Energy

Global ‘Stilling’: Is Climate Change Slowing Down the Wind?

Yale Environment 360: Last year, from summer into fall, much of Europe experienced what’s known as a “wind drought.” Wind speeds in many places slowed about 15 percent below the annual average, and in other places, the drop was even more pronounced….

Twisty device explores alternative path to fusion

Science: Is the search for fusion energy, long dominated by doughnut-shaped devices called tokamaks, about to undergo a shape shift? Just as ITER, the world’s largest tokamak—and at tens of billions of dollars the most expensive—nears completion in the hills…

Aluminum, sulfur and rock salt create low-cost battery

Materials Today: As the world builds out ever larger installations of wind and solar power systems, the need is growing for economical, large-scale backup systems to provide power when the Sun is down and the air is calm. Today’s lithium-ion batteries…

Collateral Damage: The Environmental Cost of the Ukraine War

Yale Environment 360: What happens to the environment when a large, industrialized country is consumed by war? Ukraine is finding out. While concern about human lives remains paramount, Russia’s war on that country’s environment matters. The fate of Ukraine after the conflict…