Alternative Energy

Just a year ago, Fervo Energy successfully demonstrated the effectiveness of its horizontally oriented geothermal system. Now the company has landed a massive contract for providing its clean, virtually endless power to the California grid.

Water can hold a huge amount of thermal energy, and a new system to tap into this is being trialed in Scotland. A startup called SeaWarm uses heat stored in bodies of water for buildings, pulling four times more heat out than electricity used.

The Krafla Magma Testbed "has the potential to be for geoscientists what the Large Hadron Collider has been for particle physicists." So say researchers working on the project to drill into a magma chamber to explore massive geothermal power.

Geothermal development company Fervo Energy has announced impressive strides being made at its Cape Station facility in southern Utah. The results could lead to a quicker and more widespread uptake of this super-clean energy production process.

A Northwestern University team has demonstrated a remarkable new way to generate electricity, with a paperback-sized device that nestles in soil and harvests power created as microbes break down dirt – for as long as there's carbon in the soil.

The world needs gargantuan amounts of clean energy moving forward, making this an area of colossal and growing opportunity for disruptive innovations. Here are some of the fascinating energy ideas and technologies that made us most hopeful in 2023.

T-Omega's pyramid-based floating wind turbines are designed with the sole common-sense focus of keeping the cost of offshore wind down to an absolute minimum. With wave tank testing done, the company has now launched its first real-world prototype.

Researchers in Jordan and Qatar have come up with a remarkable design for a "twin technology solar system" capable of generating clean energy 24/7. This double-action design promises more than twice as much energy as a standard solar updraft tower.

Ships can become mobile wave energy converters, say Chinese researchers, using "heaving oscillators" that draw power from heaving, rolling and pitching movements as they move through the sea, while also acting as motion dampers to improve safety.

Google has announced that its innovative advanced geothermal plant in Nevada is now operational and connected to the grid, pioneering an approach that promises to unlock clean, always-on geothermal energy across a much larger range of locations.

Studying how bacteria interacts with the environment, a microbiology team discovered a powerhouse of an enzyme that consumes hydrogen and turns it into electricity. Researcher Rhys Grinter told New Atlas what the findings could mean for clean energy.

Russia is the only country that sells the HALEU fuel that some next-generation nuclear plants will rely on, and with sanctions now in place due to the war in Ukraine, TerraPower has now conceded its demo timeline will blow out by at least two years.