Energy
Transitioning to a world powered by renewable energy is key to tackling climate change. Here you can find the latest good news related to our clean energy transition, covering wind, solar, green hydrogen, hydropower, and more.
This solar panel coating boosts the efficiency of a solar panel by using infrared
Every time the sun shines on a solar panel, it sends a portion of infrared energy along. But up until now, solar panels did not know how to handle that infrared light. But researchers at the University of California Riverside recently discovered a coating for solar panels that allows them to use Read More...
Climate change dream scenario: A power plant with negative emissions
The giant coal power station at Drax in Yorkshire in the United Kingdom, with its 12 cooling towers, is one of the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitters. It sends some 23 million tonnes of carbon dioxide up its stacks each year while supplying up to a tenth of the UK’s power. But that Read More...
Obama's sweeping climate plan would catapult our use of renewable energy
The Clean Power Plan, which the White House is rolling out on Monday, is the central pillar in the Obama administration's multi-pronged strategy to address manmade global warming. The suite of EPA regulations, all resting on the agency's authority under the Clean Air Act, will affect all existing Read More...
New gadget enables on-demand solar energy, without installing panels
If you want to use solar power, but can't install solar panels, the new SunPort gadget aims to make going solar easy and affordable. Although residential solar is getting cheaper and cheaper all the time, it's not for everyone, yet choosing renewable energy doesn't always have to require a huge Read More...
Engineers invent way for cars to harvest energy from bumps in the road
The 255 million cars on the road in the United States account for 40 percent of the country's fuel consumption. Most of that fuel is wasted. Lei Zuo, an associate professor of mechanical engineering in Virginia Tech's College of Engineering, may have a partial solution: harvesting energy from the Read More...
Wind kites show potential as cheap and efficient way to generate energy from the skies
Wind turbines are great, but it's also expensive to put the machines where they generate most energy: offshore, where they can make use of the strong, consistent winds that are found over the oceans and seas. This is why several teams around the world are currently looking at replacing the turbine Read More...
Put wind turbines between the legs of a viaduct, researchers propose
Some people think wind turbines are ugly. And to be honest, they're not always the nicest looking structures in a landscape. It's often hard to find the best spot for them, also keeping in mind that they need to catch enough wind. British and Spanish researchers have come up with a clever new Read More...
No diesel engines anymore, this Alaskan island is now powered by 100% renewable energy
The diesel engines on Kodiak island are sitting idle nowadays. They used to generate the electricity for most of the island’s 15,000 residents, but wind power has been taking over. Because of that, the Alaskan island is now powered almost 100% with renewable energy, a success story for the Read More...
Give it one glass of salty water, and this lamp gives you light for 8 hours
This lamp runs on water and salt. And it can bring a lot of light to the rural communities of the Philippines, often not connected to the power grid. (This is not so strange by the way, knowing that the country is spread over more than 7000 islands.) Lipa Aisa Mijeno, an entrepreneur from the Read More...
Biofuels and the future of the transportation industry
This week, FedEx announced it has agreed to purchase 3 million gallons of low-carbon biofuel per year. In The Optimist Daily, we have featured many more and similar announcements by corporate giants before. This article looks at the challenges, the future and the quest for biofuels in the Read More...