Tag: energy

Near the end of last year I published a video on solid hydrogen storage and it got a lot of questions, critiques, and push back from some of you. In some cases, rightfully so, and in other cases, not so much. Based on the more constructive critiques, the video focused too much on one company, Plasma Kinetics and their claims. It didn’t give enough context around metal hydrides in general. In trying to simplify a pretty complex topic, I oversimplified some things, which created problems. So is solid hydrogen storage actually a thing? Is solid hydrogen currently being used? And what about Plasma Kinetics? Let’s take another crack at solid hydrogen energy storage and try to address some of the shortcomings of my last video.

Geothermal energy has the potential to power the world. However, it hasn’t been the hottest renewable energy option because drilling deep enough into the earth is difficult and costly. A startup has recently unearthed a solution: A gyrotron heat ray to melt rocks (sort of). This is a well-established nuclear fusion technology being reapplied to geothermal energy. Could it unlock the true potential of geothermal energy and make it a better renewable energy source than solar and wind?

GM is one of the largest automakers in the world with a range of models falling under its four brands, Chevy, Buick, Cadillac, and GMC. The automaker made its name selling gas burning cars but in January 2021, it made a stunning announcement. The company said it “aspires to eliminate tailpipe emissions from new light-duty vehicles by 2035.” This means that GM intends to stop selling gas-burning cars. General Motors says it wants to lead electric vehicle sales in North America by 2025, and vows that its new Ultium battery platform will drive that dominance.

Not only are cars going electric but so are boats. General Motors recently invested $150 million in one start-up, Pure Watercraft, to build an electric pontoon boat. And several others are working to bring their own battery-powered offerings to market.

The #electric #motorcycles revolution is coming and – shock! – it will be here to stay.

We know many of you out there will take a lot of convincing to convert, so here are some of the most convincing electric motorcycles available right now or coming soon that maybe – just maybe – will spark your interest

LiveWire ONE (1:03)
LiveWire Del Mar (2:14)
Zero SR/F (2:56)
BMW CE.04 (3:48)
Energica Ego (4:46)
Energica Experia (5:45)
Kymco RevoNEX (6:24)
Damon HyperSport (7.20)
Arc Vector (8:11)
Ducati MotoE (9:17)

We have a home heating and cooling (HVAC) solution that could move 3-5x more heat than the electricity we put into it. Air source and geothermal heat pumps are an amazing piece of counter-intuitive technology that can be 300-500% efficient. In the past they struggled in more extreme conditions, but things have come a long way since then. How well do heat pumps actually work? And should we be using them everywhere? Let’s see if we can come to a decision on this.

For some, nuclear power may conjure images of mushroom clouds or bring back memories of disturbing nuclear disasters like Chernobyle and Fukushima. But despite public fear around nuclear power, the technology has proved to be an emission-free, reliable way to produce large amounts of electricity on a small footprint. As a result, sentiments about the technology are beginning to change.

Both the U.S. government and private companies including X Energy, NuScale and, Bill Gates-backed, TerraPower are pouring money into developing, what they say will be smaller, safer nuclear reactors. CNBC visited Idaho National Laboratory to see the Marvel microreactor firsthand and learn what such developments could mean for the future of nuclear power.

After humankind discovered nuclear fission, the first applied use was the atomic bomb. The study of fission for electricity production came later.

In December 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave his fateful Atoms for Peace speech, an impassioned plea to reconstitute the power of the atomic bombs dropped in World War II for a more noble cause.

“Against the dark background of the atomic bomb, the United States does not wish merely to present strength, but also the desire and the hope for peace,” Eisenhower told the United Nations.

Almost 70 years later, the tension between those end uses still underlies the space today.

From the 1950s through the 1970s, the United States dramatically increased its nuclear energy generation.

But the Three Mile Island accident in 1979 and Chornobyl meltdown in 1986 changed the landscape, spurring fear that nuclear energy could not be controlled safely.

Since the 1980s, nuclear energy capacity and generation in the U.S. has largely stayed flat. Today, the country’s fleet of nuclear power reactors produces only 19% of the country’s electricity, according to the government’s Energy Information Administration.

In more recent times, the Fukushima Daiichi accident in Japan in 2011 — and earlier this year the capture of nuclear power plants in Ukraine by invading Russian forces — have added to public concerns.

But despite its fraught origin story and the psychological effect of high-profile accidents, nuclear energy is getting a second look.

That’s largely because nuclear energy is clean energy, releasing no greenhouse gasses. Meanwhile, the world is seeing more of the effects of climate change, including rising global temperatures, increased pollution, wildfires, and more intense and deadly storms.

“We need to change course — now — and end our senseless and suicidal war against nature,” Antonio Guterres, the secretary-general of the United Nations, said in Stockholm on Thursday.

“There is one thing that threatens all our progress. The climate crisis. Unless we act now, we will not have a livable planet,” Guterres said. “Scientists recently reported that there is a 50-50 chance that we could temporarily breach the Paris Agreement limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius in the next five years.”