Alternative energy

The California Institute of Technology has big news for space-based power. Researchers at the university have reportedly beamed solar power from space to Earth without a single wire—and they say it’s a first.This Summer’s Hottest UmbrellaThe experiment is a part of Caltech’s Space Solar Power Project, and the institute announced a successful transmission via press release yesterday. The researchers conducted the power transfer experiment using the Microwave Array for Power-transfer Low-orbit Experiment, or MAPLE, which is…

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U.S. manufacturing takes up a lot of energy, but there’s untapped potential in solar power for that sector, new research finds. A study looked at how installing solar panels throughout manufacturing sites could meet a third of that sector’s power needs.This Summer’s Hottest UmbrellaResearchers used a survey from the Department of Energy and compared states to understand where rooftop solar could best supply electricity needs for manufacturing. Theyfound that companies that focus on textiles, apparel, and furniture would…

Are we closer to the “Holy Grail” of clean energy? Silicon Valley wants you to believe. Warning! Microsoft Wants ChatGPT to Control Robots NextThis week, nuclear fusion startup Helion announced that it had inked a first-of-its-kind deal with Microsoft to provide 50 megawatts of power from a yet-to-be built power plant, all within the next five years. Unlike nuclear fission, the process that powers all the nuclear power plants existing today, nuclear fusion could create potentially unlimited energy. It’s a dream that…

Photo: Press Association (AP)One of the world’s biggest renewable energy players may be misleading the public about its product. Earlier this month, Mongabay published a damning report on Enviva, the world’s biggest producer of wood chips used for biomass energy, based on allegations from an anonymous former employee, who claimed that the company is producing its chips in a much less environmentally friendly way than its PR materials claim.Biomass energy, the practice of burning wood to generate power, is one of those…

The U.S. Department of Energy announced Tuesday morning that scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory achieved net energy gain in a fusion reaction, a vaunted goal in humankind’s quest for a reliable, zero-carbon energy source.Successful fusion reactions are nothing new, but the field has struggled with a big problem since its inception: Scientists have not been able to get more power out of a reaction than they had to put in. Now, that has happened.The momentous result from the National Ignition Facility in…

A powerful coalition of industry interests paid for a peer-reviewed study on the benefits of hydrogen as an energy source, the Boston Globe reported in an article published Wednesday. The study neglected to mention the significant involvement of fossil fuel players in drafting the text. According to documents obtained by the Globe, these industry interests were so involved in the research that they were “allowed to review and suggest changes before the study was released,” including drafting large portions of the study’s…

A customer in Vermont stands next to a Tesla Powerwall battery and inverter which she uses to store solar energy.Photo: Dave Gram (AP)Using Tesla’s Powerwall batteries, households on the island of Miyako-jima in Japan have built out a virtual power plant that can send excess power to the electric grid in their area. Over the past year, Tesla’s been creating what they’re calling one of the largest virtual power plants in Japan. This is according to a statement released by the company onFriday. There are currently more…