Heating

A new heat-to-energy converter has reached a record efficiency of 44% – the average steam turbine manages about 35%, for comparison. This thermophotovoltaic cell is a major step on the way to sustainable, grid-scale renewable energy storage.

It's rarely great news when an area gets blanketed in volcanic ash – but University of Barcelona researchers have discovered it has a rare combination of useful properties, which make it remarkably useful as an energy storage medium.

An energy supplier in Finland has announced the upcoming construction of an underground seasonal thermal energy storage facility about the size of two Madison Square Gardens that could meet the heating demands of a medium-sized city for up to a year.

A new industrial-scale “sand battery” has been announced for Finland, packing 1 MW of power and a capacity of up to 100 MWh of thermal energy for use during those cold polar winters. The new battery will be 10 times bigger than a prior pilot plant.

Fraunhofer scientists have used ultra-thin diamond membranes to drastically cool electronic components and boost electric vehicle charging speeds, taking advantages of diamond's outstanding thermal conductivity.

Using a temperature-driven "wax motor," researchers have created an adaptive roof tile system that helps keep a room at a comfortable 18 °C (65 °F). It delivers an extraordinary 3.1X reduction in cooling energy consumption, and 2.6X for heating.

Fourth Power says its ultra-high temperature "sun in a box" energy storage tech is more than 10X cheaper than lithium-ion batteries, and vastly more powerful and efficient than any other thermal battery. It's hoping to prove it with a 1-MWh prototype.

It’s a basic fact that temperatures drop at night, damaging crops, equipment and infrastructure. Scientists have created a new film that selectively absorbs and reflects different wavelengths of infrared light to efficiently keep objects warm.

Researchers have created a low-cost fiber that contracts in response to heat, resuming its shape when the heat is removed. Compatible with existing textile-producing machinery, the shape-shifting fiber could have a myriad of uses.

An ambitious project out of the University of Surrey aims to stop potholes from developing, using super-efficient ground source heat pumps and phase change microcapsules. We spoke to team leader Dr. Benji Cao to find out how it works.

Bill Gates-backed startup Antora Energy is preparing to roll out a containerized, modular heat battery, designed to store renewable energy at the lowest possible cost – then release it efficiently as electricity or industrial process heat.

Heating and cooling account for huge portions of our energy consumption. Now scientists at Stanford have created a new type of paint that passively blocks heat from entering or escaping, and can be made in a range of colors.