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Photoanodes made of metal oxides are considered to be a viable solution for the production of hydrogen with sunlight. α-SnWO4 has optimal electronic properties for photoelectrochemical water splitting with sunlight, but corrodes easily. Protective layers of nickel oxide prevent corrosion, but reduce the photovoltage and limit the efficiency. Now a team at HZB has investigated …

Reaching zero net emissions of carbon dioxide from energy and industry by 2050 can be accomplished by rebuilding U.S. energy infrastructure to run primarily on renewable energy, at a net cost of about $1 per person per day, according to new research published by the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), the …

A research team from the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) has joined forces with French researchers from the Institute of Chemistry and Processes for Energy, Environment and Health (ICPEES), a CNRS-University of Strasbourg joint research lab, to pave the way towards the production of green hydrogen. This international team has developed new sunlight-photosensitive-nanostructured …

2020 was a difficult year for all of us and that includes the automotive industry globally and the proud German Automakers Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, BMW, and Daimler. Forced production shutdowns, consumers with an uncertain financial outlook, and an unstable parts supply are just a few of the issues and challenges they faced and had to …

Renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power, could help decrease the world’s reliance on fossil fuels. But first, power companies need a safe, cost-effective way to store the energy for later use. Massive lithium-ion batteries can do the job, but they suffer from safety issues and limited lithium availability. Now, researchers reporting in …

An early morning phone conference Q&A session with journalists from all over the world is one of the odder experiences of the pandemic. I’m supposed to ask a question, but I cannot think of anything. I feel so dumb and the questions are all from Dutch and Asian journalists and of course they’re insightful, illuminating …

Who remembers the introduction to Tomorrow’s World? It’s that time of the week again, a Thursday at 7.30pm, BBC1 and our favourite show was about to air. No it wasn’t Scrapheap or Red Dwarf (although it was always watched in our house) it was the BBC’s own Tomorrow’s World. This show like nothing else bonded …

I’ve heard mixed reports about combustion cars, so it was with some trepidation that I took delivery of a loan vehicle to try one out. (I plugged my regular car into the home grid and just used it as back up storage.) The first thing I noticed was this car sat outside my house doing …

Vehicles have evolved to become more efficient and sophisticated, but their fuel hasn’t necessarily evolved along with them. The Department of Energy is determined to identify cleaner burning and renewable alternatives to gasoline, and through the work of two UCF researchers, the DOE is one step closer to that goal. Research engineer Anthony C. Terracciano …

Positive “tipping points” could spark cascading changes that accelerate action on climate change, experts say. A tipping point is a moment when a small change triggers a large, often irreversible, response. Professor Tim Lenton, Director of the Global Systems Institute (GSI) at the University of Exeter, has previously warned the world is “dangerously close” to …

As the planet continues to warm, the twin challenges of diminishing water supply and growing energy demand are intensifying. But because water and energy are inextricably linked, as we try to adapt to one challenge — say, by getting more water via desalination or water recycling — we may be worsening the other challenge by …

Five years after the Paris climate agreement, all eyes are on the world’s progress on the road to a carbon-free future. A crucial part of this goal involves the energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources, such as sun, water, wind and wave energy. Among those, solar energy has always held the highest hope …

Co-developing land for both solar photovoltaic power and agriculture could provide 20% of total electricity generation in the United States with an investment of less than 1% of the annual U.S. budget, a new paper by Oregon State University researchers found. Wide-scale installation of agrivoltaic systems could lead to an annual reduction of 330,000 tons …

Can you imagine a world powered by 100% renewable electricity and fuels? It may seem fantasy, but a collaborative team of scientists has just shown this dream is theoretically possible — if we can garner global buy-in. The newly published research, led by Professor James Ward from the University of South Australia and co-authored by …

Cornell University is developing a system to extract energy from cattle manure to meet the campus’s peak demands for heat in the winter months. In the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, by AIP Publishing, scientists involved with the project give a detailed analysis of the issues required to make this work, including scientific, economic, …

Scientists in Australia have developed a process for calculating the perfect size and density of quantum dots needed to achieve record efficiency in solar panels. Quantum dots, human-made nanocrystals 100,000 times thinner than a sheet of paper, can be used as light sensitisers, absorbing infrared and visible light and transferring it to other molecules. This …

New UBC Okanagan research is changing the way aircraft and wind turbine operators are addressing the risks related to ice build-up. In a follow-up study from one released previously this year, Assistant Professor Mohammad Zarifi and his team at UBCO’s Okanagan MicroElectronics and Gigahertz Applications (OMEGA) Lab, have broadened the scope and functionality of their …

By delving into scientific, technological, environmental and economic data, Cornell University engineering researchers examined whether New York could achieve a statewide carbon-free economy by 2050. Their finding: Yes, New York can reach this goal — and do it with five years to spare. Fengqi You, professor in energy systems engineering and Ning Zhao, a doctoral …

Fluorescence usually entails the conversion of light at shorter wavelengths to light at longer wavelengths. Scientists have now discovered a chromophore system that goes the other way around. When excited by visible light, the fluorescent dyes emit light in the ultraviolet region. According to the study published in the journal Angewandte Chemie, such light upconversion …

WSU researchers have developed a sustainable wastewater treatment system that relies on electron-producing microbial communities to clean the water. The work could someday lead to reduced reliance on the energy-intensive processes that are used to move and treat wastewater, which accounts for as much as two percent of the total electrical energy consumption in the …

By some estimates, the amount of solar energy reaching the surface of the earth in one year is greater than the sum of all the energy we could ever produce using non-renewable resources. The technology necessary to convert sunlight into electricity has developed rapidly, but inefficiencies in the storage and distribution of that power have …

By borrowing nature’s blueprints for photosynthesis, Cornell University bioengineers have found a way to efficiently absorb and store large-scale, low-cost renewable energy from the sun — while sequestering atmospheric carbon dioxide to use later as a biofuel. The key: Let bioengineered microbes do all the work. Buz Barstow, assistant professor of biological and environmental engineering …

A new study from North Carolina State University finds that the environmental benefits of renewable power generation vary significantly, depending on the nature of the conventional power generation that the renewable energy is offsetting. The researchers hope the work will help target future renewable energy investments in places where they can do the most good. …

Researchers at Hiroshima University in Japan have blended together various polymer and molecular semiconductors as photo-absorbers to create a solar cell with increased power efficiencies and electricity generation. These types of solar cells, known as organic photovoltaics (OPV), are devices that generate electricity when light is incident upon their photo-absorbers. The efficiency of a solar …

Future novel hybrid energy systems could lead to paradigm shifts in clean energy production, according to a paper published last week in Joule. Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) three applied energy laboratories — Idaho National Laboratory (INL), the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) — co …