
ClimateTech Updates For February 2021
Xpansiv gathers traceable production data to differentiate clean commodities from dirty ones, hereby empowering the free markets to decide what a low carbon footprint is worth. Xpansiv then provides investors a global market for an expanding ecosystem of proven environmental commodities like Renewable Energy Certificates, carbon offsets, and differentiated fuels.

Electric Car Charging As Fast As Gasoline Is The Aim, But Barriers Remain
You will soon be able to recharge your electric car as fast and easily as a traditional gasoline fill-up. The trouble is “soon” is likely to be least 4 and maybe 8 years or more away.

Carbon fiber optimized for wind turbine blades could bring cost, performance benefits
A new carbon fiber material could bring cost and performance benefits to the wind industry if developed commercially, according to a study led by researchers at Sandia National Laboratories.

Wind powers more than half of UK electricity for first time
Wind power accounted for more than half of Britain’s daily generated electricity on Saturday in the wake of Storm Bella, according to energy giant Drax. The percentage of wind power in the country’s energy mix hit a record 50.67 percent on Saturday, the company said over the weekend, beating the previous record of 50 percent in August.

Artificial visual system of record-low energy consumption for the next generation of AI
A joint study led by City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has built an ultralow-power consumption artificial visual system to mimic the human brain, which successfully performed data-intensive cognitive tasks. Their experiment results could provide a promising device system for the next generation of artificial intelligence (AI) applications.
A joint study led by City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has built an ultralow-power consumption artificial visual system to mimic the human brain, which successfully performed data-intensive cognitive tasks. Their experiment results could provide a promising device system for the next generation of artificial intelligence (AI) applications.

High-rate Li-ion batteries demonstrate superior safety
As the inevitable growth of transport electrification continues, the types of batteries that will be used in such vehicles, their charging parameters, infrastructure and timeframes are key considerations that will speed up the transition to electrification.

How The World’s Largest Green Search Engine Is Fighting Climate Change
In the 60 seconds it will take you to read this post, more than 12 trees will have been planted in an area where natural forests have disappeared. It takes about 45 searches through the world’s biggest not-for-profit search engine Ecosia to plant a tree.

Study measures Switzerland's potential geothermal heating capacity
An EPFL Ph.D. student has calculated the maximum amount of geothermal energy that could theoretically be extracted using ground-source heat pumps in the Cantons of Vaud and Geneva. In a study combining data on the area available for such systems with computer modeling techniques, she found stark differences between geothermal energy’s potential in urban versus rural areas.

A blast of gas for better solar cells
Treating silicon with carbon dioxide gas in plasma processing brings simplicity and control to a key step for making solar cells. A simple process for depositing silicon oxide onto silicon wafers could be a great step forward for making silicon-based solar cells. Researchers at KAUST have used a method called plasma processing in a chamber filled with carbon dioxide gas.

Ambitious but controversial: Japan's new hydrogen project
Japan’s new 2050 deadline for carbon neutrality has thrown a spotlight on its efforts to find new, greener fuel options, including an ambitious but controversial liquid hydrogen venture. The Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain (HESC) is a joint Japanese-Australian project intended to produce plentiful, affordable fuel for Japan.

Global analysis shows major electric utilities not moving to greener alternatives
An enterprise environmentalist at the University of Oxford has conducted an analysis of the major electricity-producing utilities around the world and has found that they are not doing much to move from fossil fuels to greener alternatives. In her paper published in the journal Nature Energy, Galina Alova describes her analysis of big electricity producers in countries around the globe and what she found.

Energy firm says its nuclear-waste fueled diamond batteries could last thousands of years
A cellphone power source that lasts nine years. An auto-battery pack that lasts nearly a century. A pacemaker that is powered to last 28,000 years. These surreal claims are being made by a California-based battery company that says successful early test results recently competed on a nano-diamond battery brings them closer to realizing such claims.

5 Tips To Build The Best Network For Your Greentech Enterprise
From launching an award-winning environmental movement to co-founding a startup for tree-planting drones, Irina Fedorenko is a serial entrepreneur with the ability to inspire others to participate in galvanising change.

California’s New Regulations On Heavy Duty Diesels Is Equivalent Of Removing 16 Million Cars From Road
It was a decision 10 years in the making. On Thursday the California Air Resources Board finally approved new regulations that will dramatically reduce Nitrogen Oxide emissions in the state.

Faster, more efficient energy storage could stem from holistic study of layered materials
A team led by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed a novel, integrated approach to track energy-transporting ions within an ultra-thin material, which could unlock its energy storage potential leading toward faster charging, longer lasting devices.

Researchers have a bold proposal to tackle one of the biggest barriers to more renewable energy
The phrase “too much of a good thing” may sound like a contradiction, but it encapsulates one of the key hurdles preventing the expansion of renewable energy generation. Too much of a service or commodity makes it harder for companies to sell them, so they curtail production.