Grid-scale lithium-ion batteries are our current go-to chemical energy storage solution, but they present their own challenges in safety, sustainability, cost, and longevity. However, the competition is … heating up. New forms of thermal energy storage systems built using abundant, cheap materials are on the rise. One company is aiming to
Where there’s tech, there’s magnets. The strong magnets that generate their own magnetic field, AKA permanent magnets, aren’t only on your fridge. They’re in multiple places inside your fridge, and in your cell phone, headphones, and hard disk drive, too. Permanent magnets are also a critical
Whether it’s to regulate the temperature of food, medicine, or people, we’ll always need some form of cooling tech to survive. We tend to turn to air conditioning to solve these problems, but that has us stuck in a positive feedback loop that isn’t at all positive.
With the ever-growing demand for electrifying everything, we need more sustainable batteries. Li-ion devices are cost-effective but rely on lithium, graphite, and other materials, whose sourcing has significant environmental and social impacts. One potential solution is being developed where wood is used to replace these materials with a bio-based alternative.
As good as lithium-ion batteries are, they have their limitations and challenges, but there’s also plenty of battery alternatives. Flow batteries alone have enough variations in chemistry to make your head spin. Zinc-bromine batteries are one up-and-coming contender … and calling them up and coming sounds funny when you consider
Wind generates enough energy to produce about 35 times more electricity than the entire planet could even use each day.1 It’s free, clean, and renewable, so why don’t we see more wind turbines used on rooftops like solar panels? In a nutshell, it’s the blades. More
The southwestern U.S. is in the throes of a “megadrought” so severe that we’ve broken the record — all 1,200 years of it. According to a study published earlier this year, soil hasn’t been this dry since the scientific record began around the year 800.1 This
As the renewable energy sector continues to grow, so does our need for better and cheaper energy storage, which is why our reliance on lithium could become a bit of a problem. While there are already an assortment of energy storage options available today beyond lithium batteries for grid scale
Fusion is considered by many as the holy grail for supplying all of our clean electricity needs. However, the old joke is that nuclear fusion is always 30 years away, no matter what advances or promises are made. But maybe not this time; , there are several privately funded startups that
I’m in the process of building a new energy efficient, net zero modular home that’s being built in a factory. Why did I choose this path versus one of the many other sustainable and energy efficient methods like stick built passive homes, ICF, earthships, etc. (fill in your
Recently I’ve talked about my new net zero home I’m building, but not all net zero buildings have to be homes or houses. The same net zero, passive house concepts can be scaled up to large buildings, offices, and apartment buildings. In fact, I had a chance to
With electric vehicle demand skyrocketing and the growing need for energy storage for renewables, lithium-ion batteries are one of the key technologies for our sustainable future. However, “how sustainable?” is the million dollar question. Between the supply chain issues of the past couple of years and inflation, the cost of