Gamechanger Low-cost, high-capacity sodium-sulfur battery expected to be revolutionary for clean energy economy.

Hey there! Welcome to Clean Tech News the Newsletter hoping to get you feeling ready for the week ahead.

What's up today:

• Gamechanger Low-cost, high-capacity sodium-sulfur battery expected to be revolutionary for clean energy economy.

• Meme of the week.

• Energy being expensive and trickier to source is good news for renewables.

• Quick and Clean weekly bites

Before we get into this week's article I would like to take a moment to say I'm sorry. I apologise for not posting last week's newsletter, I haven't written it because I have been unwell and I felt the quality of the newsletter would not have been high enough for you guys. I hope you think this week's newsletter makes up for it. Enjoy reading!

Gamechanger Low-cost, high-capacity sodium-sulfur battery expected to be revolutionary for clean energy economy.

An international team of researchers is hoping that a new, low-cost battery that holds four times the energy capacity of lithium-ion batteries and is far cheaper to produce will significantly reduce the cost of transitioning to a decarbonized economy.

In a paper published in the journal Advanced Materials, the scientists explain that the battery has been made using sodium-sulfur – a type of molten salt that can be processed from seawater – which costs much less to produce than lithium-ion.

Although sodium-sulphur (Na-S) batteries have existed for more than half a century, they have been an inferior alternative and their widespread use has been limited by low energy capacity and short life cycles.

But using a simple pyrolysis process (a process by which a solid (or a liquid) undergoes thermal degradation into smaller volatile molecules) and carbon-based electrodes to improve the reactivity of sulfur and the reversibility of reactions between sulfur and sodium, the researchers’ battery has shaken off its formerly sluggish reputation, exhibiting super-high capacity and ultra-long life at room temperature.

Meme of the week

Energy being expensive and trickier to source is good news for renewables.

The International Energy Agency is revising its predictions for renewable energy growth upward by 30 percent and reckons renewables like wind and solar will overtake coal to become the largest energy source on the planet by 2025.

Renewable investments will account for 90 percent of new global electricity generation over the next five years, the IEA predicts. By 2027, the agency believes the world will add as much renewable power – 2,400GW – as the entire current power capacity of China.

The IEA said two major factors caused it to revise its forecasts upward: Russia's invasion of Ukraine and resulting European energy worries, and new policies in China, the United States, and India it said gives those countries more favorable conditions for renewable investment.

According to the IEA's Renewables 2022 report, fossil fuel disruptions in the EU have caused energy prices to skyrocket, improving the competitiveness of solar and wind power in those regions.

Quick and Clean Weekly Bites.

• France has been given the green light to ban short-haul domestic flights. The European Commission has approved the move which will abolish flights between cities that are linked by a train journey of fewer than 2.5 hours. The changes are part of the country’s 2021 Climate Law and were first proposed by France's Citizens' Convention on Climate - a citizens' assembly tasked with finding ways to reduce the country's carbon emissions. Link.

• Three more UK universities have banned fossil fuel companies from recruiting on campus. Career services at the University of Bedfordshire, University of the Arts London, and Wrexham Glyndwr University have promised to end all relationships with oil, gas, and mining recruiters. The ban - a product of a passionate student-led campaign - comes three months after a similar move by Birkbeck, University of London. Link.

• Photos of reusable McDonald’s packaging went viral in November with social media users “obsessing” over the retro design. They were spotted by a Twitter user in France who shared images of glasses, chip holders, and even Happy Meal boxes. The packaging is part of a trial across a few fast food locations in France and the rest of Europe, McDonald's has said. It comes as the European Commission pushes for shops, restaurants, and other businesses to ditch single-use packaging. Link.