New power plant uses liquid air to store renewable energy
While batteries are great for short-term energy storage, they are still too expensive to do long-term energy storage. Plus, batteries require minerals that are becoming increasingly scarce as the world moves towards power systems based on variable renewable energy. Fortunately, there is a promising Read More...
Dutch brewery produces beer using clean energy generated by iron fuel
As an increasing number of industries are looking to break ties with fossil fuels and transition towards greener fuels to power their industrial processes, a strange candidate has recently gotten under the spotlight: iron. At least that’s what a brewery in the Netherlands recently tried out, by Read More...
6 dirty power plants in New York to transition to cleaner technologies
Power plants that rely on fossil fuels are already bad enough, but what makes these polluting plants even worse is that they are disproportionately located near communities of color. In a study from the University of Washington and Stanford University, researchers found that Black, low-income Read More...
IEA: Renewables are the only major power source to grow in 2020
In its annual World Energy Outlook, the International Energy Agency (IEA) reported that renewables are expected to overtake coal as the primary means of producing electricity by 2025. The combined share of solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind in the global generation will rise to almost 30 percent in Read More...
Wave energy is showing promising signs as a new form of renewable power
Harnessing the energy of ocean waves to generate renewable power has been on the agenda of scientists in the energy community for some years already. But while a few teams of researchers have developed devices that could do the job, progress to bring such technology to a commercial scale has been Read More...
Prosumers: How these Swedish homes produce and consume their own energy
In the quest to run on 100 percent renewable electricity, Sweden is transforming homes into highly efficient ‘prosumers’—buildings that both produce and consume the vast majority of their own energy. One example of this in action comes from the city of Ludivika where 1970s flats have Read More...
This system uses massive weights to store energy
When you coil a spring, you load it with a bunch of potential energy that gets released when you let go. Using the same basic principle, a Scottish company called Gravitricity is creating an energy storage facility that uses weights instead of springs to store energy. The idea is to hold 500 to Read More...
How the world’s biggest battery could help solve blackouts in California
California aims to run its grid entirely on fossil-fuel-free energy by 2045 and has been closing down dirty power plants and ramping up renewables at a steady clip. But while fuels can supply a steady stream of energy, the sun and wind are intermittent. That’s where the Gateway Energy storage Read More...
Your company can make clean energy a work-from-home perk with this program
Remote work can provide plenty of advantages—flexibility for families, no commute, increased productivity—but it also comes with some downsides, like higher home energy use and no more free coffee or other office perks. Now, businesses can offer clean energy as a work-from-home benefit, and Read More...
Why we need to eliminate natural gas from cities now
After a massive gas explosion destroyed homes in Baltimore, the city announced plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to make repairs on the city’s aging natural gas infrastructure. But perhaps making repairs is the wrong plan entirely. Instead, the city could use this as an opportunity Read More...