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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TAE makes world-first readings of magnetically-confined H-B fusion
February 28, 2023Most current fusion power projects require tritium – an incredibly scarce and problematic fuel. TAE is targeting cheaper, safer hydrogen-boron (H-B) fusion, and it's just announced a world-first measurement of H-B fusion in magnetically confined plasma. -
GE installs world's first spiral-welded wind turbine tower
February 26, 2023Denver's Keystone Tower Systems says it can cut the cost of wind energy with tech borrowed from pipemaking. It uses spiral welding techniques to roll sheet steel into huge turbine towers on-site, stronger, faster and cheaper than current techniques. -
Silver mirror triples efficiency of perovskite solar cells
February 19, 2023Perovskites are one of the most promising new materials for solar cell technology. Now engineers at the University of Rochester have developed a way to more than triple the material’s efficiency by adding a layer of reflective silver underneath it. -
"Exceptional" new catalyst cheaply splits hydrogen from seawater
February 13, 2023Green hydrogen can't be viewed as environmentally friendly if it drinks huge amounts of fresh water, or results in the bulk output of toxic chlorine, according to RMIT researchers who say they've come up with a cheap technique that does neither. -
Battery Virtual Power Plant launches to help with electricity grid stability
February 10, 2023Smart energy tech developer SolarEdge is inviting thousands of home battery owners to join Britain's first Battery Virtual Power Plant, where stored energy will be used to help stabilize the grid during peak demand events. -
South Australia plans world's largest electrolyzer and H2 power plant
February 05, 2023The state that built the world's first grid-level "big battery" is striking out on an even more ambitious green energy project: the world's biggest hydrogen power station, fed by an electrolysis facility 10 times larger than anything running today. -
Multi-layer "liquid window" tech could help buildings save energy
February 02, 2023There are already "smart" windows that can be electronically switched between either letting sunlight through or blocking it. A new multi-layered one, however, can be set to several energy-saving light filtration modes. -
Acid coating converts regular electrolyzers to split seawater
February 02, 2023Green hydrogen is going to demand a lot of water for electrolysis – nine liters of pure water for every kilogram of hydrogen. Researchers say they've found a simple way to use seawater in standard electrolyzers, and that's big news for clean energy. -
Report: Japan's "hydrogen society" policy is a "complete failure"
January 25, 2023In 2017, Japan created a pioneering national hydrogen strategy, envisaging a carbon-neutral "hydrogen society." But a Renewable Energy Institute report slams the policy as catastrophically misguided, with 70% of its 10-year budget "spent on bad ideas." -
Fur-lined double-barrel generator harvests energy from slow waves
January 19, 2023Researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have developed an unusual way to harvest wave power, with a gently rolling cylinder designed around the triboelectric effect that causes static shocks after you walk on certain carpets. -
Dung-powered tractor drives down agricultural emissions
January 16, 2023New Holland Agriculture has announced a new tractor designed to run on fuel created on-site using cow manure. The T7 Methane Power LNG offers the same power and torque as a diesel tractor, but it's part of a system that can greatly reduce emissions. -
Wind turbine as tall as a 70-story building announced in China
January 15, 2023Extreme engineering is becoming the norm as offshore wind continues to scale up. Sweeping the area of 12.3 standard NFL fields each rotation, with gargantuan 140-meter (459-ft) blades, the MySE 18.X-28X will be the largest wind turbine ever built. -
Scientists propose turning abandoned mines into gravity batteries
January 12, 2023Once a mine has been exhausted of its ore, there's really no use for it anymore – it just becomes an abandoned hole in the ground. According to a new study, however, the shafts of such mines could serve in energy-storing gravity batteries. -
Concentrated photosynthesis device promises cheap green hydrogen
January 11, 2023UMich researchers have demonstrated an artificial photosynthesis device 10 times more efficient and one hundredth the size of previous devices of its kind. This green hydrogen production method also improves over time, and can split seawater. -
World's new largest wind turbine sweeps 10 football fields per spin
January 09, 2023The China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) is upping the ante on offshore wind, announcing it's building the largest and most powerful wind turbine ever, making a peak 18 megawatts with an enormous 260-m (853-ft) diameter on its three-bladed rotor.
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