The word “renewable” often triggers thoughts of solar and wind in the realm of energy technology.

Two researchers from Virginia Tech are now trying to change that perception, focusing on maximizing the amount of electricity that can be generated from the wastewater we flush down the toilet.

They’re turning poo into power.

“Tracing the bacteria gave us a major piece of the puzzle to start generating electricity in a sustainable way,” said Xueyang Feng, co-author of the study. “This is a step toward the growing trend to make wastewater treatment centers self-sustaining in the energy they use.”

UV light can now be stored at much higher temperatures thanks to the development of a photo-electrochemical cell.
Image: Advanced Functional Materials

A new photo-electrochemical cell has been developed with the potential to chemically store the sun’s energy at high temperatures.

It’s a concept pulled directly from nature: plants absorb sunlight and store it chemically. While the concept is simple, replicating it on a large scale has proven quite difficult.

Current photovoltaic technology can convert sunlight to electricity, but as temperatures increase, the solar cell efficiency consequently decreases.

Storage at high temperatures

The new concept developed by scientists at Vienna University of Technology looks to overcome these issues. Through a combination of specialized new materials, researchers were able to combine high temperature photovoltaics with an electrochemical cell.

From that point, the sun’s rays can be directly used to pump oxygen ions through a solid oxide electrolyte and the UV light is subsequently stored chemically. This breakthrough allows for the system to work at higher temperatures than ever before.

Mirroring a concept from nature

“This would allow us to concentrate sunlight with mirrors and build large-scale plants with a high rate of efficiency,” said Georg Brunauer, lead author of the study. “Our cell consists of two different parts – a photoelectric part on top and an electrochemical part below. In the upper layer, ultraviolet light creates free charge carriers, just like in a standard solar cell.”

Researchers hope this could lead the splitting water and the production of hydrogen.

“We want to understand the origin of these effects by carrying out a few more experiments, and we hope that we will be able to improve our materials even further,” Brunauer said. “This goal is within reach, now that we have shown that the cell is working.”

The new carbon-based material for sodium-ion batteries can be extracted from apples.
Image: KIT

The saying goes: an apple a day keeps the doctor away; but in this case, an apple may be the answer to the next generation of energy storage technology.

ECS member Stefano Passerini of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology is leading a study to extract carbon-based materials for sodium-ion batteries from organic apple waste.

Developing batteries from waste

This new development could help reduce the costs of future energy storage systems by applying a cheap material with excellent electrochemical properties to the already promising field of sodium-ion batteries.

(MORE: Read more research by Passerini.)

Many researchers are currently looking to sodium-ion batteries as the next generation of energy storage, with the ability to outpace the conventional lithium-ion battery.

The future of sodium-ion batteries

Interest in sodium-ion batteries dates back to the 1980s, but discoveries haven’t taken off until recently. Researchers are now finding way to combat low energy densities and short life cycles through using novel materials such as apples.

(MORE: Read the full paper in ChemElectroChem.)

Sodium-ion batteries could prove to be the next big thing in large scale energy storage due to the high abundance of materials used in development and the relatively low costs involved.

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Krishnan Rajeshwar, ECS senior vice president and co-founder of UTA’s Center for Renewable Energy, Science and Technology

New research headed by ECS senior vice president Krishnan Rajeshwar has developed “green fuels” to power cars, home appliances, and even impact critical energy storage devices.

Solar fuels addressing global issues

Rajeshwar’s research works to address critical global and environmental issue by creating an inexpensive way to generate fuel from harmful emissions such as carbon dioxide.

(MORE: Read additional publications by Rajeshwar.)

The University of Texas at Arlington professor and 35 year ECS member has developed a novel high-performing material for cells that harness sunlight to split carbon dioxide and water into usable fuels like methanol and hydrogen gas.

From harmful to helpful

“Technologies that simultaneously permit us to remove greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide while harnessing and storing the energy of sunlight as fuel are at the forefront of current research,” Rajeshwar said. “Our new material could improve the safety, efficiency and cost-effectiveness of solar fuel generation, which is not yet economically viable.”

(MORE: Read the full study as published in ChemElectroChem Europe.)

This from University of Texas at Arlington:

The new hybrid platform uses ultra-long carbon nanotube networks with a homogeneous coating of copper oxide nanocrystals. It demonstrates both the high electrical conductivity of carbon nanotubes and the photocathode qualities of copper oxide, efficiently converting light into the photocurrents needed for the photoelectrochemical reduction process.

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For most of history, fuel cells existed only as laboratory curiosities. As far back as 1839, the English scientist William Grove had the idea that the reactants of a battery could be gases fed into it from external tanks.

Since their humble beginnings, fuel cells have come a far to prove as a viable alternative to combustion. Currently, researchers at the University of Basel are studying how sunlight could split water into hydrogen and oxygen, creating a fuel cell that could produce clean energy from water.

(MORE: Read “Battery and Fuel Cell Technology.”)

Artificial photosynthesis has proven to be one of the most promising tools in producing clean, renewable resources. This process occurs when water is photo-electrochemically, with the aid of sunlight, separated into its H₂ and O₂ components.

Of the two reactions that occur, water oxidation typically provides researchers with the most hurdles to overcome. The new research works to develop an efficient, sustainable water oxidation catalyst.

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Morocco has officially opened the Noor I power plan — a massive solar power plant in the Sahara Desert that is poised to provide renewable energy to more than one million Moroccans.

Projects show the Noor I power plants with the capability of generating up to 160 megawatts of power. Thousands of solar panels cover an expansive piece of the desert, making it one of the world’s biggest solar thermal power plants.

But Morocco is well on the way to developing the single largest solar power production facility in the world, with Noor II and Noor III already underway.

This from NPR:

Morocco currently relies on imported sources for 97 percent of its energy consumption, according to the World Bank, which helped fund the Noor power plant project. Investing in renewable energy will make Morocco less reliant on those imports as well as reduce the nation’s long-term carbon emissions by millions of tons.

Read the full article.

Because of the climate in the Sahara Desert, the systems will work by capturing the sun’s energy as heat and converting water into steam, thus turning the turbines.

This differs from a traditional photovoltaic system, where the thermal system carries the ability to function without direct sunlight. Additionally, energy storage technologies are not necessary for evening use.

Sweden, a world leader in clean energy solutions, is make new innovations in harnessing the energy of wave power.

In an effort to combat the detrimental effects of climate change, countries around the world are looking for the next big thing in energy. In Sweden, part of that answer may be in buoys drifting in the ocean.

For the first time, Wave Energy Converters the Sotenäs Wave Power Plant on the Swedish West Coast is generating electricity and transporting it to the Swedish grid through buoys.

This from Seabased:

The connection of the six meter diameter buoys to the corresponding linear generator Wave Energy Converters on the seabed represents the final step in bringing each unit on line, together making up a system establishing many World firsts, including the world’s first multiple unit wave power plant and the world’s first subsea generator switchgear.

Read the full article.

Currently, Sweden is one of the global leader in clean energy solutions. Since the country’s oil crisis in the 1970s, the country has transitioned from an energy infrastructure from 70 percent dependency on oil to just a 20 percent dependency.

“This is a very significant achievement,” said Mats Leijon, CEO of Seabased. “We are very happy to have come this far and I wish to thank Fortum and the Swedish Energy Agency for their confidence and support all throughout this, sometimes tough, journey.”

In order to meet increasing water demands and combat the devastating effects of climate change, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is looking toward scientific innovation to help quench the Persian Gulf’s thirst.

Increasing water shortage in UAE

The first issue that leads to UAE water shortages is the essentially non-existent rainfall paired with the country’s high water consumption. The UAE’s capital of Abu Dhabi receives only 75mm of rainfall annually, with the country as a whole receiving less than 100mm of rainfall each year . Pair that with a water consumption that is the highest in the world, coming in at 82 percent above global average, and the situation starts to look serous.

But that’s not the only issue in the UAE’s water supply problems. Climate change is making this land even hotter and drier than ever before, with a study stating that the effects of climate change may make the Persian Gulf uninhabitable by 2071.

(MORE: See how ECS scientists are addressing water and sanitation issues around the world.)

For this reason, the UAE is turning toward German and Japanese researchers, offering a $5 million reward to researchers who could help solve this problem.

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The capture and recycling of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere may be the first stop toward a “methanol economy.”

For the first time, researchers have successfully proven that carbon dioxide captured from the environment can be transformed into methanol. This not only removes damaging carbon dioxide emissions, but also produces an exciting alternative fuel. For some, this is an inevitable step toward an economy where fuel and energy storage would be primarily based on methanol.

The study was led by the University of Southern California professors G. K. Surya Prakash and George A. Olah and was published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

“Direct CO₂ capture and conversion to methanol using molecular hydrogen in the same pot was never achieved before. We have now done it!” Prakash says.

Methanol is especially attractive because of its use as an alternative fuel in fuel cells and for hydrogen storage. Some believe that methanol is the future, with 70 million tons already being produced annually via the production of plastics.

This from Phys.org:

In the new study, the researchers developed a stable catalyst based on the metal ruthenium that does not decompose at high temperatures. The catalyst’s good stability allows it to be reused over and over again for the continuous production of methanol.

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With plunging oil prices, it is proving to be more difficult than ever to entice buyers into purchasing an electric vehicle. While the low oil prices may be good for consumers’ gas tanks, the transportation sector continues to account for 27 percent of the United States’ greenhouse gas emissions.

The question then arises of how electric car manufacturers can steer folks back toward electric vehicles and away from gas-guzzling cars?

(MORE: Read Interface: PV, EV, and Your Home)

Impact of falling oil prices

“It definitely makes the transition to sustainable energy more difficult,” said Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, at a business conference in Hong Kong about the impact of the free-falling oil prices.

Tesla rose to prominence in 2003 when oil prices soared, making electric vehicles all the more tempting. With oil prices continually on the decline, it’s now up to companies like Tesla to compel buyers and stress the importance of transitioning toward cleaner vehicles.

New features for electric cars

For companies like Tesla, that means developing things like autonomous cars with “summon” features – allowing the user to call their car just like a pet. Even aesthetic aspects have become more important, with Tesla focusing on futuristic designs.

“What we’re aspiring to do is to make the cars so compelling that even with lower gas prices, it’s still the car you want to buy,” Musk said.

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