Scientists are working to develop clean energy

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Ученые работают над созданием чистой энергии

Modern energy scene in the fire. The sector is in the midst of absolute activity and innovation, an increasing number of new devices, approaches, and advanced software and hardware. As the need for alternative sources of clean energy is becoming more urgent as the world’s leading experts, such as the intergovernmental group of experts on climate change warn that a tipping point against catastrophic damage to the environment is not far off, researchers pure energy responded in kind, publishing a list of studies. pointing out a number of potential solutions for replacement of fossil fuels. So why is the world still runs on oil?

Let’s go back and consider some of the incredible energy innovations, which were introduced in recent years. We’ll start with the one that is currently a hot topic as it is presented as one of the most exciting prospects for the production of clean energy and is the wave energy. This new method uses the ebb and flow of ocean tides to produce an extremely clean form of renewable energy. Interestingly, wave energy itself is a form of solar energy and wind energy. As explained by World Finance”When the sun’s rays enter the Earth’s atmosphere, they heat it. Around the globe, naturally, a difference in temperature, causing the air moves from hotter areas to colder, which leads to wind. When the winds move the seas, part of their kinetic energy is transferred into the water, creating waves “. The creation of energy through the use of vertical movements of the ocean have great potential to transform our energy landscape for the better. As told to World Finance, the Director General of Sea Wave Energy Adamos Zackheos: “Wave energy, when used properly, can produce an abundance of clean, cheap, renewable energy, significantly reducing the dependence on fossil fuels. We all see the effects of global warming; using blue energy.

Speaking of water, it’s been five years since then, Cynthia Sin nga Lam, one of the brilliant Teens-finalists of the Google Science Fair 2014, has developed a device that simultaneously cleans the contaminated water and produces energy, which offers significant potential benefits for health and the economy. poor communities are experiencing a shortage of drinking water and sources of energy. As the Company explains that the device works in the following way: “Dirty water goes in one end, and activated titanium mesh sun sterilizes the water and sends it through an additional filter. The photocatalytic reaction also splits the water into hydrogen and oxygen, so someone can flip the switch and begin to fuel a hydrogen fuel cell to produce clean energy. Detergents, soap and other contaminants in the water help to produce more hydrogen.” Although Lam moved to other sites at school, her idea, so to speak, not dead in the water – a team of scientists At the University of science and technology named after king Abdullah in Thuwal Saudi Arabia is working on a similar device mounted on the solar panel, which also cleans the water and at the same time produces energy. “While the solar cell collects sunlight for electricity, heat from the solar panel causes evaporation of the water in the distiller below. This steam penetrates through the porous polystyrene membrane that filters out salt and other impurities, allowing clean water to condense on the other side, ” the report says.

Even solar panels that are actually no longer considered new or innovative, since for many they have become a household name and even household items, has made amazing progress with great potential to increase efficiency and productivity. As reported OilPrice in December last year, one of the most promising technologies that still somehow fly under the radar in the world of solar panels, is what’s called a concentrated fotovoltaicos. “Concentrated photovoltaics uses a combination of lenses and curved mirrors to focus natural sunlight, which he collects on a compact and highly efficient multijunction solar cells and is often equipped with solar trackers and cooling system for more efficient and streamlined process.”

In addition, Stanford has developed a “sun panel”, which is able to use the energy of the night sky. The device is based on thermoelectric generator works by capturing energy from the temperature difference between the Earth and the cosmos through the use of “passive cooling mechanism, known as radiative cooling to the sky, to maintain the cold side of a thermoelectric generator a few degrees below the ambient temperature” according to the researchers ‘report, poetically named” generating the light from the darkness .”

These examples are actually only a tiny, tiny sample of what is happening at the forefront of clean and renewable energy. In addition to these promising breakthrough technologies, there are also incredible development using artificial intelligence , robots to clean nuclear waste , hydrogen fuel cells, and more (even the jellyfish !). So why are these amazing technologies are still flying under the radar? What prevents them to be accepted in the main the energy sector?

One word: financing. In an article published last year in technology Review, Massachusetts Institute of technology entitled “Why bad things happen to startups in the field of clean energy”, it was reported that “to date [the bankruptcy] is a common thing in clean energy. Companies have to invest huge upfront investment in the development of new equipment and increase production, while simultaneously pursuing a moving target in price and performance with the improvement of existing technologies. Faced with these problems, few succeed “.

While global investment in renewable energy increase, the growth is not stable, and in the United States, he remains largely at the same level, and from the point of view of barriers of control becomes worse. Almost all promising technologies, referred to above, clearly pointed out the need to increase investment as a barrier for expansion. “The question is, where it comes from, such investments,” says MIT. “The trump has taken steps to dismantle the Federal program funding start-UPS in clean energy, and in 2011, venture investment in such technologies has decreased by almost 30 percent from 7.5 billion to 5.2 billion, according to a recent report by the Brookings institution. “.

To avoid catastrophic climate change, “a third of all oil reserves, half of gas reserves and over 80% of current coal reserves should remain in the ground” – and this was as of 2015 . Now the situation is even more terrible. Although there is still no silver bullet solution for limitless clean energy, which would be as reliable and cheap as fossil fuels, there is no time to stop. There is already a broad and exciting field of clean energy technologies, and it is constantly growing. Science is, the argument is, and the urgency is. Now we just need the funding.

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