Energy

The world produces more than 1.8 billion tons of steel a year, releasing nearly twice that weight in carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. It's a huge decarbonization challenge, but steel giant ArcelorMittal is starting on a new green plant in Spain.

According to local media, the Chinese government intends to finish building a prototype molten salt nuclear reactor in the city of Wuwei before the end of year, with plans to establish a number of larger-scale plants in similar settings thereafter.

Western Australia could soon be home to the world's biggest green hydrogen project. The Western Green Energy Hub wants to deploy 50 GW of solar and wind generation to produce up to 3.5 million tons of green hydrogen or 20 million tons of ammonia a year.

Many renewable energy technologies require metals that are mined through environmentally destructive processes. Now, Oxford scientists are investigating a new way to mine valuable metals trapped in hot brines beneath volcanoes.

Thermoelectric generators produce an electric current through a temperature gradient. Now, engineers have created a new device that absorbs heat from the Sun on one surface and emits it from another, allowing it to generate electricity day and night.

MIT has developed a device that generates electricity using a completely new mechanism. “Particles” made of carbon nanotubes are dunked in an organic solvent, which induces a current to potentially power small robots or drive chemical reactions.

Researchers have demonstrated a new approach to harnessing the power of ambient radio waves, developing a novel chip that can convert Wi-Fi signals into power for a small LED, and possibly other small electronics and sensors.

Scientists are investigating more eco-friendly chemistries for batteries, and a team at Texas A&M University has just put forward an interesting candidate, demonstrating a metal-free battery that can be placed in acidic solutions to degrade on demand.

The NSW Government has funded Australia's first dual-fuel-capable power plant to the tune of US$64 million. The Tallawarra B project will initially run on natural gas, but will be gradually upgraded to burn green hydrogen over coming decades.

California is set to be home to two new compressed-air energy storage facilities – each claiming the crown for world’s largest non-hydro energy storage system. Developed by Hydrostor, the facilities will have an output of 500 MW and capacity of 4 GWh.

Scotland's Orbital Marine Power has completed the build on what it claims will be the world's most powerful operational tidal turbine. It's now on its way to the Orkney Islands, where it'll have a chance to prove its worth connected to the grid.

There are energy sources all over the place, if you know where to look. Researchers at CUHK have now designed new modular nanogenerators that can harvest energy from various different types of motion, such as ocean waves or a person's body movements.