Archive for the ‘energy’ category: Page 53
Sep 7, 2023
Chemists Develop New Way To Split Water
Posted by Paul Battista in categories: chemistry, energy
Hydrogen is often touted as a future energy solution, especially when generated through environmentally friendly methods. Beyond its energy potential, hydrogen plays a crucial role in producing active ingredients and various essential compounds. To generate hydrogen, water (H2O) can be transformed into hydrogen gas (H2) through a sequence of chemical reactions.
However, as water molecules are very stable, splitting them into hydrogen and oxygen presents a big challenge to chemists. For it to succeed at all, the water first has to be activated using a catalyst – then it reacts more easily.
A team of researchers led by Prof. Armido Studer at the Institute of Organic Chemistry at Münster University (Germany) has developed a photocatalytic process in which water, under mild reaction conditions, is activated through triaryl phosphines and not, as in most other processes, through transition metal complexes.
Sep 7, 2023
Japan launched an X-ray telescope more advanced than its peers
Posted by Genevieve Klien in categories: energy, space
Japan’s space agency has launched a rocket on September 6 at 7:42 PM EDT carrying a telescope that’s more advanced than NASA’s Chandra and other X-ray observatories already in orbit. The X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission — or XRISM but pronounced as “crism” — is a mission led by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) in collaboration with NASA and with contributions by the European Space Agency. Lia Corrales, a University of Michigan astronomer and mission participant, told The New York Times that XRISM represents “the next step in X-ray observations.”
The telescope is considered more powerful than its predecessors because of its tools. One of them, called Resolve, is a microcalorimeter spectrometer with the capability to measure tiny increases in temperature when X-rays hit its 6-by-6-pixel detector. It must operate in an environment that’s a fraction of a degree above absolute zero, enabled by a multistage mechanical cooling process inside its refrigerator-sized container with liquid helium. But so long as it’s working, the tool can measure each individual X-ray energy and can provide information on its source’s composition, motion and physical state.
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Sep 2, 2023
Solid-state battery venture that hit 368 Wh/kg energy density with 600-mile prototype heads for cheap mass production
Posted by Genevieve Klien in categories: energy, transportation
With the goal to lower the price of solid-state EV batteries by employing cheaper raw materials and processes without sacrificing safety, a joint venture with China’s biggest car maker is now moving to the production stage.
Sep 2, 2023
A smart color-changing flexible battery with ultra-high efficiency
Posted by Saúl Morales Rodriguéz in categories: energy, wearables
With the rapid growth of the smart and wearable electronic devices market, smart next-generation energy storage systems that have energy storage functions as well as additional color-changing properties are receiving a great deal of attention. However, existing electrochromic devices have low electrical conductivity, leading to low efficiency in electron and ion mobility, and low storage capacities. Such batteries have therefore been limited to use in flexible and wearable devices.
On August 21, a joint research team led by Professor Il-Doo Kim from the KAIST Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE) and Professor Tae Gwang Yun from the Myongji University Department of Materials Science and Engineering announced the development of a smart electrochromic Zn-ion battery that can visually represent its charging and discharging processes using an electrochromic polymer anode incorporated with a “π-bridge spacer,” which increases electron and ion mobility efficiency.
Their research was published as an inside cover article for Advanced Materials on August 3 under the title, “A π-Bridge Spacer Embedded Electron Donor-Acceptor Polymer for Flexible Electrochromic Zn-Ion Batteries.”
Sep 1, 2023
Huge new offshore wind project approved in U.S.
Posted by Will Fox in categories: energy, sustainability
The U.S. Department of the Interior has announced its approval of the Revolution Wind project. Located off the coast of Rhode Island, it will supply 704 megawatts (MW) of clean energy, more than 16 times the current offshore wind capacity of the United States.
Revolution Wind. A simulated view of the project from Nomans Land, Massachusetts. From BOEM planning document.
Currently, the United States has only a small fraction of the world’s offshore wind power. Its first commercial offshore wind farm, near Block Island in the Atlantic, only began operation in 2016, with a nameplate capacity of 30 megawatts (MW). Since then, it has added just 12 MW, for a total of 42 MW.
Sep 1, 2023
New Saudi giga project features a 7-mile artificial canal
Posted by Gemechu Taye in categories: economics, energy
Called MARAFY, the project will house 130,000 residents in the northern region of Jeddah.
A new development project financed by the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia features a 6.8 mile (11 km) long and 328 feet (100 m) wide artificial canal, a press release from the real estate developer ROSHN said.
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Sep 1, 2023
Challenging Common Understanding: Scientists Discover Unexpected Quantum Interference Anomaly
Posted by Paul Battista in categories: energy, quantum physics
In a paper recently published in Nature Photonics.
<em>Nature Photonics</em> is a prestigious, peer-reviewed scientific journal that is published by the Nature Publishing Group. Launched in January 2007, the journal focuses on the field of photonics, which includes research into the science and technology of light generation, manipulation, and detection. Its content ranges from fundamental research to applied science, covering topics such as lasers, optical devices, photonics materials, and photonics for energy. In addition to research papers, <em>Nature Photonics</em> also publishes reviews, news, and commentary on significant developments in the photonics field. It is a highly respected publication and is widely read by researchers, academics, and professionals in the photonics and related fields.
Sep 1, 2023
Energy Vault’s First Grid-Scale Gravity Energy Storage System Is Near Complete
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: energy, materials, robotics/AI
The system is like a solid version of pumped hydro, which uses surplus generating capacity to pump water uphill into a reservoir. When the water’s released it flows down through turbines, making them spin and generate energy.
Energy Vault’s solid gravity system uses huge, heavy blocks made of concrete and composite material and lifts them up in the air with a mechanical crane. The cranes are powered by excess energy from the grid, which might be created on very sunny or windy days when there’s not a lot of demand. The blocks are suspended at elevation until supply starts to fall short of demand, and when they’re lowered down their weight pulls cables that spin turbines and generate electricity.
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Aug 31, 2023
U.S. Aquifers Are Running Dry, Posing Major Threat to Drinking Water Supply
Posted by Shubham Ghosh Roy in categories: energy, food, law, sustainability
A major _New York Times_ investigation reveals how the United States’ aquifers are becoming severely depleted due to overuse in part from huge industrial farms and sprawling cities. The _Times_ reports that Kansas corn yields are plummeting due to a lack of water, there is not enough water to support the construction of new homes in parts of Phoenix, Arizona, and rivers across the country are drying up as aquifers are being drained far faster than they are refilling. “It can take millions of years to fill an aquifer, but they can be depleted in 50 years,” says Warigia Bowman, director of sustainable energy and natural resources law at the University of Tulsa College of Law. “All coastal regions in the United States are really being threatened by groundwater and aquifer problems.”
Transcript: democracynow.org.
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