Reviews & Analysis

Negawatt trading or trade in wattage of energy saved from consumption has been a much debated idea that has evaded wide-scale practical application. Tushar et al. look at the challenges to wide-scale negawatt trading and explain how recent technological developments can help address those challenges.

The use of energy expenditure thresholds for quantifying energy poverty is a widely used approach, particularly within the Global North. New research from Hong Kong confirms that this method risks overlooking important housing and climate-related factors.

Offshore wind projects are being deployed at an increasing rate, and as the scale of these projects has grown, costs have tumbled. A new study indicates that some new European projects may no longer require support from state subsidy mechanisms to be competitive.

Efforts to electrochemically produce ammonia have mainly focused on dinitrogen as a feedstock. Now, an electrocatalyst composed of Cu embedded in an organic molecular solid is designed, which efficiently and selectively converts nitrate ions to ammonia, paving a way to nutrient recovery and recycling.

Antimony selenosulfides are promising photovoltaic materials but obtaining high-quality absorber layers is challenging. Researchers now show that layers deposited using a hydrothermal method have optimal bandgap, good morphology and favourable growth orientation, enabling solar cells with 10% efficiency.

Batteries based on multivalent metal anodes hold great promise for large-scale energy storage but their development is still at an early stage. This Review surveys the main complexity arising from anodes, electrolytes and cathodes, and offers views on the progression path of these technologies.

The increasing deployment of photovoltaic modules poses the challenge of waste management. Heath et al. review the status of end-of of-life management of silicon solar modules and recommend research and development priorities to facilitate material recovery and recycling of solar modules.

China has the world’s most ambitious plan to expand nuclear power production to boost its economic growth. Now research shows that a concerted effort to control news framing may be playing an essential role in cultivating public acceptance of nuclear risk, helping to ensure sustained development of the nuclear power industry.

Coulombic efficiency (CE) has been frequently used to assess the cyclability of newly developed materials for lithium metal batteries. The authors argue that caution must be exercised during the assessment of CE, and propose a CE testing protocol for the development of lithium metal batteries.

The normal operation of Li metal batteries is limited to near room temperature and moderate current rates. Now, a self-assembled electrochemically active monolayer is shown to enable the stable operation of Li metal batteries below –15 ^oC and at a fast-charging time of 45 minutes.

The electrolyte is the weak link when it comes to intrinsic issues of Li metal batteries such as instability of the Li metal interface. Now, a liquid electrolyte consisting of one molecular-designed solvent and one common salt is formulated leading to exceptional high-performance batteries.

The costs and benefits of clean energy transitions will not be equally distributed. This Review of the literature on potential adverse impacts for specific communities highlights opportunities for future research to contribute to the design of policies and programmes that address these disparities.

Dye-sensitized solar cells are promising as power-generating solar windows yet their fixed transparency prevents control of indoor lighting and temperature. Researchers now present a device that dynamically self-adjusts its optical transmittance with sunlight intensity, opening up a way to energy-efficient self-powered building façades.

While the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana has been instrumental in increasing India’s liquefied petroleum gas adoption, sustained use depends on factors such as regularity of income and ease of access to free-of-cost biomass. To ensure sustained use after adoption, interventions in clean cooking energy must tie in with broader rural development.

Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ is a commonly used negative electrode material, but the origin of its fast rate capability has puzzled scientists for decades. Now, a facile Li-ion transport route featuring metastable intermediates is revealed to rationalize the fast-charging kinetics.

The power conversion efficiency of solar cells sensitized with colloidal quantum dots is believed to be limited by surface defects. Research now finds that photocarriers trapped at shallow defect states can actually be recovered and ultimately contribute to device efficiency.

Photocatalytic conversion of methane to ethane suffers from low yields due to poor selectivity and quantum efficiency. Now, ethane is produced by a photochemical looping strategy using a nanocomposite of titanium dioxide, phosphotungstic acid and silver cations, with selectivity of 90% and quantum efficiency of 3.5% at 362 nm.

Light-driven production of hydrogen by coupling natural photosystems or photosensitizers with hydrogen-producing catalysts has been achieved in numerous in vitro systems. Now, a recombinant in vivo system is described that generates hydrogen using a hydrogenase enzyme directly coupled to a cyanobacterial photosystem.

Retiring, transitioning or installing more stringent emissions controls in coal-fired power plants has the potential to decrease asthma attacks and asthma-related emergency department visits and hospitalizations in nearby communities. These health co-benefits should be considered in policy and decision making about coal-fired power plant retirement or retrofit.

Microsized battery anodes such as silicon offer cost advantages over nanosized counterparts but suffer from poor cycling stability. Now, an electrolyte design is reported to enable a LiF-rich solid–electrolyte interphase that stabilizes microsized silicon over a reasonably long cycle life.