Carbon-neutral biofuel from lakes
Lakes store huge amounts of methane. In a new study, environmental scientists at the University of Basel offer suggestions for how it can be extracted and used as an energy source in the form...
Category: Energy & Renewable
More effort needed to reduce bat fatalities at wind turbines
In order to assess the risk of bats dying at wind turbines, the acoustic activity of bats within the operating range of the rotor blades is recorded. Ultrasonic detectors are attached to the nacelles...
Switching to green energy default can have a lasting effect
Electricity providers have a simple way of encouraging households and companies to procure power from sustainable sources. This can help lower CO2 emissions. Private households, but also self-employed people and SMEs, are more likely...
Can Switzerland cut its CO2 emissions to zero by 2050?
Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have investigated what measures would be necessary for Switzerland to achieve its zero CO2 emissions goal and how much it might cost per person. In August 2019,...
Silicon for solar cells becoming more environmentally friendly
New discoveries are making silicon production cleaner, and solar cells of the future will become even more environmentally friendly. Steinar Brandslet reports from Norway. Solar cells are largely made of silicon. But the silicon...
Denmark to build world’s first windenergy hub as an artificial island
Denmark has announced a landmark agreement on the construction of an energy hub in the North Sea, an artificially constructed island 80 kilometers from the shore. Fully implemented it will be able to cover the...
Smart site selection can make hydropower greener
Even though new hydropower dam developments are intended to provide green energy, they can drown areas that are rich in plant and animal species. But a new study shows that this kind of collateral...
Oil and gas industry commits to reducing methane emissions
In a move that will help tackle one of the biggest and most solvable contributors to the climate crisis, major players in the oil and gas industry have agreed to report methane emissions with...
How wind energy emerged from contributing less than 1% of electricity demand
Twenty years ago, wind energy was a niche industry that contributed less than 1% to the total electricity demand in the United States. It has since emerged as a serious contender in the race...
Rolls-Royce plans 16 mini nuclear plants in the UK
Rolls-Royce has announced plans to build a fleet of 16 small modular reactor power stations (SMR) over the next 20 years. The power stations will help secure the UK’s net zero commitments affordably, says...
Why India’s clean fuel transition is slowed by belief that firewood is better for well-being
India’s transition to clean cooking fuels may be hampered by users’ belief that using firewood is better for their families’ wellbeing than switching to Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), a new study reveals. Understanding these...
The soft power concept of Germany’s energy foreign policy
Building on its reputation as an energy transition frontrunner, Germany is currently pursuing a soft power strategy aimed at winning over foreign countries to its policy approaches in the energy sector. According to a...
Solar breakthrough forwards perovskite cell potential
Researchers in Australia have resolved a fundamental challenge preventing the wide uptake of next-generation perovskite solar cells. Their work helps the cells cope with exposure to light. Metal-halide perovskites, a class of hybrid organic-inorganic...
Global energy consumption could drop without lowering standard of living
Global energy consumption in 2050 could be reduced to the levels of the 1960s and still provide a decent standard of living for a population three times larger, according to a new study from...
Simulation model may reduce climate footprint of oil production
Future offshore oil and gas fields are most likely to be “satellite developments” that are less expensive and emit less greenhouse gases than other fields because they do not require new production platforms, report...
20% of US airports adopted solar power in the past decade
In a study of almost 500 airports across the United States, results showed that 20 per cent have adopted solar panels in the past decade. Key to solar success is how the airports elect...
Google to help cities drastically reduce carbon emissions
Google announced that it will help more than 500 cities and local governments reduce 1 gigaton of carbon emissions per year by 2030. Tech giant Google has made a bold urban promise as part...
Southeast Asia’s green potential
A Green New Deal could reinvigorate Southeast Asia’s economy after the coronavirus pandemic recedes while preparing the region for the potentially catastrophic effects of climate change, argued trade expert James Guild recently in the...
Draft logic
Migrating geese do it. Why not commercial aircraft? That’s the logic behind European aerospace giant Airbus’s research into how its airliners could save energy by flying behind other planes. Known as wake-energy retrieval, or...
New city in China aims to be fully self-sufficient
Barcelona-based Guallart Architects has won a contest to design a resilient and self-sufficient community in Xiong’an, a new city that Chinese President Xi Jinping is calling “a new standard in the post-COVID era”. According...
