Power Surge 8.1

Power Surge 8.1

Volume 8, Issue 1
September 22, 2019 – September 28, 2019
Neha Chauhan '21 | Joe Kawalec '21 | Amy Amatya '21 | Patrick Huang ‘21 | Rei Zhang ‘21 | Sabrina Reguyal ‘22

Yukiya Amano, Head of the I.A.E.A. Nuclear Watchdog Group, Dies at 72 July 22, 2019 | The New York Times | Megan E. Specia and David E. Sanger Yukiya Amano, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (I.A.E.A.), died in July at age 72. Born …

Yukiya Amano, Head of the I.A.E.A. Nuclear Watchdog Group, Dies at 72
July 22, 2019 | The New York Times | Megan E. Specia and David E. Sanger
Yukiya Amano, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (I.A.E.A.), died in July at age 72. Born in 1947 in Yugawara, Japan, he was part of a generation heavily influenced by the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which pushed him towards a career centered on diplomacy. Some of his main accomplishments include inspecting Iran’s compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal and pressuring the Japanese government after the 2011 reactor meltdown in Fukushima to respond more quickly and inform the population of the dangers of spreading radiation. The I.A.E.A. has appointed Romanian diplomat Cornel Feruta as acting Director General. He has since continued Amano’s policies of supporting the Iran Nuclear Deal, placing pressure on the North Korean government for compliance, and supporting the role of nuclear energy in producing clean energy for the future. -SR

An accident in Russia points to the risks of atomic aviation
August 15, 2019 | The Economist
An accidental explosion and a nuclear radiation release on August 8th on Russia’s White Sea are being attributed to the country’s development of new long-range nuclear missiles. On March 1, 2018, President of Russia Vladimir Putin announced the development of a 9M730 Burevestnik, a nuclear-powered unlimited-range cruise missile. Such a missile could evade defenses more effectively, shortening warning times, and would have a greater range than existing nuclear missiles. The failure on August 8th is being regarded as an indication that developing this technology will yet take over a decade. -NC


Residential Solar: Becoming Increasingly Cost-Effective And Customer Friendly September 19, 2019 | Forbes | Peter Kelly-Detwiler With the costs of installing solar panels going down, according to the 9th Solar Marketplace Intel Report released by En…

Residential Solar: Becoming Increasingly Cost-Effective And Customer Friendly
September 19, 2019 | Forbes | Peter Kelly-Detwiler
With the costs of installing solar panels going down, according to the 9th Solar Marketplace Intel Report released by EnergySage, applying solar energy to houses in residential areas could become more accessible to the customer. EnergySage, an online tool built by current CEO Vikram Aggarwal, helped make the process of searching for solar energy contractors easier to navigate, and offered users the opportunity to make cost-effective choices. According to Aggarwal, they designed this platform so consumers can acquire these solar products as “easily, simply, and transparently as possible.” With big hopes for the years to come, Aggarwal foresees a future of solar energy in the hands of everyone in the country. -JK

Australia’s capital city switches to 100% renewable energy September 19, 2019 | Nature | Bianca Nogrady Canberra, Australia's capital, will join seven other districts in the world on January 1st, 2020, when it switches to 100% renewable energy. This…

Australia’s capital city switches to 100% renewable energy
September 19, 2019 | Nature | Bianca Nogrady
Canberra, Australia's capital, will join seven other districts in the world on January 1st, 2020, when it switches to 100% renewable energy. This means that Canberra will produce or purchase all of its electricity from renewable sources such as wind and solar. This event will mark the first major region in the Southern Hemisphere to rely completely on renewables; the others are located in Europe. -RZ

Transformative? New Device Harvests Energy in Darkness
Sept. 12, 2019 | New York Times | Rebecca Boyle
Aaswath Raman, an electrical engineer at UCLA, is designing a device that uses a heat gradient caused by radiative cooling to generate electricity in complete darkness. Right now, the primary goal of the project is to provide low-power electricity at night, such as for lights (a goal his prototype has already accomplished), and distribute this to areas without access to an electrical grid. A long-term goal is to eventually contribute to the grid as solar cells do, and to fill in solar energy’s gaps of daylight dependency. This work builds on materials research that has looked at the power of large-scale temperature differences between day and night, using solar energy during the day and the difference produced by cooling at night to generate electricity. Though there’s much research to be done, Raman was able to create such a device with low-cost materials - which means it has potential in powering the developing world. -AA

Power Surge 7.7

Power Surge 7.7

Volume 7, Issue 7
April 14, 2019 – April 20, 2019
Neha Chauhan '21 | Joseph Kawalec '21 | Amy Amatya '21 | Patrick Huang ‘21 | Rei Zhang ‘21 | Sabrina Reguyal ‘22

China Targets Nuclear Fusion Power Generation by 2040 April 12, 2019 | Reuters | David Stanway A senior scientist involved in China’s nuclear fusion energy project stated that the project aims to begin producing power from an exp…

China Targets Nuclear Fusion Power Generation by 2040
April 12, 2019 | Reuters | David Stanway
A senior scientist involved in China’s nuclear fusion energy project stated that the project aims to begin producing power from an experimental reactor by around 2040. China has already spent around 6 billion yuan ($893 million) on the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), which is located in the city Hefei of Anhui province. EAST is a large doughnut-shaped structure that heats hydrogen isotopes until they turn into a plasma and begin to fuse, releasing energy. Song Yuntao, deputy director of the Institute of Plasma Physics at the Hefei Institute of Physical Science, said on Thursday that the project had been awarded an additional 6 billion yuan in funding. He states that the institute plans to begin construction on a fusion reactor, to be completed in ten years, and afterwards set up a powergenerator by 2040. At the same time, Song stated that fusion research remains dependent on international cooperation rather than competition, and China remains an important member of a 35-nation consortium devoted to ITER, a 10-billion euro ($11.29 billion) fusion project in France that is projected to generate first plasma by 2025. -SR


After Pollution Crisis, Puerto Rico Aims to Eliminate All Coal Power Next Year April 10, 2019 | Forbes | James Ellsmoor Puerto Rico very recently committed to ending all coal power-based electricity generation in 2020, as announced by…

After Pollution Crisis, Puerto Rico Aims to Eliminate All Coal Power Next Year
April 10, 2019 | Forbes | James Ellsmoor
Puerto Rico very recently committed to ending all coal power-based electricity generation in 2020, as announced by Governor Rosselló. This initiative is part of Puerto Rico’s new push to become more self-reliant, which includes the Puerto Rico Energy Public Policy Act, passed in March of this year. The Act lists several clean energy goals, with the aim of Puerto Rico’s achievement of 100% renewable energy by 2050. While the Act sets a hard deadline to end coal-burning for power by 2028, Governor Rosselló has committed to the earlier date of 2020, due to his pledge to end fossil-fuel reliance as soon as possible. The country’s push for renewable energy is aimed at increasing Puerto Rico’s self-sufficiency, stability, and sustainability. -RZ


By 2030, Over Half Of New Electricity Connections Will Be Off-Grid April 11, 2019 | Forbes | Miriam Tuerk With 2018 being a record year for investing in off-grid power investments, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that “71% …

By 2030, Over Half Of New Electricity Connections Will Be Off-Grid
April 11, 2019 | Forbes | Miriam Tuerk
With 2018 being a record year for investing in off-grid power investments, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that “71% of new electricity connections will be via off-grid or mini-grid solutions.” The central electrical grid infrastructure is becoming increasingly unstable, and strategic investors are seeing off-grid investments as replacements. The pay-as-you-go (PAYG) business model enables recurring revenue over time. It is a proven method and an attractive choice for companies such as Zola Electric. PAYG provides a steady source of income to finance energy projects and early markets for off-grid electricity that have been maturing in recent years, making it interesting to follow for the future. -JK


China's plans for the electrified, autonomous and shared future of the car April 4, 2019 | The Economist Although China's carmakers do not boast the same manufacturing pedigree as their American and European counterparts, they may hold a number of a…

China's plans for the electrified, autonomous and shared future of the car
April 4, 2019 | The Economist
Although China's carmakers do not boast the same manufacturing pedigree as their American and European counterparts, they may hold a number of advantages as the industry makes transitions. Firstly, China is one of the world’s largest battery producers, and current policies favor electric vehicles and the development of charging infrastructure. Furthermore, a credit system has been implemented to encourage Chinese car-making companies to shift away from traditional designs that use an internal combustion engine. China’s car-making industry may also take significant steps forward in the sectors of autonomous driving and car sharing because of the collaboration and resources of big tech giants and artificial intelligence research. In these aspects, China’s differences from the rest of world both in technology and policy may enable the country to take an important role in the future of transportation. -PH

America is Losing the World’s Biggest Manufacturing and Climate Race: Electric Vehicles
April 8, 2019 | Forbes | Paul Bledsoe
In the U.S., the electric vehicle (EV) industry represents the creation of thousands of new jobs, lower costs for vehicle owners, and the reduction of the country’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. Electric vehicles are also predicted to drive the global auto industry in the next decade. However, the U.S. is falling behind in electric vehicle production to China, which is responsible for 40% of global manufacture of electric vehicles. This is partly due to inadequate tax incentives: current policies limit tax credits for EV manufacturers to 200,000 vehicles per company (which Tesla and GM have already exceeded). This article encourages Congress to create no-cap tax credits, credits that are inversely proportional to vehicle price (to increase the volume of EV sales), and incentives for trading in low-mileage vehicles for electric vehicles. In light of opinion polls showing that almost three-fourths of consumers would consider tax credits in their decision to purchase an electric vehicle, these policies could be effective. -AA