Energy
Humankind's insatiable appetite for energy has put the planet in a very precarious position environmentally, but it also drives prosperity and improved living standards. New Atlas keeps you up to date with the latest breakthroughs in the energy sector, from the expanding field of renewable energy production to the exponential rise of battery technology and the slow march towards nuclear fusion.
Latest News
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Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory have broken the world record for solar cell efficiency. Reaching almost 40 percent, the new device boasts the highest efficiency recorded for any type of solar cell in real-world conditions. -
In a world first, a team at the University of New South Wales has demonstrated measurable power generation from "the inverse of a conventional solar cell." It could eventually produce around one tenth as much power as a solar panel – but at night.
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As the number of electronic devices grows, we have to get creative with our energy sources. Cambridge researchers have now demonstrated how an algae energy harvester can use sunlight to power a microprocessor for over a year without any intervention.
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Australian company Strategic Elements says it's made a step-change breakthrough in self-charging battery technology that harvests electrical energy from humidity in the air to directly power devices without ever needing to plug them in.
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Natron's sodium-ion batteries have an enormous cycle life, practical power density, excellent safety and super-fast charging, without using any lithium. Through a partnership with Clarios, they'll go into mass manufacture in Michigan next year.
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While stellarator fusion reactors have conventionally featured irregularly shaped magnetic coils, scientists have now developed simpler and straighter versions they say can offer some important benefits.
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The US Department of Defense has announced that its Strategic Capabilities Office will go ahead with its plan to build and test a small nuclear reactor capable of being moved, and delivering between 1 - 5 MW of power for a minimum of three years.
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In what it describes as the most significant demonstration of its kind in half a century, the US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) beamed 1.6 kW of power over a kilometer (3,280 ft) using a microwave beam at the US Army Research Field in Maryland.
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MIT says its new thermophotovoltaic heat engine can harvest more energy from heat than the average steam turbine, at a fraction of the cost and using no moving parts. Huge implications for future power stations, as well as grid-level energy storage.
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Back in 2017 we caught wind of an interesting energy system designed to store solar power in liquid form for years at a time. By hooking it up to an ultra-thin thermoelectric generator, the team has now demonstrated that it can produce electricity.
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A UK company says it's demonstrated fusion in record time, on a shoestring US$59 million budget, using an innovative new approach that embeds fuel pellets in tiny, falling cube targets, then shoots projectiles at them at 19 times the speed of sound.
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A team at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has demonstrated a type of "hibernating" battery that can preserve its energy for months at a time and release it on demand when heated up, ticking some important boxes for renewable energy storage.
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