This ultra light microbattery uses its own casing to store more energy
Improving the way current batteries store and deliver power is key to enabling faster charging and enhanced performance of electronic devices. However, the structural composition of most batteries today prevents the rapid transport of electrons and ions, limiting power density. Scientists have Read More...
Sustainable wood-based batteries could power the future of e-travel
While the world is steadily moving towards a predominantly battery-powered future, conventional batteries still pose a few major sustainability- and efficiency-related challenges. Seeking to come up with a solution, Finnish designer Stora Enso is working on a wood-based material that could produce Read More...
Scientists aim to turn our built environment into rechargeable batteries
According to the World Green Building Council, about 11 percent of the environmental footprint of buildings and construction comes from embodied carbon emissions. This includes all the CO2 emitted in producing the materials needed for creating our built environment. Seeking more sustainable and Read More...
These ultra-low-cost batteries use CO2 to store renewable energy
While the price for lithium-ion batteries has dropped significantly in recent years, the technology is still a tad too expensive to be the best solution for the long-term storage of renewable energy, most of which is weather-dependent. As such, innovators are looking beyond lithium-based batteries Read More...
New battery production method could yield safer and cheaper electric cars
Conventional lithium-ion EV batteries use liquid electrolytes that require sophisticated and expensive cooling systems to prevent the technology from overheating and getting damaged. In an effort to provide a better alternative, scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a Read More...
Real-time experiment shows efficacy of renewable grids during blackouts
Last summer, we wrote about the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado. The facility is a collection of green energy experiments, including wind power, solar panels, and hydrogen energy storage. The goal of NREL is to demonstrate how the US could create truly scaled and Read More...
These portable speakers are powered by old e-bike batteries
Gomi is a sustainable UK-based design studio that makes chargers and other devices out of the waste that would otherwise be thrown into landfills. Its newest project is a line of portable Bluetooth speakers. The speakers are constructed out of 100 percent recycled plastic waste and are powered Read More...
VW opens EV battery recycling plant in preparation for an electric future
As the electric revolution is making headway unabated, manufacturers are thinking about what to do with their electric vehicle batteries when the devices reach the end of the road. This is an important consideration given that lithium-ion batteries require a lot of materials, many of which are rare Read More...
New power plant uses liquid air to store renewable energy
While batteries are great for short-term energy storage, they are still too expensive to do long-term energy storage. Plus, batteries require minerals that are becoming increasingly scarce as the world moves towards power systems based on variable renewable energy. Fortunately, there is a promising Read More...
Citrus solutions: Using orange peels to recycle precious metals
We recently wrote about bacteria being used to extract precious metals from e-waste. Now, organic compounds are once again coming to the rescue to recycle valuable materials. Researchers at the Nanyang Technological University are using orange peels to extract precious metals from spent Read More...