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A lot of heat gets lost during the conversion of energy. Estimates even put it at more than 70%. However, in thermoelectric materials, such as those being studied at the Institute of Solid State Physics at TU Wien, heat can be converted directly into electrical energy. This effect (the Seebeck effect) can be used in numerous applications in industry but also in everyday life.

Recently, Ernst Bauer’s research team made an exciting discovery in a thermoelectric material consisting of iron, vanadium and aluminum (Fe₂VAl). The researchers recently published their results in Nature Communications.

“The construction of the storage went well, especially considering that the solution is completely new,” said Polar Night co-founder and chief technology officer Markku Ylönen in a statement.

“We managed to get everything in order despite some challenges and a short delay.”

Continue reading “First ‘sand battery’ developed to heat homes or balance renewable energy for grid” »

A non-volatile silicon photonics switch based on phase-change materials actuated by graphene heaters shows a switching energy density that is within an order of magnitude of the fundamental thermodynamic limit.

Laser cutting techniques are usually powered by high energy beams, so hot that they melt most materials. Now scientists from McGill University have developed a gentler, more precise technique using low-power visible light.

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Continue reading “Shields Up! Real Life Energy Shields” »

Theory underpins our understanding of convection in the Earth’s outer core and its function in controlling the planet’s magnetic field. Convective flows or how they may be changing have never been directly observed by scientists. Virginia Tech geoscientist Ying Zhou puts proof forward for the first time.

A large earthquake shook the Kermadec Islands region in the South Pacific Ocean in May 1997. A little over 20 years later, in September 2018, a second big earthquake hit the same location, with its waves of seismic energy emanating from the same region.

Although two decades separated the earthquakes, because they occurred in the same region, they’d be expected to send seismic waves through the Earth’s layers at the same speed, said Ying Zhou, a geoscientist with the Department of Geosciences at the Virginia Tech College of Science.

Spotted: Although relatively expensive to produce at present, and with storage often cited as a concern, green hydrogen fuel production is increasing. A naturally occurring and superabundant element, hydrogen is popular for several reasons, including the ability to produce it using renewable energy sources. And now, Element 1’s modular, grid-independent hydrogen generation technology is making the fuel even more accessible.

Designed to efficiently convert methanol to hydrogen to electricity, the technology supports both hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and electric vehicles. The company’s catalytic reactor heats a methanol and water feedstock mix before sending it through a membrane purifier for almost 100 per cent fuel cell grade hydrogen.

Because the modular system produces the fuel as needed, the risk of combustion is nearly eliminated, and specialty storage facilities are redundant. This is because the only material that needs to be stored and transported is the methanol and water feedstock. The hydrogen is then produced on-site. Element 1 provides both small and large-scale solutions, as well as a mobile version specifically for refuelling electric vehicles on the go.