Millions of people will risk their health to afford heating and electricity in the months ahead.
Lake Powell’s water level has been falling amid a two-decade drought. The white ‘bathtub ring’ on the canyon walls marks the decline.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
One species of eel can discharge 860 volts of electricity – that’s 200-fold higher than the top voltage of a single lithium-ion battery.
The farmers’ predicament can’t be viewed in isolation and must be understood within the context of global processes beyond their control.
Christopher Scott via Getty Images
Economic and energy policymakers are responsible for increasing both demand for and supply of electricity. There must be a surplus of energy which will encourage economic growth.
LED lightbulbs are just the start.
Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images
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.
Ollo via Getty Images
Andrew Blakers, Australian National University; Bin Lu, Australian National University, dan Matthew Stocks, Australian National University
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