Energy & Green Tech news

Business

Adding batteries to hydropower facilities could increase dam lifespan and potential revenue

In its current form, the nation's electric grid largely doesn't store energy. The vast majority of electricity generated by fossil fuels, hydropower, and other sources flows into the grid and is immediately used by consumers. ...

Business

Understanding ammonia energy's tradeoffs around the world

Many people are optimistic about ammonia's potential as an energy source and carrier of hydrogen, and though large-scale adoption would require major changes to the way it is currently manufactured, ammonia does have a number ...

Energy & Green Tech

Electric vehicles could catch on in Africa sooner than expected

The number of vehicles in Africa is expected to double between now and 2050—faster than on any other continent. The question is not whether mobility will increase, but how. A new study led by researchers at ETH Zurich and ...

Energy & Green Tech

Microsoft says will foot AI's massive power bill

Microsoft said Tuesday it will shoulder the full electricity costs of its US data centers to prevent American households from facing higher power bills driven by surging AI energy demand.

Energy & Green Tech

Power grid testing boosts distribution innovations to utility scale

A historic legacy now translates to pioneering capabilities in electric grid technology at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The secure electrical infrastructure that enabled World War II nuclear advances ...

Energy & Green Tech

New technique could facilitate faster nuclear forensics

Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory have, for the first time, used a breakthrough technique with a goal of better identifying the origin of nuclear materials—a tool that could someday help efforts to prevent the ...

Energy & Green Tech

Ionogel innovation could power safe, enduring energy storage

Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed an innovative energy storage system design that introduces a safer, more efficient method for electrical charge transfer.

Energy & Green Tech

AI data centers could stabilize the power grid

The rapid development and widespread use of artificial intelligence (AI) systems is posing new challenges for electricity consumption. This is because most AI systems rely on data centers, facilities hosting several computing ...

Engineering

Decoding the sounds of battery formation and degradation

Before batteries lose power, fail suddenly, or burst into flames, they tend to produce faint sounds over time that provide a signature of the degradation processes going on within their structure. But until now, nobody had ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

Advancing semiconductor thermoelectrics via thickness doping

Thermoelectricity is capable of direct energy conversion between heat and electricity, promising low-grade heat harvesting and solid-state cooling for the transition to sustainable electronics. Currently, bulk Bi2Te3 polycrystalline ...

Engineering

Architecture's past holds the key to sustainable future

Modern "sustainable"' innovations in architecture are failing to slow climate change, but revisiting ancient knowledge and techniques found in traditional architecture could offer better solutions.

Energy & Green Tech

Self-tuning energy device turns vibrations into power

Researchers at National Taiwan University developed a new device that captures energy from vibrations more efficiently. Its self-adjusting mechanism enables resonance with environmental frequencies, resulting in higher power ...