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Archive for the ‘energy’ category: Page 172

Jan 26, 2022

Banana Split: Extracting Hydrogen Fuel From Banana Peels

Posted by in category: energy

As the world’s energy demands increase, so does our consumption of fossil fuels. The result is a massive rise in greenhouse gases emissions with severely adverse environmental effects. To address this, scientists have been searching for alternative, renewable sources of energy.

A main candidate is hydrogen produced from organic waste, or “biomass,” of plants and animals. Biomass also absorbs, removes, and stores CO2 from the atmosphere, while biomass decomposition can also bring us ways to negative emissions or greenhouse gases removal. But even though biomass heralds a way forward, there is still the question of the best way to maximize its conversion into energy.

There are currently two main methods for converting biomass into energy: gasification and pyrolysis. Gasification puts solid or liquid biomass at temperatures around 1000°C, converting it into gas and solid compounds; the gas is called “syngas” while the solid is “biochar.”

Jan 25, 2022

Diesel-Killing Electric Delivery Vans To Help Clean Up Noisy, Smelly E-Commerce Mess

Posted by in categories: energy, transportation

“Penske Truck Leasing and National Grid are among the first companies adding preproduction E-Transit vans to their fleets for a variety of uses, including testing the BlueOval™ Charge Network, America’s largest public charging network, plus depot fleet charging tools that monitor and help manage energy usage,” Ford explained.

Maybe The US Postal Service Will Electrify After All

That brings us to the US Postal Service, owner of a fleet of 231,541 vehicles of various types. USPS expects to roll up to 165,000 new vehicles into the fleet under a 10-year contract signed last spring with the firm Oshkosh Defense, a subsidiary of Oshkosh Corporation.

Jan 25, 2022

Millions of Britons at risk of energy blackouts as emergency supply alert sent

Posted by in category: energy

MILLIONS of Brits could be hit by electricity blackouts after a series of warnings.

Jan 23, 2022

Hydrogen Economy Hints at New Global Power Dynamics

Posted by in categories: economics, energy

IRENA says green hydrogen could disrupt global trade and bilateral energy relations, reshaping the positioning of states with new hydrogen exporters and users emerging.

Jan 23, 2022

India’s richest man is pouring more than $80 billion into green energy

Posted by in categories: employment, energy

Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani is going big on green energy.

His conglomerate, Reliance Industries, announced Thursday that it would allocate a whopping 6 trillion rupees (approximately $80.6 billion) to renewable power projects in the western Indian state of Gujarat, where it hopes to help generate a million new jobs.

The bulk of that money — about $67.7 billion — will go toward a new power plant and hydrogen system, the company said in a stock exchange filing. Reliance plans to make the massive investment over a 10-to-15-year period, and has already begun scouting for land for the 100-gigawatt capacity site.

Jan 22, 2022

Deep Space Food Challenge: NASA Offers $1 Million for Innovative Systems to Feed Tomorrow’s Astronauts

Posted by in categories: energy, food, space

As NASA prepares to send astronauts further into the cosmos than ever before, the agency aims to upgrade production of a critical fuel source: food. Giving future explorers the technology to produce nutritious, tasty, and satisfying meals on long-duration space missions will give them the energy required to uncover the great unknown.

Jan 22, 2022

Organic redox flow battery uses liquid electrolytes

Posted by in categories: energy, sustainability

Energy storage manufacturer CMBlu has developed — in the context of New Energy — an innovative product: the sustainable flow storage unit. This “Organic Flow Battery” can be a solution or a game-changer for the central question of energy supply, which is: How can green energy be stored safely in large quantities?

Organic Flow Batteries from CMBlu are the first of their kind to be developed for commercial use. The technology is based on readily available, fully recyclable, organic materials. The aqueous electrolytes are non-flammable and ensure absolutely safe and reliable operation. The batteries are freely scalable between output and capacity. They can therefore be precisely adapted to the individual requirements of the corresponding application with corresponding cost advantages. The system-inherent separation of electrolyte and actual energy converter not only avoids the effect of self-discharge, but also enables the restoration of the original performance by simply replacing individual components instead of the entire battery.

For more articles on batteries of all kinds, click here.

Jan 22, 2022

Is Microsoft building a gaming monopoly?

Posted by in category: energy

An already big company consolidates its power.


Microsoft’s recent announcement of plans to acquire Activision Blizzard could raise red flags for antitrust regulators amid renewed scrutiny of vertical mergers.

Jan 21, 2022

Battery manufacturing is coming to Europe

Posted by in categories: business, economics, employment, energy, sustainability, transportation

Over 70,000 jobs will be created through the rising battery manufacturing in Europe within the next years, new studies predict.


The energy supply in Germany and Europe has never been more in flux. As the success of renewable energies continues to mount, another technology is coming into focus. Energy storage technologies and battery storage systems in particular are becoming increasingly important with the advancement of the energy transition. This development also has significant implications for Germany as an economic center, since battery production is expected to create thousands of jobs here in the future.

Europe has not traditionally played a very significant role as a site for battery cell production, but technical advances, favorable political conditions and an especially promising sales market are making the continent increasingly attractive for battery production. A look at the key role that battery cell production plays in upstream value chains – throughout the renewable energy supply sector and especially in the manufacture of electric vehicles – makes its significance clear. Battery cells represent approximately 40 percent of the value added in the production of an electric vehicle. So it is no wonder that production capacities for lithium-ion batteries are growing faster in Europe than in any other region of the world. Current forecasts predict that the continent’s share in this global manufacturing business will increase from around 6 percent now to 16 to 25 percent by 2030.

Continue reading “Battery manufacturing is coming to Europe” »

Jan 21, 2022

Form fit: Device wraps around hot surfaces, turns wasted heat to electricity

Posted by in categories: energy, transportation

The energy systems that power our lives also produce wasted heat—like heat that radiates off hot water pipes in buildings and exhaust pipes on vehicles. A new flexible thermoelectric generator can wrap around pipes and other hot surfaces and convert wasted heat into electricity more efficiently than previously possible, according to scientists at Penn State and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

“A large amount of heat from the energy we consume is essentially being thrown away, often dispersed right into the atmosphere,” said Shashank Priya, associate vice president for research and professor of materials science and engineering at Penn State. “We haven’t had cost-effective ways with conformal shapes to trap and convert that heat to useable energy. This research opens that door.”

Penn State researchers have been working to improve the performance of thermoelectric generators—devices that can convert differences in temperature to electricity. When the devices are placed near a , electrons moving from the hot side to the cold side produce an electric current, the scientists said.