News by Subject Earth Science

MIT physicists have observed signs of a rare type of superconductivity in a material called "magic-angle" twisted trilayer graphene. They report that the material exhibits superconductivity at surprisingly high magnetic fields of up to 10 Tesla, which is three times higher than what the material is predicted to endure if it were a conventional superconductor.

Ten years after one of the largest nuclear accidents in history spewed radioactive contamination over the landscape in Fukushima, Japan, a University of Georgia study has shown that radioactive contamination in the Fukushima Exclusion Zone can be measured through its resident snakes.

Although photovoltaic systems constitute a promising way of harnessing solar energy, power grid managers need to accurately predict their power output to schedule generation and maintenance operations efficiently. Scientists from Incheon National University, Korea, have developed a machine learning-based approach that can more accurately estimate the output of photovoltaic systems than similar algorithms, paving the way to a more sustainable society.

In the Alpine foothills, in low mountain ranges, or on the seacoast, expansion of wind energy use often meets popular resistance. Researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and partners from Great Britain and Denmark have now studied what this means for the energy transition. In Patterns, they report that costs per kilowatt hour may rise by up to 7 cents and CO2 emissions may increase by up to 200 g. (DOI: 10.1016/j.patter.2021.100301)

In the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, researchers describe a real-time method for potentially helping turbine farms realize additional power from the clustering of their turbines. Their method requires no new sensors to identify which turbines at any given time could increase power production if yaw control is applied, and validation studies showed an increase of 1%-3% in overall power gain.

Researchers from The University of Texas at Austin have found a low-cost way to solve one half of the water-splitting equation to produce hydrogen as clean energy -- using sunlight to efficiently split off oxygen molecules from water. The finding represents a step forward toward greater adoption of hydrogen as a key part of our energy infrastructure.