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.
Top News
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France has upped the ante in the quest for fusion power by maintaining a plasma reaction for over 22 minutes – a new record. The milestone was reached on Feb. 12 at the Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives WEST Tokamak reactor. -
China has approved what is set to become the biggest hydropower dam complex in the world, capable of producing nearly three times as much power as the current record-holder, the Three Gorges Dam. -
A new report has assessed the feasibility of deploying small modular nuclear reactors to meet increasing energy demands around the world. The findings don't look so good for this particular form of energy production.
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Latest News
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May 18, 2025 | Abhimanyu GhoshalResearchers in Australia are working on a way to lower the cost of producing solar thermal energy by as much as 40% with the help of shatterproof plastic rear-view mirrors originally designed for cars. -
May 16, 2025 | Abhimanyu GhoshalIn an effort to reduce the use of precious land to build renewable energy storage facilities, the Fraunhofer Institute has been cooking up a wild but plausible idea: dropping concrete storage spheres down to the depths of our oceans. -
May 10, 2025 | David SzondyCommercial fusion power plants may be cheaper and easier to build thanks to a breakthrough by TAE Technologies that allows reactors to generate their own containment fields without the need for massive magnetic coils and other systems. -
April 16, 2025 | Michael FrancoTiny drops of water might not seem like powerhouse energy producers, but a new method shows how simple tubes might be able to turn falling rain into an energy source. In tests, the method was able to power up 12 LED lights. -
April 15, 2025 | David SzondyA US nuclear reactor has switched from Regular to Premium fuel with Southern Nuclear inserting four Lead Test Assemblies (LTAs) into the Vogtle Unit 2 reactor in Waynesboro, Georgia that contains uranium enriched above 5% – a US commercial first. -
April 13, 2025 | Abhimanyu GhoshalThe billionaire co-founder of finance app Robinhood has a new startup focused on beaming solar power from satellites to receivers on Earth. With $50 million in funding, this Starlink-for-electricity outfit aims to launch a test in orbit next year. -
April 08, 2025 | Abhimanyu GhoshalA report from UK-based climate and energy think tank Ember notes that clean energy sources accounted for 40.9% percent of electricity produced around the world in 2024. From solar to wind energy, here are all the big figures you need to know about. -
April 07, 2025 | Joe SalasIn the ever-shifting winds of "who-did-it-bigger?," China has just taken a back seat to European wind company Siemens Gamesa. The firm recently planted a colossal, world-record-setting turbine in the Østerild test field in Denmark. -
April 05, 2025 | Abhimanyu GhoshalIt isn't easy to recycle high-voltage batteries from electric cars, but Porsche wants to take a stab at it. The plan: extract raw materials from old EV batteries to make fresh ones for its own electric models. -
April 03, 2025 | Abhimanyu GhoshalResearchers at the University of Michigan have developed a way to enable rapid EV battery charging at awfully low temperatures – up to five times as fast – without reducing the batteries' energy density. -
April 02, 2025 | Michael FrancoMoving toward an operational molten salt nuclear reactor in the next decade, Southern Company and the Idaho National Laboratory have completed the inaugural run of a first-of-its-kind test bed to foster rapid development of the technology. -
March 31, 2025 | Abhimanyu GhoshalCalifornia-based startup Inlyte wants to offer a scalable alternative to lithium-ion storage batteries with its sodium-iron tech, and it will soon manufacture cells in the US to showcase its benefits. -
March 26, 2025 | Joe SalasResearchers at Korea's Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science & Technology have created a nuclear battery that could turn radiation directly into electricity for decades – but without all the scary stuff associated with nuclear radiation. -
March 18, 2025 | Abhimanyu GhoshalElecom has launched the world's first power bank to feature a sodium-ion battery inside. It promises significantly longer cycle life than traditional lithium-ion batteries, as well as the ability to operate in extremely hot and cold climes. -
March 17, 2025 | David SzondyThe Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has cleared a major hurdle in making a Generation IV nuclear reactor practical. Using a new process, a team has developed a new way of processing fuel efficiently for cutting-edge molten salt reactors.
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