo have designed an energy-efficient device that produces drinking water from seawater using an evaporation process driven largely by the sun.

Energy & Green Tech

Self-charging energy harvester generates electricity from seawater

An innovative energy harvester, capable of continuously producing electrical energy by utilizing the movement of the sodium ions contained in seawater, has been developed. This technology is anticipated to find applications ...

Energy & Green Tech

Computer engineers pioneer approaches to energy-efficient supercomputing

As high-tech companies ramp up construction of massive data centers to meet the business boom in artificial intelligence, one component is becoming an increasingly rare commodity: electricity.

Business

South Africa's green hydrogen hub: EU grants not nearly enough to get industry going, say chemical engineers

South Africa is poised to become a major player in the global energy transition, thanks to its vast renewable energy resources (sun and wind) and its plans for green hydrogen production.

Energy & Green Tech

Silver State may become solar state under new federal plan

The U.S. is preparing for a gargantuan spike in the amount of energy it harnesses from the sun, and vastly changing the desert landscape of the Silver State's public lands is a major component of that vision.

Engineering

Thin-film technologies for the energy transition

Glass facades characterize modern architecture. While solar radiation serves to support heating in winter, the building interior heats up in summer and requires active cooling. Smart windows can regulate the solar radiation ...

Energy & Green Tech

Toward a European carbon footprint rule for batteries

Top energy, tech, and climate researchers at ETH Zurich have engaged in an informed debate over the European regulation that sets an upper carbon footprint limit for European markets.

Energy & Green Tech

Batteries, community spirit help California fight heat wave

Dire predictions of blackouts in California during a fearsome heat wave this month never came to pass, with technology—and a dose of community spirit—helping the creaking grid through its most testing period ever.

Energy & Green Tech

Researchers develop a cobalt-free cathode for lithium-ion batteries

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine and four national laboratories have devised a way to make lithium-ion battery cathodes without using cobalt, a mineral plagued by price volatility and geopolitical complications.

Energy & Green Tech

Lithium-ion battery material breaks barrier on fast charging

Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, discovered a key material needed for fast-charging lithium-ion batteries. The commercially relevant approach ...

Energy & Green Tech

Rooftop solar cells can be a boon for water conservation too

Electricity-generating rooftop solar cells not only save on planet-warming carbon emissions, they also save a significant amount of water, say a pair of Duke University researchers who have done the math.