All posts tagged: clean energy

White hydrogen found in billion-year-old Canadian rock could fuel clean energy production

White hydrogen found in billion-year-old Canadian rock could fuel clean energy production

Published by Jenni Sidey

Deep beneath northern Ontario, some of Earth’s oldest rocks are quietly giving off hydrogen. At Kidd Creek mine near Timmins, geochemists tracked gas seeping from boreholes drilled two to nearly three kilometers below the surface. What they found was not a one-off puff or a short-lived flare. The hydrogen kept coming, in measurable amounts, over months. In some cases, it lasted for more than a decade. That matters because hydrogen already plays a central role in modern industry, especially in fertilizer, methanol, and steel production. Yet most of it still comes from fossil fuels or other energy-intensive processes. The new work suggests some of that supply might instead come straight from the crust. This would be possible in places where the right rocks already lie under active mining districts. Researchers from the University of Toronto and the University of Ottawa report that all 35 boreholes they analyzed at Kidd Creek released hydrogen. Across the dataset, the average discharge came to 0.008 tonnes per borehole per year. When extrapolated across the mine’s 14,801 boreholes, that works …

WSU scientists convert sewage sludge into 99% pure natural gas sharply boosting energy recovery

WSU scientists convert sewage sludge into 99% pure natural gas sharply boosting energy recovery

Published by Jenni Sidey

Sewage sludge is usually the part nobody wants to think about. It is costly to handle, hard to get rid of, and after treatment, much of it still ends up in landfills. A Washington State University team says it has found a way to squeeze far more value from that waste. In a pilot study, researchers turned treated sewage sludge into renewable natural gas that was 99% methane, while sharply improving how much of the sludge’s carbon ended up in usable fuel instead of leftover waste. The work, published in the Chemical Engineering Journal, points to a different way of thinking about wastewater plants, not just as public utilities that clean water, but as places that might also recover energy from a stubborn waste stream. That matters because wastewater treatment facilities consume between 3% and 4% of total U.S. electricity demand, and they release about 21 million metric tons of greenhouse gases each year. “There is a workhorse,” researcher Birgitte Ahring said of the microbial strain used in the system. “It doesn’t need organic additives …

Thunderbird Reactor: New room-temperature fusion reactor that fits on a tabletop

Thunderbird Reactor: New room-temperature fusion reactor that fits on a tabletop

Published by Jenni Sidey

Nuclear fusion usually brings to mind sprawling facilities, blistering temperatures, and machines built on a scale that can swallow budgets whole. This device does something stranger. It sits on a lab bench, runs at room temperature, and still produces a measurable fusion signal. Researchers at the University of British Columbia say their compact setup, called the Thunderbird Reactor, increased fusion rates by about 15% by packing more deuterium into a metal target through electrochemistry. The result does not come close to producing useful power. It does, however, point to a new way of studying how fusion reactions might be nudged along inside solid materials. The work, published in Nature, centers on a simple idea. Fusion depends heavily on how often fuel atoms collide. Raise the fuel density, and the odds of those collisions go up. That matters because deuterium, a heavy form of hydrogen often used in fusion experiments, can be packed into solid metals at densities that are difficult to maintain in many other fusion systems. Instead of trying to recreate the sun inside …

Mini lightning bolts help chemists turn methane into clean-burning fuel

Mini lightning bolts help chemists turn methane into clean-burning fuel

Published by Jenni Sidey

Tiny bolts of plasma, flickering inside a submerged glass tube, may have opened a new route for turning methane into liquid fuel. Chemists from Northwestern University have developed a way to convert methane directly into methanol in a single step, using electricity, water and a copper oxide catalyst instead of the punishing heat and pressure used in conventional production. The process relies on pulses of high voltage that create miniature lightning-like discharges inside a porous glass reactor. These discharges set off reactions that are otherwise hard to start. Methanol matters because it sits at the center of modern industry. It is used to make plastics, paints and adhesives. It is also drawing interest as a cleaner-burning fuel for ships and industrial boilers. Global production already exceeds 110 million metric tons a year. However, the path to making it is energy-hungry and carbon-intensive. That is why methane-to-methanol conversion has long been treated as one of chemistry’s hardest practical problems. Methane is abundant and cheap, but it is stubbornly stable. Once methanol forms, it has the opposite …

‘Yes to fields of wheat, no to fields of iron’: how the world’s greenest country soured on solar

‘Yes to fields of wheat, no to fields of iron’: how the world’s greenest country soured on solar

Published by Sam Flores

In one telling of the story, the golden fields of a proud farming nation are under attack. Besieged by an industrial sprawl of solar panels, they are being smothered at the behest of an urban elite. That narrative has failed to thrive in conservative heartlands such as Texas and Hungary, which have embraced solar power while lambasting green rules. But it is taking root in Denmark, the most climate-ambitious nation on Earth. “We say yes to fields of wheat,” said Inger Støjberg, the leader of the rightwing populist Denmark Democrats in a speech in 2024. “And we say no to fields of iron!” Jernmarker, or iron fields, was chosen as the Danish word of the year in December after the solar backlash swayed municipal elections and prompted some councils to pull projects. The spectre of barren metal landscapes has since returned to the campaign trail as Danes prepare to vote in national elections on Tuesday. “We need more common sense in the green transition,” Støjberg said in the first televised debate between party leaders last …

Asia Pacific Maritime 2026 spotlights next-energy technologies and innovation

Asia Pacific Maritime 2026 spotlights next-energy technologies and innovation

Published by Sam Flores

Asia has become a strategic crossroads in energy transition. The region is home to major shipbuilding nations, emerging electric vessel markets, offshore operators, energy exporters, classification societies and financial centres – all the players needed to take next‑energy technologies from concept to open water. The region is also where some of the first commercial-scale electrification and hybridisation projects are being launched. For example, the Coastal Sustainability Alliance (CSA) – a Singapore-based industry initiative aimed at decarbonising the maritime industry – has delivered Voltai, Singapore’s largest electric supply boat, and is pioneering a milk run trial designed to consolidate deliveries and reduce emissions.  Additionally, CSA is delivering its second e-vessel: Singapore and Southeast Asia’s first fully electric tug. Insights from these CSA projects, ongoing trials and critical enablers for scaling marine electrification will be highlighted at APM 2026. The conference will feature close to 100 industry experts who will speak on practical solutions that can optimise vessel operation. The keynote session, The Maritime State of Play and What’s Next for Asia, will examine how new regional …

Metal tubes stay afloat even after severe damage — opening the door to unsinkable ships

Metal tubes stay afloat even after severe damage — opening the door to unsinkable ships

Published by Jenni Sidey

More than a century after the RMS Titanic slipped beneath the Atlantic, engineers still chase the dream of ships that refuse to sink. At the University of Rochester’s Institute of Optics, that goal now looks less like fantasy and more like physics. Chunlei Guo, a professor of optics and physics and a senior scientist at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, leads a team that has found a way to make ordinary aluminum tubes float no matter what. Their study, published in Advanced Functional Materials, describes a method that turns simple metal into a powerful water-repelling structure. The idea sounds simple. The science behind it is not. By using lasers to etch the inner surface of aluminum tubes, the researchers create tiny pits at the micro and nano scale. Those pits change how water interacts with the metal. HOLEY MOLY: “If you severely damage the tubes with as many holes as you can punch, they still float,” says Guo. (CREDIT: University of Rochester / J. Adam Fenster) Instead of soaking in, water beads up and rolls …

Scientists use semiconductors and sunlight to convert waste carbon dioxide into fuel

Scientists use semiconductors and sunlight to convert waste carbon dioxide into fuel

Published by Jenni Sidey

In labs focused on clean energy, a quiet shift is underway. Instead of treating carbon dioxide as a dead-end waste gas, researchers want to turn it into a useful starting point. A new study from Vrije Universiteit Brussel describes progress toward solar fuel systems that can convert sunlight into chemical energy more efficiently, while lasting longer under real operating conditions. The work centers on semiconductors, materials that can absorb light and help drive chemical reactions. In solar fuel devices, these materials sit at the heart of the system. They catch sunlight, create electrical charges, and push those charges toward electrodes where chemistry happens. If any step falters, the whole promise of solar fuels fades. The researchers report they learned how to make these semiconductor-based systems both sturdier and stronger. They tracked how energy inside the material connects with electrodes, how charges cross key boundaries, and which factors most affect long-term stability. They also found that adding special catalysts can raise performance and extend system lifetime. Top row: surface scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of CBS, …

The Environmental and Human Rights Costs of China’s Clean Energy Investments Abroad

The Environmental and Human Rights Costs of China’s Clean Energy Investments Abroad

Published by skeptic

Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for China’s U.S. embassy, rejected the notion that Chinese investments were violating people’s rights. In an email, Liu said the country’s Belt and Road Initiative, the umbrella for its overseas infrastructure investments, aims to support green economic growth. “The founding purpose of the BRI is to advance China’s cooperation with partner countries following the principle of mutual respect, equality, and mutual benefit, to help them develop the economy and shake off poverty, which is a human right they need more than any other,” Liu said. In Hungary, academics and environmentalists say, the investments have been accelerated by lax oversight and fast-tracked permitting. Orbán’s government eliminated the country’s environment ministry after coming to power in 2010 and has cracked down on protests and dissent more broadly. After Kozma began speaking out about the battery factories, she became the target of smear campaigns on social media and state-backed news sites that said she was acting on behalf of foreign agents and against the interest of citizens. She has not backed down, however. As …