Energy

Pittsburgh's Oakland neighborhood, which holds many of the universities and healthcare facilities that have driven the city's transformation post-steel.

Pittsburgh Has Surged Post-Steel, but Many in Rusting Region Still Struggle

A historian notes how Pittsburgh's tech-driven boom hasn't reached everyone in western Pennsylvania

The floating solar power station in Anhui province

China Turns On the World's Largest Floating Solar Farm

Floating on a lake over a collapsed coal mine, the power station in Anhui province can produce 40 megawatts of energy

Leibstadt Nuclear Power Plant in Switzerland

Switzerland Votes to Phase Out Nuclear Power

The nation plans to decommission its five nuclear plants and invest in renewables

An early oil well.

A Civil War Colonel Invented Fracking in the 1860s

His first invention was an 'oil well torpedo,' but it was followed by others

The material—the black blocks between the two plates, pictured here—could be used with cooking pots to charge phones or jewelry to power health sensors.

Is This New Material a Game Changer for Thermoelectricity?

Researchers at the University of Utah have developed an inexpensive, non-toxic material that converts heat to electricity

Say "arrivederci" to softly lit Roman streets and "ciao" to a well-illuminated night.

People Piqued by Plans to Place LED Lights in Rome

Foes of the energy-efficient lights take a dim view to the city's new bulbs

The prototype

Could This Be the Most Efficient Solar Panel Ever?

Taking advantage of temperatures upwards of 1,000 Celsius, these hot solar cells could produce twice as much energy as the industry standard

Researchers at Ohio State University have developed a technology for incorporating food waste into rubber.

From Trash To Treads: Turning Tomato Peels and Eggshells Into Tires

Scientists at Ohio State University are replacing the petroleum-based filler in tires with food waste

Charging Ahead: The Future of Batteries

Battery research is at a tipping point, and it’s never been more important

Fulcrum BioEnergy converts household trash into biofuel for airplanes.

Could Garbage Fuel Airplanes?

Fulcrum BioEnergy wants to divert trash from landfills and create cheap green energy

Iowa State University scientists modeled their artificial leaves after cottonwood leaves.

Are Artificial Trees the Future of Renewable Energy?

While a new device's flapping leaves can generate a lot of energy, extracting it is far from a breeze

The 20-megawatt power facility is located east of Los Angeles in Ontario, California.

Five Questions You Should Have About California’s New Tesla-Powered Battery Bank

The storage facility will collect energy when it’s readily available, and release it when demand is high. What does this mean for the future of energy?

The structure of the battery is formed from a sheet of chromatography paper, divided into a grid of creases.

This Spit-Powered Biobattery Is Made From a Single Sheet of Paper

Researchers at Binghamton University are developing inexpensive paper biobatteries to power simple sensors that monitor things like blood sugar

France Is Paving More Than 600 Miles of Road With Solar Panels

In five years, France hopes the panels will supply power to 5 million people

Shell's Polar Pioneer drilling platform

Obama and Trudeau Protect Millions of Acres From Drilling in the Arctic and the Atlantic

But questions remain about the permanency of the act in the arctic

Our Top Ten Stories of 2016

From slavery to tuberculosis, it’s been a tumultuous year of exploring our past and looking to the future

India Inches Closer to Creating World's Largest River Network

The plan to interlink rivers would connect up to 30 rivers via 30 canals and 3,000 dams

The process involves speeding up the fermentation of wood sugars. The resulting alcohol is then converted into jet fuel.

Could Wood Scraps Fuel Planes?

Alaska Airlines powered a cross-country commercial flight using a new biofuel derived from wood waste

Electron escaping a helium atom

Meet the Zeptosecond, the Smallest Slice of Time Yet Recorded

Using an two types of lasers, researchers measured the ejection of helium electrons with previously unheard of precision

University of California, Irvine chemist Shane Ardo is working to develop special plastic membranes and dyes that would enable a container to desalinate seawater.

A Mission To Invent a Bottle That Takes the Salt Out of Saltwater

Scientists are exploring the potential of creating plastic containers that, with a little sun power, could desalinate seawater

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