Andrea Clabough explores transatlantic leadership on energy security and where cooperation may enhance the energy transition for the USA and Europe.

European Union member states have ambitions to encourage renewable energy plants, such as those based on solar photovoltaics (PV). However, legal uncertainty and the direct and indirect costs associated with investment are often barriers to installation, particularly for small and medium-sized installations. Financial incentivization has been a popular policy choice to stimulate investment to date

The limited operational stability of perovskite solar cells is a drawback that requires a greater knowledge of degradation behaviour to be addressed. While some insights have been gleaned from individual studies based on relatively small datasets, a statistical analysis of stability data from a large number of devices with different characteristics would afford a more comprehensive understanding. Yet

Heat pumps are expected to play a critical role in decarbonizing heat provision in buildings. However, their high purchase and installation costs — often coupled with a lack of familiarity with the technology — are barriers to uptake. Asset leasing could provide an alternative model to immediate purchasing. Under such schemes, a homeowner would pay monthly costs for the heat pump, as well as potentially

To achieve a circular economy for next-generation energy storage technologies such as solid-state batteries (SSBs), it is important to develop component materials that can be easily processed to form cells, as well as recycled and/or repurposed with ease. Yet current SSB manufacturing often requires high-temperature and high-pressure processing to create conformal interfaces between electrolyte particles

Hydrogen fuel cells present a low-emission means of powering vehicles. Proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are a relatively mature technology, already powering commercially available cars. An alternative to the PEMFC is the hydroxide-exchange membrane fuel cell (HEMFC), which is at an earlier stage of development and operates in an alkaline — rather than acidic — environment. The conditions

The important role of justice in energy transition technologies has been a topic of increasing interest in recent years. However, key questions remain about how inequities influence energy transition innovations (ETIs) from their design to their widespread use, which ETIs receive more funding, and who controls ETI research, prototyping and deployment. Here we propose a framework to centre justice in

Hydrogen is expected to play a key role in future decarbonized energy systems. It is typically considered that in such systems, hydrogen would need to be synthesized in some way; for instance, by the electrolysis of water. However, hydrogen also exists naturally in subsurface geologic accumulations, suggesting another source of the gas. Although naturally-occurring hydrogen has been found in various

Solid-state batteries have the potential for higher energy and power, as well as better safety, than conventional lithium-ion batteries; solid-state electrolytes (SSEs) lie at the heart of them. A common issue with the use of SSEs is the poor contact with the electrodes and consequently high ionic resistance within batteries; the resistance becomes more severe in thicker electrodes. This restricts

As electric vehicle (EV) penetration increases, it will become more important to manage the load on the grid from additional charging. Smart charging technologies offer one way to do this. Such schemes can use real-time price or grid load information and user-set preferences to optimize charging. Another option for load management is time-of-use (ToU) tariffs, where consumers are given price incentives

The energy consumed by space cooling in buildings has increased significantly over the years and it is predicted to be one of the main drivers of global electricity demand in the coming decades. Passive cooling measures, which are relatively straightforward to implement, have been shown to reduce energy demand for space cooling when considering individual buildings or regional scales. However, the

Preparing the electric grid to withstand adverse impacts from climate change will require significant investments. New research focused on wildfire risk mitigation in California demonstrates that how the cost of such investments is shared has important implications for affordability and equity in electricity access.

The cost of solar photovoltaics has declined over the past two decades, but the driving mechanisms are not fully understood. Now, researchers examine the role of hardware and non-hardware features in cost reduction of photovoltaics and develop a model that could be used to understand cost reductions for other energy technologies.

Europe’s approach to energy security has been historically split between the East and West. Given the rapidly evolving geopolitical energy security landscape on the continent, we argue that a comprehensive and shared approach to energy security — which incorporates hard security considerations — is needed.

Understanding drivers of home energy efficiency efforts is important for slowing climate change and managing energy costs. A study now combines open-ended survey questions with natural language processing to find that renovations are typically motivated by factors like comfort and environmental concerns, and that energy efficiency investments are often delayed until renovations are needed.

Caloric cooling represents an environmentally friendly alternative to vapour compression refrigeration as it does not require refrigerants with high global warming potential. Instead, it exploits the phase transitions of solids, driven by magnetic fields or mechanical forces, which are associated with absorption or release of heat. In particular, elastocaloric cooling is attractive as it relies on

Electrifying the synthesis of ammonia could help to decarbonize production of this important chemical and pave the way for its use as a low-carbon energy carrier. A promising approach in its early stages of development is the lithium-mediated method of N2 reduction. This process is thought to proceed by lithium metal reacting with N2 to form nitrides, which are then protonated to form ammonia and a

In commercial lithium-ion batteries, carbonate-based electrolytes are commonly used because of their high electrochemical stability with a range of electrode materials. In lithium-metal batteries (LMBs) — batteries in which the anode is metallic lithium — ether electrolytes appear to be the preferred choice because they are less corrosive than carbonates towards lithium metal, thereby offering potentially

Many different approaches to assess the effectiveness of COVID-19 green recovery spending have been suggested, including a focus on the deployment of more granular technologies. Such technologies comprise a number of mitigation options across a range of greenhouse gas emitting sectors. Granular technologies (such as solar panels or home insulation) tend to have lower per unit costs than more costly

The growing importance of long-term planning in European Union member states’ energy poverty policies makes it necessary to develop forecasting techniques to support related policy decision-making. The combination of machine learning and econometrics holds promise in the field provided that several crucial challenges are tackled.

Australia’s newly announced national Net Zero Authority offers an opportunity to constructively engage coal communities in planning for a decarbonized future. After years of toxic and dysfunctional climate politics, it is essential that the Authority engages with the complexity of coal and the communities at the heart of transition.

Investing in energy efficiency is crucial for a low-carbon economy, particularly in the building sector. Despite various subsidy programmes, meeting energy targets is challenging because households do not invest sufficiently. Here we study the low numbers of energy efficiency retrofits carried out by homeowners. We use narratives, an emerging method based on open-ended survey responses, to identify

Kathrin Goldammer describes the founding and aims of Women in Green Hydrogen, a global network that seeks to increase the visibility and amplify the voices of women working in the sector.