December 10, 2019 by Dolf Gielen and Emanuele Taibi, via Energy Post Although 100Mt/year of hydrogen is produced globally and at scale, it’s overwhelmingly for the chemical industry. So there’s a long way to go for it to play a role in the energy transition. It’s not even clear whether hydrogen will be best used directly as a power source or through further conversion into other powerfuels. That’s why Dolf Gielen and Emanuele Taibi at IRENA are scoping out the challenges of reducing production costs and finding markets. The cos

January 23, 2020 by Mary Beth Gallagher, via Energy Post Buildings represent one third of energy usage in the U.S., and that will be typical of similar economies around the world. The cost of re-fitting buildings to conserve energy is very high and can take decades. Specifically, 30% of the energy used to heat and cool buildings is down to the heat that either escapes or enters through windows. What if there was a way to control that heat flow without re-designing or replacing the windows? MIT’s Mary Beth Galla

January 16, 2020 by Mahdokht Shaibani, via Energy Post The rapid expansion of electric power across the world is putting a strain on battery production. The standard lithium-ion battery depends on minerals and metals in limited supply, so alternatives are needed urgently. Mahdokht Shaibani at Monash University describes the work of her team on developing lithium-sulphur batteries. There are many advantages, not least the abundance of sulphur, the 16th most common element on Earth. Added to that, theory suggests they

January 7, 2020 by NREL, via Energy Post Solar cells commonly used in spacecraft are highly efficient but too expensive to be used commercially down here on Earth. Two methods, HVPE (hydride vapour phase epitaxy) and the preferred MOVPE (metalorganic chemical vapour phase epitaxy), have been used to make these super-cells, reaching efficiencies of 29.1%. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) says its scientists have discovered a method, D-HVPE, that should achieve those efficiencies much more cheaply.