Energy and the Environment News

May 16, 2024

Top Headlines

Copper Can't Be Mined Fast Enough to Electrify the US

May 15, 2024 — Copper cannot be mined quickly enough to keep up with current U.S. policy guidelines to transition the country's electricity and vehicle infrastructure to renewable energy, according to a new ...

Wind Farms Can Offset Their Emissions Within Two Years

May 16, 2024 — After spinning for under two years, a wind farm can offset the carbon emissions generated across its entire 30-year lifespan, when compared to thermal power ...

Carbon-Capture Batteries Developed to Store Renewable Energy, Help Climate

May 15, 2024 — Researchers are developing battery technologies to fight climate change in two ways, by expanding the use of renewable energy and capturing airborne carbon dioxide. Researchers recently created and tested two different formulations for batteries ...

Studying Bubbles Can Lead to More Efficient Biofuel Motors

May 15, 2024 — By studying how bubbles form in a drop of biodiesel, researchers can help future engines get the most energy out of the ...

Latest Headlines

updated 10:59pm EDT

Using AI to Improve Building Energy Use and Comfort

May 15, 2024 — Researchers have developed a new method that can lead to significant energy savings in buildings. The team identified 28 major heat loss regions in a multi-unit residential building with the most ...

Scientists Generate Heat Over 1,000 Degrees Celsius With Solar Power Instead of Fossil Fuel

May 15, 2024 — Instead of burning fossil fuels to smelt steel and cook cement, researchers in Switzerland want to use heat from the sun. The proof-of-concept study ...

The Case for Sharing Carbon Storage Risk

May 14, 2024 — Even the most optimistic projections for the rapid build-out of solar, wind, and other low-carbon resources acknowledge that coal, natural gas, and other fossil fuels will dominate the world's energy ...

The Price Tag of Phasing-out Coal

May 13, 2024 — Coal phase-out is necessary to solve climate change, but can have negative impacts on workers and local communities dependent on coal for their livelihoods. Researchers have studied government plans ...

Manganese Sprinkled With Iridium: A Quantum Leap in Green Hydrogen Production

May 9, 2024 — Researchers report a new method that reduces the amount of iridium needed to produce hydrogen from water by 95%, without altering the rate of ...

Getting Dirty to Clean Up the Chemical Industry's Environmental Impact

May 9, 2024 — The global chemical industry is a major fossil fuel consumer and climate change contributor; however, new research has identified how the sector could clean up its green credentials by getting ...

From Fossils to Fuel: Mozambique's Maniamba Basin's Energy Potential

May 7, 2024 — In the ever-expanding search for energy resources, a new study has emerged from Mozambique's Maniamba Basin. Mozambique's Maniamba Basin could be a big source of natural ...

Efficacy of Solar Panels Boosted

May 7, 2024 — Solar energy is a crucial asset in the fight against climate change, and researchers have now devised a smart approach to optimize its effectiveness. Their innovative method includes incorporating ...

Low-Energy Process for High-Performance Solar Cells

May 7, 2024 — Finding reliable, eco-friendly power sources is crucial as our world grapples with increasing energy needs and the urgent call to combat climate change. Solar energy offers one solution, with ...

Path to Easier Recycling of Solar Modules

May 2, 2024 — The use of femtosecond lasers to form glass-to-glass welds for solar modules would make the panels easier to recycle, according to a proof-of-concept ...

Robots Invited to Help Make Wind Turbine Blades

May 2, 2024 — Researchers have successfully leveraged robotic assistance in the manufacture of wind turbine blades, allowing for the elimination of difficult working conditions for humans and the potential to ...

Roadmap to Close the Carbon Cycle

May 1, 2024 — Reaching net-zero carbon emissions goals requires finding transformative paths to manage carbon in difficult-to-electrify economic ...

Methane Emissions from Landfill Could Be Turned Into Sustainable Jet Fuel in Plasma Chemistry Leap

Apr. 30, 2024 — Researchers have developed a chemical process using plasma that could create sustainable jet fuel from methane gas emitted from landfills, potentially creating a low-carbon aviation ...

Energy Trades Could Help Resolve Nile Conflict

Apr. 26, 2024 — Scientists have shed light on a new, transformative approach that could help resolve a dispute over the Nile river's water ...

New Offshore Wind Turbines Can Take Away Energy from Existing Ones

Apr. 25, 2024 — Interactions between wind turbines could reduce power output by 30% in proposed offshore wind farm areas along the East Coast, new research has found. In all, the farms could still meet 60% of the ...

Key to Efficient and Stable Organic Solar Cells

Apr. 25, 2024 — A team of researchers has made a significant breakthrough in the field of organic ...

Human Activities Have an Intense Impact on Earth's Deep Subsurface Fluid Flow

Apr. 24, 2024 — Hydrologists predict human-induced underground fluid fluxes to rise with climate change mitigation strategies like carbon ...

Positive Perceptions of Solar Projects

Apr. 24, 2024 — A new survey has found that for residents living within three miles of a large-scale solar development, positive attitudes outnumbered negative attitudes by almost a 3-to-1 margin. Researchers ...

Securing Competitiveness of Energy-Intensive Industries Through Relocation: The Pulling Power of Renewables

Apr. 24, 2024 — Countries with limited potential for renewables could save up to 20 percent of costs for green steel and up to 40 percent for green chemicals from green hydrogen if they relocated their ...

This Salt Battery Harvests Osmotic Energy Where the River Meets the Sea

Apr. 24, 2024 — Estuaries -- where freshwater rivers meet the salty sea -- are great locations for birdwatching and kayaking. In these areas, waters containing different salt concentrations mix and may be sources of ...

Climate Change Will Increase Value of Residential Rooftop Solar Panels Across US, Study Shows

Apr. 19, 2024 — Climate change will increase the future value of residential rooftop solar panels across the United States by up to 19% by the end of the century, according to a new ...

Clearing the Air: Wind Farms More Land Efficient Than Previously Thought

Apr. 17, 2024 — Wind power is a source of energy that is both affordable and renewable. However, decision-makers have been reluctant to invest in wind energy due to a perception that wind farms require a lot of land ...

Trash to Treasure -- Researchers Turn Metal Waste Into Catalyst for Hydrogen

Apr. 16, 2024 — Scientists have found a way to transform metal waste into a highly efficient catalyst to make hydrogen from water, a discovery that could make hydrogen production more ...

Global North Energy Outsourcing Demands More Attention

Apr. 15, 2024 — Manufacturing nations in the Global North are stockpiling energy and emission problems by outsourcing energy-intensive industrial processes to countries in the Global ...

Pyrite, Also Known as Fool's Gold, May Contain Valuable Lithium, a Key Element for Green Energy

Apr. 15, 2024 — The technology revolution and development of new renewable energy resources is driving demand for lithium to new heights, but it is not a common mineral. Scientists say they have found lithium in an ...

Rock Permeability, Microquakes Link May Be a Boon for Geothermal Energy

Apr. 11, 2024 — Using machine learning, researchers have tied low-magnitude microearthquakes to the permeability of subsurface rocks beneath the Earth, a discovery that could have implications for improving ...

Nanoscale Movies Shed Light on One Barrier to a Clean Energy Future

Apr. 11, 2024 — New research is shedding light on one barrier to a clean energy future: corrosion. Using nanoscale imaging techniques, researchers have captured high-resolution videos of tiny crystals of ruthenium ...

New Device Gathers, Stores Electricity in Remote Settings

Apr. 9, 2024 — Wirelessly connected devices perform an expanding array of applications, such as monitoring the condition of machinery and remote sensing in agricultural settings. These applications hold much ...

Subterranean Storage of Hydrogen

Apr. 9, 2024 — Scientists are using computer simulations and laboratory experiments to see if depleted oil and natural gas reservoirs can be used for storing carbon-free hydrogen fuel. Hydrogen is an important ...

New Four-Terminal Tandem Organic Solar Cell Achieves 16.94% Power Conversion Efficiency

Apr. 8, 2024 — Researchers have fabricated a new four-terminal organic solar cell with a tandem configuration with a 16.94% power conversion efficiency (PCE). The new device is composed by a highly transparent ...