Energy & Green Tech news

Energy & Green Tech

Carbon nanotube fiber 'textile' heaters could help industry electrify high-temperature gas heating

A cross-disciplinary team at Rice University has developed a new type of electric heating element—one that looks less like a traditional metal coil and more like a high-performance thread. In a study published in Small, ...

Energy & Green Tech

Breaking down the battery problem: Cheaper, more efficient cathodes could cut costs

Consider the humble rechargeable battery: Many people start their day by unplugging their phone from a charger to check the weather or commute to work, or throw on their favorite podcast. They'll end the day by plugging in ...

Engineering

Zeolite 'thermal batteries' could cut data center cooling power up to 86%

Data centers—the warehouse-sized buildings that store photos, stream movies and train artificial intelligence—are voracious consumers of electricity. A surprisingly large share of that power never reaches a microchip. ...

Energy & Green Tech

Cheaper EV batteries? How a fabrication tweak makes sulfur work in solid-state cells

Spurred by EVs and electrified aviation, global demand for lithium-ion batteries is expected to more than double its 2023 levels by 2030, far outstripping demand, according to S&P Global Insights. New batteries must be powerful, ...

Business

Power outages cost US electricity customers billions

Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have provided the first comprehensive analysis of the specific costs of power outages to local customers across the nation. It found that the average ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

Canadians toss electronics at a concerning rate

The first survey of Canadian consumers regarding their purchase and disposal of electronics reveals that 64% of people replace their items for reasons other than the device breaking down or being obsolete. This behavior points ...

Energy & Green Tech

AI tool predicts building emissions from simple text descriptions

Researchers at the University of Bath have developed the first artificial intelligence (AI) tool that predicts the carbon footprint of buildings from simple text descriptions, giving architects real-time feedback on sustainability ...

Energy & Green Tech

New ship hull modifications to slash fuel use

Researchers at MIT have demonstrated that wedge-shaped vortex generators attached to a ship's hull can reduce drag by up to 7.5%, which reduces overall ship emissions and fuel expenses. The paper, "Net Drag Reduction in High ...

Engineering

Energy-efficient process delivers rare-earth element for magnets

Neodymium is a rare-earth element essential for producing the strongest permanent magnets, which are widespread in defense technologies, hard drives, medical imaging devices, electric vehicle motors, wind turbines and more. ...

Energy & Green Tech

What are 'rare earths' for?

Crucial for making smartphones, fighter jets and electric cars, "rare earth" metals have become a strategic bargaining chip since main producer China this year introduced restrictions on their exports.

Electronics & Semiconductors

Green electronics: Smart sensor tag protects sensitive goods

Researchers from Empa, EPFL and CSEM have developed a green smart sensing tag that measures temperature and humidity in real time—and can also detect whether a temperature threshold has been exceeded. In the future, this ...

Energy & Green Tech

Virtual battery model paves way for electric vehicle simulations

Studies on integrating electric vehicles (EVs) into local energy markets have been hindered by the high computational complexity associated with EV modeling. Seyed Mahoor Ebrahimi's doctoral dissertation at the University ...

Engineering

Climate-friendly metals can come from deep-sea ores

The demand for metals will increase significantly in the coming years, primarily because the climate-friendly transformation of the economy is only possible through the electrification of industrial processes, transport and ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

Mirror-image molecules boost organic solar cell performance

Organic solar cells are made from conductive polymers, which makes them cheap, light, and flexible. However, one drawback is that their efficiency lags behind the best silicon devices—but this may soon change—as researchers ...

Engineering

Coffee waste helps make lower carbon concrete

RMIT researchers are advancing new ways to cut the carbon footprint of infrastructure by turning everyday organic waste into useful construction materials.