Energy & Green Tech news

Energy & Green Tech

Researchers develop model to project energy storage needs for renewable energy

Researchers have developed a model that can be used to project what a nation's energy storage needs would be if it were to shift entirely to renewable energy sources, moving away from fossil fuels for electric power generation. ...

Business

Study warns of $557 trillion in stranded assets by 2050 if fossil fuel investments continue

Continued investment in carbon-intensive industries will drastically increase the amount of "stranded assets" as the world moves to net-zero emissions, researchers warn.

Energy & Green Tech

Report shows routes for recycling carbon dioxide and coal waste into useful products

A congressionally mandated study led by Princeton's Emily Carter has released a comprehensive roadmap for research and policies to enable large-scale recycling of carbon pollution into high-demand, useful products like fuels ...

Energy & Green Tech

UK homeowners are reluctant to switch to low-carbon heating—research points to how to change their minds

Cold climate countries are making significant efforts to transition from fossil fuels, such as oil and gas, to sustainable heating sources, such as heat pumps or district heating to cut greenhouse gas emissions. But fossil-fuel-based ...

Energy & Green Tech

Britain's last coal-fired power station closes

The UK's last coal-fired power station will officially close its doors on Monday, making Britain the first G7 country to end its reliance on the fossil fuel to produce electricity.

Energy & Green Tech

Nepal dam-building spree powers electric vehicle boom

Taxi driver Surendra Parajuli's decision to buy an electric cab would have been unthinkable a decade ago, when chronic power cuts left Nepalis unable to light their homes at night.

Engineering

Which is ecologically better: Concrete or plastic pipes?

On behalf of the FBS (Federal Association of Concrete Sewer Systems), Fraunhofer UMSICHT prepared a life cycle assessment of the environmental impact of wastewater pipes made of (steel) concrete. This also functions as an ...

Energy & Green Tech

Solar panels soon may power and protect apple orchards

A small experimental apple orchard at Cornell's Hudson Valley Research Laboratory may soon be topped by solar panels, which would not only track the sun to capture energy, but provide a warm canopy on cooler spring days and ...

Energy & Green Tech

Searching for the secret to more efficient solar cells

The search for the perfect solar cell is not yet over. Norwegian researchers are now adopting a new approach to the cells' raw material, crystalline silicon, with the aim of making the electricity-generating cells even more ...

Energy & Green Tech

Improved test methods for safer battery systems

For the development of innovative battery systems, reliable real-world safety tests of the lithium-ion cells in use are required. In the ProLIB research project, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) now collaborates ...

Energy & Green Tech

Perovskite solar cells demonstrate highest power conversion

A team of researchers at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has created a perovskite solar mini module that has recorded the highest power conversion efficiency of any perovskite-based device ...

Energy & Green Tech

Research points to strategies for recycling of solar panels

Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have conducted the first global assessment into the most promising approaches to end-of-life management for solar photovoltaic (PV) modules.

Energy & Green Tech

Particulate plutonium released from the Fukushima Daiichi meltdowns

Small amounts of plutonium (Pu) were released from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) reactors into the environment during the site's 2011 nuclear disaster. However, the physical, chemical, and isotopic ...

Energy & Green Tech

Chemists advance solar energy storage aimed at global challenges

Increasing demand for electrification in rural areas poses challenges, but also creates opportunities for development of decentralized electrification systems. Compared with conventional electrical grids based on large, centralized ...

Energy & Green Tech

Wanted: The best storage battery

The global economy's demand for lithium-ion batteries will be rising sharply in the future. Electric cars depend on them, as do laptops, smartphones and power tools for the construction industry and the DIY sector. Soon another ...

Energy & Green Tech

Building a better battery, faster

Battery experts at PNNL and elsewhere focus on developing rechargeable lithium-metal batteries because of their high energy density. Lithium-metal batteries have the potential to double the energy of lithium-ion batteries ...