The Mind-blowing Clean-energy Techs in 2023
From：
Zhonglin International Group Date：01-08 962 Belong to：Industry Related
Currently, the world produces approximately 30 terawatt hours of electricity annually. With the modernization process of developing countries, as well as developed countries investing a large amount of their energy into manufacturing digital currencies and training artificial intelligence, this total amount will continue to rise sharply.
Coal accounts for the vast majority of human energy, accounting for about 35%, while natural gas ranks second at around 23%. The second is the first type of "clean" energy - hydropower, which accounts for about 15%, but hydropower requires a large amount of high carbon emitting concrete and depends on geographical conditions, so it is not a true growth area.
Nuclear energy closely follows, but its contribution rate is about 9% and is still declining. Nuclear power does not generate carbon emissions, and statistically speaking, it is the safest type of energy. However, due to occasional high-profile accidents like Chernobyl and Fukushima, it unfortunately carries a stigma.
Wind and solar energy embrace a significant growth, reaching 7.3% and 4.5% respectively. These two types of energy will become the future pillars of most countries' current decarbonization strategies, and will also be combined with energy storage technology to eliminate the troublesome inconsistency between supply and demand. Other renewable energy sources, including geothermal energy, wave energy, and tidal energy, have just emerged from their early stages, accounting for only 0.34% of global energy.
Therefore, the challenge we face is to create a large amount of new clean energy generation capacity that can replace coal and natural gas that provide electricity for most parts of the Earth, meet the growing demand for energy from humanity, and cover industries such as the entire transportation industry and other fossil fuel burning industries, gradually shifting towards electricity in the process of cleaning these industries.
01 Solar Energy
We haven't seen a particularly exciting year in the field of new solar technology. The efficiency record of photovoltaic cells may quietly rise in a certain laboratory, but the efficiency of commercial solar energy with cost competitiveness is similar to that of the past few years, and the industry seems to be developing quite well.
Arizona has revived an idea initially tested in India, which involved placing solar cells on a canal to cool water and prevent water from evaporating in the high temperatures of the desert.
A group of Middle Eastern researchers have re examined the idea of a giant solar powered updraft tower, adding a cooling downdraft tower around it to create a dual effect clean energy tower. As long as they are built in the desert and provide water for the cooling downdraft tower, they can generate electricity 24/7.
On a broader scale, the space solar project team at the California Institute of Technology has successfully transmitted energy from space to Earth. With the support of $100 million in private funding, the team is rapidly advancing its bold plan to launch a large self-assembled solar cell array of 3.5 square miles (9 square kilometers) into space, where it will collect up to eight times the energy of solar panels on Earth, without night interference, and transmit energy to the ground all day long.
02 Wind Energy
There are many innovative ideas in the field of wind energy, many of which are concentrated at sea. The world's best wind resources are mostly located in deep water areas, where it is not realistic to build large fan turbines that operate well in shallow water or on land. Therefore, several ideas for floating wind power generation are striving to create themselves as the most technically and economically feasible way of generating electricity.
One of the most radical and attractive ideas we have been following is World Wide Wind's counter rotating vertical axis wind turbine. Compared to tower type fans, they are expected to generate more electricity at lower costs and have greater scalability and deployability in deep water. The company announced significant progress in November by deploying a 19 meter prototype in Norway.
Another prototype of T-Omega company has also been launched, with a simple and clear design that resembles a Ferris wheel and a floating pyramid base. The design concept is to reduce manufacturing, deployment, and maintenance costs, and the company eliminates a significant amount of pressure on the upper generator by fixing it from both ends. With the completion of small-scale wave trough testing, the company has now deployed a 1/16 scale prototype near New Bedford, Massachusetts.
We are very fascinated by Touchwind's unique single blade turbine, which is currently undergoing testing on a 6-meter prototype in the Netherlands. This unique design will tilt to extract more electricity from slow winds, but in storm conditions, it will stand upright to reduce exposure to the wind. Touchwind stated that compared to the standard design, this machine generates more electricity and has a cost of only half that of the standard design.
Returning to land, we learned with great interest about Airroom Energy in Wyoming, which has developed a very unique prototype system that places vertical fins on an elliptical track. The cost of manufacturing a wind turbine is only one-third of that of a regular tower, and it is closer to the ground. With the support of Bill Gates and Breakthrough Energy, Airroom is developing a 50 kilowatt prototype.
03 Nuclear Energy
Advanced nuclear fission power generation has reached a milestone moment this year, with China announcing the operation of the world's first commercial fourth generation nuclear power plant. The official commercial operation of the Huaneng Shidao Bay High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor Nuclear Power Plant marks China's world leading level in the field of fourth generation nuclear power technology.
But for futurists, the field of nuclear fusion is the highlight. In recent years, the field of nuclear fusion has been revitalized by some commercial operations, and each company claims to have a sufficiently flexible entrepreneurial spirit and technological progress to surpass decades of research results from major government and international projects.
For example, California company TAE conducted the world's first magnetic confinement hydrogen boron fusion reading in February, demonstrating the potential of a nuclear fusion method that does not require tritium.
Tritium is a critical fuel for other reactors, but its supply is very scarce and difficult to manufacture. On the other hand, hydrogen boron fusion requires higher and hotter plasma temperatures - TAE hopes to reach temperatures of about 1 billion degrees Celsius or higher by the early 2030's, when it will have the world's first grid connected nuclear fusion plant.
However, Sam Altman of OpenAI bet that his company Helion will achieve this goal faster. Helion signed an agreement in May this year to provide Microsoft with at least 50 megawatts of clean nuclear fusion power by 2028, otherwise fines will be paid. The premise of this bold move is that Helion's unique reactor technology (claiming power generation prices are less than one-third of coal) will develop at a crazy pace. We are temporarily skeptical about it.
In other news, the world's largest Tokamak reactor JT-60SA has successfully ignited in Japan, and Tokamak Energy in the UK has announced the design plan for a commercial nuclear fusion plant, stating that the plant will be ready by the early 2030s.
04 Geothermal Energy
If we can freely utilize the vast amount of thermal energy beneath the Earth's crust, all human energy problems will disappear overnight. Therefore, the revitalized geothermal industry is experiencing frequent activities and hopes to greatly expand its capabilities and impact.
The iconic achievement of 2023 comes from Fervo, a company that has partnered with Google to develop and build an advanced geothermal power plant in Nevada using fracturing technology similar to the oil and gas industry. Fervo Company uses fluid pressure to crack underground hot rocks, expanding the surface area where heat can be obtained.. This makes geothermal energy available and cost-effective in a wider range of fields, and can be used to expand and enhance existing geothermal power plants.
Sage Geosystems went further and pioneered a new type of energy storage technology, treating the underground Earth as a huge bellows. Using renewable energy to pump water into cracks in hot rocks, pressurizing them and opening them. When energy is needed, the valve is opened, and the weight of the Earth squeezes water back up - but now, water is heated by geothermal energy. Sage states that this "throughput" method can effectively provide you with an underground battery that returns twice the energy you put in.
With the acceleration of the renewable energy revolution, the role of energy storage in utilizing green electricity has become unprecedentedly important. Especially in the field of grid level energy storage, various companies are emerging one after another, striving to store and release excess renewable energy at the lowest possible cost. Previously, Global Zero Carbon had conducted a detailed analysis of related technologies, which will not be elaborated here. For more information, please refer to why Bill Gates is obsessed with long-term energy storage. These ten energy storage technologies may change the world.
In 2024, new technological breakthroughs and disruptions will continue to emerge in the field of clean energy, as humanity is working hard to guide the ocean going giant ship climate away from rapidly approaching icebergs. Let's look forward to it!
Coal accounts for the vast majority of human energy, accounting for about 35%, while natural gas ranks second at around 23%. The second is the first type of "clean" energy - hydropower, which accounts for about 15%, but hydropower requires a large amount of high carbon emitting concrete and depends on geographical conditions, so it is not a true growth area.
Nuclear energy closely follows, but its contribution rate is about 9% and is still declining. Nuclear power does not generate carbon emissions, and statistically speaking, it is the safest type of energy. However, due to occasional high-profile accidents like Chernobyl and Fukushima, it unfortunately carries a stigma.
Wind and solar energy embrace a significant growth, reaching 7.3% and 4.5% respectively. These two types of energy will become the future pillars of most countries' current decarbonization strategies, and will also be combined with energy storage technology to eliminate the troublesome inconsistency between supply and demand. Other renewable energy sources, including geothermal energy, wave energy, and tidal energy, have just emerged from their early stages, accounting for only 0.34% of global energy.
Therefore, the challenge we face is to create a large amount of new clean energy generation capacity that can replace coal and natural gas that provide electricity for most parts of the Earth, meet the growing demand for energy from humanity, and cover industries such as the entire transportation industry and other fossil fuel burning industries, gradually shifting towards electricity in the process of cleaning these industries.
01 Solar Energy
We haven't seen a particularly exciting year in the field of new solar technology. The efficiency record of photovoltaic cells may quietly rise in a certain laboratory, but the efficiency of commercial solar energy with cost competitiveness is similar to that of the past few years, and the industry seems to be developing quite well.
Arizona has revived an idea initially tested in India, which involved placing solar cells on a canal to cool water and prevent water from evaporating in the high temperatures of the desert.
A group of Middle Eastern researchers have re examined the idea of a giant solar powered updraft tower, adding a cooling downdraft tower around it to create a dual effect clean energy tower. As long as they are built in the desert and provide water for the cooling downdraft tower, they can generate electricity 24/7.
On a broader scale, the space solar project team at the California Institute of Technology has successfully transmitted energy from space to Earth. With the support of $100 million in private funding, the team is rapidly advancing its bold plan to launch a large self-assembled solar cell array of 3.5 square miles (9 square kilometers) into space, where it will collect up to eight times the energy of solar panels on Earth, without night interference, and transmit energy to the ground all day long.
02 Wind Energy
There are many innovative ideas in the field of wind energy, many of which are concentrated at sea. The world's best wind resources are mostly located in deep water areas, where it is not realistic to build large fan turbines that operate well in shallow water or on land. Therefore, several ideas for floating wind power generation are striving to create themselves as the most technically and economically feasible way of generating electricity.
One of the most radical and attractive ideas we have been following is World Wide Wind's counter rotating vertical axis wind turbine. Compared to tower type fans, they are expected to generate more electricity at lower costs and have greater scalability and deployability in deep water. The company announced significant progress in November by deploying a 19 meter prototype in Norway.
Another prototype of T-Omega company has also been launched, with a simple and clear design that resembles a Ferris wheel and a floating pyramid base. The design concept is to reduce manufacturing, deployment, and maintenance costs, and the company eliminates a significant amount of pressure on the upper generator by fixing it from both ends. With the completion of small-scale wave trough testing, the company has now deployed a 1/16 scale prototype near New Bedford, Massachusetts.
We are very fascinated by Touchwind's unique single blade turbine, which is currently undergoing testing on a 6-meter prototype in the Netherlands. This unique design will tilt to extract more electricity from slow winds, but in storm conditions, it will stand upright to reduce exposure to the wind. Touchwind stated that compared to the standard design, this machine generates more electricity and has a cost of only half that of the standard design.
Returning to land, we learned with great interest about Airroom Energy in Wyoming, which has developed a very unique prototype system that places vertical fins on an elliptical track. The cost of manufacturing a wind turbine is only one-third of that of a regular tower, and it is closer to the ground. With the support of Bill Gates and Breakthrough Energy, Airroom is developing a 50 kilowatt prototype.
03 Nuclear Energy
Advanced nuclear fission power generation has reached a milestone moment this year, with China announcing the operation of the world's first commercial fourth generation nuclear power plant. The official commercial operation of the Huaneng Shidao Bay High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor Nuclear Power Plant marks China's world leading level in the field of fourth generation nuclear power technology.
But for futurists, the field of nuclear fusion is the highlight. In recent years, the field of nuclear fusion has been revitalized by some commercial operations, and each company claims to have a sufficiently flexible entrepreneurial spirit and technological progress to surpass decades of research results from major government and international projects.
For example, California company TAE conducted the world's first magnetic confinement hydrogen boron fusion reading in February, demonstrating the potential of a nuclear fusion method that does not require tritium.
Tritium is a critical fuel for other reactors, but its supply is very scarce and difficult to manufacture. On the other hand, hydrogen boron fusion requires higher and hotter plasma temperatures - TAE hopes to reach temperatures of about 1 billion degrees Celsius or higher by the early 2030's, when it will have the world's first grid connected nuclear fusion plant.
However, Sam Altman of OpenAI bet that his company Helion will achieve this goal faster. Helion signed an agreement in May this year to provide Microsoft with at least 50 megawatts of clean nuclear fusion power by 2028, otherwise fines will be paid. The premise of this bold move is that Helion's unique reactor technology (claiming power generation prices are less than one-third of coal) will develop at a crazy pace. We are temporarily skeptical about it.
In other news, the world's largest Tokamak reactor JT-60SA has successfully ignited in Japan, and Tokamak Energy in the UK has announced the design plan for a commercial nuclear fusion plant, stating that the plant will be ready by the early 2030s.
04 Geothermal Energy
If we can freely utilize the vast amount of thermal energy beneath the Earth's crust, all human energy problems will disappear overnight. Therefore, the revitalized geothermal industry is experiencing frequent activities and hopes to greatly expand its capabilities and impact.
The iconic achievement of 2023 comes from Fervo, a company that has partnered with Google to develop and build an advanced geothermal power plant in Nevada using fracturing technology similar to the oil and gas industry. Fervo Company uses fluid pressure to crack underground hot rocks, expanding the surface area where heat can be obtained.. This makes geothermal energy available and cost-effective in a wider range of fields, and can be used to expand and enhance existing geothermal power plants.
Sage Geosystems went further and pioneered a new type of energy storage technology, treating the underground Earth as a huge bellows. Using renewable energy to pump water into cracks in hot rocks, pressurizing them and opening them. When energy is needed, the valve is opened, and the weight of the Earth squeezes water back up - but now, water is heated by geothermal energy. Sage states that this "throughput" method can effectively provide you with an underground battery that returns twice the energy you put in.
With the acceleration of the renewable energy revolution, the role of energy storage in utilizing green electricity has become unprecedentedly important. Especially in the field of grid level energy storage, various companies are emerging one after another, striving to store and release excess renewable energy at the lowest possible cost. Previously, Global Zero Carbon had conducted a detailed analysis of related technologies, which will not be elaborated here. For more information, please refer to why Bill Gates is obsessed with long-term energy storage. These ten energy storage technologies may change the world.
In 2024, new technological breakthroughs and disruptions will continue to emerge in the field of clean energy, as humanity is working hard to guide the ocean going giant ship climate away from rapidly approaching icebergs. Let's look forward to it!
