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Categories: Energy: Alternative Fuels, Environmental: Wildfires

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The research team generated a series of fire susceptibility maps. These show the proportion of Australia experiencing 'high' or 'very high' fire susceptibility increasing from 14.9% now to 15.66% by 2070 -- while fire susceptibility of areas suitable for the plants that koalas depend on is tipped to jump from 39.56% to 44.61% by 2070.

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Researchers have found a way to harvest hydrogen from plastic waste using a low-emissions method that generates graphene as a by-product, which could help offset production costs.

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Fires that raged in the days following the 1 September 1923 magnitude 7.9 Kant earthquake killed roughly 90% of the 105,000 people who perished in and around Tokyo, making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in history -- comparable to the number of people killed in the World War II atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The story of the conflagration, not well-known outside of Japan, holds important lessons for earthquake scientists, emergency response teams and city planners, according to a new article.

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A research team has made a groundbreaking advancement in improving the efficiency of hydrogen fuel cells, which are gaining significant attention as eco-friendly next-generation energy sources.

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Scientists have devised an efficient method of recovering high-purity silicon from expired solar panels to produce lithium-ion batteries that could help meet the increasing global demand to power electric vehicles.

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A chemist envisions a future where every house is powered by renewable energy stored in batteries. He has created a new battery that could have profound implications for the large-scale energy storage needed by wind and solar farms.

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As the climate and wildfire crises have intensified, so too have concerns regarding the loss of carbon captured and stored in forests from decades to centuries of tree growth. A new study describes where to optimize ongoing wildfire mitigation efforts and reduce carbon loss due to wildfire, benefitting communities and climate at the same time. The study evaluated where living trees and the carbon they store are at risk of burning in the future. They then compared these areas to communities that are vulnerable to wildfire as identified in the Forest Service's Wildfire Crisis Strategy. Areas of overlap highlight 'opportunity hot spots' where action can reduce the risk from wildfire to both carbon and communities.

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A recent study has unveiled a significant breakthrough in photoelectrode development.

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Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) provide our portable devices like tablets and mobiles -- and increasingly also vehicles -- with power. As the share of volatile renewable energy needing electricity storage increases, more and more LIBs are needed, lithium prices rise, resources dwindle, and the amount of depleted batteries that contain toxic substances increases. Researchers introduce a novel approach for the recovery of lithium from used LIBs.

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Hydrogen spillover is exactly what it sounds like. Small metal nanoparticles anchored on a thermally stable oxide, like silica, comprise a major class of catalysts, which are substances used to accelerate chemical reactions without being consumed themselves. The catalytic reaction usually occurs on the reactive -- and expensive -- metal, but on some catalysts, hydrogen atom-like equivalents literally spill from the metal to the oxide. These hydrogen-on-oxide species are called 'hydrogen spillover.'

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Molecular photoswitches that can both convert and store energy could be used to make solar energy harvesting more efficient. A team of researchers has used a quantum computing method to find a particularly efficient molecular structure for this purpose. Their procedure was based on a dataset of more than 400,000 molecules, which they screened to find the optimum molecular structure for solar energy storage materials.

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Nitrogen dioxide levels in remote forest areas are increasing, and wildfire and soil emissions are likely the reasons why, finds a new study.

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Methylcyclohexane is very promising as a hydrogen carrier that can safely and efficiently transport and store hydrogen. However, the dehydrogenation process using catalysts has issues due to its durability and large energy loss. Recently, researchers have succeeded in using solid oxide fuel cells to generate electricity directly from methylcyclohexane and recover toluene for reuse. This research is expected to not only reduce energy requirements but also explore new chemical synthesis by fuel cells.

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A team of researchers is designing novel systems to capture water vapor in the air and turn it into liquid. They have developed sponges or membranes with a large surface area that continually capture moisture from their surrounding environment.

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Mathematical modeling can show how to safely blend hydrogen with natural gas for transport in existing pipeline systems. A secure and reliable transition to hydrogen is one of the proposed solutions for the shift to a net-zero-carbon economy.

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New Yorkers can apparently breathe a sigh of relief, at least for now. Their exposure to the smoke in June 2023 from Canadian wildfires led to only a slightly higher bump in visits to New York City hospital emergency departments for breathing problems or asthma attacks than what is seen on days when pollen counts are high. However, authors of a new study say other possible health effects, such as possible heart attacks and stroke, still need to be investigated.

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In the ongoing quest for more efficient solar cells, the most current published record for tandem perovskite solar cells is 32.5 percent. In a new paper, researchers report on the improvements in silicon-perovskite tandem cells that have made this possible.

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The world needs greener ways to make chemicals. In a new study, researchers demonstrate one potential path toward this goal by adapting hydrogen fuel cell technologies.

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Researchers have developed a new tool, REBURN, that can simulate large forest landscapes and wildfire dynamics over decades or centuries under different wildfire management strategies. The model can simulate the consequences of extinguishing all wildfires regardless of size, which was done for much of the 20th century and has contributed to a rise in large and severe wildfires, or of allowing certain fires to return to uninhabited areas to help create a more 'patchwork' forest structure that can help lessen fire severity. REBURN can also simulate conditions where more benign forest landscape dynamics have fully recovered in an area.

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In an experiment on how turbulent boundary layers respond to acceleration in the flow around them, aerospace engineers at the observed an unexpected internal boundary layer.