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Researchers on a mission | Energy
On a mission to build energy-efficient homes
Romanian environmental economist, Dr Monica Ardeleanu, is on a mission to make the world’s housing and living solutions greener, with the help of EU funding and 17 partner organisations from all over…
Combining concentrated heat from the sun and stored compressed air could help solve solar energy’s supply and demand issue. © Alex Tihonovs, Shutterstock.com
Energy
From sunlight to stored power: how hot air could solve solar energy’s biggest challenge
EU-funded researchers are looking to hot air to overcome the supply and demand issues faced by solar energy…
EU-funded researchers will continue pushing the boundaries in 2025 with advances to benefit society and the environment. © chayanuphol, Shutterstock.com
Energy | Environment | Frontier research | Health | ICT | Industry | Science in society
From brain maps to living bridges: the innovations set to reshape life in 2025
From solar energy beamed from space to genetic brain maps and live self-repairing bridges, research in 2025…
The design of the Wendelstein 7-X reactor allows for a magnetic field to hold the high-temperature ionised plasma in place, thus allowing for a stable fusion reaction. Image courtesy of the Max-Planck-Institute for Particle Physics
Energy | Open to the World
Twisting design of fusion reactor is thanks to supercomputers
With hundreds of viewports of different lengths jutting from its outer wall, the Wendelstein 7-X looks otherworldly — more like science fiction than an experimental fusion reactor dreamt up by human…
Researchers are making bio jet fuel from the seeds of the Solaris tobacco plant. Image courtesy of Project Solaris
Agriculture | Energy | Bioeconomy | Open Innovation
Tobacco-powered aeroplane to be tested ‘within months’
Researchers are getting ready to test a tobacco-powered aeroplane thanks to a new bio jet fuel made from the seeds of nicotine-free plants, and the result could be a 75 % reduction in carbon…
Diamonds could create fuel from factory CO2 emissions. Image credit: Pixabay/ stevepb
Energy | Industry
Diamonds could help slow climate change
Researchers are building a diamond-based device that can remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air and transform it into valuable chemicals, including fuel. 
Researchers are working on ways to store renewable energy so it can be used when it’s cloudy or at night. Image credit: Shutterstock/ dlnicolas
Energy
Science delivers vault for clean energy
The biggest challenge in making renewable energy viable for the mass market is finding ways to store energy when the skies are dim and the wind doesn't blow, and that problem may be solved sooner…
If a hacker attacks a power grid, it would disrupt homes, businesses and services that rely on electricity. Image credit: Shutterstock/UKRID
Energy | ICT
Europe's power grids readied against cyber attack
Alternative transmission lines and encryption protocols could steel Europe's power grids against a cyber attack – the big question is where to deploy them.
Understanding how plants use quantum mechanics in photosynthesis could contribute to the design of more efficient solar cells. Image: Shutterstock/ArTDi101
Environment | Energy
Vibrating molecules help plants make use of quantum effects
The mysterious properties of quantum mechanics are helping scientists understand how plants can photosynthesise energy so efficiently, and the findings could help design more efficient solar cells.
Shale gas drilling is already taking place in some Member States. Shutterstock/ Nightman1965
Energy | Environment | Industry | Horizon 2020
Particle beams to help study high-pressure rocks as EU shale gas research intensifies
Researchers are developing techniques to study shale rocks under the pressure of two oceans using particle accelerators as Europe steps up research into shale gas.
Professor Wolfgang Sandner expects the ELI laser will be able to create electron positrons out of nothing. Copyright with ELI-DC International Association AISBL
Energy
World’s brightest laser pulses will create matter out of nothing – Prof. Wolfgang Sandner
The world’s brightest pulses of light will reveal things that have never been seen before, according to Professor Wolfgang Sandner, director-general of the consortium building a facility known as the…
One of the project’s pilot sites – Belfast City Hall in Northern Ireland – has taken the opportunity to not only save energy, but also design a better, more flexible lighting system. Image: Belfast City Council.
Energy | Health
Intelligent lighting could improve health, slash bills
The widespread adoption of a new form of lighting could not only help dramatically reduce Europe’s energy use but also be used to improve people’s health and well-being.
The engineering research and development organisation Sequoia Automation of Turin in Italy is testing a prototype under its KiteGen brand which could produce the same amount of energy as a wind farm with four turbines. Image courtesy of Kite Gen Research.
Energy
Giant kites on the horizon as energy researchers look skywards
Giant kites as big as two family homes are being built to harvest energy from high-speed winds up to a kilometre above the earth’s surface.

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