Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: sustainability

Piecing together the puzzle of future solar cell materials

Global electricity use is increasing rapidly and must be addressed sustainably. Developing new materials could give us much more efficient solar cell materials than at present; materials so thin and flexible that they could encase anything from mobile phones or entire buildings.

Using computer simulation and , researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have now taken an important step toward understanding and handling halide perovskites, among the most promising but notoriously enigmatic materials.

Electricity use is constantly increasing globally and, according to the International Energy Agency, its proportion of the world’s total energy consumption is expected to exceed 50% in 25 years, compared to the current 20%.

Cathode overcomes key challenges in water electrolysis for clean energy

A new kind of cathode that is more resistant to power fluctuations can render (sea)water electrolysis more sustainable, cost-effective, and more suited for coupling with intermittent renewable energy in real-world applications, according to scientists at City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK).

Direct grid connection technology provides fast charging solution for electric vehicles

With the surging popularity for electric vehicles (EVs), rapid charging is a challenge as it requires power delivery exceeding 1 MW (which can power about 1,000 homes). Conventional charging stations rely on bulky line frequency transformers (LFTs), which are expensive due to extensive use of copper and iron. These stations also have multiple conversion stages involving stepping up or down current, or converting AC to DC and vice versa. This can greatly increase cost and reduce efficiency.

To solve this problem, researchers at the Department of Electrical Engineering (EE), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), in collaboration with Delta Electronics India, have developed a novel cascaded H-bridge (CHB)-based multiport DC converter that directly connects to the medium-voltage AC (MVAC) . This eliminates the need for large and expensive LFTs.

Published in IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, the study shows that such converters can help address the growing power demands of fast-charging EV stations, crucial for scaling up India’s EV infrastructure.

Novel catalyst design could make green hydrogen production more efficient and durable

A new type of catalyst—a material that speeds up chemical reactions—that could make the production of clean hydrogen fuel more efficient and long-lasting has been developed by a team led by City University of Hong Kong, including researchers from Hong Kong, mainland China, and Japan.

This breakthrough uses high-density single atoms of iridium (a rare metal) to greatly improve the process of splitting water into and , which is key to like hydrogen fuel cells and large-scale energy storage.

The researchers created a highly stable and active by placing single iridium atoms on ultra-thin sheets made of cobalt and cerium compounds. Called CoCe–O–IrSA, the final product performs exceptionally well in the water-splitting process. It requires very little extra energy (just 187 mV of overpotential at 100 mA cm-2) to drive the oxygen evolution reaction at a high rate, and it stays stable for more than 1,000 hours under demanding conditions.

New light-powered gears fit inside a strand of hair

Researchers at the University of Gothenburg have made light-powered gears on a micrometer scale. This paves the way for the smallest on-chip motors in history, which can fit inside a strand of hair. The research is published in the journal Nature Communications.

Gears are everywhere—from clocks and cars to robots and wind turbines. For more than 30 years, researchers have been trying to create even smaller gears in order to construct micro-engines. But progress stalled at 0.1 millimeters, as it was not possible to build the drive trains needed to make them move any smaller.

Researchers from Gothenburg University, among others, have now broken through this barrier by ditching traditional mechanical drive trains and instead using to set the gears in motion directly.

Solar breakthrough — hotter panels mean better storage

Scientists have uncovered a surprising advantage in next-generation solar technology—the hotter it gets, the better it can store energy. Traditionally, heat has been seen as the enemy of solar power. Standard solar panels lose efficiency as temperatures rise.

But a new study, published in The Journal of Chemical Physics, shows that in special “solar-plus-storage” devices, heat can actually boost performance by speeding up the internal chemical reactions that store energy.

The team studied photoelectrochemical (PEC) flow cells—an emerging technology that combines the sunlight-harvesting ability of a solar panel with the storage power of a battery.

Sodium-based battery design maintains performance at room and subzero temperatures

All-solid-state batteries are safe, powerful ways to power EVs and electronics and store electricity from the energy grid, but the lithium used to build them is rare, expensive and can be environmentally devastating to extract.

Sodium is an inexpensive, plentiful, less-destructive alternative, but the all-solid-state batteries they create currently don’t work as well at room temperature.

“It’s not a matter of sodium versus lithium. We need both. When we think about tomorrow’s solutions, we should imagine the same gigafactory can produce products based on both lithium and sodium chemistries,” said Y. Shirley Meng, Liew Family Professor in Molecular Engineering at the UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME). “This new research gets us closer to that ultimate goal while advancing basic science along the way.”

This Tiny $7,000 Electric Car Is More Popular in Japan Than Toyota’s EVs

Japanese startup KG Motors is building a stylish, single-seat electric car for just $7,000, and has pre-sold 3,300 that it plans to deliver to customers by March 2027.

That’s more than the 2,000 EVs Toyota sold across Japan in all of 2024, according to Bloomberg. Called the “mibot,” KG’s car has a limited 62-mile range and a 37mph top speed.

Could the single-seat ‘mibot’ ignite an all-electric revolution in hybrid-heavy Japan, or even inspire more openness to small, affordable vehicles in the US?

Neuromorphic Intelligence Leverages Dynamical Systems Theory To Model Inference And Learning In Sustainable, Adaptable Systems

The pursuit of artificial intelligence increasingly focuses on replicating the efficiency and adaptability of the human brain, and a new approach, termed neuromorphic intelligence, offers a promising path forward. Marcel van Gerven from Radboud University and colleagues demonstrate how brain-inspired systems can achieve significantly greater energy efficiency than conventional digital computers. This research establishes a unifying theoretical framework, rooted in dynamical systems theory, to integrate insights from diverse fields including neuroscience, physics, and artificial intelligence. By harnessing noise as a learning resource and employing differential genetic programming, the team advances the development of truly adaptive and sustainable artificial intelligence, paving the way for emergent intelligence arising directly from physical substrates.

Researchers demonstrate that applying dynamical systems theory, a mathematical framework describing change over time, to artificial intelligence enables the creation of more sustainable and adaptable systems by harnessing noise as a learning tool and allowing intelligence to emerge from the physical properties of the system itself.

How Tesla’s New Products Will Change Energy Forever

Tesla’s new energy products, such as the Mega Pack and Megablock, have the potential to revolutionize energy storage and generation, drive decentralization and grid resilience, and support widespread AI adoption, potentially driving its energy business to $50 billion in revenue and generating $10 billion in annual gross margin ## Questions to inspire discussion.

Energy Storage and Grid Management.

🔋 Q: How does Tesla’s Mega Pack improve energy storage? A: Tesla’s Mega Pack offers 20% more energy density and 25% more energy per unit, providing 8 hours of storage to expand the total addressable market for renewable energy.

⚡ Q: What is the Mega Block and how does it enhance efficiency? A: The Mega Block is a transformer and switchgear all-in-one unit that simplifies processes, reduces cabling and on-site assembly, making the product more streamlined and efficient.

🔌 Q: How do battery storage systems compare to traditional grid power? A: Battery storage is significantly more capable at dumping power instantly compared to the grid, which needs to spool up and down, making it better for managing wild swings in data center load profiles.

Data centers and AI energy demands.

Continue reading “How Tesla’s New Products Will Change Energy Forever” | >
/* */