energy
There may be more energy in methane hydrates than in all the world’s oil, coal, and gas combined. It could be the perfect “bridge fuel” to a clean energy future.
The robot can drive heavy steal beams into the ground at a rate of 1 per 73 seconds, which will help expedite solar farm construction.
Old coal mines can be converted into “gravity batteries” by retrofitting them with equipment that raises and lowers giant piles of sand.
Apart from the energy needed to flip the switch, no other energy is needed to transmit the information.
Innovative thinking has done away with problems that long dogged the electric devices — and both scientists and environmentalists are excited about the possibilities.
Capacitors, acid batteries, and other methods of storing electric charges all lose energy over time. These gravity-fed batteries won’t.
It was a particularly good year for biotech and medical technology. There were also notable advances in energy.
Some solar cells are so lightweight they can sit on a soap bubble.
Lithium-ion batteries pose challenges for our transition toward renewable energy. Sodium-sulfur batteries might be a solution.
Once water gets more than about 200 feet deep, building on the sea floor is out of the question.
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
Its implications go well beyond the Earth itself, affecting even the future of space travel.
Nuclear fusion has long been seen as the future of energy. As the NIF now passes the breakeven point, how close are we to our ultimate goal?
If you gave me $400 and I gave you $3.15, would you consider yourself wealthier? That’s a financial analogy for the supposed fusion power “breakthrough.”
They are expected to be cheaper to build and even more reliable than today’s nuclear plants.
It could one day fuel nuclear fusion reactors.
You might think it’s impossible to run out of wind, but Europe’s “wind drought” proves otherwise. And it’s only going to get worse.
Most electric car charging is done at night. A grid powered mostly by renewable energy might not be able to meet demand, but there is a solution.
Short-hop regional flights could be running on batteries in a few years.
The war in Ukraine is unlikely to trigger a catastrophic nuclear meltdown. Physics and smart engineering are the reasons why.
The new material may make marine uranium extraction economically feasible.
The biggest nuclear blast in history came courtesy of Tsar Bomba. We could make something at least 100 times more powerful.
EV charging stations are the most widespread alternative to gas and diesel pumps. Each alternative has its own hotspots and “deserts.”
Deliveries of the $250k Lightyear 0 will start in November 2022.
A team of scientists hopes deep-earth lithium could sustain America’s vast demand for batteries. But extracting it won’t be easy.
“I thought, why not direct these high-power beams, instead of into fusion plasma, down into rock and vaporize the hole?”
Aptera expects to begin delivering its solar-powered car later in 2022.
A “bio-battery” made from genetically engineered bacteria could store excess renewable energy and release it as needed.
Best in class: Denmark and Uruguay. Worst in class: Papua New Guinea, Venezuela, and Russia.
It has no moving parts and could allow us to tap into renewable energy year round.