Glittering solar-paneled roofs atop residential, commercial, and industrial buildings may soon get a new look with the carbon-based organic solar cell or OSC. Thinness and flexibility partly explain why OSCs may be a better alternative to traditional silicon-based cells. But not all OSCs are created equal. Those based on nonfullerene-acceptors, or NFAs, have now been found to generate electricity...

Zinc-air batteries, which produce electricity through a chemical reaction between oxygen in the atmosphere and zinc, are considered to be next-generation candidates to meet the explosive demand for electric vehicles instead of lithium-ion batteries. They theoretically meet all required characteristics for next-generation secondary batteries, such as; high energy density, low risk of explosion...

Scientists have created a battery designed for the electric grid that locks in energy for months without losing much storage capacity. The development of the "freeze-thaw battery," which freezes its energy for use later, is a step toward batteries that can be used for seasonal storage: saving energy in one season, such as the spring, and spending it in another, like autumn...

A new study by Chinese researchers demonstrates a novel approach to enhancing the storage performance of batteries and capacitors. The researchers developed a simple yet efficient way to produce a material with excellent performance for use in devices that rely on lithium-ion storage. Energy storage technologies are increasingly important as the world shifts toward carbon neutrality...

About 750 million people in the world do not have access to electricity at night. Solar cells provide power during the day, but saving energy for later use requires substantial battery storage. In Applied Physics Letters, by AIP Publishing, researchers from Stanford University constructed a photovoltaic cell that harvests energy from the environment during the day and night, avoiding the...

President Joe Biden extended tariffs on imported solar panels in February 2022 in a bid to protect domestic manufacturing. These tariffs add a 14%-15% tax on cheaper imports, raising their cost in the U.S. At the same time, the Biden administration is urging an expansion of renewable energy and energy security, two priorities for many countries. As an energy analyst focused on renewable...

For a greener and more sustainable economy, building better and more powerful solar cells is a key research goal within the clean energy sector. But, in a typical single-junction solar cell, performance is capped at what is called the Shockley-Queisser limit (a theoretical limit for the maximum efficiency that a solar cell can reach). Efficiency determines how much of the light energy (photons)...

Regulators nearly doubled the funding authorized for heat pump water heaters as part of an initiative in the state's self-generation incentive program.

Hydrogen seems set for a third year of exponential growth, according to a Wood Mackenzie analysis, and multiple firms say prices are likely to fall rapidly in the coming years.

The former head of the U.S. Green Building Council weighs in on how federal, state and local government partners can go beyond just reducing building emissions as they pursue decarbonization.

Filings from FERC proceedings show a one-size-fits-all reform can't sufficiently address regional market diversity, but federal guidelines can target growing uncertainties and costs from rising variable and distributed resource penetrations.

Grid modernization has created a complex ecosystem of network-connected equipment. Fortunately, there are immediate actions that industrial operators and utilities can take.

How to evaluate whether owning or contracting a battery storage system is right for your utility.