Power Surge 7.4

Power Surge 7.4

Volume 7, Issue 4
March 10, 2018 – March 16, 2019
Neha Chauhan '21 | Joseph Kawalec '21 | Amy Amatya '21 | Patrick Huang ‘21 | Rei Zhang ‘21 | Sabrina Reguyal ‘22

Is Onboard Hydrogen Storage The Future Of Zero Emission Vehicles? March 3, 2019 | Forbes | Robert Rapier For this article, Forbes reporter Robert Rapier contacted Australian-Israeli startup Electriq~Global to understand more about how their technolo…

Is Onboard Hydrogen Storage The Future Of Zero Emission Vehicles?
March 3, 2019 | Forbes | Robert Rapier
For this article, Forbes reporter Robert Rapier contacted Australian-Israeli startup Electriq~Global to understand more about how their technology behind onboard hydrogen storage could become the future of zero emission vehicles. Essentially, a hydride named potassium borohydride would act as the fuel, and would react with water to release hydrogen. This reaction would only occur in the presence of a certain catalyst, which would allow for the hydride to release hydrogen on demand. A vehicle that obtains energy using this method would produce zero carbon emissions, and there are no currently obvious technical issues with this mode of transportation. -JK


Spacecrafts’ solar panels can serve double-duty as sails March 7, 2019 | The Economist Typically, satellites navigate in orbit using thrusters that burn fuel, which will eventually run out. One fuel-free satellite repositioning method uses a techniq…

Spacecrafts’ solar panels can serve double-duty as sails
March 7, 2019 | The Economist
Typically, satellites navigate in orbit using thrusters that burn fuel, which will eventually run out. One fuel-free satellite repositioning method uses a technique called differential drag. In lower orbits (less than 650 km above the Earth’s surface), air molecules from the Earth's atmosphere are relatively abundant and create more drag, causing satellites to move more slowly than those in higher orbits. Changing the effective drag can be accomplished by applying torque that adjusts the orientation of the satellite. Another alternative process involves harnessing the pressure from the bombardment of light onto solar panels to accelerate satellites into higher orbits. These developments may prolong the lifespan of satellites by limiting or entirely removing constraints caused by fuel. -PH


India’s Clean Energy Revolution Needs to Start And End With Rural Consumers  March 4, 2019 | Forbes | Nishtha Chugh India’s two-decade-long electrification movement has become a global success story in the energy world. Since 2000, nearly half …

India’s Clean Energy Revolution Needs to Start And End With Rural Consumers 
March 4, 2019 | Forbes | Nishtha Chugh
India’s two-decade-long electrification movement has become a global success story in the energy world. Since 2000, nearly half a billion Indians have gained access to energy, and in 2018 India was the largest market for standalone solar products. However, millions of rural households remain without electricity. Despite claims that India is “100% electrified,” a village only needs 10% of its buildings to be connected to the grid in order for Indian officials to deem it “electrified,” and there remains widespread dissatisfaction over unreliable energy; instead, those in rural regions are turning to their own non-grid solutions (including private solar power grids). -AA


Before Saudi Arabia Goes Nuclear, It May Have to Follow Iran’s Footsteps March 6, 2019 | Bloomberg | Jonathan Tirone An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) conference in Vienna this week has brought to the fore issues of regulation and monitor…

Before Saudi Arabia Goes Nuclear, It May Have to Follow Iran’s Footsteps
March 6, 2019 | Bloomberg | Jonathan Tirone
An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) conference in Vienna this week has brought to the fore issues of regulation and monitoring of nuclear energy programs. Among these issues are concerns about Saudi ambitions for energy generation diversification. Saudi Arabia, though it is the world’s largest exporter of crude oil, has recently begun looking into nuclear energy with the hopes of addressing rising power consumption and desalination costs; reducing greenhouse gas emissions; and increasing oil available for export. According to IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano, Riyadh is expected to complete its first research reactor by the end of the year and has plans to mine uranium reserves. This conference comes a month after the U.S. Congress began investigating the possibility of illegal transfer of sensitive technologies into Saudi Arabia. -SR


Biomass battle: lawsuit challenges EU on ‘renewable energy’ definition March 6, 2019 | Electrek | Phil Dzikiy In 2016, the European Union allocated biomass as renewable energy in the Renewable Energy Directive(RED II), their revised plan to inc…

Biomass battle: lawsuit challenges EU on ‘renewable energy’ definition
March 6, 2019 | Electrek | Phil Dzikiy
In 2016, the European Union allocated biomass as renewable energy in the Renewable Energy Directive(RED II), their revised plan to increase the amount of renewable energy used in Europe by 2030. The EU is heavily relying on burning wood to help lessen their reliance on coal. However, a new lawsuit backed by six countries was submitted to the European General Court to challenge the EU’s increasing reliance on biomass. The plaintiffs charge that using biomass increases logging and forest destruction. Over 800 scientists signed a letter stating that burning biomass should not be considered acceptable to reach renewable energy targets, whereas the EPA, USDA, and DOE disagree, affirming that biomass is carbon neutral. -RZ

Power Surge 7.3

Power Surge 7.3

Volume 7, Issue 3
March 3, 2018 – March 9, 2019
Neha Chauhan '21 | Joseph Kawalec '21 | Amy Amatya '21 | Patrick Huang ‘21 | Rei Zhang ‘21


Department of Energy Moves Forward with Controversial Test Reactor February 28, 2019 | Science Magazine | Adrian Cho Development of the Versatile Fast Neutron Source at Idaho’s National Laboratory will continue as planned. Also called the Versatile …

Department of Energy Moves Forward with Controversial Test Reactor
February 28, 2019 | Science Magazine | Adrian Cho
Development of the Versatile Fast Neutron Source at Idaho’s National Laboratory will continue as planned. Also called the Versatile Test Reactor, this facility’s purpose is to generate high-energy neutrons for testing advanced nuclear fuels, materials, sensors, and instrumentation. With it, the Department of Energy hopes to bolster America’s position at the cutting edge of nuclear technology in the face of increasing competition from China and Russia. However, critics including Professor von Hippel of Princeton University argue that this is a pork barrel project meant to bring money into a certain district, and that the reactor will begin operation too late to bolster American companies developing novel fast-reactor designs. Ultimately, the Versatile Test Reactor is hoped to come online in 2026, costing between $3 to $3.5 billion. -SR


“You Say You Want a Revolution” In the Physics of Energy: Good Luck Green New Deal February 28, 2019 | Forbes | Mark Mills In 2017, the International Monetary Fund analogized the impending energy revolution to the smartphone revolution of …

“You Say You Want a Revolution” In the Physics of Energy: Good Luck Green New Deal
February 28, 2019 | Forbes | Mark Mills
In 2017, the International Monetary Fund analogized the impending energy revolution to the smartphone revolution of the 2000’s, alluding to the inevitable need for creative energy solutions as we see increasing climate change. However, this comparison is misguided – the limitations of today’s physics make a change in energy production or storage unlikely on the disruptive scale that seems to be expected in political discussions such as those surrounding the Green New Deal. The mission of the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E), created only a decade ago under the Department of Energy, would be more productive in supporting developments in basic science; limitations in current energy production and storage methods mean that this will be the first step in an energy revolution. -AA


Under Trump's Tariffs, The US Lost 20,000 Solar Energy Jobs February 24, 2019  | Forbes | James Ellsmoor After the best recorded year for solar energy in 2016, the growth of solar jobs stagnated and decreased by 18,000 total in the two followin…

Under Trump's Tariffs, The US Lost 20,000 Solar Energy Jobs
February 24, 2019  | Forbes | James Ellsmoor
After the best recorded year for solar energy in 2016, the growth of solar jobs stagnated and decreased by 18,000 total in the two following years. This article highlights President Trump’s proposed 30% tariffs on cheap solar imports from China as the largest contributing factor to the slowdown, as the solar industry relies on more expensive imports. However, The Solar Foundation is optimistic for 2019, as it projects a reversal of the employment slowdown and an increase of seven percent of jobs to industry as a whole, based on data from the 2018 National Solar Jobs Census. -RZ


Green Power: The Quest to Harness Energy From Leaves February 28, 2019 | Wall Street Journal | Rebecca Heilweil Researchers in the Center for Micro-BioRobotics at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia have outfitted a plant with additional artificial …

Green Power: The Quest to Harness Energy From Leaves
February 28, 2019 | Wall Street Journal | Rebecca Heilweil
Researchers in the Center for Micro-BioRobotics at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia have outfitted a plant with additional artificial leaves that facilitate the conversion of wind energy into electricity. This team, led by Barbara Mazzolai, published a paper detailing how natural plant leaves held in contact with silicone rubber “leaves” attached to the plant’s trunk could successfully produce electricity. Mazzolai’s research group has also worked on building robots that work in conjunction with or function like plants. For example, the team’s “plantoids” are robots that can dig, bend, and take measurements with attached sensors. One was even equipped with a 3D printing device that allowed it to add layers of material, effectively allowing the plantoid to grow. Mazzolai hopes that these projects will not only present new methods of energy generation and storage but also open new doors in the field of robotics. -PH


Scotland To Help China Develop Marine Energy Research Base February 28, 2019 | Forbes | John Parnell The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) is helping China develop the world’s second marine energy research base around Scotland’s Orkney Islands, w…

Scotland To Help China Develop Marine Energy Research Base
February 28, 2019 | Forbes | John Parnell
The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) is helping China develop the world’s second marine energy research base around Scotland’s Orkney Islands, which will host both wind- and tide-powered electricity generators. This is an exciting step forward for the relatively untapped field of marine energy — the world’s only other tidal and wind generator testing station is the Qingdao Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (QNLM) near Zhaitang Island in China. A long and craggy coastline suggests that the United Kingdom may be able to generate 20% of its power through ocean energy while also creating a substantial marine energy economy at home and abroad. Continued collaboration with the EMEC could provide the QNLM, which is testing a variety of innovative wave and tidal devices, with the experience and expertise necessary to get this plan off the ground. -JK