One of the most confounding areas of research is the battery, a technology that, while invented more than two centuries ago, is still frustrating scientists. But amid robust electric-car competition pitting the U.S. against Germany, China and other nations, researchers say their hopes are growing for a breakthrough.
Driving the news: One of the companies that has attracted much attention is Sila Nanotechnologies, an Alameda, Calif., startup that claims to have figured out how to build a working silicon anode, one of the two electrodes that make lithium-ion batteries work.
Tropical Storm Gordon is showing signs of intensifying as it approaches the Gulf Coast. It is forecast to make landfall as a Category 1 hurricane early Wednesday in southern Mississippi, bringing storm surge flooding, high winds and heavy rains.
What we're watching: The storm has shown signs of intensification on Tuesday, including a burst of thunderstorms near the center of the storm, and increasing wind speeds as observed via satellite, radar installations and hurricane hunter aircraft.
A provocative opinion piece in the New York Times made waves over the long weekend. Financial journalist Bethany McLean argues that the U.S. fracking boom rests on a shaky, debt-laden foundation that may be unsustainable.
The bottom line: McLean, who helped uncover the Enron scandal and co-authored the book "The Smartest Guys in the Room," covers a lot of ground.
Steeply cutting global carbon emissions will be tougher without expanding nuclear power, but its future is dim absent project cost reductions and supportive policies, a new MIT study concludes.
Why it matters: Nuclear energy faces very limited long-term prospects in the U.S. and a number of other countries, thanks in part to huge upfront costs to build new plants.
Bubbling beneath the battle for control of Congress during this year’s election cycle is a series of consequential energy and climate fights.
Why it matters: The midterm elections will go a long way in shaping both state-level policies and Washington’s future appetite to consider legislation in this area. Here are six electoral moves on my radar.
Tropical Storm Gordon is steadily intensifying over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, prompting the National Hurricane Center to issue hurricane and storm surge warnings for parts of the northern Gulf Coast.
What we're watching: The storm is expected to make landfall late Tuesday or early Wednesday morning near the Louisiana border with Mississippi. Gordon has intensified faster than some computer models suggested, and it has another day of mild, Gulf of Mexico ocean waters to traverse.
A pair of analyses explore how rising heat, rising sea levels and powerful storms are threats to energy infrastructure.
Why it matters: There's justifiably lots of attention on fossil fuels' outsized contribution to global warming, but another crucial topic is how climate change is already affecting everything from power grids to refineries.
