Economy-Energy Sector
Could kinder, gentler fracking create a breakthrough in geothermal power?
by Mark Sumner 23/7/23 DAILY KOS
Hydro power is often mentioned, but only in the sense that while it plays a significant role in the current energy portfolio, there are few options for expansion. While wind and solar have been racing up, hydroelectric production has declined.
The 'Game-Changing' Technology The Nuclear Industry Is Betting On For A Revival
by Alexander C.Kaufman 31/7/23 HUFFPOST
CAMDEN, N.J. ― On a bright, humid afternoon last September, Allen Hickman made the rounds on the floor of a factory that embodies the past, present and future of the nation’s atomic energy industry perhaps more than any other site in the United States.
‘It was an accident’: the scientists who have turned humid air into renewable power
In the early 20th century, Serbian inventor Nikola Tesla dreamed of pulling limitless free electricity from the air around us. Ever ambitious, Tesla was thinking on a vast scale, effectively looking at the Earth and upper atmosphere as two ends of an enormous battery. Needless to say, his dreams were never realised, but the promise of air-derived electricity – hygroelectricity – is now capturing researchers’ imaginations again. The difference: they’re not thinking big, but very, very small.
Buoyancy-driven hybrid energy platform moves to full-scale pilot
by Loz Blain 8/10/24 NEW ATLAS
Swedish company NoviOcean has tested a third-gen prototype of its combination wind/solar/wave energy platform, a floating platform rated for up to 1 megawatt of consistent clean energy around the clock thanks to a fascinating buoyancy-driven mechanism. Next step: a full-scale pilot.
‘It was an accident’: the scientists who have turned humid air into renewable power
by Ned Carter Miles 2/7/23 The Guardian
In May, a team at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Amherst published a paper declaring they had successfully generated a small but continuous electric current from humidity in the air. It’s a claim that will probably raise a few eyebrows, and when the team made the discovery that inspired this new research in 2018, it did.
24/7 solar towers could double energy output
by Peter Grad 6/12/23 Tech Xplore
If you want to improve the output of solar energy systems, why not also run them at night? That's the question researchers in Qatar and Jordan addressed as they successfully devised a system that promises to more than double energy output of current solar power stations.
The 'Game-Changing' Technology The Nuclear Industry Is Betting On For A Revival
by Alexander C. Kaufman 7/7/23 HUFFPOST
On a bright, humid afternoon last September, Allen Hickman made the rounds on the floor of a factory that embodies the past, present and future of the nation’s atomic energy industry perhaps more than any other site in the United States.
Fremont Start-Up Promises Revolutionary 'Forever' Battery
by CBS San Francisco News Partner 26/7/23 Patch
Heinemann loves to bike and go long distances. Some might say the avid cyclist is his own source of renewable energy.
How the little-known ‘dark roof’ lobby may be making US cities hotter
by Ames Alexander 1/6/25 The Guardian
The Tennessee representative Rusty Grills says the lobbyist proposed a simple idea: repeal the state’s requirement for reflective roofs on many commercial buildings.
Fusion is the power of the future ... and the future isn't as far away as it used to be
by Mark Sumner 28/12/22 DAILY KOS
Here’s a quick primer: Fission is the process in which large atoms are split into smaller ones. Fusion is a process in which small atoms are pushed together into larger atoms. It may seem surprising, but both processes generate a lot of energy. Fission is the process behind every existing nuclear power plant today and was also what powered the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Fusion is at the heart of the much more powerful “hydrogen bombs” that have, thank God, never been used in war. It’s also the power behind exactly 0% of the world’s electricity.
It was an accident’: the scientists who have turned humid air into renewable power
by Ned Carter Miles 2/7/23 The Guardian
In the early 20th century, Serbian inventor Nikola Tesla dreamed of pulling limitless free electricity from the air around us. Ever ambitious, Tesla was thinking on a vast scale, effectively looking at the Earth and upper atmosphere as two ends of an enormous battery. Needless to say, his dreams were never realised, but the promise of air-derived electricity – hygroelectricity – is now capturing researchers’ imaginations again. The difference: they’re not thinking big, but very, very small.
