Because energy reaches into every facet of our lives, it is highly political. Biases and emotions run deep, and facts and data are often distorted, or worse.
It is a complex scenario and one that needs broad strategies to address globally. This is a problematic challenge when it crosses so many borders, philosophes, and differing political
It’s hard to believe electric vehicles were still considered the stuff of science fiction as little as 13 years ago.
As documented in the 2006 film Who Killed The Electric Car, the tech needed for battery-powered electric cars has been around for nearly 100 years. Yet well into the 21st century, popular opinion held that
As the threat of global warming continues, countries around the world are working hard to build a more sustainable way of living. One way they are doing this is focusing on delivering more sustainable energy solutions.
So, which countries are leading the way in sustainable energy and why are they doing better than some other parts
Many of the appliances, devices, and gadgets in our home drain energy when they are in use. For example, the fridge cycles on and off, and laptops only use power when charging the battery. The router you use to connect to the internet and read this article is an energy vampire you can tame. But
New research links two of the biggest drivers of global change today: the population’s rapid aging and the planet’s rising heat.
The research, among the first to explore how residential energy use changes over the human lifespan, finds that we use more energy as we age, that local climate changes energy-demand patterns, and that demand due
Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a wearable patch that could provide personalized cooling and heating at home, work, or on the go. The soft, stretchy patch cools or warms a user’s skin to a comfortable temperature and keeps it there as the ambient temperature changes. It is powered by a
In many low-income neighborhoods, upgrading to energy-efficient lightbulbs costs more than twice what it does in higher-income areas.
Tony Reames of the University of Michigan led a research team that surveyed 130 stores across Wayne County, which includes Detroit.
Reames: “Fewer stores in higher poverty areas even carried LED bulbs, but when they
In May 2017, Bill Gates wrote an open letter to college graduates offering some career advice. In it, he said if he was starting out today, he’d consider entering one of these three fields: artificial intelligence, energy or bioscience. On artificial intelligence (AI), he said, “We have only begun to tap into all the ways
Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the University of Toronto have proposed a method enabling air conditioning and ventilation systems to produce synthetic fuels from carbon dioxide (CO2) and water from the ambient air. Compact plants are to separate CO2 from the ambient air directly in buildings and produce synthetic hydrocarbons which
Researchers at DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have 3D-printed an all-liquid device that, with the click of a button, can be repeatedly reconfigured on demand to serve a wide range of applications — from making battery materials to screening drug candidates.
“What we demonstrated is remarkable. Our 3D-printed device can be programmed to carry
Physicists at the University of Zurich have developed an amazingly simple device that allows heat to flow temporarily from a cold to a warm object without an external power supply. Intriguingly, the process initially appears to contradict the fundamental laws of physics.
If you put a teapot of boiling water on the kitchen table, it will
Researchers have used liquid metals to turn carbon dioxide back into solid coal, in a world-first breakthrough that could transform our approach to carbon capture and storage.
The research team led by RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, have developed a new technique that can efficiently convert CO2 from a gas into solid particles of carbon.
Published in
A silver lining of global warming is that it is forcing every nation to rethink its future, to open its mind to new possibilities. The latest IPCC report gives the world only 12 years to radically cut greenhouse gas emissions or condemn future generations to climate change catastrophe. There is
The electricity sector continued to improve its carbon intensity in 2018 due to increased renewable energy and natural gas power generation and investments in energy efficiency, even as a stronger economy and volatile weather boosted energy demand and contributed to a rise in economy-wide carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions.
Consumers experienced near record low energy costs on
SIDA, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, is halfway through a 5-year commitment to bringing off-grid solar power to Zambia, one of the many countries that make up sub-Saharan Africa, where 70% of the people have no access to a functioning electrical grid. Those that do are often bedeviled with frequent interruptions of service and
Artificial leaves mimic photosynthesis — the process whereby plants use water and carbon dioxide from the air to produce carbohydrates using energy from the sun. But even state-of-the-art artificial leaves, which hold promise in reducing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, only work in the laboratory because they use pure, pressurized carbon dioxide from tanks.
But now,
Simon Fraser University and Swiss researchers are developing an eco-friendly, 3D printable solution for producing wireless Internet-of-Things (IoT) sensors that can be used and disposed of without contaminating the environment. Their research has been published as the cover story in the February issue of the journal Advanced Electronic Materials.
Additionally, 3D printing can give flexibility to add or embed functions
Scientists have used a Nobel-prize winning Chemistry technique on a mixture of metals to potentially reduce the cost of fuel cells used in electric cars and reduce harmful emissions from conventional vehicles.
The researchers have translated a biological technique, which won the 2017 Nobel Chemistry Prize, to reveal atomic scale chemistry in metal nanoparticles. These materials
From corporate to community – Janu Ramchandani of Kinect Energy Group, discusses how CSR initiatives can have a transformative impact on indigenous populations in areas that need help.
Did you know around 1.2. billion people – almost the population of India – do not have access to electricity? And 2.8 billion have to rely on wood
Since 1970, catastrophic events have quadrupled (The Economist) and in the US alone, the damage caused by hurricanes and fires amounted to 306 billion dollars in 2017. It is estimated that there are approx. 20 million refugees per year as a result of natural disasters; their number exceeds that of refugees due to wars and