Developments and News in clean energy: Wind, solar and batteries grow despite economic challenges

Arjen · 22 April 2026

That document takes some close reading. Busy right now.

Arjen · 22 April 2026

@Nicknick An interesting read, which leaves me wondering when the rest of the world will be taking notes on PRC construction practices.
Thank you.

publiusr · 22 April 2026

I heard some good things about GE Vernova today.

Sadly it was Jim Cramer reporting it--which means they'll go under by noon tomorrow....

He celebrated Earth Day today...by wearing the ugliest suit I ever saw. Meanwhile, the Inverse Cramer ETF reports the real reason the markets rose today is due to new tanker ships made of Puppeteer metal that neither Iran nor the US Navy can sink.

The cloaking device seems to work, judging by the 20+ ships that ran the blockade. That is all....

Solar
https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-enable-patterns-photovoltaic-modules.html https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-universal-standards-perovskite-solar-cells.html https://hackaday.com/2026/04/23/a-solar-powered-plant-monitor-that-almost-works/https://hackaday.com/2026/04/24/2026-green-powered-challenge-solar-powered-pollution-monitor/https://hackaday.com/2026/04/23/2026-green-powered-challenge-cook-with-the-sun/
News
https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-sun-subsoil-countries-fossil-fuels.html
Curse
https://phys.org/news/2026-04-resource-curse-natural-abundance-edged.html
Not as poor as we were led to believe
https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-airlines-higher-fuel-fares.html https://aviationweek.com/podcasts/window-seat-podcast/podcast-war-jet-fuel-airlines
https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-path-scaling-gas.html
On AI
https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-ai-reveals-size-retrofits-bigger.htmlIn his doctoral dissertation, Santhan Reddy Penaka, doctoral student at the Intelligent Human-Building Interaction (IHBI) lab, Department of Applied Physics and Electronics at Umeå University, has developed new data-driven methods that better account for the uniqueness of individual buildings.

"Existing models often assume that all buildings within a category perform in the same way, which leads to generic renovation recommendations. In reality, the most effective measure can vary significantly—even between neighboring buildings," says Reddy Penaka.

Interesting
https://phys.org/news/2026-04-climate-decline-hot-cold-extreme.htmlA comprehensive new study extending the U.S. Historical Climatology Network (USHCN) record back to 1899 finds that both hot and cold temperature extremes across the contiguous United States have declined over the past 127 years. The research, performed by Dr. John R. Christy, Alabama State Climatologist (retired) and professor of atmospheric and Earth science at The University of Alabama in Huntsville, analyzed more than 40 million daily temperature observations to provide the most complete long-term view to date of U.S. extreme heat and cold. The paper is published in Theoretical and Applied Climatology.
https://phys.org/news/2026-04-climate-ocean-diverge-drought.html
Poop
https://phys.org/news/2026-04-goose-poop-fuel-circular-agriculture.html https://phys.org/news/2026-04-sewers-climate-problem-plain-sight.html
hydrogen bubble problems
https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-hydrogen-highlights-outsized-impacts-tiny.html
There is money out there for Green Power
https://phys.org/news/2026-04-competition-capital-world-biggest-banks.html
Plastics
https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-solar-photoreforming-plastic-fuel-temperatures.html

Halcyon66 · 23 April 2026

$28 billion and counting: Europe tallies the cost of another energy crisis

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/04/22/business/europe-energy-crisis-costs-intl
Regards,

shin_getter · 24 April 2026

Arjen said:
60 months would be from this quote?

What is realised?
This leaves the questions
- where do PRC practices differ from those in the rest of the world?
- which PRC practices should be adopted in the rest of the world to reduce construction times?

PRC do not demand reactors the have radiation risks as low as possible. OBIVOUSLY EVERYONE DIE OF CANCER LA LA~

https://blog.rootsofprogress.org/devanney-on-the-nuclear-flop

Nicknick · 24 April 2026

shin_getter said:
PRC do not demand reactors the have radiation risks as low as possible. OBIVOUSLY EVERYONE DIE OF CANCER LA LA~

https://blog.rootsofprogress.org/devanney-on-the-nuclear-flop

They do, after the Fukushima incedent, all reactors must be Stage III certified. China has a clean safety record with their nuclear power.

publiusr · 24 April 2026

It doesn't help that this is the 40th anniversary of Chernobyl
https://phys.org/news/2026-04-chernobyl-fukushima-radioactive-materials-environment.html https://phys.org/news/2026-04-chernobyl-loss.html https://phys.org/news/2026-04-chernobyl-exclusion-zone-beacon-biodiversity.html
Many of the anti-nukes from the 60's are dying off, so there's that.

Greens have got to be really careful about not talking down to people:
https://phys.org/news/2026-04-rethinking-energy-transition-citizens.html "There's a certain top-down tone, as if people don't understand and don't know what's good for them," Kluskens says. She sees this attitude reflected in both policy and academia....
On transport
https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-coastal-ferry-route-radical-rethink.html https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-featherweight-elastic-everyday-movement-ways.html**********************************************************************************************************
Solar
https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-countries-free-electricity-pay-consumers.html
Good hands on jobs?
https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-liquid-droplet-mops-solar-panels.html
Right now, solar advocates need to be stressing the energy independence angle--how the trillions Americans spend on defense in the current conflict has yielded them nothing.

It isn't just me saying this:
https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-solar-climate.html
Kodak invented the digital camera in 1975. Management looked at it, decided film was doing fine, and put the technology in a drawer. By the time they took it seriously, other companies had taken the market. Kodak filed for bankruptcy in 2012. Solar is winning on every metric. According to an international coalition led from the University of Twente, that's exactly why the research behind it is in trouble.

A new paper published in Progress in Photovoltaics argues that solar energy is heading for its Kodak moment. It is authored by 15 researchers at 11 institutions on four continents, led by Rebecca Saive of UT's MESA+ Institute. It is a coalition statement in the field's main journal, warning that solar has become so visibly successful that funders, students, and policymakers now treat it as a finished problem.

For 30 years, climate has been the main case for solar. Saive and her co-authors want the solar community to stop leading with it. Instead, solar researchers should replace it with themes like economic competitiveness, national resilience, and energy independence. They point to Ukraine, where decentralized solar generation cut recovery time after infrastructure attacks to 3–6 hours, compared with 12–18 hours for centralized supply.

The obvious objection is that this concedes too much. If climate scientists stop making the climate argument, who will? Dropping the frame risks legitimizing the politics that forced the retreat in the first place.

Saive answers that the argument was already failing with the people who matter. Funders and policymakers who are unmoved by climate urgency will not be convinced by more of the same. Resilience and economic strength give those audiences a reason to care that actually works for them. Climate stays in the picture. It just stops being the opening line.

And there it is.

Artemis is an example of how technology can capture the imagination. Space Solar Power--even if just helps opens the door. If Gavin wants to run for President---maybe lead with getting rid of emissions requirements for poors. Leave cars alone---go heady and positive.

I don't want to hear a peep about global warming, or more political investigations.

People want an Apollo moment.

Give it to them.

Halcyon66 · 27 April 2026

The Renewable Shield: Energy Lessons from the Iran War

https://smallwarsjournal.com/2026/04/27/the-renewable-shield-energy-lessons-from-the-iran-war/
Renewables in vogue as Iran war drives up Europe power prices

https://www.marketscreener.com/news...rives-up-europe-power-prices-ce7f59dcdc80f32d
Regards,

Grey Havoc · 28 April 2026

Something tells me that nuclear will benefit from this most in the long term.

publiusr · 28 April 2026

Halcyon66 · 29 April 2026

America’s Geothermal Breakthrough Could Unlock a 150-Gigawatt Energy Revolution

https://oilprice.com/Alternative-En...-Unlock-a-150-Gigawatt-Energy-Revolution.html

Regards,

publiusr · 8 May 2026

Ecotech
https://phys.org/news/2026-05-ecotech-nature.html

An international research team has developed a roadmap for an emerging field of technology called ecotech, which aims to create scalable solutions to urgent environmental, social and economic challenges. The team describes this field, providing a comprehensive framework for its adoption and expansion, in the journal Science Advances.
Big
https://phys.org/news/2026-05-anion-swap-sevenfold-capture-polyionic.html

A joint research team from Nitto Boseki Co., Ltd. (Nittobo) and Tohoku University has revealed that polyionic liquids (PILs) can achieve high carbon dioxide (CO₂) adsorption when their counter anions are exchanged. This discovery provides a critical new design guideline for the development of high-performance CO2 recovery devices and gas separation membranes. The research was led by Associate Professor Kouki Oka of the Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials, Tohoku University, with the results published online in Reaction Chemistry & Engineering.

Solar
https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-contact-2d-3d-perovskites-reshapes.html
Researchers at Korea University, University of Toledo, and Seoul National University recently devised a new approach to attain high-quality perovskite layers with fewer imperfections and a regular atomic arrangement. Halide perovskite films created with strategy, introduced in a paper published in Nature Energy, were found to boost both the efficiency and stability of solar cells.

For steel and cement
https://phys.org/news/2026-05-catalyst-carbon-free-ammonia-steel.html
Ammonia is a tempting fuel for the world's hottest jobs. It can be made from air, water and renewable electricity, stored as a liquid and shipped using know-how industry already has.

However, the snag is that it is stubborn to ignite, burns sluggishly and tends to spew nitrogen oxides (NOx) when pushed to high temperatures. That mix has kept heavy industry—where high-grade heat is non-negotiable—tethered to fossil fuels.

CDE researchers have now shown that design at the atomic scale can change the equation. In work published in Joule, a team led by Professor Yan Ning from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Assistant Professor He Qian from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering designed a catalyst that gets ammonia burning just above 200°C and sustains clean combustion at 1,100°C. Importantly, it converts the fuel completely into nitrogen and water, with only trace amounts of NOx. This means that industries could one day use ammonia to generate high-grade heat without producing carbon dioxide or harmful exhaust gases.

GTX · 10 May 2026

Interesting and not entirely unexpected side effect of current issues: Iran war pushes Portugal to halve fossil fuel use over next 10 years

SUPER=BUG · 10 May 2026

Actually, there’s a pretty cool idea: if we massively promote wind and solar power across Asia and connect the power grids of all the countries, it would really boost clean energy efficiency and let lots of inland countries export clean energy thanks to their own environmental advantages. By 2030, it's expected that Asian countries’ electricity demand will make up about half of the world's total. So, building such a grid would make a lot of sense. Plus, China’s ultra-high voltage AC grid has already shown that this kind of plan can work.

publiusr · 11 May 2026

Who would have thought the least Green elected official ever might have had such a positive impact

Halcyon66 · 14 May 2026

Electricity Industry Faces Risks from Three New Technologies

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-...-Faces-Risks-from-Three-New-Technologies.html

Regards,

Halcyon66 · 16 May 2026

UK Moves to Ban New North Sea Oil and Gas Licences Permanently

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-...rth-Sea-Oil-and-Gas-Licences-Permanently.html

Regards,

Halcyon66 · 18 May 2026

Denmark Just Made Carbon Capture History, And Almost Nobody Noticed

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-...apture-History-And-Almost-Nobody-Noticed.html

Regards,

Nicknick · 19 May 2026

Halcyon66 said:
UK Moves to Ban New North Sea Oil and Gas Licences Permanently

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-...rth-Sea-Oil-and-Gas-Licences-Permanently.html

Regards,

There seam to be some "useful idiots" in the UK as well as in Germany...

publiusr · 20 May 2026

shin_getter · 24 May 2026

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StxbxERWcBQ

Kinda interesting idea

Halcyon66 · 25 May 2026

Renewables Beat Coal for First Time Since 1919

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/renewables-beat-coal-for-the-first-time-since-1919/

Regards,

publiusr · 27 May 2026

Halcyon66 · 27 May 2026

Floating Solar Could Be a Lifeline for Land-Scarce Nations Facing Energy Crises

https://oilprice.com/Alternative-En...Land-Scarce-Nations-Facing-Energy-Crises.html

Regards,

GTX · 28 May 2026

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veUrvuYVvMA

Halcyon66 · 28 May 2026

TotalEnergies Advances France’s Largest Offshore Wind Project

https://oilprice.com/Company-News/TotalEnergies-Advances-Frances-Largest-Offshore-Wind-Project.html

Regards,

Halcyon66 · 1 June 2026

There's Enough Hydrogen Underground to Power Earth for 170,000 Years

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-...erground-to-Power-Earth-for-170000-Years.html

Interesting.

Regards,

Halcyon66 · 3 June 2026

The Next Infrastructure Supercycle Could Be Worth $20 Trillion

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-...re-Supercycle-Could-Be-Worth-20-Trillion.html

Regards,

Halcyon66 · 4 June 2026

Wind-pumped-hydro Power Station of El Hierro

https://managenergy.ec.europa.eu/ma...d-hydro-power-station-el-hierro-2023-04-19_en

Least someone is getting it right.

Regards,

Halcyon66 · 5 June 2026

How the Strait of Hormuz standoff flipped the energy security debate

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/05/iran-war-strait-of-hormuz-renewables-oil-gas.html

Some interesting points.

Regards,

UpForce · 8 June 2026

Wind and solar generated more electricity than gas in April 2026, 531 TWh in all. Globally, for the first time ever.

South and Southeast Asia are moving quickly towards new modes of energy security in the wake of the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. ProElectrica summarizes what's happening in the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore (while noting that last year both China and India already reduced their fossil fuel generation simultaneously in 2025). The pattern has similarities to the effect of the beginning of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine in 2022, all affected have their energy risks repriced and act accordingly.

Danny Kennedy said:
It is nations choosing energy security, economic agency, and lower costs over the inherited architecture of fossil fuel dependency.

https://proelectrica.substack.com/p/elite-cognitive-dissonance-and-the

Halcyon66 · 10 June 2026

World's Largest Battery Maker Bets Big on Energy Storage

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-...Battery-Maker-Bets-Big-on-Energy-Storage.html

Regards,

TinWing · 11 June 2026

https://insideevs.com/news/798393/donut-lab-solid-state-debunked-lithium-ion-battery/

youtube.com/watch?v=j5oyVNjrUPI

View: https://youtube.com/watch?v=j5oyVNjrUPI

publiusr · 12 June 2026

This week in solar
https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-based-material-solar-energy-power.html
Northwestern University scientists have developed a new liquid material that charges like a battery, transforms like a living organism and then resets itself in open air. Traditionally, harvesting energy, storing it and using it require separate materials or devices. The new platform merges all three functions into a single material, opening the door for adaptive, clean, renewable systems that don't require plastics or metals.

P..pure...Pure energy
https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-nanometer-channels-enable-safer-energy.html
Can pure water store electrical energy? A research team led by Dr. Vasily Artemov within the Cluster of Excellence "BlueMat—Water-Driven Materials" at Hamburg University of Technology has now shown that it can. By confining water within nanometer-sized channels in clay minerals, the researchers created a supercapacitor capable of efficiently storing and transporting electrical charge. What makes the finding unusual is that it uses pure water as its electrolyte—the medium that transports electrical charge. Today's batteries and supercapacitors typically rely on added salts, acids, or other chemical electrolytes. In contrast, the new system works without such additives and is based solely on abundant, naturally occurring materials: water, clay, and carbon.

Nature's antennae
https://phys.org/news/2026-06-giant-kelp-microscopic-antenna-climate.html
New research reveals the microscopic machinery that helps giant kelp turn sunlight into energy, providing inspiration for innovative climate solutions. The study, published in Nature Communications, mapped one of the tiny antenna-like structures kelp uses for photosynthesis. Their unique architecture may hold the key to why kelp are the most efficient ocean organisms at capturing light and removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Secret revealed?
https://phys.org/news/2026-06-chloroplast-reveals-link-growth-solar.html
Now, a team of researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has mapped a new region within chloroplasts that serves as the assembly line for photosynthetic membranes. The study, recently published in Nature Communications, identifies a specific area within the cell where the machinery of life is built, repaired and maintained.

The discovery is the culmination of a career-long ambition for Rebecca Roston, an associate professor in the Center for Plant Innovation and the Department of Biochemistry.

Artificial photosynthesis
https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-battery-free-artificial-photosynthesis-solar.html
Researchers at Osaka Metropolitan University have developed an artificial photosynthesis system capable of producing solar fuels more stably by integrating a self-regulating chemical component directly into the electrolyzer itself. The new device doesn't rely on a battery-powered control method, removing an expensive component of such systems. The study is published in EES Solar.

Adaptation
https://phys.org/news/2026-06-surviving-cyanobacteria-respiration-photosynthesis-falters.html

Floating solar
https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-solar-panels-icy-canadian-winters.html

Good news
https://phys.org/news/2026-06-global-reveals-coral-reefs-resist.html
https://phys.org/news/2026-06-reveal-backup-temperatures.html
https://phys.org/news/2026-06-national-climate.html
https://phys.org/news/2026-06-satellite-technology-world.html
https://phys.org/news/2026-06-scientists-uncover-hidden-phosphorus-reservoir.html
https://phys.org/news/2026-06-traditional-farming-food-nature-cultural.html
https://phys.org/news/2026-06-humanity-disaster.html

News
https://phys.org/news/2026-06-climate-compensation-isnt-landowners.html
https://phys.org/news/2026-06-efforts-combat-climate-exclude-indigenous.html

Halcyon66 · 14 June 2026

Rising Energy Bills Are Fueling a Global Home Battery Boom

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-...s-Are-Fueling-a-Global-Home-Battery-Boom.html

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Eji8obIOjI

Regards,

Halcyon66 · 17 June 2026

Clean Energy Investment Hits $2.2 Trillion, Nearly Double Fossil Fuels

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-...s-22-Trillion-Nearly-Double-Fossil-Fuels.html

Outstanding.

Regards,

Halcyon66 · 18 June 2026

Australia’s ‘probable’ large-scale renewable energy pipeline surges to 32GW

https://www.pv-tech.org/australias-probable-large-scale-renewable-energy-pipeline-surges-to-32gw/

Regards,

publiusr · 18 June 2026

Hydrocarbon improvement
https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-ultrathin-membranes-hydrocarbon-slashing-energy.html

A team of international researchers has developed a new class of ultrathin polymer membranes that can rapidly and selectively separate complex hydrocarbon mixtures, potentially transforming how crude oil is refined and refinery streams are processed, significantly reducing the energy required for one of the world's most energy-intensive industrial processes.

The study, "Ultrathin polymer membranes with locked intrinsic microporosity for hydrocarbon fractionation," has created a new way to form the separating layers in polymer membranes for molecular separations. The breakthrough derives from the way the cross-linking agent for the polymer film is added to the polymer during membrane fabrication.

The work is published in the journal Science.

Ultrasound
https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ultrasound-propagation-porous-theory-distinct.html
Ultrasound-based irradiation of rock formations has attracted considerable attention as a technique for enhancing heavy-oil (high-viscosity crude oil) recovery from deep underground reservoirs. However, a unified theoretical framework for wave propagation and energy dissipation in these formations remains lacking because water coexists with heavy oil within rock pores, and gas bubbles in the water respond dynamically to ultrasonic excitation, thereby creating a complex system.

On shipping
https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-shipping-decarbonization-requires-life-perspective.html

Nanoplastics
https://phys.org/news/2026-06-nanoplastics-method-clearer-picture.html

For rainfall
https://phys.org/news/2026-06-bedding-rainfall-runoff-mountain-catchments.html

Halcyon66 · 18 June 2026

Artificial Intelligence Is Driving a Geothermal Energy Boom

https://oilprice.com/Alternative-En...ence-Is-Driving-a-Geothermal-Energy-Boom.html

Regards,

Halcyon66 · 19 June 2026

One of the largest clean energy infrastructure projects in U.S. history is generating reliable energy for the western U.S.

https://patternenergy.com/sunzia-comes-online/

And on the other hand,

https://www.utilitydive.com/news/tr...ur-more-offshore-wind-leases-for-765m/823314/

Regards,

Developments and News in clean energy: Wind, solar and batteries grow despite economic challenges

Arjen de Bruine

Arjen de Bruine

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