Heating

Industrial heat consumes a huge proportion of global energy. Rondo Energy says its brick-toasting heat storage device is so cheap and efficient that it makes decarbonization an instant no-brainer across a huge range of industries. Bill Gates agrees.

After the summer so many of us have just sweltered through, we need better ways to cool buildings. Researchers have now spruced up the humble window with hydrogel-glass, which can selectively block heat from the Sun without blocking its light.

Ordinarily, when interior walls become wet due to leaky roofs, burst pipes or flooding, fans or radiant heaters are used to dry them. The new FastDry module, however, is claimed to offer a significantly more energy-efficient alternative.

As an unprecedented heatwave takes hold in Europe, driving the mercury to record levels and causing devastating wildfires across the continent, authorities are scrambling to prevent disruptions to transport services.

Polar Night Energy says it's developed and commercialized a super-cheap, super-simple way of storing energy for anywhere between hours and months, simply using heated sand. Its first 8-megawatt-hour thermal battery has gone online in Finland.

While there already are camping mattresses with built-in heating elements, they use batteries that have to be frequently recharged. The Blackcan II Pro system is different, in that it utilizes hot water which is heated by a gas burner.

A team from the University of Illinois and UC Berkeley has demonstrated a new cooling method that sucks heat out of electronics so efficiently that it allows designers to run 7.4 times more power through a given volume than conventional heat sinks.

Although a completely flat-surfaced wheel would be aerodynamic, it would also be hard to keep cool – especially during the braking process. An experimental new wheel rim, however, has cooling vents that open as needed … and they're activated by heat.

Heat is a major hurdle for electronic devices. Scientists have now found that nanowires made of a certain isotope of silicon can conduct heat 150 percent better than regular silicon, potentially leading to drastically cooler computer chips.

A specific cellular stress response involving heat shock proteins has been found to reverse the build-up of the toxic proteins linked to dementia. Future research will now look for a way to therapeutically trigger this mechanism.

Inspired by seashells, scientists at Sandia National Labs have engineered a versatile new material that’s incredibly inexpensive, strong, lightweight, and heat resistant. The material could find use in shielding for spacecraft or fusion facilities.

MIT says its new thermophotovoltaic heat engine can harvest more energy from heat than the average steam turbine, at a fraction of the cost and using no moving parts. Huge implications for future power stations, as well as grid-level energy storage.