One of the most exciting areas for innovation in the coming years will be in finding new technologies to meet the world's energy needs. As fossil fuel reserves decline and users come under ever greater pressure to find an alternative for environmental reasons, solutions are being urgently sought and will be richly rewarded if successful. We look at three of the most promising areas of development.
Sun microsystems
The biggest obstacle to the wide-spread adoption of solar power is the relatively high cost of silicon based photovoltaic cells.
An innovative alternative to silicon are quantum dots, microscopic semiconductors only nanometres wide, which could make solar panels as cost effective as fossil fuels.
At present experiments at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in New Mexico have yet to produce a material suitable for the mass market, however, lead project scientist Victor Klimov is optimistic a breakthrough is possible, and aware that if he is right the implications could be world-changing.
Everlasting
EEStor, a secretive Texas-based company, has reportedly developed a new kind of energy storage device that it boldly claims will “dramatically outperform the best lithium-ion batteries on the market in terms of energy density, price, charge time, and safety.”
The company says it is keeping a low profile to avoid hype but says it is confident their claims will soon be verified.
Seeing stars
The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), dubbed the largest and most expensive scientific experiment, is being built in the South of France with the not unambitious aim of solving the world's energy needs. They hope to achieve this by developing an ultra-efficient prototype fusion power plant, based on the process which powers the stars. In principle a 1GW fusion power station would burn about 1kg of deuterium and tritium per day, compared with a 1GW coal power station burning 10,000 tonnes per day of coal. Construction of the
€5 billion project is expected to take a decade.