High-rate lithium ion batteries with long cycling lives can provide electricity grid stabilization services in the presence of large fractions of intermittent generators, such as photovoltaics. Engineering for high rate and long cycle life requires an appropriate selection of materials for both electrode and electrolyte and an understanding of how these materials degrade with use. High-rate lithium ion batteries can also facilitate faster charging of electric vehicles and provide higher energy density alternatives to supercapacitors in mass transport applications.

High-rate lithium ion batteries can play a critical role in decarbonizing our energy systems both through their underpinning of the transition to use renewable energy resources, such as photovoltaics, and electrification of transport. Their ability to be rapidly and frequently charged and discharged can enable this energy storage technology to play a key role in stabilizing future low-carbon electricity networks which integrate large fractions of intermittent renewable energy generators. This decarbonizing transition will require lithium ion technology to provide increased power and longer cycle lives at reduced cost. Rate performance and cycle life are ultimately limited by the materials used and the kinetics associated with the charge transfer reactions and ionic and electronic conduction. We review material strategies for electrode materials and electrolytes that can facilitate high rates and long cycle lives and discuss the important issues of cost, resource availability and recycling.

The electricity sector is transforming quickly, and there is a need to understand the technical, economic, and policy implications. Energy storage will play an important role in the new grid.

In the MISO region, the Midwest, and in Minnesota, there are many opportunities and policy questions being explored around energy storage.

The electricity grid in the United States is transforming quickly and dramatically. Energy storage will play an important role in this newly designed grid, serving many functions that support a more flexible, highly renewable, and more resilient grid with declining fossil generating plants. The particular role of energy storage in the Midwest, and in Minnesota as a Midwest case study, is described, with a detailed analysis of selected energy storage use cases. The FERC Order 841 and the challenges and opportunities for energy storage in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) region are summarized.

This article will show that within well-defined error margins, carbon intensities and energy intensities are independent of the population and GDP of countries and thus can serve as a convenient parametrization of humanity on a sovereign level.

The IPCC, in its fifth international report, states that the two leading contributions to changes in annual CO2 emissions by decade are the changes in population and changes in GDP/capita, which reflect changes in standard of living. This article will show that within well-defined error margins, carbon intensities, and energy intensities (both with respect to GDP) are independent of the population and GDP of countries and thus can serve as a convenient parametrization of humanity. With some imagination, these parameters can serve as input and output indicators that connect the physical environment with the human environment. The article will show that both indicators fit lognormal distribution well without any outliers. The data are based on the World Bank database. Comparing the global distribution with individual world-bank indicators of world-bank country grouping based on socioeconomic conditions quantifies the contributions of global income distribution.

Solar cells can be built directly into the things around us, but they generally aren’t. Is it a missed opportunity?

In the early days of photovoltaic (PV) research, a mainstream opinion envisioned the future of PV as building-integrated and that utility-scale installations would be anomalies. As an example, in 1994, PowerLight introduced a solar roofing tile system, touting it as saving money (avoiding the cost of installing a conventional roof) while integrating PV into an attractive roof. However, today, utility-scale PV accounts for more than half of the world’s PV installations, and building-integrated PV (BIPV) is a niche market (with most rooftop systems being “building-applied” rather than “building-integrated”). This motivates the question: “Was integrating PV into the desired product a bad idea or is it an idea whose time has not yet come?” Many things have changed since the 1990s including microinverters and other power electronics, PV with lower temperature coefficients, and demonstration of PV as an accepted technology so that it is not such a risk to builders, potentially giving a fresh opportunity. In this article, we explore the potential value of integrating PV into surfaces and the challenges to achieving that value.

The increase of agricultural production in a sustainable scenario depends on the development of new technologies to optimize the use of resources, especially fertilizers. Novel technologies in materials can provide means to the controlled release of inputs as well as to enable strategies for using poorly soluble sources.

Modern agriculture is facing a productivity challenge due to the 9 billion people demands for the next 50 years. To that, the productivity increase requests improvements in input efficiency to fill economic requirements as well as reducing their environmental impacts. Several materials can be specially designed for an adequate release of these inputs (mainly fertilizers) including ion-exchange materials, coatings and high-adsorption capacity materials. Noteworthy materials are nanoparticulate fertilizers and nanocomposites, where their size and structure are useful to control the solubilization, and consequently, the nutrient availability for plants in a synchronized way, avoiding losses to environment. Therefore, this review aims to introduce a wide view of available and in-development technologies in materials for the best management of agricultural inputs, focused in the sustainable use of fertilizers and minimal environmental impact. These different strategies offer a portfolio of possible solutions for sustainable agriculture in the next years.

Norway is self-sufficient with ample renewables while exporting large amounts of fossils fuels: It is in a unique position to fully decarbonize itself and significantly contribute to deep decarbonization globally, but the small population and economy limit the effort and impact.

We discuss the efforts in Norway to reach the country’s and the Paris/Katowice meetings’ ambitious goals of a carbon-neutral society.

Energy sustainability and the abatement of CO2 emissions have a central place in the Norwegian debate. In this perspective, we take a look at policies, strategies, and actions in Norway to realize its ambitious goals from a technological and materials development standpoint, as we are facing the change of pace after the Paris agreement in 2015 and the Katowice 2018 global climate panel meeting. Among the largest exporters of fossil fuels, Norway compensates by intensive investments in the development of carbon capture and sequestration. Following a growing debate involving the entire society, the Norwegian government has taken on aggressive strategies toward the decarbonization of energy production. We herein discuss the activities going on and the peculiar situation in Norway, which lives the rich life provided by fossil fuels while tasting the dream of being the climate knight of the world.

A systematic, objective approach for selecting the most suitable solar energy system in a large and diverse range of applications is presented. The definition of Levelized Energy Cost (LEC) is modified/extended, including a Societal Impact Factor (SIF). The use of the methodology is demonstrated for a specific case. The method can be used for selecting an optimal system configuration and for identifying research and development directions.

A systematic and objective approach for selecting the most suitable solar energy system for a large and diverse range of applications is presented. The main parts of the approach are:

(i) Define the project objectives and fundamental system design requirements.

(ii) Establish a reliable and objective method for determining and comparing energy costs.

(iii) Follow a well-defined methodology for obtaining a configuration that meets the system objectives and complies with all the design requirements, at a minimum energy cost.

These parts are divided into discrete steps, which emphasize meeting the project objective and design requirements. The definition of the main cost comparison metric, the Levelized Energy Cost (LEC), is modified to include the ratio between energy sold and energy production capacity, and a Societal Impact Factor (SIF) for health, environmental, societal, political and cultural aspects.

Application of the method is demonstrated for a specific case—a system whose objective is “providing an extensive and reliable supply of renewable energy, aiming to gradually replace most or all of the fossil fuel combustion in a highly populated region.”

As shown, the process can serve dual purposes, (i) finding the most suitable system configuration and (ii) pointing out vital research and development objectives. The suggested method is also applicable to complex energy conversion configurations, such as hybrid or symbiotic systems.

Polyethylene is one of the most produced materials in the world—is it a blessing or a curse? This article makes the case for the former by highlighting a range of emerging applications of polyethylene in energy and sustainability, including passive cooling of electronics and wearables, water treatment and harvesting, and even ocean cleanup from plastic waste debris.

Usually, when the word “polyethylene” is mentioned in the context of discussing sustainability issues, a good chance the message is that “the current level of environmental plastic pollution is unsustainable.” Polyethylene does indeed comprise a large volume of plastic waste, but only because it is used in so many different products, which eventually reach the end of their lifetime and end up on the landfills and in the ocean. There is, however, a good reason—actually, many good reasons—why polyethylene is one of the most produced materials in the world, and this review discusses various useful applications stemming from the unique material properties of polyethylene. Some of the emerging applications of polyethylene hold high promise for sustainable energy generation from renewable sources and for sustainable management of planetary energy and water resources. Light weight and corrosion resistance of polyethylene, combined with its unique infrared transparency and heat transfer properties, which can be engineered to span between the near-perfect insulation and metal-like conduction, are at the core of new technological applications of a not-so-old material.

There is a huge variety of modular product designs for smartphones (concept studies, prototypes, products on the market), and a similarly high variety of circular economy aspects related to these different design approaches. Modularity requires initially more material input but pays off as the consumer is embracing the possibilities of modularity. Key materials for modularity features are gold, beryllium, and neodymium, etc.

On the example of smartphones modularity as a strategy for circular design is analyzed in detail. Modularity of products is a design trend, which is supposed to facilitate reparability, recyclability, and/or upgradeability. However, modularity requires some design changes. The most evident design change is the need for connectors to provide mechanical and electrical contact between individual modules. Depending on the nature and use scenario of a connector reliability, robustness, wear resistance, and non-reactive surfaces are required. The paper explains different modularity approaches for smartphones, some of these being already available in the market, others are still in a conceptual phase. Analyzing technologies for modularity leads to a group of “modularity materials,” which are essential for such circular design approaches, but at the same time are among those materials with a large environmental footprint or limited recyclability. A life cycle assessment of a modular smartphone shows a roughly 10% higher environmental life cycle impact compared with a conventional design. This needs to be compensated by reaping the circular economy benefits of a modular design, i.e., higher likeliness of getting a broken device repaired, extending the lifetime through hardware upgrades and refurbishment.

Self-powered smart systems utilizing the high voltages generated by triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have been systematically reviewed, with several featured applications highlighted, including electrospray, optical device, microplasma, and microfluidic.

To provide a sustainable power solution for electronics, triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) has been developed since 2012 for high-efficiency mechanical energy harvesting from the ambient environment. TENG has very unique output characteristics including high voltage and limited current density. Thus, it is challenging to directly power most of the commercial electronics in high efficiency. However, these features also bring opportunities for high-voltage applications. Here, we will review the efforts for developing TENG as a controllable high-voltage power source for various applications. The review article will start from fundamental studies about how the high-voltage output was generated, and then, several representative research in recent years will be reviewed, including electrospray, optical devices, microplasma, field emission, and electrically responsive materials. These studies will drive the further development of TENG technology for broad applications and industrializations toward high-efficiency self-powered systems.