Jon Okun (he/him) is a writer and researcher based in Seattle, Washington. He's previously worked for the Middle East Institute and the CleanTech Alliance, as well NBC's The End is Nye. He enjoys birdwatching with his partner.
Every time a subway screeches to a stop, we usually chalk it up to another moment in the daily grind … if we even notice it. Commuters pour out, new riders pile in. Just another day on the rails. But what if that screech, that everyday chaos, could do more than
Solar panels are built to last around 30 years, weathering all kinds of abuse during that time.1 That’s a solid run for any piece of tech, but what if we could push that even further? What if solar panels could last… forever? That’s the promise behind a
When is a battery more than just a battery? That’s not a riddle. A battery is more than a battery when it’s also a wall… or a floor, or even part of your car, or a plane. But what if that same battery could cut a laptop’s
Sodium-ion battery technology isn’t exactly new, but something interesting is happening. CATL, the world’s biggest lithium battery manufacturer, says that up to half the market could switch to sodium. That’s right—the biggest name in lithium batteries is betting against lithium. Looks like lithium might need to
Lithium-sulfur batteries were once kind of a joke. A chemistry so unstable and unreliable that no one took them seriously. But now? Multiple research teams have recently made strides in transforming sulfur from stinky stone to capable cathode. Some claim they’ve cracked the code — creating prototypes that charge faster
Vanadium redox flow batteries are hitting the bigtime, and I mean big. One of the biggest Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESSs) ever is a vanadium redox flow battery that just came online in China, with an even bigger one to come in Switzerland. And there’s even more on the
Believe it or not, solar panels aren’t exactly pros at handling the sun. Sounds backward, right? But it’s true — excess heat can be a big problem for solar panels. It drags down their efficiency and can even shorten their lifespan. So, how do you keep something that’s
Batteries don’t last forever — whether they’re in your phone, EV, or laptop. Extending battery life is a major engineering challenge, but what if there was a battery that could last over 100,000 cycles? A battery that could go an entire lifetime with little to no degradation? Imagine
Believe it or not, the long-promised next generation of solar panels are here. A tandem perovskite solar panel with higher efficiency than silicon alone has just arrived on the market. The first batch has already been purchased by an undisclosed U.S. customer, which will soon install them in a
This is the Dinglun Flywheel Energy Storage Power Station. At 30 MW, this is likely the biggest Flywheel Energy Storage System on the planet. Don’t let that spin you around though. While its sheer size is unrivaled, It’s not alone. More and more people are turning to mechanical
The US military just approved funding for a new silicon-based battery, charging forward into commercialization. But why the push? NanoGraf’s silicon oxide-graphene (SOG) batteries aren’t just an upgrade to lithium—they’re versatile enough for everything from phones and backup storage to EVs. The DOD recently signed a
Oh hydrogen, that clean, green fuel that would solve so many emissions problems — if only it didn’t come with a few emissions problems of its own. If you’ve written off hydrogen as the fabled emissions free fuel panacea that's never gonna live up to its promise