• Extreme Storms and Flood Events Cause Damage Worth Billions to Ports – and They Are Most Disruptive to Small Island Developing States

    Shipping ports are crucial for the global economy. But ports, by their nature, are located in coastal areas or on large rivers and are exposed to natural hazards such as storms and floods as a result. Scientists refer to the physical damage caused by natural hazards and the monetary loss associated with port closures and reconstruction as “climate risks”. 1,340 of the world’s largest ports in terms of trade flow are vulnerable to climate risks.

  • Rare Earths Find in Sweden: A Gamechanger?

    A big find of raw materials critical for green technology has been announced in Sweden. Since Europe does not produce its own so-called ‘rare earths’ so far could this news be a gamechanger?

  • Bringing Manufacturing Back to the U.S. Requires Political Will, but Success Hinges on Training American Workers

    The lack of manufacturing competitiveness in the U.S. leaves the U.S. vulnerable to shortages of critical goods during times of geopolitical disruption and global competition. The strategies the U.S. employs in bringing back manufacturing, along with innovative practices, will be key to ensure national security.

  • A New Way to Assess Radiation Damage in Reactors

    A new method could greatly reduce the time and expense needed for certain important safety checks in nuclear power reactors. The approach could save money and increase total power output in the short run, and it might increase plants’ safe operating lifetimes in the long run.

  • Metal-Free Batteries Raise Hope for More Sustainable and Economical Grids

    Rechargeable batteries that use ammonium cations as charge carriers could provide ecofriendly and sustainable substitutes to metal-ion-based batteries. Metal-ion batteries dominate the market, but they depend on limited and declining resources, which threatens long-term availability.

  • Growing Interest in, Planning for, Managed Retreat from High-Risk Areas

    Strategically moving communities away from environmentally high-risk areas, such as vulnerable coasts, has been referred to as “managed retreat.” Of all the ways humans respond to climate-related disasters, managed retreat has been one of the most controversial due to the difficulty inherent in identifying how, when, where, and by whom such movement should take place.

  • Achieving Foundational Security for Food Systems

    U.S. cereal crops such as corn, rice, and wheat feed hundreds of millions of Americans and millions more around the world. Ensuring active defense of these and other staple food grasses is a critical national security priority. New DARPA project seeks advanced threat-detection and warning capabilities for crop defense.

  • Interest in Geothermal Energy is Growing

    These days, some 400 power plants in 30 countries generate electricity using steam generated beneath the earth’s surface, producing a total capacity of 16 gigawatts (GW). Despite its advantages, geothermal energy has seen limited use compared to fossil fuels, but recent energy shocks have increased interest in this energy source.

  • Can Floating Solar Islands Meet the World’s Future Energy Needs?

    Covering less than ten per cent of the world’s hydropower reservoirs with floating solar panels would yield as much energy as all hydropower does today, one researcher says.

  • Two Charged with Attacks on Four Washington State Power Substations

    Two men were arrested earlier this week following attacks on four power substations in Washington state. DHS and the FBI have repeatedly warned in recent months of a rise in threats to critical infrastructure by anti-government groups and domestic extremists.

  • Towers in the Storm

    The problem with the U.S. electrical grid is that many transmission towers have exceeded their design life by about 50 years, which means the aging grid today faces bigger chances of failure. One threat to the grid is from damaging winds of extreme storms such as hurricanes.

  • Space Solar Power Technology Demo Launched into Orbit in January

    Space solar power provides a way to tap into the practically unlimited supply of solar energy in outer space, where the energy is constantly available without being subjected to the cycles of day and night, seasons, and cloud cover.

  • Europe Faces a Chilling Couple of Years, but Russia Will Lose the Energy Showdown

    In the European Union this winter, fears of rolling blackouts triggered by Russian energy export cuts amid Moscow’s war in Ukraine have subsided thanks to good luck, good weather, and quick action. “In the long run, Russia simply can’t win this energy war,” says an expert.

  • Hydrogen Changing Power Dynamics in Energy Sector

    As the EU tries to finalize its hydrogen rules, Asian countries are moving fast to secure deliveries and the US is committing money to set up local supply chains. Can the Middle East collaborate with both continents?

  • Concerns About Extremists Targeting U.S. Power Stations

    Attacks on four power stations in Washington State over the weekend added to concerns of a possible nationwide campaign by far-right extremists to stir fears and spark civil conflict. Violent extremists “have developed credible, specific plans to attack electricity infrastructure since at least 2020, identifying the electric grid as a particularly attractive target given its interdependency with other infrastructure sectors,” the DHS said in a January.