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Clean Energy Choose level of difficultySimple[x] AdvancedNumber One Climate ProblemFossil FuelsSolar PowerWind PowerHydropower100% RenewablesNuclear PowerGeneration III+ NuclearGeothermal EnergyNuclear FusionCan we make Fusion work?Everything ElectricHydrogenOpen ProblemsFinal QuizGet Certificate Created by Authors: Eric Steinberger, Ed Hodgson, Shayan Moghaddam, Mia Foulkes Artists: Steffi Tan, Tilda Blackbourn-Rooney, Susan Brigham-Ward, Mira Lu, Ho Yee-Lee, Lin Xie, Federica Merante, Ella Anderson, Sabrina Lam, Chris Robertson, Alex Shuttleworth, Phan Minh Chuong, Soleil Hayes-Pollard, Anna Krivtsov, Barbara Ludwig Reviewers: Yu Jing Chang, Ghislaine Fandel, Pandora Dewan, Ed Hodgson, Or Hadas, Mairenn Collins, Mina Frost, Camy Hamdi-Cherif, Kerenza Killingbeck, James Weber, Criodán Ó Murchú, Faith Marufu, Rebecca Robinson, Sophie Shorthose, Simar Kaur, Christopher Watt, Catherine Cannell, Teo Tzokov, Fiona Carey, JP Arellano External reviewers: Dr. Chiam Sing Ying, Dr. Gareth Griffiths, Kaan Bolat Open Problems: Key Remaining Challenges in Clean Energy Research 6 minute read Updated on Monday, April 17, 2023 There are an immense number of open problems and potential technologies. We’ll only name a few here. Moreover, economics and political discussions around topics such as a CO₂ tax are highly related open problems but not covered in this chapter.
**Energy storageProblem: Large-scale storage to enable solar and wind growth What the world needs to solve this problem: Brain Money Awareness Description: To deploy variable energy sources like solar and wind on a large scale, we need to store energy from when it is generated until it is needed for use. There are many different storage technologies out there, from various batteries to thermal storage, compressed air, and pumped hydro. Reducing the cost, and increasing efficiency and scalability of these systems is crucial to the success of renewables. These technologies need to get a lot cheaper and more efficient to enable large-scale deployment of solar and wind. Click to learn more: • IRENA on Energy Storage (2017 Report) • Stanford Lecture (Video) Who is working on this: • Tesla (Batteries; mostly USA and China) • HighView Poker (Liquid Air; UK and US) • MALTA (Thermal storage with heat pumps; US)Problem: Better, more sustainable, and (even) cheaper batteries for cars and trucks What the world needs to solve this problem: Brain Money Awareness Description: As electric vehicles become more popular and electrification starts to accelerate, work on batteries becomes more and more urgent. We want batteries to have longer lifetimes, become even simpler and cheaper to manufacture, and have better performance. Work to make well-performing batteries with less or no cobalt is vital too. This is because cobalt is both unsustainable and expensive when demanded in large quantities.
Click to learn more: • The Limiting Factor (Video) • IRENA on Energy Storage (2017 Paper) • History of Hydrogen (2016 Book) Who is working on this: • Tesla (mostly USA & China) • eff Dahn’s research lab (Canada) • Singapore Battery ConsortiumProblem: Hydrogen from electricity: cheap and efficient What the world needs to solve this problem: Brain Money Awareness Description: Hydrogen could replace carbon-based fuels in airplanes and ships, and could maybe compete with batteries in cars...if only we could make it efficiently. The cost of renewable electricity is only part of the equation here. Electrolyzers, the machines that make hydrogen from water, need to become cheaper. Because hydrogen is a gas at room temperature, it needs to be compressed. The compression process, therefore, also needs to be optimized and potentially integrated directly with electrolysis.
Click to learn more: • The problems with Hydrogen (Video) • IEA Report (Paper) • US Government (Article) Who is working on this: • List of labs working on Hydrogen in the US Nuclear energyProblem: Make nuclear cheaper and build reactors faster What the world needs to solve this problem: Brain Money Awareness Description: The median construction time in 2021 was around seven-and-a-half years. This naturally increases the financial and political risk of building new reactors. The cheaper and faster reactors are built, the higher the incentive to build new ones.
Click to learn more: • MIT Report: the Future of Nuclear Energy in a Carbon-Constrained World • [World Nuclear Report](https://www.world-nuclear.org/getmedia/d77ef8a1-b720-44aa-9b87-abf09f474b43/performance-report-2019.pdf.aspx#:~:text=The average construction time for,typical recent durations in 2019.) Who is working on this: • TerraPower (Advanced Nuclear research) • NuScale (SMR provider)Problem: Recycle nuclear waste in breeder reactors What the world needs to solve this problem: Brain Money Awareness Description: Nuclear waste could, in theory, be reused as fuel for a different type of reactor called a “breeder” reactor. This would be great for a few reasons: cost, fuel availability, and of course because there would be less waste. However, this technology is unproven to date and requires more work to become a reality.
Click to learn more: • Paper on Travelling Wave Reactors (TWR) • MIT Report: the Future of Nuclear Energy in a Carbon-Constrained World Who is working on this: • TerraPower (Working on TWRs) Solar energyProblem: Earth-abundant thin-film solar: cheaper & sustainable? What the world needs to solve this problem: Brain Money Awareness Description: Thin-film solar panels are a type of Solar Photovoltaic technology. Today’s commercial thin-film solar cells are made from scarce elements, meaning we can’t build a lot of them. Recent work on them aims to use materials that are much more abundant on Earth. Ultimately, these cells could be lower-cost, more sustainable, and more efficient than today’s commercial silicon or thin-film technologies. Click to learn more: • Paper on Earth-abundant Thin-Film Who is working on this: • MIT Research Lab • SollianceProblem: Recycling of solar panels What the world needs to solve this problem: Brain Money Awareness Description: The resources our planet offers us are limited, and some of those used for Solar PV are especially rare. Solar panels have useful lifetimes of around 25 years. After that, we would have to replace them with new panels. This creates two problems: 1) the old panels are now waste, and 2) constructing the new panels will require raw materials. The sad reality is that, today, most e-waste from developed nations is being irresponsibly exported to, and dumped in, developing nations. Being able to affordably recycle materials from old panels and make new panels from them could solve these problems.
Click to learn more: • Paper on Solar Panel’s end of life • Global status of recycling waste solar panels: A review Wind energyProblem: Floating turbines What the world needs to solve this problem: Brain Money Awareness Description: Today’s offshore wind turbines can only be built near to the coast. Unfortunately, the winds near the coast are slower and less constant than in the deep ocean. Floating wind turbines could be anchored to the seabed with long steel cables, allowing them to be placed in much deeper waters. There, winds are stronger and more consistent. Several trials of this technology are underway around the globe.
Click to learn more: • National Geographic Who is working on this: • Saitec • Equinor Early-stage research ideas that might workProblem: Artificial Photosynthesis What the world needs to solve this problem: Brain Money Awareness Description: What if we could do what plants do to make energy, but do it better? Researchers are working on technologies that directly turn water, sunlight, and air into H₂ and O₂, or even fuels similar to those we use in cars today. This could allow us to use the liquid fuels our society has grown used to, but produce them sustainably. Click to learn more: • A Recent paper • Another Recent paper Who is working on this: • Caltech Research (USA) • [Brookhaven National Laboratory (USA)](https://www.bnl.gov/chemistry/AP/#:~:text=The Artificial Photosynthesis group is,sunlight to viable chemical fuels.) • Australian National UniversityProblem: Cheaper Hydrogen from Electrolysis What the world needs to solve this problem: Brain Money Awareness Description: Cheaper electrolyzers and more efficient hydrogen compression technologies could enable hydrogen to become a popular and versatile energy storage medium. Click to learn more: • IRENA Hydrogen Report Who is working on this: • Japan Institute of Applied Energy • Australia’s Curtin UniversityProblem: Make other fusion methods work What the world needs to solve this problem: Brain Money Awareness Description: There are loads of ideas in fusion science. While many of them are unlikely to produce enough energy to be useful in the near or mid-term future, or maybe ever, it’s still an option to explore them. We list some below. Click to learn more: • Stellarator • HB11 (Hydrogen-Boron fusion with lasers) • General Fusion • Helion Who is working on this: • Stellarator • HB11 (Hydrogen-Boron fusion with lasers) • General Fusion • HelionProblem: Make Tritium What the world needs to solve this problem: Brain Money Awareness Description: Fusion reactors today get tritium from nuclear fission power plants, where tritium is produced as radioactive waste. But what if we stop using fission reactors? Luckily, there is a way for fusion reactors to generate their own Tritium. In theory, we could reuse that extra neutron to make more Tritium out of Deuterium! The full reaction uses Deuterium (1p1n) and Lithium-6 (3p6n) as inputs to produce helium.
Using Lithium-6 to produce Tritium actually introduces more energy to the system. Doing this in practice, however, is very hard and one of the active areas of research and uncertainty in fusion energy. Click to learn more: • Tritium Supply and Use • Tritium Breeding Who is working on this: • Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) • Tokamak Energy What did you think of this chapter?** Not good Okay Good Awesome Thank you!Give FeedbackNext ChapterPrivacy & Cookie PolicyTerms of Use Copyright © 2024 Climate Science Ltd. All rights reserved
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