Lifeboat Foundation

^{Credit: VENTRIS/Science Photo Library via Getty Images}

^{By Amal Pushp, Affiliate Physicist at the Resonance Science Foundation}

Quantum mechanics prohibits any quantum system from achieving a temperature that is equal to absolute zero. However, using Laser cooling, which is a highly efficient spectroscopic technique, atomic samples could be cooled to near absolute zero thus bringing them to their lowest achievable quantum energy state. Scientists have been advancing this technique for decades now and an important question that arose recently is whether carbon molecules, which are an integral component of life on earth, could be laser-cooled.

Eurowind Energy is building wind-solar capacity at five onshore energy centers and is also considering hydrogen electrolysis. It says each of the sites will include battery storage to offer grid services.

The EuroFusion consortium hopes its DEMOnstration Power Plant will take fusion power from the lab to commercial electricity supply by 2054.

A lot of heat gets lost during the conversion of energy. Estimates even put it at more than 70%. However, in thermoelectric materials, such as those being studied at the Institute of Solid State Physics at TU Wien, heat can be converted directly into electrical energy. This effect (the Seebeck effect) can be used in numerous applications in industry but also in everyday life.

Recently, Ernst Bauer’s research team made an exciting discovery in a thermoelectric material consisting of iron, vanadium and aluminum (Fe₂VAl). The researchers recently published their results in Nature Communications.

“The construction of the storage went well, especially considering that the solution is completely new,” said Polar Night co-founder and chief technology officer Markku Ylönen in a statement.

“We managed to get everything in order despite some challenges and a short delay.”

Continue reading “First ‘sand battery’ developed to heat homes or balance renewable energy for grid” »

A non-volatile silicon photonics switch based on phase-change materials actuated by graphene heaters shows a switching energy density that is within an order of magnitude of the fundamental thermodynamic limit.