Energy
press releases.

Energy21 Mar 2024

Forest, stream habitats keep energy exchanges in balance, global team finds

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Forests and streams are separate but linked ecosystems, existing side by side, with energy and nutrients crossing their porous borders and flowing back and forth between them. For example, leaves fall from trees, enter streams, decay and feed aquatic insects. Those insects emerge from the waters and are eaten by birds and bats. An international team led by Penn State researchers has now found that these ecosystems appear to keep the energy exchanges in balance — a finding that the scientists called surprising. Scientists ...

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Energy20 Mar 2024

TIFRH study reports scalable and cost-effective method to assemble a safer and durable lithium metal battery

Lithium metal batteries (LMBs) can provide nearly 10 times higher energy density compared to the present Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) and hence are identified as one of the potential future storage systems. However, LMBs pose certain safety concerns and cannot be used for fast-charging applications. Uncontrolled dendrite formation, leading to excessive heating and battery short circuit is one of the critical challenges of its advancement. Researchers have previously attempted to address the safety concerns in LMBs but with methods that were laboursome and money/time intensive. T. N. Narayanan’s lab at the Tata Institute ...

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Energy20 Mar 2024

Deep Earth electrical grid mystery solved

To “breathe” in an environment without oxygen, bacteria in the ground beneath our feet depend upon a single family of proteins to transfer excess electrons, produced during the “burning” of nutrients, to electric hairs called nanowires projecting from their surface, found by researchers at Yale University and NOVA School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon (NOVA-FCT). This family of proteins in essence acts as plugs that power these nanowires to create a natural electrical ...

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Energy19 Mar 2024

Bendable energy storage materials by cool science

Imaging being able to wear your smartphone on your wrist, not as a watch, but literally as a flexible band that surrounds around your arm. How about clothes that charge your gadgets just by wearing them? Recently, a collaborative team led by Professor Jin Kon Kim and Dr. Keon-Woo Kim of Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Professor Taesung Kim and M.S./Ph.D. student Hyunho Seok of Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), and Professor Hong Chul Moon of University of Seoul (UOS) has brought a step closer to making this realty. This research work was published in Advanced Materials. Mesoporous ...

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Energy18 Mar 2024

Not in my backyard? Wind turbines have little effect on US property values

“The impact of wind turbines on house prices is much smaller than generally feared: In the U.S., it’s about one percent for a house that has at least one wind turbine in a 10 km radius”, explains Maximilian Auffhammer, a Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California, Berkeley and co-author of the study. “And what really surprised me is that the house value bounces back to the original price over the years.” The study authors also found that there was no longer any ...

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Energy18 Mar 2024

Harnessing hydrogen at life’s origin

A new report uncovers how hydrogen gas, the energy of the future, provided energy in the past, at the origin of life 4 billion years ago. Hydrogen gas is clean fuel. It burns with oxygen in the air to provide energy with no CO2. Hydrogen is a key to sustainable energy for the future. Though humans are just now coming to realize the benefits of hydrogen gas (H2 in chemical shorthand), microbes have known that H2 is good fuel for as long as there has been life on Earth. Hydrogen is ancient energy. The very first cells on Earth lived from H2 produced in hydrothermal vents, using the reaction of H2 with CO2 to make the molecules of ...

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Energy18 Mar 2024

UH’s Energy Transition Institute leader appointed to Department of Energy committee

U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm appointed Joe Powell, the founding executive director of the Energy Transition Institute at the University of Houston, to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Industrial Technology Innovation Advisory Committee (ITIAC). The 18-member committee, a diverse group of stakeholders who report directly to Granholm, will create a comprehensive strategy to accelerate the development of innovative technologies and processes designed to help decarbonize the American industrial sector and reduce emissions. This sector is ...

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Energy15 Mar 2024

Plasma oscillations propel breakthroughs in fusion energy

Most people know about solids, liquids, and gases as the main three states of matter, but a fourth state of matter exists as well. Plasma—also known as ionized gas—is the most abundant, observable form of matter in our universe, found in the sun and other celestial bodies. Creating the hot mix of freely moving electrons and ions that compose a plasma often requires extreme pressures or temperatures. In these extreme conditions, researchers continue to uncover the unexpected ways that plasma can move and evolve. By better understanding the motion of plasma, scientists gain valuable insights into solar physics, astrophysics, ...

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Energy14 Mar 2024

A telluride-free way to improve the performance of thermoelectric systems

Researchers report they have boosted the performance of a thermoelectric device using an approach that doesn’t require tellurium. The findings reveal a path toward more efficient and sustainable commercial applications of thermoelectric cooling based on Earth-abundant compounds. Efficient and sustainable cooling is crucial to modern living, particularly in our warming world. However, current cooling strategies require substantial energy, which can exacerbate anthropogenic climate impacts. Thermoelectric cooling is an attractive solid-state heat-pump technology that could reduce energy consumption ...

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Energy14 Mar 2024

An electricity generator inspired by the drinking bird toy powers electronics with evaporated water

Inspired by the classic drinking bird toy, scientists in Hong Kong and Guangzhou, China have developed an engine that efficiently converts energy from water evaporation into electricity to power small electronics. The device produces energy outputs exceeding 100 volts—much higher than other techniques that generate electricity from water—and can operate for several days using only 100 milliliters of water as fuel, according to a study published March 14 in the journal Device. “The drinking bird triboelectric hydrovoltaic generator offers a unique means to power small electronics in ambient ...

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Energy14 Mar 2024

How to upcycle low-energy light

To combine two low-energy photons into one high-energy photon efficiently, the energy must be able to hop freely, but not too quickly, between randomly oriented molecules of a solid. This Kobe University discovery provides a much-needed design guideline for developing materials for more efficient PV cells, displays, or even anti-cancer therapies. Light of different colors has different energies and is therefore useful for very different things. For the development of more efficient PV cells, OLED displays, or anti-cancer therapies it is desirable to be able to upcycle two low-energy photons into a high-energy photon, ...

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Energy13 Mar 2024

Scientists use novel technique to create new energy-efficient microelectronic device

Breakthrough could help lead to the development of new low-power semiconductors or quantum devices. As the integrated circuits that power our electronic devices get more powerful, they are also getting smaller. This trend of microelectronics has only accelerated in recent years as scientists try to fit increasingly more semiconducting components on a chip. Microelectronics face a key challenge because of their small size. To avoid overheating, microelectronics need to consume only a fraction of the electricity of conventional electronics while still operating at peak performance. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory ...

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Energy13 Mar 2024

You don’t need glue to hold these materials together — just electricity

Is there a way to stick hard and soft materials together without any tape, glue or epoxy? A new study published in ACS Central Science shows that applying a small voltage to certain objects forms chemical bonds that securely link the objects together. Reversing the direction of electron flow easily separates the two materials. This electroadhesion effect could help create biohybrid robots, improve biomedical implants and enable new battery technologies. When an adhesive is used to attach two things, it binds the surfaces either through mechanical or electrostatic forces. But sometimes those attractions or bonds are difficult, if not ...

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Energy12 Mar 2024

UT Arlington grad student earns fellowship from atomic energy agency

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has awarded a prestigious fellowship aimed at encouraging women to study nuclear-related subjects to a University of Texas at Arlington graduate student researching isotope hydrology. Suprina Shrestha, a master’s student in earth and environmental sciences, received a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship (MSCF) from the IAEA. She studies tracer hydrology, which is the use of natural and artificial tracers to examine hydrological processes, under the mentorship of Ricardo Sanchez-Murillo, associate professor of ...

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Energy7 Mar 2024

Exploring the surface properties of NiO with low-energy electron diffraction

Spintronics is a field that deals with electronics that exploit the intrinsic spin of electrons and their associated magnetic moment for applications such as quantum computing and memory storage devices. Owing to its spin and magnetism exhibited in its insulator-metal phase transition, the strongly correlated electron systems of nickel oxide (NiO) have been thoroughly explored for over eight decades. Interest in its unique antiferromagnetic (AF) and spin properties has seen a revival lately, since NiO is a potential material for ultrafast spintronics devices. Despite this rise in popularity, exploration of its surface magnetic properties using ...

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Energy6 Mar 2024

New hydrogen producing method is simpler and safer

Researchers in Sweden unveiled a new concept for producing hydrogen energy more efficiently, splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen without the dangerous risk of mixing the two gases. Developed at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, the new method decouples the standard electrolysis process for producing hydrogen gas, which splits water molecules by applying an electric current. In contrast with prevailing systems it produces the resulting oxygen and hydrogen gases separately rather than simultaneously in the same cell, where they need to be separated by membrane barriers That separation eliminates the possibility of the gases mixing with the risk of explosions, says ...

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Energy6 Mar 2024

Nanodevices can produce energy from evaporating tap or seawater

Evaporation is a natural process so ubiquitous that most of us take it for granted. In fact, roughly half of the solar energy that reaches the earth drives evaporative processes. Since 2017, researchers have been working to harness the energy potential of evaporation via the hydrovoltaic (HV) effect, which allows electricity to be harvested when fluid is passed over the charged surface of a nanoscale device. Evaporation establishes a continuous flow within nanochannels inside these devices, which act as passive pumping mechanisms. This effect is also seen in the microcapillaries of plants, where ...

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Energy5 Mar 2024

Who military service members see as credible to discuss secure firearm storage for suicide prevention

Secure firearm storage—storing a firearm unloaded, locked and separate from ammunition—can help reduce the risk for suicide, but many military service members store their firearms unsecured. In a new Rutgers Health study, researchers asked firearm-owning service members who they view as the most credible sources to discuss secure firearm storage for suicide prevention. The researchers, whose study appears in the journal Suicide and Life-Threatening Behaviors, examined data from 719 U.S. service members. “There is no single voice that will appeal to all firearm-owning service members, but certain groups are widely seen as credible overall and our results ...

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Energy4 Mar 2024

Scientists put forth a smarter way to protect a smarter grid

RICHLAND, Wash.—There’s a down side to “smart” devices: They can be hacked. That makes the electric grid, increasingly chock full of devices that interact with one another and make critical decisions, vulnerable to bad actors who might try to turn off the power, damage the system or worse. But smart devices are a big part of our future as the world moves more toward renewable energy and the many new devices to manage it. Already, such tools play a big role in keeping the power humming. The portion of the grid owned by ...

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Energy1 Mar 2024

Researchers create coating solution for safer food storage

In a collaborative effort to improve the food industry, Dr. Mustafa Akbulut, professor of chemical engineering, and Dr. Luis Cisneros-Zevallos, professor of horticultural science, have developed a two-step coating solution for galvanized steel that is more hygienic and reduces the risk of corrosion. Galvanized steel containers and surfaces are used for harvested produce because of their durability, strength and lower cost compared to stainless steel. However, bacteria residing in storage containers can cause corrosion. The ...

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Energy1 Mar 2024

Supramolecule combination of fullerene and metalloporphyrin improves zinc-air battery function

Zinc-air batteries are an inexpensive, powerful battery alternative that can be used on the small scale to power electronics or on the large scale for electric vehicles or energy storage. These batteries work when oxygen from the air oxidizes zinc, but the difficulty in oxygen activation which degrades battery performance has prevented their wide commercial adoption. Information presented in a paper published in Carbon Future on 19 January shows how fullerene- metalloporphyrin derived carbon materials as catalysts can improve the performance and stability of zinc-air batteries. “The sluggish kinetic characteristics caused by the difficulty ...

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Energy29 Feb 2024

Conventional supply-side energy policies overlook benefits of demand-side policy approaches

Energy security is a top priority across all levels of society because a host of global disruptions threaten energy systems and the critical functions they support. Most often, policymakers rely on policies and measurement indicators focused on energy supply to enhance energy security while ignoring demand-side possibilities. However, in a Policy Forum, Nuno Bento and colleagues argue that energy security is not solely security of supply; this limited focus fails to capture the full spectrum of vulnerability to energy crises. “Energy security is more than security ...

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Energy29 Feb 2024

Improving energy security with policies focused on demand-side solutions

Governments typically rely on policies focused on energy supply to enhance energy security, ignoring demand-side options. Current indicators and indexes that measure energy security focus mostly on energy supply. This aligns with the International Energy Agency’s view, which defines energy security only in terms of security of supply. However, this approach does not fully capture the extent of vulnerability for states, businesses, and individuals during an energy crisis. “Energy security assessments also need to reflect how vulnerable countries, firms, and households are to energy ...

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Energy29 Feb 2024

Driving an electric car is cheaper in some parts of Canada than others

Electric vehicles are a critical part of Canada’s climate strategy, but a new University of British Columbia study highlights how it’s cheaper in some regions than others to drive electric—making it more challenging for certain households to make the switch. Location, location, location The researchers analyzed how far people need to drive their electric car to break even on the cost, factoring in the impacts of tax rebates and tax rates, charging costs, typical distance households travel in a region, and electricity ...

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Energy29 Feb 2024

EcoFABs could lead to better bioenergy crops

– By Will Ferguson A greater understanding of how plants and microbes work together to store vast amounts of atmospheric carbon in the soil will help in the design of better bioenergy crops for the fight against climate change. Deciphering the mechanics of this mutually beneficial relationship is challenging, however, as conditions in nature are extremely difficult for scientists to replicate in the laboratory. To address this challenge, researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) created fabricated ecosystems or EcoFABs. In a new paper in Science Advances, they ...

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