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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A team of researchers has made a discovery that could help our clean energy efforts along, demonstrating how algal cells can be turned into tiny hydrogen-producing factories by immersing them in sugary droplets. -
Perovskite solar cells are rapidly catching up to silicon in efficiency, but continue to lag behind in production speed. Now Stanford has developed a new method of making perovskite solar cells at up to 40 ft per minute – even faster than silicon.
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A new breakthrough could boost the eco-credentials of an environmentally friendly form of lithium battery even further, by restoring it to its original condition once it is spent using just a fraction of the energy of current approaches.
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The wheels are beginning to turn on an innovative new energy project in the UK. The 250-MWh CRYOBattery uses a cryogenic cooling technology to turn ambient air into liquid, which can then be used to store and release energy over long periods of time.
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South Australia's neighboring state of Victoria has upped the ante on grid-scale batteries with the announcement that it's partnering with Tesla to build a colossal 300-megawatt battery for grid stabilization and renewable energy storage.
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Yes, iron. Fine iron powder can burn at high temperatures, emitting nothing but rust as a by-product. That rust can be reduced back into iron powder using renewable energy to create a clean, renewable combustion fuel that could have big implications.
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Scientists at the University of Central Florida studying alternative lithium battery designs have come up with a modification to one they say could lead to great performance gains, thanks to a new protective coating for one of its electrodes.
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The state of South Australia met significant but short-lived milestone for renewable energy on Sunday October 11, when solar power provided all of its energy needs between midday and 1 pm – a first for a jurisdiction of its size.
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As a storage solution for renewable energy, scientists see great potential in what are known as redox flow batteries. A new design from Linköping University is a decidedly green version of this, being the first made from all-natural materials.
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Scientists in Australia have happened upon a solution to one of the key instability issues facing perovskite solar technology, finding that doses of high-intensity light can be used to avoid deformations that plague the performance of the cell.
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Battery researchers are continually experimenting with alternative materials in an effort to boost performance, and a group from Stanford University and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is claiming to have landed on a winner.
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We got it wrong, folks. The Superbattery from Skeleton Technologies is not a hybrid battery/ultracapacitor energy system, it's an entire new type of cell that sits somewhere in between the two. And it will make it into EVs – just not how we expected.
