Energy

In the near future, a building's emergency lighting, fire alarms, sensors and other items could be powered not by generators or batteries, but by the actual structural material. That's because scientists have developed a cement-based supercapacitor.

Cars spend most of their time parked, just sitting around and taking up space in parking lots. But a parking lot full of EVs could potentially become a powerful energy source, supplying electricity to the grid.

For centuries, humans have obtained fuel from the remains of organisms that lived millions of years ago, seawater, decaying biomass and now, from cow's milk ... or more accurately, salty whey, a by-product produced during the manufacture of cheese.

You can’t brighten a room with darkness, you can’t dry a towel by soaking it, and you surely can’t cool things with heat. Right? Well, maybe. Scientists have just built a solid-state cooling device that can use heat to generate cold.

Some companies build a desalination plant and call it a day; others build a data center, while others, still, build power generation facilities. One project wants to build all three …into one facility …offshore …on a movable ship.

If anyone could defeat the “man of steel,” it would be a “man of stainless steel.” However, even stainless steel has its electrochemical limits. Scientists have created a version that can withstand conditions only a “man of titanium” typically does.

Hot-air drying is important in pretty much all the modern industries you can think of. It’s used to dry fruits and vegetables, preserve grains and spices, and make everything from powdered milk and instant coffee to fertilizers, fabrics, and medicines. Evaporating all that moisture with hot air takes a lot of energy. Most of that energy still comes from burning natural gas, and there are a few serious issues with that.

The United States has about 94,000 tonnes of nuclear waste in storage, though that's a bit like calling all that gold in Fort Knox "waste." A new technique is being developed to recover its trapped value, unlocking billions of dollars in reusable fuel and high-value isotopes.

“Under the sea, Darling it’s better, Take it from me!” sang the crab in The Little Mermaid, and he may be right. Scientists say 0.1% of the world’s seawater has enough critical elements to last 50,000 years, and are now exploring their extraction.

A Swedish device that mimics the human heart to turn ocean swells into electricity has just cleared a hurdle that's kept wave power sidelined for decades: it passed the strictest safety test in the marine energy industry.

General Atomics has received tax-credit funding from the state of California to design and develop a new facility in San Diego to test a key fusion reactor component that will allow the reactor to create its own fuel while generating power.

Batteries are typically the first thing that comes to mind as energy storage. Researchers have now demonstrated a strange yellow liquid energy storage system that “charges” by turning into a black goo and discharges to drive chemical reactions.

Humans generate wet coffee grounds equal to the weight of three Great Pyramids of Giza annually. These have fuel potential, but the moisture poses a challenge. Scientists have now developed a method that rapidly turns the wet grounds into solid biofuel.

Unlike man-made solar systems, which are hampered by the sun’s fluctuations and require backup systems to even them out, leaves can harness solar energy even in low-light conditions. Scientists have developed a way to replicate this ability.

One of the hindrances of solar power adoption, especially in cities, is where to install the chunky panels. Roofs? Skyscraper walls? Scarce open spaces? Researchers say they have solved this with solar cells so thin they can be installed on windows!