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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Microbial fuel cells are a promising new way to generate electricity, but so far they’re plagued by inefficiency. Researchers at UCLA have now found a way to wring more energy out of them, by feeding the bacteria silver to make them more conductive. -
Scientists in Australia have come up with a new design for lithium sulfur batteries that involves adding a sugar to address inherent stability issues, a move that keeps the experimental cells ticking across more than 1,000 cycles.
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An ambitious startup called Climeworks is looking to eat into the world's carbon emissions and has just taken its biggest bite yet, flicking the switch on the largest direct air capture and CO2 storage plant on the planet.
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MIT scientists have demonstrated how some of the biggest advances in nuclear fusion might come via projects that are smaller in stature, with the team revealing a record-setting superconductive magnet set for testing in a compact reactor in 2025.
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Scientists in Switzerland have been working to bring the efficiency of CIGS flexible solar cells up to the levels offered by rigid solar cells, and have taken another step toward this goal by setting a new record of 21.4 percent.
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You'll be hearing a lot more about ammonia as a clean fuel option in the race to zero carbon by 2050. In particular, it looks like a strong option for long-haul ships and trucks. So what is it, how is it made, and how does it shape up as green fuel?
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The idea of using human movement to generate electricity is something we've seen applied to many areas, and scientists have now developed a highly efficient form of wooden flooring that leverages this technology to power a lamp with footsteps.
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Physicists have confirmed a major advance in the performance of the Wendelstein 7-X fusion reactor, with efforts to address inherent energy losses in the design potentially enabling the reactor to host plasma twice as hot as the Sun's core.
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Although there are now a number of devices that generate electricity via movement, most of them only work in dry environments. A new one, however, also works underwater – meaning it could be used in implants, or wearables that get exposed to sweat.
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Stanford University scientists experimenting with a decades-old, single-use battery architecture have led the development of a version that is not only rechargeable, but offers around six times the capacity of today's lithium-ion solutions.
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As we increasingly move toward renewable energy sources like wind turbines, we're going to require the best means possible of relaying electricity from them to our cities. A new cable-insulating material may allow us to do so much more efficiently.
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Graphene is already shaping the future of battery technology in some interesting ways, and now scientists have deployed a novel form of the wonder material in a sustainable sodium battery to bring about a tenfold increase in capacity.
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