New Technologies, Practices Help to Transform Clea
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Replacing fossil fuels with renewables will be one of the globe’s most challenging and rewarding undertakings of this century. Dozens of countries have already taken significant steps to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels and cut their greenhouse-gas emissions, but the world is still quite a way from carbon neutrality. New technologies and practices could be the key to transforming the fledgling green-energy industry and accelerating the adoption of renewables.
Clean energy is already responsible for powering a growing share of the world’s energy needs, especially in the European Union, where countries such as Norway are leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else. However, even though renewables such as solar and wind are abundant, factors such as intermittency, cost, integration and variability make it challenging to incorporate these renewable into the energy mix.
As a result, the renewables segment now engages in regular research and development (R&D) to innovate new technologies and practices and make the deployment and operation of renewables more cost effective. Some countries are building capacity for green fuels such as hydrogen, methane, ethanol and ammonia. These fuels can be placed in stationary storage and later used for applications such as heating and transportation. Nations such as Sri Lanka could potentially produce enough of these green fuels to use domestically and even export.
Stationary storage would also help to overcome the intermittent nature of renewables, including solar and wind, which depend on conditions such as weather and time. Solar is particularly intermittent because it depends on sunlight and often requires large swathes of land to generate large amounts of energy.
R&D has led to the creation of a new kind of energy cell built using a material dubbed perovskite that could make energy storage more efficient. The material, which is highly efficient at absorbing and converting light, is thinner, has more flexibility and is more affordable than typical silicon solar cells. It could be incorporated into other devices and materials such as textiles, windows and even batteries to boost efficiency.
Another innovation designed to circumvent solar-energy’s limitations is floating solar farms. These are particularly effective in areas where there simply isn’t enough land to host expansive solar farms but there are large water bodies, such as reservoirs and lakes, where floating platforms can be installed. Using such platforms saves real estate and helps to limit water evaporation. Sri Lanka has partnered up with the Korean government to build two floating solar farms in the Kiriibban Wewa and Chandrika Wewa reservoirs.
Wind turbine designers have developed new vertical-axis turbines that can respond to wind from every direction and even run at low wind speeds, making them particularly effective in residential and urban areas. Miniature versions of the technology have already been installed alongside busy Japanese and Chinese highways to take advantage of the wind energy generated by moving vehicles. Furthermore, researchers from the Spanish startup company Vortex Bladeless have designed bladeless wind turbine prototypes that oscillate or sway in response to wind speed and that generate vibrations, which then produce energy.
All these innovations are likely to increasingly depend on the ability of companies such as First Tellurium Corp. (CSE: FTEL) (OTCQB: FSTTF) to avail sufficient quantities of the critical metals needed to manufacture those cutting-edge components, which address the existing challenges of deploying clean energies around the world.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to First Tellurium Corp. (CSE: FTEL) (OTCQB: FSTTF) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/FSTTF
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