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An underutilized natural resource could be just what the airline industry needs to curb carbon emissions. Researchers at three institutions — the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Washington State University — report success in using lignin as a path toward a drop-in 100% sustainable …

One of the world’s biggest climate challenges is decarbonizing fossil energy uses that cannot be directly electrified using renewable power. Among so-called “hard-to-abate” (HTA) sectors are major industries that rely on fossil fuels, either for high-temperature energy or for chemical feedstocks. These include iron and steel, cement, chemicals, and building materials, together responsible for approximately …

Engineers at UBC Okanagan have been collaborating with researchers from the University of Toronto to make a significant breakthrough in de-icing technology. Their latest research, published in this month’s edition of Nature Communications, examines a smart, hybrid — meaning passive and also active — de-icing system that works by combining an interfacial coating with an …

Scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have developed a low-cost device that can harness energy from wind as gentle as a light breeze and store it as electricity. When exposed to winds with a velocity as low as two metres per second (m/s), the device can produce a voltage of three volts and …

New technology developed at the University of Waterloo could make a significant difference in the fight against climate change by affordably converting harmful carbon dioxide (CO2) into fuels and other valuable chemicals on an industrial scale. Outlined in a study published today in the journal Nature Energy, the system yields 10 times more carbon monoxide …

Oil and gas prices skyrocketed following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in spring 2022, creating a global energy crisis similar to the oil crisis of the 1970s. While some countries used the price shock to accelerate the transition to cleaner sources of energy, such as wind, solar and geothermal, others have responded by expanding the …

Synthetic fuels produced from renewable sources, so-called refuels, are deemed potential game changers in fighting climate change. Refuels promise to reduce CO2 emissions by up to 90% compared to conventional fuels and they allow for the continued use of existing vehicle fleets with combustion engines and of the refueling infrastructure, from fuel production to transport …

Green hydrogen is an energy carrier with a future. It is obtained by electrolytically splitting water with energy from wind or sun and stores this energy in chemical form. To make the splitting of water molecules easier (and to reduce the energy input), the electrodes are coated with catalytically active materials. Dr. Marcel Risch and …

The vast majority of electric vehicle owners charge their cars at home in the evening or overnight. We’re doing it wrong, according to a new Stanford study. In March, the research team published a paper on a model they created for charging demand that can be applied to an array of populations and other factors. …

Transitioning to a decarbonised energy system by around 2050 is expected to save the world at least $12 trillion, compared to continuing our current levels of fossil fuel use, according to a peer-reviewed study by Oxford University researchers, published in the journal Joule today. The research shows a win-win-win scenario, in which rapidly transitioning to …

As the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to strain global energy supplies, some European countries have begun to cut back on their use of oil and natural gas. Other countries, however, have sought to boost domestic production of fossil fuels to drop prices and ease their current fuel crunch. That strategy runs in conflict …

Green hydrogen would likely supply less than 1 % of final energy globally by 2035, while the European Union might hit the 1% mark a little earlier by about 2030. In particular, the EU’s 2030 plan to supply 10 million tons of green hydrogen with domestic capacity will be out of reach, unless policy makers …

A team of researchers led by Meenesh Singh at University of Illinois Chicago has discovered a way to convert 100% of carbon dioxide captured from industrial exhaust into ethylene, a key building block for plastic products. Their findings are published in Cell Reports Physical Science. While researchers have been exploring the possibility of converting carbon …

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) made a technological breakthrough and constructed a perovskite solar cell with the dual benefits of being both highly efficient and highly stable. The work was done in collaboration with scientists from the University of Toledo, the University of Colorado-Boulder, and the University …

Accelerating demand for renewable energy and electric vehicles is sparking a high demand for the batteries that store generated energy and power engines. But the batteries behind these sustainability solutions aren’t always sustainable themselves. In a paper publishing September 1 in the journal Matter, scientists create a zinc battery with a biodegradable electrolyte from an …

Metal oxides are compounds that play a crucial role in processes that reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. These processes include carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS), purifying and recycling inert gases in solar panel manufacturing, thermochemical energy storage, and producing hydrogen for energy. These processes are based on reactions where metal oxides gain and lose …

Solar cells are quickly becoming one of the main ways to produce clean electricity in many countries in the world. Over the past few decades, a tremendous amount of effort has been dedicated to making solar power more prominent. However, the technology currently faces several challenges that limit their widespread application. In the case of …