Tag: Energy

Sustainability-In-Tech : Australia Tells AI Data Centres To Generate Their Own Power

Posted on by Paul Stradling

Australia is proposing new national rules that would make the next generation of large AI data centres build enough new electricity generation to match the power they consume, helping prevent rapid AI expansion from pushing up household bills or placing extra pressure on the country’s grid.

What Has Been Announced?

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the proposals during a speech at the University of Sydney, where he set out plans for a new national framework covering the location, energy use, water consumption and wider environmental impact of large data centres.

Under the proposed rules, operators would be legally required to underwrite new power supplies, pay the full cost of connecting their facilities to the electricity network and ensure that households and other businesses are not left funding the infrastructure needed to support them.

Most significantly, large data centres would have to add at least as much electricity to the grid as they consume.

Albanese summarised the policy by saying data centres would need “to be net-generators, not net-users”.

The government intends to seek agreement from state and territory leaders before introducing legislation to the Australian Parliament early next year. This means the requirements are not yet legally binding, and many of the practical details still need to be developed.

What Does Putting Power Back Mean?

A data centre cannot literally return the same electricity it has already consumed. Instead, the proposed requirement means operators would need to support enough new generation to match the energy demand created by their facilities.

In practice, this is likely to involve funding or entering into long-term agreements with new renewable energy projects, such as solar or wind farms, together with energy storage or other reliable back-up generation.

That last element is important because AI data centres operate continuously, while renewable energy production changes according to weather conditions and the time of day. The Australian government has therefore said operators must also support “firming”, which refers to the storage or alternative generation required to provide electricity when renewable output is low.

The aim is to ensure that new data centres bring additional power into the system rather than consuming electricity that homes, public services and existing businesses already depend upon.

Why Now?

AI requires substantial physical infrastructure comprising servers, cooling equipment, network connections and specialist computing hardware. As increasingly powerful AI models are developed and used more widely, the amount of electricity and water required to operate this infrastructure is growing rapidly.

Australia wants to attract more AI investment, but the government is concerned that allowing developers to build facilities before environmental and infrastructure rules are agreed could leave communities carrying the costs.

As Albanese explained: “We cannot revisit this issue after companies have built whatever they want, wherever they want, and try and then re-open negotiations.”

His argument is that Australia’s land, energy resources and investment potential give it enough influence to set conditions before major projects are approved.

The Australian government also believes clearer national rules could benefit responsible investors by replacing different local and regional requirements with one consistent framework.

Water Is Part Of The Plan

Electricity is not the only sustainability concern surrounding large data centres. Many facilities use substantial amounts of water to prevent computing equipment from overheating, which is particularly significant in a country that regularly experiences drought and water scarcity.

Albanese described Australia as “the sunniest continent on earth” but also “the driest”, and said data centres would be required to minimise water use, maximise energy efficiency and pay for any extra water infrastructure they require.

The location of future facilities will therefore matter, particularly where communities are already facing pressure on local water supplies or where electricity networks have limited spare capacity.

Part Of A Wider Global Problem

Australia’s announcement comes as other countries face growing concern about the impact of data centres on energy systems.

For example, in Ireland, data centres consumed 23 per cent of the country’s electricity during 2025, almost as much as all urban and rural households combined. The country now requires new facilities to provide their own flexible generation and obtain most of their annual electricity from new renewable projects.

Technology companies are also struggling to reconcile AI growth with their own environmental commitments. Microsoft, for example, has reported a sharp increase in emissions as it expands its global data centre infrastructure, despite maintaining targets to become carbon negative and water positive by 2030.

Public opposition is also becoming more organised in communities concerned about electricity prices, water use, emissions, planning decisions and the limited number of permanent jobs created by some large facilities.

Australia’s proposed approach attempts to address those concerns before its AI data centre sector expands much further.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

For businesses, the announcement highlights how the environmental cost of AI is becoming a practical commercial and regulatory issue rather than simply a matter for sustainability reports.

Organisations increasingly using AI services may face closer scrutiny over where their computing resources are hosted, how those facilities are powered and whether claims about renewable energy represent genuinely new generation or simply the purchase of existing certificates.

The Australian model could also influence other countries looking for ways to attract AI investment without passing its infrastructure costs on to households and existing businesses.

Much will depend on the final rules and how carefully the requirement is measured and enforced. However, this reflects a broader change in expectations, with companies building energy-intensive AI infrastructure increasingly expected to create the additional power, grid capacity and water infrastructure their growth requires rather than assuming the public will provide it.

Sustainability-in-Tech : Microwaves Drill Deeper For Clean Energy

Posted on by Paul Stradling

A US clean energy company has raised $134 million to build what it says will be the world’s first commercial superhot geothermal power plant, using microwave technology to reach temperatures far beyond those accessible with conventional drilling in a development that could dramatically expand the role of geothermal energy in a low-carbon future.

A New Generation Of Geothermal Energy

US-based Quaise Energy, headquartered in Houston, has announced the first close of a $134 million Series B funding round, bringing its total funding to $230 million.

The investment will finance Project Obsidian in Central Oregon, which the company says will become the world’s first commercial superhot geothermal power plant while also supporting the continued development of its millimetre-wave drilling technology.

Unlike conventional geothermal projects, which rely on naturally accessible underground heat, Quaise aims to drill much deeper to reach rock temperatures between 300°C and 500°C. At those temperatures, significantly more energy can be extracted from each well, potentially allowing geothermal power to compete directly with fossil fuels and nuclear power while producing virtually no carbon emissions during operation.

As Carlos Araque, Chief Executive Officer and President of Quaise Energy, explains: “Our ambition is to power civilization with Earth’s most compelling energy source. This round takes us from field-proven technology to first commercial revenues.”

Replacing Drill Bits With Microwaves

The key innovation lies in how Quaise plans to reach those extreme depths. For example, conventional drilling becomes increasingly difficult as rock gets hotter and harder because drill bits wear out rapidly, making deep geothermal wells expensive and technically challenging.

Quaise’s solution, developed following more than a decade of research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), replaces conventional drill bits beyond certain depths with high-power millimetre-wave beams that effectively vaporise the rock instead of mechanically cutting through it.

The company has already demonstrated the technology under real field conditions, drilling more than 100 metres through granite during 2025. It is now approaching one kilometre in depth at its Central Texas test site, which would represent the deepest penetration ever achieved using millimetre-wave drilling and the deepest recorded by any non-contact drilling technology.

The next challenge is considerably greater. Quaise ultimately aims to drill beyond five kilometres, where temperatures become high enough to unlock the enormous energy potential of superhot geothermal systems.

Why Hotter Really Matters

Traditional geothermal power stations are geographically limited because commercially useful underground heat is only accessible in certain locations. Superhot geothermal could change that.

By drilling much deeper, Quaise believes temperatures of between 300°C and 500°C become accessible across far larger areas of the world, allowing clean, continuous electricity generation in places that would previously have been unsuitable for geothermal energy.

The company says its technology has “the unique potential to reach rock at temperatures of 300-500°C in most places worldwide, enabling the construction of geothermal systems that rival fossil and nuclear energy in power density and renewables in cost.”

Unlike solar and wind power, geothermal energy is also available around the clock, regardless of weather conditions or the time of day. That makes it particularly valuable as countries attempt to decarbonise electricity systems while maintaining reliable supplies.

Meeting Growing Demand For Clean Electricity

The timing of the announcement reflects another important trend. Electricity demand is rising rapidly as transport, heating and industry become increasingly electrified, while artificial intelligence data centres are adding substantial new demand to national grids.

Meeting that growth sustainably will require much more than simply installing additional renewable generation. Power systems also need dependable low-carbon sources capable of operating continuously to complement intermittent renewable energy.

Quaise believes superhot geothermal could become one of those technologies. With this in mind, construction has already begun on Project Obsidian, which is being built on federal geothermal leases in Oregon’s Deschutes National Forest. The company says the project has gigawatt-scale potential and aims to deliver its first electricity to the grid by 2030.

An Important Reality Check

Despite the enthusiasm surrounding the funding, considerable engineering challenges remain before the technology can be deployed commercially.

Although the drilling system has demonstrated encouraging progress, it has yet to reach the depths required for commercial superhot geothermal production. Project Obsidian itself also remains under development, meaning the commercial viability of the approach has not yet been proven.

The latest investment therefore represents confidence in the technology rather than confirmation that every technical challenge has already been overcome.

Even Quaise’s announcement focuses on the transition still ahead, describing the funding as the point where the company moves “from field-proven technology to first commercial revenues.”

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

For businesses pursuing sustainability goals, developments like Quaise’s highlight how the clean energy transition is broadening beyond familiar technologies such as wind and solar.

Reliable, zero-carbon electricity available around the clock could eventually help reduce dependence on fossil fuels while providing the stable energy supplies needed for manufacturing, digital infrastructure, transport and increasingly energy-intensive technologies such as AI.

Although commercial superhot geothermal remains several years away, the direction of travel is becoming clearer. Businesses developing long-term sustainability strategies are likely to benefit from monitoring emerging technologies capable of delivering dependable clean power alongside renewables rather than viewing decarbonisation solely through the lens of today’s energy mix.

Quaise’s ambitious drilling technology still has significant engineering hurdles to overcome, but if it succeeds, it could unlock one of the world’s largest untapped sources of clean energy. Rather than relying only on the sun above or the wind around us, future low-carbon electricity systems may increasingly draw on the immense heat that has always existed beneath our feet.

Sustainability-in-Tech : Fusion Breakthrough Turns Plasma Energy Into Electricity

Posted on by Paul Stradling

A US fusion company has demonstrated a new way of converting energy from a fusion plasma directly into electricity, while separate work on advanced electrical conductors could dramatically reduce the amount of power lost as heat, highlighting how the clean energy challenge is increasingly about efficiency as well as generation.

A Fusion First

Realta Fusion, a Wisconsin-based company developing compact fusion energy systems, says it has become the first private fusion company to demonstrate direct energy conversion from a fusion plasma.

The experiment took place on 19 June using the Wisconsin HTS Axisymmetric Mirror (WHAM), an experimental fusion device operated in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Researchers attached a prototype direct energy converter to one end of the device, where it captured energy from charged particles leaving the plasma and converted some of their movement directly into an electrical current.

According to Realta Fusion, the system produced multiple amps at around 100 volts, providing enough electricity to illuminate several light bulbs.

The amount of power produced was small, but the importance of the experiment lies in how the electricity was generated. Realta describes the process as “converting the energy of a fusion plasma manifesting in the form of moving charged particles directly into electricity – real amps of electric current flowing in circuits employed to do useful work.”

Why Direct Conversion Matters

Most power stations generate electricity indirectly. Whether the original energy comes from coal, gas, nuclear fission or some future fusion reactors, heat is generally used to produce steam, which then drives a turbine connected to a generator.

Every stage introduces energy losses, which means a substantial proportion of the original energy never reaches the electricity grid.

However, direct energy conversion offers a different possibility. Instead of turning all the energy from a fusion reaction into heat before producing electricity, some of the energy carried by charged particles can potentially be captured directly.

Realta believes this could be particularly useful in its magnetic mirror fusion reactors, where powerful magnets confine extremely hot plasma between two high-field superconducting magnets. Some charged particles naturally escape through the ends of the system, creating an opportunity to recover their energy.

The company explains that “by directly converting fusion plasma power into electricity, we can push less of the energy through a thermal cycle that has inherent efficiency limits due to the laws of thermodynamics.”

Recycling Energy Inside The Reactor

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the technology is that Realta doesn’t simply want to send the recovered electricity to the grid.

Fusion reactors themselves require substantial amounts of power to heat and sustain their plasma. Realta’s longer-term aim is to recover enough electricity through direct energy conversion to help meet those internal requirements, effectively recycling some of the energy within the power plant.

The company compares the idea with a hybrid vehicle, where a conventional powertrain and electrical system work together to improve overall efficiency.

Realta says: “We believe we can generate enough electricity using DEC in our design points to completely cover the input power requirement of the system for continuous operation, leaving the heat component for either direct use or the generation of electricity for customers.”

If that can be achieved at commercial scale, direct energy conversion could improve the economics of fusion by reducing the amount of electricity a reactor must consume simply to keep operating.

An Important Reality Check

Despite the significance of the experiment, it is important to be clear about what Realta has and has not demonstrated. WHAM is currently just a prototype-scale device using deuterium fuel rather than the deuterium-tritium mixture planned for Realta’s first commercial fusion reactors. As a result, most of the energy recovered in this experiment came from energy originally supplied to heat and sustain the plasma rather than energy newly produced by fusion reactions.

Realta itself is careful to make this distinction, stating that “this is neither a demonstration of net-electricity production nor large-scale conversion of fusion-born power directly into electricity.”

The challenge now is essentially how to scale things up. The prototype has demonstrated the principle, but Realta must develop the technology from its current output to kilowatts and eventually megawatts if it is to become part of a commercial power plant.

The company summarises its approach as “first make it work, then make it good”, acknowledging that a considerable engineering challenge remains between powering a few light bulbs and contributing meaningfully to the operation of a fusion power station.

Wasting Less Electricity On The Grid

While Realta is trying to improve how future clean energy is generated and reused, California start-up Arcturus is tackling another part of the electricity problem by trying to reduce the amount of energy lost during transmission.

Electrical conductors naturally resist the flow of current and produce heat. These losses become particularly important as electricity demand increases and power grids are required to carry greater loads.

Arcturus is developing copper and aluminium conductors infused with carbon nanomaterials using lasers. The aim is to create metals that conduct electricity more efficiently, particularly at higher temperatures, without requiring the equipment around them to be completely redesigned.

The company believes that replacing conventional conductors with its materials could potentially halve electrical grid losses, which could make significantly more electricity available without building additional generation capacity.

However, the technology remains at a much earlier stage than widespread grid deployment. Arcturus has so far produced relatively short lengths of its material and plans to scale production for testing in applications such as electric motors and power distribution equipment.

Efficiency Is Becoming As Important As Generation

These two developments are very different, but they highlight the same fundamental challenge. The transition to cleaner energy is not simply about generating more electricity. Electrification, AI data centres, electric vehicles and industrial decarbonisation are increasing demand at the same time as many electricity grids are already struggling with capacity constraints.

That makes every avoidable energy loss increasingly important. A fusion plant that can recycle more of its own energy could deliver electricity more efficiently, while better conductors could allow more of that electricity to reach the businesses and homes that need it.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Neither fusion direct energy conversion nor nano-infused power cables will transform business energy costs in the immediate future, as both technologies still face significant engineering and commercial challenges.

However, they demonstrate how innovation across the entire energy system could help address rising electricity demand. The future energy transition will depend not only on renewable generation and new technologies such as fusion, but also on reducing losses within power stations, data centres, industrial equipment and electricity networks.

For businesses, particularly those operating energy-intensive facilities, this means energy efficiency is likely to become an increasingly important area of technological innovation and investment. Improvements that once appeared relatively small can become economically significant when applied across factories, data centres and national electricity networks.

The wider message here is that solving the clean energy challenge will require many more improvements at every stage, from the way power is generated to the materials carrying it across the grid. Realta Fusion and Arcturus may be examples of organisations working at very different points in that chain, but both are really pursuing the same valuable goal of getting more useful electricity from the energy and infrastructure already available.

Sustainability-in-Tech : Can Light Make AI More Sustainable?

Posted on by Paul Stradling

A UK startup claims it can reduce the power consumed by AI data centre networks by 81 per cent by replacing conventional electronic switching equipment with technology that routes data using light.

Why AI’s Energy Problem Is Growing

The rapid growth of artificial intelligence is creating a major sustainability challenge. As AI models become larger and more widely used, the data centres that power them are consuming increasing amounts of electricity. Industry forecasts suggest global data centre energy demand could rise significantly over the coming decade, driven largely by AI training and inference workloads.

Much of the attention has focused on the energy consumed by powerful processors such as GPUs. However, another important source of energy consumption sits in the networks that connect those processors together.

Modern AI systems rely on thousands of chips constantly exchanging data. Every time information moves through conventional networking equipment, energy is consumed and heat is generated. As AI clusters grow larger, those networking systems are becoming increasingly expensive to power and cool.

That has prompted researchers and technology companies to look for ways of making AI infrastructure more efficient.

What Oriole Networks Has Developed

London-based startup Oriole Networks believes it has found one possible solution.

The company has developed a networking platform called PRISM that replaces traditional electronic switches in data centre networks with optical circuits that route information as photons rather than electrical signals.

For decades, data centre networks have depended on electrical switching technology. While highly effective, these systems consume significant amounts of energy and generate large quantities of heat.

Oriole argues that by allowing data to travel directly as light, much of that inefficiency can be removed.

According to the company, PRISM “removes the need for electronic switches entirely” within the network core and replaces them with “nanosecond-switched optical circuits”.

The company claims this can reduce core network power consumption by 81 per cent. It also says GPU idle time can fall from around 60 per cent to less than 1 per cent because processors spend less time waiting for information to move through the network.

Why Energy Savings Matter

The sustainability implications extend beyond electricity consumption alone. For example, networking equipment generates heat, and removing that heat requires cooling systems. Cooling can account for a substantial proportion of overall data centre energy consumption and often involves significant water usage as well.

Reducing the amount of heat produced inside a facility can therefore create multiple environmental benefits simultaneously.

Oriole argues that its technology could help reduce cooling requirements while making better use of existing AI hardware. Rather than building more data centres or adding more processors to achieve higher performance, operators may be able to extract more useful work from the infrastructure they already have.

The company also believes its approach could reduce dependence on some of the complex supply chains associated with today’s networking equipment.

Moving Into Real-World Testing

The technology is now moving beyond the laboratory. Oriole has announced that its system will be deployed as part of the UK’s £50 million ARIA Scaling Inference Lab, a government-backed initiative designed to address performance and efficiency bottlenecks in large-scale AI infrastructure.

The deployment combines Oriole’s networking technology with AMD Instinct GPUs and AMD EPYC processors.

Madhu Rangarajan, corporate vice president of Compute and Enterprise AI at AMD, described the technology as “a fundamentally different way to connect accelerators at scale” and said the collaboration is helping validate how photonic networking can provide the connectivity needed for AI inference workloads.

For Oriole, the deployment represents a significant milestone. Chief executive James Regan said: “A year ago, we were proving the physics; today, we’re proving the business.” He added that the project demonstrates how “photonic networking stops being a research curiosity and starts being the foundation of how serious AI infrastructure gets built.”

The Important Caveat

The headline figures remain company claims rather than independently verified industry benchmarks.

The ARIA deployment will provide the first large-scale commercial test of whether the technology can deliver the same benefits under real-world conditions that it has demonstrated during development.

That distinction matters because many promising hardware technologies perform well in controlled environments but struggle when deployed at the enormous scale used by major cloud and AI providers.

The wider rollout planned for 2027 will provide a clearer indication of whether photonic networking can become a practical alternative to conventional data centre infrastructure.

What Does This Mean For Your Organisation?

For organisations concerned about the environmental impact of AI, the story highlights the increasingly important reality that making AI more sustainable is not simply about building better processors.

Attention is increasingly turning towards the wider infrastructure that supports AI, including networking, cooling, power delivery, and resource utilisation.

If technologies such as Oriole’s can genuinely reduce network power consumption while improving hardware efficiency, they could help address some of the environmental pressures associated with AI’s rapid growth. Lower electricity demand, reduced cooling requirements, and better utilisation of existing hardware would all contribute towards more sustainable AI infrastructure.

Whether Oriole’s specific approach succeeds remains to be seen. However, the broader message is clear. As AI energy consumption continues to grow, innovations that reduce waste inside data centres may become just as important as advances in the AI models themselves.

Sustainability-in-Tech : EU Wants Households To Shift Energy Use As AI Demand Grows

Posted on by Paul Stradling

The European Commission is encouraging households to move electricity consumption away from peak periods as rising demand from AI data centres, electrification, and digital infrastructure places growing pressure on Europe’s power grids.

What The EU Has Announced

As part of its new Strategic Roadmap for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence in Energy, the European Commission has outlined plans to accelerate the rollout of smart meters and other digital technologies designed to help consumers use electricity when demand is lower and prices are cheaper.

The initiative forms part of a broader effort to modernise Europe’s energy system while managing rapidly growing electricity demand.

Alongside the roadmap, the Commission has also introduced a Data Centre Energy Efficiency Package that includes a new rating scheme for data centres and lays the groundwork for future minimum energy performance standards.

According to the Commission, digital solutions can help consumers “shift consumption to hours when electricity is cheaper and thereby lower their energy bills.”

The Commission believes that greater demand-side flexibility could reduce electricity costs for EU consumers by more than €71 billion per year.

Why Data Centres Are Becoming Part Of The Energy Debate

The growing focus on electricity demand is closely linked to the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure.

Training and operating advanced AI models requires vast computing resources, much of which is housed in large-scale data centres. As AI adoption accelerates, so does the amount of electricity needed to power and cool those facilities.

According to the Commission, data centres already account for around 2.5 per cent of EU electricity consumption, and demand is expected to more than double over the next four years.

At the same time, electricity demand is also increasing from electric vehicles, heat pumps, hydrogen production, and the wider electrification of the economy.

The result is a growing challenge for policymakers attempting to balance economic growth, climate goals, energy security, and affordability.

Ireland Offers A Glimpse Of The Challenge

Ireland provides one of the clearest examples of the pressures that can emerge when data centre growth outpaces energy infrastructure investment.

Data centres now consume more than 22 per cent of Ireland’s national electricity supply, making it one of the most concentrated data centre markets in the world.

The issue has become significant enough that some proposed developments have faced planning and grid-capacity challenges. Concerns have also been raised about the potential impact on electricity prices in regions with large concentrations of digital infrastructure.

While AI data centres are not the sole cause of rising energy demand, they are becoming an increasingly visible contributor to a broader capacity challenge affecting many countries.

A Difficult Balancing Act

The situation highlights a growing tension within European policy. For example, on one hand, the EU wants to accelerate AI development and reduce dependence on foreign technology providers. On the other, the infrastructure required to support those ambitions consumes large amounts of electricity at a time when Europe is simultaneously trying to decarbonise its economy and keep energy affordable.

The Commission argues that digitalisation can help address part of the problem. The roadmap notes that AI-based optimisation of energy systems could improve efficiency, reduce waste, and make better use of existing infrastructure.

As the Commission states, “Tech sovereignty in the energy sector is therefore more urgent than ever” while digital technologies can help create “a clean, competitive and secure EU energy system.”

However, efficiency improvements alone may not solve the underlying challenge if electricity demand continues to grow faster than generation and grid capacity.

What Does This Mean For Your Organisation?

For organisations, the announcement highlights a sustainability issue that is likely to become increasingly important over the next decade.

AI offers significant opportunities for innovation, productivity, and economic growth. However, the infrastructure required to support those benefits has real environmental and energy consequences that governments, businesses, and consumers will need to manage.

The Commission’s response suggests that future energy policy may focus not only on generating more electricity but also on using existing capacity more intelligently through smart meters, AI-enabled grid management, demand flexibility, and stricter efficiency standards.

The wider lesson is that the sustainability debate around AI is moving beyond questions about individual technologies and towards a much larger discussion about how societies generate, distribute, and consume energy in an increasingly digital world.

Sustainability-In-Tech : Concrete “Battery” Now Stores 10 Times More Energy

Posted on by Paul Stradling

MIT scientists say a new carbon-cement “concrete battery” has advanced dramatically, now storing ten times the energy it did just two years ago.

The Breakthrough Explained

The innovation comes from researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), who have been working on what they call electron-conducting carbon concrete, or ec³. This new type of concrete blends cement, water, ultra-fine carbon black, and electrolytes to create a conductive network within the structure. That network allows the concrete itself to store and release energy like a supercapacitor, effectively turning ordinary building materials into energy storage units.

Tenfold Increase In Energy Storage

Their new study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows a tenfold increase in energy storage compared with earlier versions. The researchers say they achieved this by refining the electrolyte composition and altering how it is introduced during mixing. The result is a more efficient, denser electrical nanostructure that significantly boosts storage capacity.

Who Developed It and Why?

The work has been led by what’s known as MIT’s Electron-Conducting Carbon-Cement (ec³) Hub and the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub. Key researchers are reported to include Associate Professor Admir Masic and research scientist Damian Stefaniuk, supported by a multidisciplinary team of engineers and materials scientists.

According to Masic, the vision behind ec³ is not simply to create another battery alternative, but to rethink how existing materials can help solve global energy challenges. For example, as Masic said in MIT’s announcement about the breakthrough, “Concrete is already the world’s most-used construction material, so why not take advantage of that scale to create other benefits?”.

Embedding Storage Into Construction Materials

The motivation to create the battery lies in the growing global need for affordable, sustainable energy storage. For example, as renewable energy sources like solar and wind expand, there remains the problem of what to do when generation stops, e.g. at night, or when the wind is calm. Embedding storage directly into construction materials, therefore, could be a way to help solve this, removing the need for separate battery systems that rely on scarce materials such as lithium and cobalt.

How It Works

Technically speaking, the material that it’s made from functions as a structural supercapacitor rather than a chemical battery. Supercapacitors store energy electrostatically, which means they can charge and discharge rapidly and endure far more cycles than traditional batteries. The carbon black particles form a continuous conductive web throughout the hardened cement, and the electrolyte fills the pores, allowing ions to flow and charge to build up across the internal surfaces.

Used Microscopy Techniques To Design It

This nanonetwork (the tiny, interconnected structure that carries electrical charge) was designed using advanced microscopy techniques at MIT, i.e., powerful imaging tools were used to see materials at the nanoscale. This then revealed a fractal-like (branch-like) web pattern surrounding the pores. Understanding this structure helped the team identify how to adjust the electrolyte to improve charge flow. The team then switched from soaking the concrete in the electrolyte after it hardened to mixing it directly in from the start, ensuring uniform distribution and better conductivity.

Tenfold Improvement in Power

In the team’s 2023 version, about 45 cubic metres of ec³ concrete were needed to store enough energy to power a typical household for one day. However, the new version needs only around five cubic metres, which is the equivalent volume of a single basement wall.

The improved material can now store more than 2 kilowatt-hours per cubic metre, meaning a cubic block the size of a large household refrigerator can power an actual fridge for a day. This level of storage density, while still lower than lithium-ion batteries, represents a major step towards practical, large-scale use.

Built An Arch From It

The MIT team also demonstrated how the technology could function structurally and electrically at the same time by building a small arch made of ec³. The arch supported its own weight while powering an LED light. Interestingly, when weight was added, the LED flickered, suggesting that such structures could also act as self-monitoring sensors, detecting stress or damage in real time.

Potential Uses and Real-World Applications

The most immediate possible uses for this material could include homes and buildings with integrated solar power systems. For example, instead of relying on external battery packs, the building’s own walls or floors could store excess energy for later use.

Beyond buildings, the team envisions roads and car parks capable of charging electric vehicles, pavements that can heat themselves in icy weather, and bridge structures that both bear loads and store renewable energy. In Japan, for example, ec³ slabs have already been used to heat pavements in Sapporo, suggesting possible future roles in cold-climate infrastructure.

As co-author of the research report, James Weaver explained, “By combining modern nanoscience with an ancient building block of civilisation, we’re opening a door to infrastructure that doesn’t just support our lives, it powers them.”

Long-Term Cost and Energy Savings

For developers and facility managers, this technology could offer long-term cost and energy savings. Buildings made from ec³ materials might one day store solar power onsite without additional space or equipment. Large commercial facilities could reduce their reliance on grid energy, avoiding peak-time tariffs.

Manufacturers and contractors may also find new business opportunities in producing and deploying ec³ at scale. If production methods prove cost-effective, this could redefine energy infrastructure for corporate campuses, logistics centres, and industrial sites. The ability to integrate energy storage invisibly into standard construction materials could lower project complexity and improve sustainability credentials for companies focused on ESG goals.

Battery Makers

For now, ec³ is not positioned to replace high-performance lithium-ion batteries. This is because its energy density is still much lower, making it unsuitable for mobile devices or vehicles. However, its potential lies in stationary storage, particularly where space and material costs are already accounted for.

That said, battery firms could see it as complementary rather than competitive, e.g., part of hybrid systems that combine concrete supercapacitors for daily cycling with conventional batteries for bulk storage. The concept challenges the assumption that batteries must always be separate physical units, hinting at a future where storage is embedded in the fabric of our cities.

Environmental and Sustainability Factors

It shouldn’t be forgotten here that cement production is responsible for around 7 to 8 per cent of global CO₂ emissions. For ec³ to be genuinely sustainable, therefore, its energy benefits must outweigh the embodied carbon from cement and the added materials such as carbon black and electrolytes. The MIT researchers argue that multifunctional materials can deliver a net reduction by serving multiple roles, i.e. structural, electrical, and possibly even carbon-sequestering.

There is also the issue of durability – concrete structures often last decades, so the embedded energy system must remain stable over similar timeframes. The MIT team is currently studying how environmental conditions such as moisture, temperature, and mechanical stress affect performance over time.

Not Alone

MIT is not alone in exploring energy-storing construction materials. For example, researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have developed a rechargeable cement-based battery using metal electrodes and carbon fibre layers, though its energy density is far lower than ec³’s latest version. Also, a team at Washington University in St. Louis has demonstrated “energy-storing bricks” that use a conductive polymer coating to create supercapacitor-like properties.

These parallel projects point to a wider movement towards multifunctional building materials that blur the line between structure and infrastructure. However, MIT’s progress in scaling up storage capacity and integrating the technology into load-bearing concrete sets it apart.

Challenges and Criticisms

Despite the excitement, experts point to several hurdles that the MIT team still need to address. The material’s energy density remains modest compared with lithium-ion batteries, meaning large volumes are required to store meaningful amounts of power. The use of organic electrolytes such as acetonitrile also raises safety and flammability concerns, especially in residential settings.

Cost and manufacturing complexity are further issues. Producing carbon-rich, electrolyte-infused concrete at commercial scale will demand new supply chains, mixing standards, and quality controls. The economic viability depends on achieving costs comparable to conventional concrete, something that remains uncertain.

Critics also note that while supercapacitors excel at rapid charging and long life, they generally suffer from self-discharge and limited total storage time. The MIT team will need to demonstrate consistent long-term performance before industry adoption can begin.

For now, the research remains at laboratory and small-prototype scale, but the tenfold leap in capacity is a meaningful milestone. If the next steps confirm durability, cost efficiency, and safety, the humble concrete block could become one of the most unexpected innovations in sustainable energy to date.

What Does This Mean For Your Organisation?

If proven reliable and scalable, this breakthrough could reshape how the built environment contributes to global sustainability targets. Embedding energy storage directly into the concrete of homes, offices, and transport infrastructure would mean that the same materials already used in construction could also support renewable energy systems, lowering costs and improving resilience. The practical implications extend far beyond academia, giving architects, engineers, and developers a new tool to design buildings that generate, store, and use power autonomously.

For UK businesses, the potential lies in efficiency and reputation. Construction firms and materials suppliers could benefit from being early adopters of multifunctional concretes that reduce carbon impact and add operational value. Facilities managers could also gain from a future where energy-storing walls or car parks reduce dependence on grid supply and shield companies from fluctuating electricity prices. As sustainability reporting becomes a central requirement for both investors and regulators, technologies like ec³ could offer measurable advantages in meeting ESG and net zero commitments.

Governments and regulators are likely to be very interested in this energy storage idea. For example, the possibility of embedding large-scale energy storage into existing infrastructure aligns well with national energy transition goals, but it also raises questions about building codes, safety standards, and lifecycle performance. Clear regulation and industrial partnerships would be needed before ec³ can move from prototype to construction site. Battery manufacturers, meanwhile, will need to assess whether to compete or collaborate. For many, hybrid systems combining traditional battery units with concrete-based supercapacitors could prove to be the most viable commercial path.

From a sustainability standpoint, the real test will come when energy gains are balanced against embodied carbon costs. Cement’s emissions footprint remains substantial, and researchers must demonstrate that the functional value of ec³ outweighs that environmental cost. Even so, the concept of a building material that can both support and store power captures a rare intersection of practicality and vision. If MIT’s concrete battery continues to perform as projected, it could help redefine how energy storage, architecture, and sustainability intersect in the decades ahead.

News : Tesla Applies for UK Energy Licence

Posted on by Paul Stradling

Elon Musk’s Tesla has applied for a licence to supply electricity to British homes and businesses, a move that could see the US-based firm directly enter the UK’s highly regulated energy market from 2026.

What Has Tesla Done?

The application was formally submitted on 25 July by Tesla Energy Ventures Limited, a UK-registered company under the wider Tesla umbrella. Ofgem, the UK’s energy regulator, confirmed the licence request on its website and set a consultation period until 22 August for stakeholders to submit comments. In line with the Utilities Act 2000, Ofgem has only published the notice of application, limiting further detail. If approved, the licence would allow Tesla to operate as a retail electricity supplier across England, Scotland and Wales.

Extend Scope of Existing Licence

It should be noted here that Tesla already holds a generation licence in the UK (granted in 2020) which allows it to produce electricity. However, this latest move could extend its scope to selling power directly to households and businesses, in the same way as established suppliers such as British Gas, Octopus Energy and OVO.

Why Is Tesla Doing This?

Tesla’s decision comes at a time when the company is facing declining electric vehicle sales across Europe. UK registrations in July fell by almost 60 per cent compared to the previous year, while German sales dropped by 55 per cent. Across ten key European markets, Tesla’s sales were down by 45 per cent. Competition from rival EV manufacturers, particularly China’s BYD, has been a major factor in this slump.

Diversifying into energy supply, therefore, offers Tesla another route to growth, particularly given its sizeable existing footprint. More than 250,000 Tesla vehicles are on UK roads and tens of thousands of its Powerwall home battery systems have been installed. This customer base could provide a ready pool of households willing to adopt Tesla’s electricity supply, particularly if bundled with discounts for charging vehicles or exporting stored solar energy back to the grid.

Like In Texas

The company has already built up experience as an energy supplier in the United States. In Texas, Tesla Electric launched in 2022 as a retail provider offering households low-cost, 100 per cent renewable power. Customers do not need to own a Tesla product to join, though EV owners and Powerwall users are offered cheaper charging rates and the ability to sell surplus electricity back to the grid.

The Texas operation also supports the concept of a “virtual power plant”, where thousands of home batteries are linked together to provide grid stability. Tesla has suggested that similar models could eventually be deployed in other markets. In the UK, this would align with National Grid’s push for more flexible energy resources and time-of-use tariffs that encourage households to use power at off-peak times.

What Could This Mean for the UK Market?

If the licence is granted, Tesla would join a market that is both competitive and tightly controlled. The so-called “Big Six” suppliers, now expanded to include Octopus alongside British Gas, EDF, E.ON, OVO, ScottishPower and SSE, still dominate with more than 90 per cent of the domestic supply market. Smaller and newer entrants have struggled in recent years, especially during the energy crisis, which saw dozens of challenger firms collapse under pressure from soaring wholesale prices.

Some analysts have pointed out that Tesla is entering a highly regulated market where profit margins are already thin and most of the big suppliers have invested heavily in smart tariffs, making it difficult for new players to break through. However, others have highlighted how Tesla’s existing ecosystem could help it stand apart. For example, despite falling EV sales, Tesla still has a sizeable footprint in the UK, with more than 250,000 cars sold and thousands of Powerwall batteries installed. That existing customer base could give Tesla a natural advantage if it follows the same model as its Texas business, where households are offered cheaper charging and paid for feeding power back into the grid.

Potential Tariff Innovation

One area where Tesla may compete effectively is in smart tariffs for EV charging and home energy storage. Between 2020 and 2023, Tesla partnered with Octopus Energy on the Tesla Energy Plan, a smart import-export tariff that allowed customers with solar panels and Powerwalls to buy and sell electricity at the same rate. Although Tesla later withdrew from the partnership, Octopus continues to offer a similar tariff, demonstrating demand for such arrangements.

If Tesla can combine its EVs, batteries and potential supply licence into a single integrated offer, it could appeal strongly to existing customers. For example, discounted tariffs for charging Teslas overnight, coupled with payments for sending energy back to the grid from a Powerwall, would create a closed-loop system that few other suppliers could match.

Challenges

Despite the potential, the barriers are considerable. The UK retail electricity market is crowded, margins are slim, and switching rates are low compared with the period before the energy crisis. Many households are locked into dual-fuel contracts that combine gas and electricity, which may make a Tesla-only electricity offer less attractive.

There is also the question of public perception. Elon Musk’s increasingly political public profile has drawn strong criticism in Europe and the UK. Also, he has described Britain as a “police state” and criticised asylum and migration policies. His closeness to US President Donald Trump (although they have since fallen out) and his actions with DOGE in the US have further polarised opinion and appear to have caused huge damage to his personal brand (and his vehicle sales). In fact, some consumer groups have warned that Musk’s views could influence whether households are willing to sign up for Tesla-branded energy.

Tesla itself has remained quiet on its application. The notice submitted to Ofgem was signed by Andrew Payne, Tesla’s head of energy for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. No public statement has been issued by the company, which has said only that it continues to expand its energy services globally.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Tesla’s bid to supply electricity in the UK sets up a clear test of whether its brand strength and integrated technology can overcome the realities of a tightly controlled market. On paper, its combination of cars, home batteries and solar solutions could give it an edge in offering customers genuinely joined-up energy services. In practice, it faces the same pressures that have squeezed margins for existing suppliers, alongside the added complication of public sentiment about its founder.

For UK households, the offer of cheaper EV charging or the ability to trade surplus solar power back to the grid would be attractive, particularly at a time when energy bills remain under close scrutiny. For businesses, Tesla’s entry could bring new tariff models for fleets or for sites already investing in renewable generation and storage. If the model mirrors what has been developed in Texas, it may also open the door for companies to participate in virtual power plants that improve resilience and provide income streams from energy flexibility.

For the energy sector, the move signals that disruption could just as easily come from a technology giant as from a nimble start-up. Incumbent suppliers will be watching closely, both for the pricing strategy Tesla adopts and for the way it leverages its hardware base to win loyalty. Regulators, meanwhile, will have to balance innovation with consumer protection in a market that has already seen waves of supplier failures.

Tesla is attempting to diversify at a time when its automotive business is under pressure, and the UK market will be an early test of whether energy supply can deliver the growth it now seeks. If it succeeds, it could accelerate the shift towards more dynamic and decentralised energy systems. If it fails, it will underline how difficult it remains to challenge the dominance of established players in one of Europe’s most heavily regulated markets.

Sustainability-In-Tech : Is Geothermal Energy The Future For Data Centres?

Posted on by Paul Stradling

A new report from the Rhodium Group claims that advanced geothermal energy could power nearly all new data centres by 2030.

A Stable, Renewable Solution

With the exponential rise in artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing driving unprecedented demand for electricity, the energy consumption of data centres is a growing concern. However, the report suggests that tapping into the Earth’s heat could provide a stable, renewable solution to this looming energy crisis.

The Data Centre Energy Problem

Data centres are essentially the backbone of the digital economy, hosting everything from cloud storage to AI model training. However, their hunger for power (and water) is becoming a pressing issue. For example, according to the Rhodium Group, electricity demand from data centres in the US has surged from 2 per cent of total consumption in 2020 to around 4.5 per cent in 2024. Projections indicate this could rise to as much as 12 per cent by 2028.

Much of this surge comes from the rapid expansion of AI, with models such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot requiring massive computational power. The grid is struggling to keep pace, with utilities and regulators facing growing challenges in ensuring reliable, low-carbon electricity supply.

What Is Geothermal Energy?

Geothermal energy harnesses heat stored beneath the Earth’s surface, converting it into electricity or direct heating. Traditionally, geothermal power plants were limited to areas where hot water or steam naturally rises close to the surface, such as Iceland or parts of the western US.

However, advancements in enhanced geothermal systems (EGS), which use deep drilling and hydraulic fracturing techniques to unlock heat from otherwise inaccessible rock formations, are now changing the game. For example, according to the US Department of Energy, EGS could unlock up to 90 gigawatts (GW) of geothermal capacity in the US alone, providing a vast, untapped source of clean energy.

Why Geothermal Could Meet Data Centre Demand

The Rhodium Group’s report estimates that under current trends, geothermal could provide up to 64 per cent of new data centre electricity demand by 2030. If data centre developers strategically site their facilities in areas with the best geothermal resources, this figure could rise to 100 per cent!

In practical terms, this means geothermal could quadruple its current installed capacity in the US, from 4GW today to approximately 16GW by the end of the decade. Crucially, the cost of geothermal energy is expected to be competitive with existing power sources, ranging from $50 to $75 per megawatt-hour (MWh) (on par with current grid electricity prices for data centres).

Real-World Examples of Geothermal in Action

A number of innovative startups are already proving the feasibility of geothermal-powered data centres. These include:

– Fervo Energy, founded by former oil and gas engineers, has been pioneering horizontal drilling techniques to boost geothermal output. The company secured over $200 million in investment in 2024 and has significantly reduced drilling costs.

– Bedrock Energy is focusing on space-constrained urban environments. Their deep-drilling approach enables office buildings and data centres to tap into geothermal heat with a small footprint.

– Quaise Energy has developed a breakthrough technology that uses high-powered microwaves to vaporise rock, allowing them to drill as deep as 12.4 miles (20km). At these depths, temperatures exceed 1,000°F, providing an almost limitless source of heat.

– Sage Geosystems is taking a different approach, using geothermal wells to store energy. Water is injected under pressure and later released to generate electricity, similar to an underground hydroelectric dam.

The Benefits of Geothermal for Data Centres

Geothermal energy offers a host of advantages for data centre operators, most notably:

– 24/7 reliability. Unlike wind or solar, geothermal provides continuous, baseload power with 90 per cent+ capacity factors.

– A low carbon footprint. Geothermal plants emit little to no greenhouse gases, aligning with tech companies’ aggressive net-zero targets.

– Grid independence. By using behind-the-metre geothermal installations, data centres can bypass lengthy grid connection delays, reducing wait times for power.

– Cost stability. Unlike natural gas, which is subject to price volatility, geothermal energy provides long-term price certainty.

The Challenges of Scaling Geothermal

However, while the potential is pretty clear, there are some significant hurdles to overcome before geothermal can power the next wave of data centres. These include:

– High upfront costs. Deep drilling and well stimulation require significant capital investment. However, costs are falling as technology advances.

– Permitting delays. In the US, for example, securing permits for geothermal projects can take up to 10 years! Streamlining regulatory approvals is crucial to accelerating deployment.

– Geographic constraints. While EGS expands geothermal’s reach, the best sites are still concentrated in the western US, meaning some data centres may have to relocate or use hybrid energy strategies.

– Infrastructure readiness. Drilling rigs, turbines, and skilled labour all need to scale rapidly to meet growing demand. Leveraging expertise from the oil and gas sector could help bridge this gap.

What Does This Mean For Your Organisation?

Geothermal energy could be a real and practical way to address the growing electricity demands of data centres while aligning with sustainability goals. The technology is proven, its reliability is unmatched among renewables, and its potential is vast. However, realising this potential requires significant investment, regulatory reform, and strategic siting of new facilities.

For data centre operators, integrating geothermal could reduce dependence on fossil fuels and offer long-term cost stability. For policymakers, streamlining permitting processes and incentivising geothermal development will be key to unlocking its full potential. Meanwhile, investors and energy companies have a chance to shape a growing market by developing innovative drilling and power generation techniques.

For UK businesses, the need for cleaner, more stable energy sources is just as pressing in this country, where data centre energy demand is rising rapidly. While the UK lacks the geothermal resources of the US, investment in energy innovation, including geothermal heating and advanced drilling techniques, could provide valuable lessons and opportunities. Also, British companies specialising in energy technology, infrastructure, and financing may find growing international demand for their expertise.

The question, therefore, is no longer whether geothermal can support the data centre boom, but how quickly the industry can scale to meet demand. With the right mix of investment, policy support, and technological innovation, the heat beneath our feet could soon be powering the digital world in ways previously unimaginable.

Sustainability-In-Tech : New Clean Energy Materials In 2 Years (Not 20)

Posted on by Paul Stradling

Danish startup PhaseTree says its combined use of multi-scale modelling techniques means it can create new materials for clean energy technologies in just 2 years (instead of the usual 20), i.e., a speed 10 times faster than traditional methods.

Who is PhaseTree and What Do They Do?

Copenhagen-based startup, PhaseTree, was founded in 2021 as a spin-off from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). Their mission is to reinvent the material discovery process, using a unique combination of computer simulations, lab automation, and artificial intelligence (AI) to drastically shorten the time it takes to find and develop new materials.

Slow, Up Until Now

At the moment, creating new materials for clean energy technologies is an incredibly slow and expensive process. For example, the industry norm can take up to 20 years due to time-consuming lab testing and trial-and-error experiments. However, PhaseTree’s solution (based on advanced multi-scale modelling techniques) reduces this to just two years, thereby transforming the way sustainable materials are discovered.

Could Help the Move Away From Fossil Fuels

This speed-up could have major implications for (mostly clean energy) technology industries that rely on scarce or expensive raw materials, such as the battery, automobile, and steel sectors. By identifying alternative materials that are cheaper, more sustainable, and easier to produce, PhaseTree aims to help companies move away from their reliance on rare earth metals and fossil fuels.

How Does PhaseTree’s Technology Work?

Unlike many AI-driven material discovery tools that rely purely on data correlations, PhaseTree takes a different approach, i.e. a “physics-first, AI-on-top” approach. Their platform starts with well-established scientific principles, then layers AI on top to refine predictions. This ensures that the materials they identify are not only promising on paper but actually viable in the real world.

PhaseTree’s three-pronged approach includes:

– Physics-based modelling. This involves analysing fundamental material properties like composition, atomic structure, defects, and microstructures.

– AI refinement. Once strong candidates are identified using scientific principles, AI is applied to optimise their properties and manufacturing potential.

– Lab automation. Cutting down on manual testing time by integrating automated lab experiments that validate material performance faster than traditional methods.

As Jin Hyun Chang, co-founder and CTO of PhaseTree, explains: “Our approach accelerates discovery by combining physics-based modelling with AI, allowing us to rapidly identify and refine promising candidates that would traditionally take decades to develop.”

This “physics-first, AI-on-top” method is what makes PhaseTree stand out in an increasingly crowded sector. In 2024 alone, AI-powered material discovery startups raised over $260 million, with 10 out of 17 funding rounds going to European companies, including ExoMatter, Dunia, and Orbital. However, while many of these companies depend heavily on AI-driven correlations, PhaseTree tries to focus more on real-world scientific accuracy.

Why PhaseTree’s Work Could Be More Important Than Ever

The race to discover new materials is not just about efficiency and innovation. It’s about economic and environmental survival. Therefore, some of the key reasons why PhaseTree’s work could be of particular importance now include:

– The rare earth crisis. With China controlling the majority of the rare earth supply chain, industries are facing soaring costs, limited access, and increasing geopolitical risks.

– Environmental impact. Many existing materials, such as those used in lithium-ion batteries and steel production, have significant environmental drawbacks, including heavy reliance on fossil fuels and high CO₂ emissions.

– Manufacturing challenges. A material may work in a research lab, but that doesn’t mean it can be produced at scale.

PhaseTree’s CEO, Amit Luthra, has highlighted how its work directly addresses these challenges, saying: “From the outset, we design materials with manufacturability in mind, ensuring they can be synthesised at scale rather than remaining a theoretical concept or lab-scale prototype.”

Also, as Christian Lindegaard Jepsen, Partner at Heartcore Capital (a source of PhaseTree’s funding), explains: “Materials play a crucial role in developing clean energy and sustainable technologies. PhaseTree makes it easier and faster to find better alternatives that can help reduce environmental impact and improve efficiency.”

By focusing on low-cost, abundant materials with straightforward synthesis routes, PhaseTree is hoping to maximise the likelihood of real-world adoption by major industrial players.

€3 Million Funding to Drive Expansion

To take their work to the next level, PhaseTree has just secured €3 million from Denmark-based venture capital firm Heartcore Capital. It’s understood that this funding will be used to:

– Expand R&D efforts, enhancing their material discovery platform.

– Grow the PhaseTree team, bringing in more scientists, engineers, and AI specialists.

– Scale up collaborations with some of the world’s largest battery, automotive, and steel manufacturers.

What This Could Mean for the Future

If PhaseTree succeeds in scaling up its technology, it could change the way industries develop materials for the better by reducing their dependence on scarce, expensive, and environmentally damaging resources.

– Some of the potential impacts include:

– Cheaper, more efficient batteries that rely on readily available materials rather than rare earth metals.

– Stronger, lighter alloys for the automotive and aerospace industries, reducing fuel consumption and emissions.

– Faster breakthroughs in renewable energy technology, making solar panels and wind turbines more efficient and cost-effective.

With the clean energy sector desperate for innovation, and supply chain disruptions making material discovery more urgent than ever, PhaseTree may well be in the right place at the right time.

What Does This Mean for Your Organisation?

By combining the accuracy of scientific modelling with the speed and efficiency of AI, they are setting a precedent for how next-generation materials can be developed. The fact that PhaseTree’s approach can significantly reduce development timelines and costs could reshape entire supply chains. This could make sustainable materials more accessible for businesses that have historically struggled with long and expensive R&D cycles. With global demand for cleaner, more efficient materials growing rapidly, this innovation could arrive at a crucial turning point for industries that are under mounting pressure to reduce their environmental impact.

For UK businesses, this development could open up significant opportunities. For example, as industries face increasing regulation on carbon emissions and sustainability, the ability to source materials that are not only greener but also cost-effective could provide a real competitive advantage. British manufacturers, particularly in sectors such as automotive, aerospace, and energy, could benefit from greater access to advanced materials that reduce reliance on imports and offer more stable supply chains. With the UK aiming to become a leader in green technology and advanced manufacturing, partnerships with companies like PhaseTree could support efforts to drive innovation domestically while reducing exposure to global market volatility.

Beyond the business world, the impact of faster, more sustainable material discovery could help society as a whole. For example, the widespread availability of new, more efficient materials could lower the cost of renewable energy infrastructure, making technologies like solar power and wind energy more affordable for consumers. Also, the battery industry, which is crucial to the success of electric vehicles and energy storage, could see faster progress towards alternatives that reduce reliance on scarce or ethically problematic resources. In turn, this could help accelerate the transition to low-carbon transport and cleaner energy grids, benefiting both the environment and consumers.

That said, while PhaseTree’s approach is promising, it remains to be seen how quickly industries can actually integrate these materials into large-scale production. The challenge isn’t only about discovery but also ensuring that new materials can be manufactured at scale, meet regulatory requirements, and gain industry-wide adoption. Although PhaseTree’s focus on manufacturability from the outset is a positive step, real-world implementation will be the true test of its success.

Sustainability-in-Tech : Liquid Battery Could Transform Energy Storage

Posted on by Paul Stradling

A team of researchers at Stanford University are aiming to improve options for renewable energy storage by working on new technology to enable the conversion and long-term storage of electrical energy in a ‘liquid battery’.

The Issue 

People in California as a state (plus Stanford University and the researchers based there) are looking to transition to renewable fuel, although it is facing some challenges in doing so. For example, solar power drops at night and declines in winter. Furthermore, wind power ebbs and flows and is unreliable. As a result, California has to depend heavily on natural gas to smooth out the highs and lows of renewable power. This means there’s now a strong argument to suggest that new technologies that can store more power for the electric grid are needed.

Currently Lithium-Ion

As highlighted by Robert Waymouth, the Robert Eckles Swain Professor in Chemistry in the School of Humanities and Sciences, “The electric grid uses energy at the same rate that you generate it, and if you’re not using it at that time, and you can’t store it, you must throw it away.” 

However, in California, rather than throw it away, batteries are already used to store electricity for the grid using lithium-ion technologies, e.g. at the Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility. However, due to the need for energy storage at scale, researchers (such as those at Stanford) are searching for systems that can supplement those technologies.

A Liquid Battery 

One such technology being worked on by Waymouth’s Stanford research team is using liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHCs) for renewable energy storage.

LOHCs can store and release hydrogen using catalysts and elevated temperatures and, in the future, may be able to function as “liquid batteries,” storing energy and efficiently returning it as usable fuel or electricity when needed.

Isopropanol 

The Stanford researchers have been experimenting with using Isopropanol (rubbing alcohol) and acetone as ingredients in hydrogen energy storage and release systems. For example, Isopropanol (a high-density liquid form of hydrogen) could be stored or transported through existing infrastructure until it’s needed for usage as a fuel in a fuel cell or to release the hydrogen, without emitting carbon dioxide.

For example, as Waymouth says: “When you have excess energy, and there’s no demand for it on the grid, you store it as isopropanol. When you need the energy, you can return it as electricity.” 

Catalyst System Developed To Help 

One challenge in doing this until now has been finding a way to make isopropanol directly from protons and electrons without producing hydrogen gas.

However, Daniel Marron, lead author of the study has, developed a catalyst system that can combine two protons and two electrons with acetone to generate the LOHC isopropanol selectively, without generating hydrogen gas (using iridium as the catalyst).

One key finding in developing the catalyst system was the success of using the relatively inexpensive Cobaltocene, a chemical compound of cobalt, as a co-catalyst in this reaction. The addition of cobaltocene solved the problem by directly delivering protons and electrons to the iridium catalyst rather than liberating hydrogen gas.

More Abundant, Cheaper Catalysts May Be Better 

The hope is now that this greater understanding of the properties of cobaltocene could help scientists develop other catalysts to make the LOHC systems more affordable and scalable. For example, this could mean using more abundant, non-precious earth metal catalysts, such as iron.

Used For What? 

Upscaled LOHC systems could be used to improve energy storage for industry and energy sectors or for individual solar or wind farms.

What Does This Mean For Your Organisation? 

The advancements in liquid battery technology, particularly the usage of Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carriers (LOHCs), represent a significant opportunity for organisations across various sectors. As the push for renewable energy intensifies, the ability to store energy efficiently and on a large scale becomes increasingly critical. For industries reliant on consistent energy supply, this new technology could provide a reliable buffer against the intermittent nature of renewable sources like solar and wind. The potential to store excess energy as isopropanol, for instance, offers a versatile and scalable solution that could reduce dependence on fossil fuels and enhance energy security.

For organisations in the energy sector, especially those managing solar or wind farms, the development of LOHC systems could be a game-changer. These systems may allow for the capture and storage of surplus energy during periods of low demand, which can then be reintroduced into the grid when needed, thus optimising energy production, and reducing waste. Also, the move towards using more abundant, non-precious metal catalysts in these systems could lower costs and make this technology more accessible, opening new avenues for innovation and investment.