Bidirectional charging is the next big stage for electric vehicles. But storing power in your car and sending it back to your house involves more than flipping a switch.
Motorists drive at night on a road without street light as Nigeria struggles with power outages in a commercial district of Lagos.
Photo by PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP via Getty Images
Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the world’s most sunlit regions. A prototype generator uses that sunlight in place of diesel to support unreliable electricity grids.
The U.S. has thousands of lakes and reservoirs that could be paired for pumped hydro storage without the need for rivers.
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A team of researchers found 35,000 pairs of existing reservoirs, lakes and old mines in the US that could be turned into long-term energy storage – and they don’t need dams on rivers.
Renewable energy is expanding at a record pace, but still not fast enough. Here are the key areas to watch for progress in bringing more wind and solar into the power grid in 2022.
The Curiosity Mars rover, launched in November 2011, is powered by a nuclear battery that relies on thermoelectric materials to turn heat from radioactive decay into electricity.
(NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)
More than two-thirds of the world’s energy is wasted as heat. Thermoelectric materials can convert unwanted heat into electricity, but finding the best ones has been slow.
Many living organisms generate and even detect static electricity in their natural environments. We must understand more to ensure we don’t disturb these delicate processes.
Here are four ways the current electricity system favours existing, higher emitting technologies. These must be overcome to rapidly cut Australia’s emissions.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson at a COP26 launch conference in February 2020.
Reuters/Alamy Stock Photo
The Biden administration is proposing a big increase in offshore wind power. A former state official explains how regulators find the best sites and balance competing interests.
A coal mine in Alberta. Canada has adopted a carbon neutral target for 2050. It represents a major change Canada’s approach to reducing GHG emissions.
(Shutterstock)
The goal of carbon neutrality changes everything. Canada can no longer limit itself to solutions that partially reduce emissions here and there. The chosen solution must be zero emissions.
Glassmakers are among the industries seeking bailouts.
FreeProd
Developments in the energy sector shouldn’t be reduced to technological sophistication. They should be guided by how they improve the livelihoods of the intended beneficiaries.
Renewable energy is a fast-growing industry.
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