Energy
Humankind has an insatiable appetite for energy that has put the planet in a very precarious position environmentally, but is also one of the main drivers of 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 cold fusion.
Latest News
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German company Sinn Power has proposed a hybrid offshore power generation platform that combines wind turbines, solar panels and wave energy harvesters to generate off-grid electricity for people living close to the coast. -
When it comes to regular photovoltaic panels, the fewer shadows that are cast upon them, the better. An experimental new device, however, actually generates electricity via the contrast between shadows and light on its surface.
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Greener than the best renewable hydrogen production processes, and as cheap as the dirtiest coal-generated H2 out of India – using garbage for fuel that would otherwise sit in landfill. Extraordinary claims for a new H2 plant planned for California.
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Quantum dots have shown promise in solar cells. Now, researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) have developed a new type of quantum dot solar cell that isn’t made with the toxic elements found in most, while maintaining efficiency.
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It sounds counterintuitive to put solar cells indoors, but there’s light energy inside that’s largely going to waste. Now a team of engineers has created flexible perovskite solar cells with the highest efficiency of any indoor flexible solar cells.
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Researchers at Rice University have built a simple new solar-powered device that can create hydrogen for fuel by splitting water. It's similar to other “artificial leaf” designs but the team says it’s self-sufficient and relatively cheap to produce.
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Among the promising alternatives to today's energy storage technologies are lithium-sulfur batteries, though they tend to quickly degrade and die. A new design promises to change that through the integration of a rare metalloid called tellurium.
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A new technology out of Purdue University is a shining example of using green tech to craft next-gen batteries, with scientists using a common form of plastic waste to craft a key component through the use of standard household microwave technology.
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Wind turbine towers have become a familiar sight in many parts of the world, but if Ampyx Power has its way, they could be replaced with fleets of tethered drones that harness the energy of high-altitude winds to run generators on the ground.
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Windows capable of harvesting energy from the sun have been on the horizon for a number of years, but they're yet to help cut down a building's energy costs. A new development from Australian researchers may change that.
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Computer modeling has shown that an energy storage system based on diamond nanothread bundles could store three times as much energy as lithium-ion batteries. And because it stores energy mechanically rather than chemically, it would be much safer.
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Researchers out of the Chinese University of Hong Kong have used a polymer commonly found in skin cream as a stabilizing agent for an aqueous lithium-ion battery, keeping costs and toxicity low and creating a stable voltage for common usage.
