Packing heat: concentrating sunlight into a reactor to split H2O and CO2 – a step toward making liquid fuels.
Courtesy of Professor David Hahn, University of Florida
Rooftop solar power is exploding in the US but some scientists are pursuing a radically different route in renewable energy: storing solar energy as a liquid fuel.
South Australia’s wind farms have coped without baseload power before - they can do it again.
Fairv8/Wikimedia Commons
Coal closures announced this week in South Australia will cause employment pain, but could also help pave the way for the state to go 100% renewable - something that modelling suggests is eminently possible.
The Grattan Institute has reported that the costs of solar panels have outweighed the benefits by almost A$10 billion in Australia. But the real benefits of cutting greenhouse emissions are much larger.
Tesla’s lithium-ion powerwall isn’t the only technology available for household batteries.
Tesla
Lithium-ion is currently the leading battery technology for home installation, but others are just over the horizon that might be even better.
Countries should make pledges to fund low-carbon research - such as developing solar technology - and development as part of global climate talks.
University of Salford Press Office/Flickr
Countries will take emissions reduction pledges to international climate talks in Paris at the end of this year. Those pledges should also include funds for low-carbon R&D.
Investment in technologies beyond the existing wind and solar could stagnate in the face of the government’s reduced Renewable Energy Target.
Rolandg/Wikimedia Commons
After months of deadlock, a deal has finally been reached to reduce the Renewable Energy Target, ending the uncertainty for industry but also risking an already sparse pipeline of future projects.
Batteries to store excess solar power will be a game-changer. But energy-efficient appliances will mean you can use a smaller battery.
AAP Image/Raoul Wegat,file
The unveiling of Tesla’s Powerwall home battery has been hailed as a huge moment in renewable energy. But don’t forget the other innovations that can help you use that stored power more efficiently.
Amid the fanfare over the launch of the Powerwall, has Tesla’s Elon Musk struck a decisive blow for renewable energy?
YouTube/Tesla Motors
Tesla’s new home battery could help halve the costs of electricity for typical American households - all using existing technology. The fossil fuel industry is right to be worried.
Elon Musk says the the Powerwall solar charged batteries could take a home off the electricity grid.
YouTube/Tesla Motors
Many of the targeted behavioral responses to climate change involve reducing energy consumption. This makes sense as the majority of energy consumed (pretty much throughout all history) has involved burning…
Batteries combined with digital technologies will improve the efficiency and reliability of the electric grid, transforming how people use their energy.
The Tesla Model S - mean, and green?
Mariordo/Wikimedia
James Whitmore, The Conversation and Michael Hopkin, The Conversation
The federal government’s keenly awaited Energy White Paper is firmly focused on cutting prices and red tape, and boosting industry competitiveness - and less so on climate change and renewable energy.
A tandem solar cell made from silicon and metal-halide perovskite.
Rongrong Cheacharoen
Electric utilities want to quash distributed solar because they don’t want the competition, right? Perhaps, but if you rely at all on the grid, you have a stake in this fight, too.
Cool, now whose turn is it to make the tea?
Ramon de la Rocha / EPA