Energy
Transitioning to a world powered by renewable energy is key to tackling climate change. Here you can find the latest good news related to our clean energy transition, covering wind, solar, green hydrogen, hydropower, and more.
Even in deserts, this system can generate water and electricity
The extreme heat of the world’s deserts makes maintaining a water supply and a steady supply of electricity difficult. At The Optimist Daily, we’ve written about optimizing solar panels with agricultural systems before. However, this experimental hybrid system from King Abdullah University of Read More...
Sunlight helps dissolve oil spills
In a recent study of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, researchers discovered that approximately 10 percent of oil spilled in the Gulf of Mexico was dissolved by sunlight. Oil can partially dissipate and dissolve in seawater through natural processes, which scientists account for. These Read More...
“All we need is change”—Serre Chevalier makes skiing more sustainable
Does the climate catastrophe that we find ourselves in herald the end of ski resorts? Visiting the slopes for a weekend of skiing and snowboarding is now tinged with the guilt of all the environmental damage that goes along with it. Between the short-haul, carbon-emitting flights many skiers Read More...
UK households get paid to curb daily energy use
Households in the UK could soon be paid to curb their electricity usage for a certain time of day (during peak usage hours) under a new scheme to help reduce energy bills while pushing for a zero-carbon power supply system. Starting in this past week, the trial for this plan, led by Octopus Read More...
California shades irrigation canals with solar panels to boost energy and save water
Solar energy is one of the fastest-growing renewable energy industries in the world, however, that doesn’t mean that we aren’t faced with challenges in the widespread implementation and harvesting of solar power. One of the biggest issues with solar energy is that the land that is usually ideal Read More...
3D graphene hugely increases hydrogen storage capabilities
Graphene is a material that many of us come across in our day to day lives. From water filtration systems to mobile touch screens, clever material has revolutionized many aspects of the modern world. It is made up of a single layer of carbon atoms, therefore it is referred to it as a Read More...
Here’s how offshore wind farms can help capture CO2 from the air
One of the conundrums posed by the increasing expansion of wind power is what to do with the excess energy that renewable technologies produce. Because wind power is intermittent and demand for energy also varies, when wind turbines produce more electricity than is needed, their operations are Read More...
This bio-rover is essentially driven by a marimo ball
What is marimo? Marimo is arguably one of nature’s most bizarre creations. Commonly known as algae balls or moss balls, these algae bundles are typically found on lake floors in Japan and Northern Europe. Their fuzzy spherical shape is the result of gentle currents rolling the algae over and Read More...
Levitating ice leads to deeper understanding of energy
Believe it or not, scientists have been levitating water since the 18th century. The Leidenfrost effect was first described in 1751 by a German doctor and theologian, who named the phenomenon after himself. Using a high temperature plate of 150˚C, he observed that a water droplet could be made to Read More...
This discarded 1990s window design could help fight climate change
According to the United States Department of Energy, buildings use about 76 percent of electricity in the US and are responsible for about 40 percent of all direct and associated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the country. This means that reducing energy consumption from buildings is an Read More...