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This New Battery Is Made From Low-Cost Materials Will this new battery be the next cheap alternative for limited power sources in a container?Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a new battery from inexpensive materials that are very much available in big amounts in the world. This project was done to provide an alternative option to lithium-ion batteries, which are too expensive for operations and other processes.The new battery architecture uses aluminum, sulfur, and a molten salt electrolyte to provide power to machines and systems. The researchers used aluminum and sulfur as the electrode materials for the battery in charge of providing electrons to the external circuit. Researchers picked aluminum for being the second most abundant metal in the market, as it has the right electrochemical properties for an efficient battery. The dominant one, iron, did not fit what the experts wanted for their battery.Sulfur became the second electrode material because of its accessibility and cheap market price. The salt electrolyte was chosen because the team didn’t want to use volatile, flammable organic liquids. This is because they can lead to fires in cars and other technologies that need a battery.The study was done by MIT Professor Donald Sadoway, along with 15 others at MIT and in China, Canada, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Image credit: Rebecca Miller#MIT #research #development #battery #aluminum #sulfur #alternatives #energy #power #science

Another Step Towards Unlimited Energy: Joint European Torus (JET) Reactor Produced 59 Megajoules of Sustained Mini Sun-Like Fusion Reaction for 5 SecondsFor decades, scientists have been trying to create a fusion reactor that can produce more energy than it takes in. If successful, fusion power plants could help solve the impending energy crisis and slow down climate change.The most recent experiment in the Joint European Torus (JET) Reactor has demonstrated a promising future of delivering sustainable low-carbon fusion energy worldwide. The JET is said to have produced a record-breaking 59 megajoules of sustained fusion energy over a five-second period. This previous record set by JET in 1997 was only 22 megajoules of heat energy. The recent achievement is a "huge step closer to conquering" one of the biggest challenges in science and engineering, says UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) CEO Ian Chapman. Meanwhile, EUROfusion Programme Manager Tony Donné says that this experiment shows that they were on the right path. To him, if they were able to do it for five seconds, then they could do it for a much longer period of time.(Video Credit: Culham Centre for Fusion Energy/ UK Atomic Energy Authority)#Energy #Engineering #Science #NuclearFusion #JointEuropeanTorus

"Lithium Fields" Show the Heavy Environmental Price of Extracting Lithium for Electric Car BatteriesLithium is the lightest known metal on the planet. Because of this excellent characteristic, there has been an increasing demand for the aforementioned chemical element. Lithium is widely used in various electric devices such as cell phones and electric cars. Simply put, lithium plays a large role in today's world. Extracting this element, however, has harmful effects on the environment.Whether it's fossil fuels (such as coal and oil) or lithium, resource extraction could lead to many environmental issues such as soil degradation, water shortages, biodiversity loss, and even global warming. Lithium extraction, specifically, causes soil damage and air contamination.These lithium extraction fields in Chile (photographed by Tom Hegen) may look bright and colorful, but they also show the dark truth behind our "swiftly electrifying world."But does this mean we should stop mining lithium? Some scientists believe so and are calling to stop such activities. Some scientists, meanwhile, are looking for better alternatives like iron and silicon-based batteries.Images: Tom Hegen#Environment #Lithium #Batteries #Energy

South Korean Toilet Let Students Pay with Poop by Turning Excrement Into Digital CurrencyUrban and environmental engineering professor Cho Jae-weon of Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) in South Korea has created an eco-friendly toilet that converts human excrement into energy.The toilet, named BeeVi (for "bee" and "vision") used a vacuum pump to send excrement into an underground tank where microorganisms break down the waste and produce methane, a biogas that is used by the school to create energy.An average person produces enough excrement daily to create 50 liters of methane gas, which in turn can produce 0.5 kilowatt-hour of electricity.To "reward" students for their, ahem, deposits, Cho created a virtual currency called Ggool (or 'honey' in Korean). Each person that use the toilet earns virtual currency that can be used to buy goods on campus - from coffee to instant cup noodles, snacks, and even books.Via Interesting EngineeringImage: Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology#methane #biogas #toilet #energy #virtualcurrency #poop