Energy

an overhead shot of land split in three. the left side is dry and dusty. the middle has some vegetation, and the right side has a lot.

Desertification is destroying fertile land. Here’s how we’re fighting it.

a female presenting person in a lab coat holding a solar cell

New “tandem” solar cell breaks world record

A new tandem solar cell containing layers of silicon and perovskite has demonstrated an unprecedented efficiency of 33.7%.

Kristin Houser

Clean Energy

These 4 charts show the unstoppable growth of solar

Solar is growing fast enough to displace fossil fuels from the entire global economy before 2050, but infrastructure needs to keep up.

Andrew Blakers

Engineering

How heat pumps of the 1800s are becoming the technology of the future

With ever-improving efficiencies, and rising sales in multiple countries, heat pumps are only getting harder for their detractors to dismiss.

Chris Baraniuk | Knowable Magazine

Clean Energy

First small modular nuclear reactor certified in US

The US’s first certification of a small modular reactor design could lead to cheaper, safer nuclear power plants.

Kristin Houser

Clean Energy

This MIT research could help us unlock smaller, lighter, and safer batteries

Replacing the liquid electrolyte in rechargeable lithium batteries with a thinner, lighter ceramic material could revolutionize technology.

David L. Chandler | MIT News

Clean Energy

New experiment produces hydrogen with LEDs

Quantum simulations have identified a cheap way of extracting hydrogen fuel from liquid ammonia using LED light.

Sam Jarman

Clean Energy

Paper-thin solar cell can turn any surface into a power source

MIT researchers have developed a scalable fabrication technique to produce ultrathin solar cells that can be stuck onto any surface.

Adam Zewe | MIT News Office

Clean Energy

After 50 years, fusion power hits a major milestone

Researchers in California achieved net energy gain in a thermonuclear fusion experiment. But how great of a breakthrough is this, really?

Adam Frank

Clean Energy

New battery is cheaper than lithium-ion with four times the capacity

A new type of room temperature sodium-sulfur (RT Na-S) battery could help solve the renewable energy storage problem.

Kristin Houser

Clean Energy

Extra-salty lithium battery less likely to catch fire

Stanford researchers have developed a battery electrolyte that can allow lithium-ion batteries to operate safely at much higher temperatures.

B. David Zarley

Clean Energy

Construction juggernaut unveils huge electric mining truck

Construction equipment manufacturer Caterpillar has demonstrated its first battery-electric large mining truck.

Kristin Houser

Clean Energy

This meteorite material could power our clean energy future

A lab-made version of tetrataenite, a mineral found in meteorites, could replace rare earth elements in the production of permanent magnets.

Kristin Houser

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