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Archive for the ‘energy’ category: Page 8

Oct 8, 2024

Bubble findings could unlock better electrode and electrolyzer designs

Posted by in categories: chemistry, energy

Industrial electrochemical processes that use electrodes to produce fuels and chemical products are hampered by the formation of bubbles that block parts of the electrode surface, reducing the area available for the active reaction. Such blockage reduces the performance of the electrodes by anywhere from 10 to 25 percent.

But new research reveals a decades-long misunderstanding about the extent of that interference. The findings show exactly how the blocking effect works and could lead to new ways of designing electrode surfaces to minimize inefficiencies in these widely used electrochemical processes.

Continue reading “Bubble findings could unlock better electrode and electrolyzer designs” »

Oct 8, 2024

CleanCo to Pilot Australia’s Largest Grid-Connected NAS® Battery at Swanbank Clean Energy Hub

Posted by in categories: energy, engineering

CleanCo is reinforcing its commitment to Queensland’s clean energy future by exploring the potential to trial Australia’s largest grid-connected NAS® Battery Energy Storage System at the Swanbank Clean Energy Hub in Ipswich.


The partnership between Allset and CleanCo is a result of CleanCo’s proactive market engagement to identify emerging energy generation and storage technologies suitable for its Swanbank site. The parties will progress a feasibility study to finalise the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) agreement to support a final investment decision for the battery’s installation.

The Queensland University of Technology’s (QUT) Energy Storage Research Group will play a key role as the knowledge sharing partner, bringing a wealth of knowledge to the project, having commissioned Australia’s first NAS Battery in 2023.

Continue reading “CleanCo to Pilot Australia’s Largest Grid-Connected NAS® Battery at Swanbank Clean Energy Hub” »

Oct 7, 2024

Widespread Water Ice Deposits Discovered on the Moon

Posted by in categories: energy, space

Scientists have discovered far more water ice deposits near the Moon’s south pole than previously hypothesized, which could help astronauts on future crewed missions to the lunar surface.


How much water ice could be present within the permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) near the Moon’s south pole? This is what a recent study published in The Planetary Science Journal hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated how water ice deposits could exist hundreds of miles beyond the PSRs located near the south pole, as opposed to close proximity to the south pole as previous studies have hypothesized. This study holds the potential to enable future crewed missions to locate water ice deposits, which could assist in water usage, oxygen generation from electrolysis, fuel, and energy.

For the study, the researchers used NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) to obtain data on hydrogen concentration within several PSR craters near the lunar south pole, along with potential sources of the hydrogen concentrations. The reason PSRs are targets for water ice is due to their extreme depths where sunlight doesn’t reach, resulting in temperatures well below-freezing and the accumulation of water ice over millions, if not billions, of years. The team found that hydrogen concentrations existed in craters several hundred miles from the direct south pole and with temperatures below 75 Kelvin (−198.15 degrees Celsius/-324.67 degrees Fahrenheit). Additionally, the team also concluded that the likely sources of the hydrogen concentrations were from a variety of sources, including solar radiation, comets, and meteorites.

Continue reading “Widespread Water Ice Deposits Discovered on the Moon” »

Oct 7, 2024

Transforming seaweeds into raw materials for aviation fuel and pharmaceuticals

Posted by in categories: chemistry, energy, engineering, transportation

A new technology has been developed to convert common seaweeds such as Kkosiraegi, which are often used in cooking, into high-quality sources for both bio-aviation fuels and energy storage devices. The results were published in the Chemical Engineering Journal.

Oct 6, 2024

Magnetic Field Maps of the Sun’s Corona

Posted by in categories: energy, mapping, physics, space

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, the world’s most powerful solar telescope, designed, built, and operated by the NSF National Solar Observatory (NSO), achieved a major breakthrough in solar physics by directly mapping the strength of the magnetic field in the solar corona, the outer part of the solar atmosphere that can be seen during a total eclipse. This breakthrough promises to enhance our understanding of space weather and its impact on Earth’s technology-dependent society.

The corona: the launch pad of space weather.

The Sun’s magnetic field generates regions in the Sun’s atmosphere, often rooted by sunspots, that store vast amounts of energy that fuel explosive solar storms and drive space weather. The corona, the Sun’s outer atmosphere, is a superheated realm where these magnetic mysteries unfold. Mapping coronal magnetic fields is essential to understanding and predicting space weather — and to protect our technology in Earth and space.

Oct 6, 2024

Toyota unveils its secret and shocks the world: This engine is both combustion and zero-emission

Posted by in categories: energy, sustainability, transportation

In a surprise revelation, Toyota has sent shockwaves throughout the automotive world with an all-new engine that melds combustion technology with the potential for zero emissions. This stealth development may transform our thinking about green energy and the future of transportation. For two decades, the world has been struggling over what the road to sustainable transport would look like, and to date, EVs have proven a front-runner. However, Toyota’s latest development puts a monkey wrench into that thinking by suggesting that a hydrogen-powered combustion engine may be what carries us into the future.

While Toyota is no stranger to innovation—it gave the world its first mass-produced hybrid, the Prius, back in 1997—it has traditionally taken a more cautious approach toward anything resembling an electric vehicle. Less conservatively speaking, the hydrogen-powered combustion engine signifies a quantum leap. This latest motor technology is based on a variant of the same 1.6-liter turbocharged three-cylinder used in its GR Corolla and GR Yaris. Instead, it relies on hydrogen, not traditional gasoline, to run the engine, making it cleaner than conventional combustion engines.

This innovative engine could also hold the key to one of the most significant challenges for the car-making industry: balancing high performance with sustainability. While electric cars take away that visceral experience from driving enthusiasts, Toyota’s hydrogen engine ensures a gasoline-powered car’s rumble, response, and mechanical integrity. The company tested it thoroughly through the grueling conditions of motorsports, including endurance events such as the Fuji 24 Hours.

Oct 5, 2024

This 3D printer can figure out how to print with an unknown material

Posted by in categories: 3D printing, energy

While 3D printing has exploded in popularity, many of the plastic materials these printers use to create objects cannot be easily recycled.


The automatically generated parameters can replace about half of the parameters that typically must be tuned by hand. In a series of test prints with unique materials, including several renewable materials, the researchers showed that their method can consistently produce viable parameters.

This research could help to reduce the environmental impact of additive manufacturing, which typically relies on nonrecyclable polymers and resins derived from fossil fuels.

Oct 3, 2024

Report: Global drought threatens food supplies and energy production

Posted by in categories: energy, food, sustainability

In July 2024, global temperatures reached unprecedented levels, breaking historical records with an average of 17.16°C. This extreme heat has led soil water to evaporate, leaving the vegetation and biodiversity more fragile and under stress in many regions of the world.

Oct 2, 2024

Heavy-ion collisions could generate strongest electric fields ever

Posted by in category: energy

A theoretical analysis from researchers at Japan’s largest scientific research agency, RIKEN, suggests that intermediate energy heavy-ion collisions can give birth to the strongest electromagnetic fields ever observed.

Heavy ion collisions involve colliding large atomic nuclei at high velocities. Such collisions generate strong electric fields for a brief period, enabling scientists to study behaviors and phenomena that are otherwise remain hidden.

Oct 2, 2024

Rotating cylinder amplifies electromagnetic fields

Posted by in categories: energy, physics

Physicists have observed the Zel’dovich effect in an electromagnetic system – something that was thought to be incredibly difficult to do until now. This observation, in a simplified induction generator, suggests that the effect could in fact be quite fundamental in nature.

In 1971, the Russian physicist Yakov Zel’dovich predicted that electromagnetic waves scattered by a rotating metallic cylinder should be amplified by gaining mechanical rotational energy from the cylinder. The effect, explains Marion Cromb of the University of Southampton, works as follows: waves with angular momentum – or twist – that would usually be absorbed by an object, instead become amplified by that object. However, this amplification only occurs if a specific condition is met: namely, that the object is rotating at an angular velocity that’s higher than the frequency of the incoming waves divided by the wave angular momentum number. In this specific electromagnetic experiment, this number was 1, due to spin angular momentum, but it can be larger.

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