Centre of Excellence in Energy

  Introduction A California-based company NDB has made a self-charging battery by trapping carbon-14 (C14) nuclear waste in artificial diamond-case. The company claims the battery can run for 28,000 years on a single charge. And just for perspective, before this ridiculous battery runs out of juice, an average Indian would’ve died 400 times over (geez!); more than a thousand generations would’ve passed by; and Jaegers might have finally sliced the last of Kaijus--who knows, those monstrous machines would be powered by one of these things. The US-based company says that the battery can be used in electric vehicles, mobile phones, laptops, tablets, drones, watches, cameras, health monitors and even sensors. It is also said to be extremely safe and tamper proof as it is coated with non-radioactive diamond which prevents radiation leaks. NDB estimates 34 million cubic meters of global nuclear waste will cost over $100 billion to manage and dispose. And a lot of this waste is gr...

3D Printed Solar Energy Trees   What are solar energy trees? Energy needs are constantly growing, and trees are still being chopped down for firewood in many parts of the world. Scientists at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland are turning this approach around. Instead of harvesting trees, they are printing artificial trees to harvest energy from the environment. The trees consist of wood-based 3D printed stems and printed solar cells as leaves. When trying to find a way to harvest energy from the environment, the team at VTT looked to nature. Trees seemed the perfect solution, so they modeled their invention after nature’s answer to energy needs. The artificial trees are made by combining 3D printing and printing electronics. At their current size, they are efficient enough to power small devices such as mobile phones, humidifiers, thermometers, and LED light bulbs.   How do they work? The tree’s leaves are flexible organic  solar cells , printed using...

Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage     What is CCUS? Carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) refers to a suite of technologies that can play an important and diverse role in meeting global energy and climate goals. CCUS involves the capture of CO2 from large point sources, including power generation or industrial facilities that use either fossil fuels or biomass for fuel. The CO2 can also be captured directly from the atmosphere. If not being used on-site, the captured CO2 is compressed and transported by pipeline, ship, rail or truck to be used in a range of applications, or injected into deep geological formations (including depleted oil and gas reservoirs or saline formations) which trap the CO2 for permanent storage.   Why CCUS? The reason CCUS will have to play a key role is simple: Despite rapid recent growth in renewable sources like wind and solar, the world still relies on fossil fuels to meet about 80 percent of its energy needs. Shif...

  Smart grids and meters   The Smart Grid Maybe you have heard of the Smart Grid on the news or from your energy provider. But not everyone knows what the grid is, let alone the Smart Grid. "The grid," refers to the electric grid, a network of transmission lines, substations, transformers and more that deliver electricity from the power plant to your home or business. It’s what you plug into when you flip on your light switch or power up your computer. Our current electric grid was built in the 1890s and improved upon as technology advanced through each decade. Today, it consists of more than 9,200 electric generating units with more than 1 million megawatts of generating capacity connected to more than 300,000 miles of transmission lines. Although the electric grid is considered an engineering marvel, we are stretching its patchwork nature to its capacity. To move forward, we need a new kind of electric grid, one that is built from the bottom up to handle the grounds...

  Digitalization  of the Energy Sector Digital technologies Digital technologies are everywhere, affecting the way we live, work, travel and play. Digitalization is helping improve the safety, productivity, accessibility and sustainability of energy systems around the world. But it is also raising new security and privacy risks, while disrupting markets, businesses and workers. From the rise of connected devices at home, to automated industrial production processes and smart mobility, digital technologies are increasingly changing how, where and when energy is consumed. More than 1 billion households and 11 billion smart appliances could participate in interconnected electricity systems by 2040, thanks to smart meters and connected devices. This would allow homes to alter when and how much they draw electricity from the grid. Demand-side responses – in building, industry and transport – could provide 185 GW of flexibility and avoid USD 270 billion of investment in new ...