energy

10Aug

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

ENVIRONMENT

Boosting Renewable Energy Use Can Reduce Harm To Low-Income People If Done Thoughtfully – And Can Happen Quickly

With many nations making efforts to transition away from fossil fuels to renewable energy, SciLine interviewed Erin Baker, a professor of industrial engineering and operations at UMass Amherst. Baker discussed the technological, political and regulatory efforts needed for this transition, as well as ways that our fossil fuel-dependent system disproportionately harms poor communities and communities of color. The Conversation has collaborated with SciLine to bring you highlights from the discussion, which have been edited for brevity and clarity. How is our country doing at making the transition to renewable energy? Erin Baker: There has been amazing technological change over the past 15 years. Offshore wind costs 50% less than it did six years ago. Solar has had a sixfold decrease in ...

Moving To 100% Renewable Electricity – These 3 Energy Storage Technologies Can Help Solve The Challenge

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

ENVIRONMENT, TECHNOLOGY

Moving To 100% Renewable Electricity – These 3 Energy Storage Technologies Can Help Solve The Challenge

TECHNOLOGY Kerry Rippy, National Renewable Energy Laboratory In recent decades the cost of wind and solar power generation has dropped dramatically. This is one reason that the U.S. Department of Energy projects that renewable energy will be the fastest-growing U.S. energy source through 2050. However, it’s still relatively expensive to store energy. And since renewable energy generation isn’t available all the time – it happens when the wind blows or the sun shines – storage is essential. As a researcher at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, I work with the federal government and private industry to develop renewable energy storage technologies. In a recent report, researchers at NREL estimated that the potential exists to increase U.S. renewable energy storage capacity by as m...

Here’s Why AI Is So Power-Hungry – It Takes A Lot Of Energy For Machines To Learn

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

AI, TECHNOLOGY, VIDEO REELS

Here’s Why AI Is So Power-Hungry – It Takes A Lot Of Energy For Machines To Learn

This month, Google forced out a prominent AI ethics researcher after she voiced frustration with the company for making her withdraw a research paper. The paper pointed out the risks of language-processing artificial intelligence, the type used in Google Search and other text analysis products. Data centers like this Google facility in Iowa use copious amounts of electricity. Chad Davis/Flickr, CC BY-SA Among the risks is the large carbon footprint of developing this kind of AI technology. By some estimates, training an AI model generates as much carbon emissions as it takes to build and drive five cars over their lifetimes. I am a researcher who studies and develops AI models, and I am all too familiar with the skyrocketing energy and financial costs of AI research. Why have AI models b...

The Fundamental Building Blocks Of The Universe May Be Fragments Of Energy – Not Waves Or Particles

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

TECHNOLOGY

The Fundamental Building Blocks Of The Universe May Be Fragments Of Energy – Not Waves Or Particles

Matter is what makes up the universe, but what makes up matter? This question has long been tricky for those who think about it – especially for the physicists. Reflecting recent trends in physics, my colleague Jeffrey Eischen and I have described an updated way to think about matter. We propose that matter is not made of particles or waves, as was long thought, but – more fundamentally – that matter is made of fragments of energy. In ancient times, five elements were thought to be the building blocks of reality. IkonStudio/iStock via Getty Images From five to one The ancient Greeks conceived of five building blocks of matter – from bottom to top: earth, water, air, fire and aether. Aether was the matter that filled the heavens and explained the rotation of the stars, as observed from the ...

Biden’s Energy Plan Can Move The US Forward But Faces Headwinds

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

ENVIRONMENT

Biden’s Energy Plan Can Move The US Forward But Faces Headwinds

President-elect Joe Biden calls climate change an existential threat to America’s environment, health, national security and economy, and has promised a clean energy revolution to counter it. Biden has pledged that on his first day in office he will bring the U.S. back into the Paris Climate Agreement. He also is expected to restore numerous environmental protections that the Trump administration has weakened or revoked, and to cancel oil and gas leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Fast electric vehicle charging stations at a rest stop on Interstate 95 in Maryland. Earth and Main/Flickr, CC BY-SA Beyond damage repair, Biden has big plans for American energy. In my view, not all of them are realistic. Yet their actual purpose may be as starting points for negotiation. Based on ...

Entrepreneurial Energy Companies Can Innovate With The Help Of Regulators Clearing The Way

16Nov

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

BUSINESS

Entrepreneurial Energy Companies Can Innovate With The Help Of Regulators Clearing The Way

How regulatory policies are implemented can make a huge difference for entrepreneurs in clean technology. In a study, we found that giving state-level regulators more discretion in approving hydropower facilities in the United States led to faster adoption of this clean energy source. Distributed power generation, such as this fuel cell installation, requires new ventures to work with energy regulators. Business Wire, CC BY We reviewed regulatory approvals of entrepreneurial hydroelectric power facilities from 1978 to 2014 and found that, on average, when regulators had a relatively high level of discretion, entrepreneurs received a license 22.5% sooner. We calculated hydropower ventures that use innovative run-of-the-river, pumped storage and marine technologies can generate up to US$7,7...

New Clean-Energy Technologies Could Be Helped By A Government-Linked Foundation

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

TECHNOLOGY

New Clean-Energy Technologies Could Be Helped By A Government-Linked Foundation

To address climate change over the coming decades, all nations will need to transition to energy resources that emit less carbon. This transformation, already underway, will require many new technologies. The United States is a world leader in scientific research and technological development. But new inventions have to be brought to market and then widely adopted to have a deep impact. And in the clean energy field, the United States doesn’t do as well at making that happen as one might be expect, given its strength in basic research. The energy transition might stall if the U.S. doesn’t overcome this problem, endangering human health and the environment. Research I carried out with Jetta L. Wong, the founding director of the Office of Technology Transitions at the U.S. Department of En...

Why companies as diverse as eBay, IKEA and Mars are increasingly supporting US clean energy policies

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

TECHNOLOGY

Why companies as diverse as eBay, IKEA and Mars are increasingly supporting US clean energy policies

The big idea My new analysis of companies that seek to buy renewable electricity finds that business is becoming a powerful new ally in the U.S. political battle to stop climate change. Driven by pressure from environmental groups and by the increasingly competitive prices of wind and solar, many companies have pledged to power their operations with clean energy. But the legal and technical complexity of U.S. electricity markets has stalled corporate progress on their clean power goals. This has prompted companies as diverse as eBay, Mars, IKEA and Walmart to push for public policies that expand the generation of renewable energy in the U.S. and make it more accessible through mandates, incentives and other regulations. Why it matters Politically powerful fossil fuel interests have long st...

Physicists hunt for room-temperature superconductors that could revolutionize the world’s energy system

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SCIENCE, VIDEO REELS

Physicists hunt for room-temperature superconductors that could revolutionize the world’s energy system

Waste heat is all around you. On a small scale, if your phone or laptop feels warm, that’s because some of the energy powering the device is being transformed into unwanted heat. On a larger scale, electric grids, such as high power lines, lose over 5% of their energy in the process of transmission. In an electric power industry that generated more than US$400 billion in 2018, that’s a tremendous amount of wasted money. Globally, the computer systems of Google, Microsoft, Facebook and others require enormous amounts of energy to power massive cloud servers and data centers. Even more energy, to power water and air cooling systems, is required to offset the heat generated by these computers. Where does this wasted heat come from? Electrons. These elementary particles of an atom move arou...

Meet the Man Bringing Cheap Renewable Energy to His Hometown

29Jan

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism

Meet the Man Bringing Cheap Renewable Energy to His Hometown

When Highland Park, Michigan, a predominately Black city surrounded by Detroit, had its streetlights repossessed in 2011, because of a $4 million unpaid street lighting bill, Ryter Cooperative Industries L3C stepped in to help install solar-powered streetlights in the city’s neighborhoods. Energy cost inequality is a problem in many areas throughout the country. Low-income households spend 10% of their income on electricity—four times higher than the average household, according to a recent report. So while the median electricity bill in the United States in 2013 was around $114 a month, many low-income families paid more than $200 a month. Some renewable energy advocacy organizations have attributed the cost inequality to the lack of community engagement and awareness of renewable en...