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<ul class="summary-list"><li>Abaxx is a new commodities exchange that aims to stabilize prices and aid the energy transition.</li><li>"Trade and network keeps the world at peace," Abaxx's CEO told BI.</li></ul>The race to clean-up the global economy is on.Investment in the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-renewable-energy-transition-solar-electric-vehicles-hit-records-2024-2">energy transition</a> — a broad shift from fossil-based energy production systems to renewable resources like wind and solar power — hit $1.8 billion in 2023, with countries like China and the United States leading the charge, according to BloombergNEF, an energy research company. The International Energy Agency says total investment in clean energy could reach $2 trillion by the end of the year.But the shift to a cleaner, lower-carbon world doesn't depend solely on the work of government officials, legislators, or even major businesses. It also hinges on players working behind the scenes to secure the prices of key commodities like liquefied natural gas, essential for electricity generation and heating, and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fund-carbon-removal-corporates-avoid-bad-credits-2023-2">carbon offsets</a>, which help companies counteract the impact of their carbon emissions.A new Singapore-based commodities exchange called Abaxx, which launched in June, is working to do that by providing companies, governments, and project developers with a transparent marketplace for their trades. Commodities markets help stabilize prices by helping suppliers and consumers figure out fair prices, hedge against volatile price changes, and execute efficient and transparent transactions.Exchanges like Abaxx play a role in this because they help lock in prices and mitigate drastic fluctuations in the future. Abaxx deals in futures contracts, legally binding agreements to buy or sell commodities at a specified future date. Three regionally deliverable liquified natural gas contracts and two carbon offset contracts are already trading on the exchange. It's working on launching futures contracts for gold and battery metals, like lithium, a component in <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-tesla-cheaper-electric-vehicle-battery-technology-lithium-shift-2023-3">batteries that power EVs like Tesla</a>.Josh Crumb, the CEO and founder of Abaxx, says unclear pricing can lead to higher and more volatile prices for consumers while also forcing commodity producers to navigate turbulent investment cycles."If we look at the battery supply chain, nickel sulfate, lithium, cobalt, these things have gone through huge swings of boom and bust over the last couple of years," Crumb told Business Insider. "The main reason why is we don't have a lot of market transparency so that people can forward plan, price, hedge, all of that."Crumb first realized that the commodity industry needed more innovation when he was working as a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rip-goldman-sachs-wall-street-investment-bank-dead-2023-11">strategist at Goldman Sachs</a> in the years following the 2008 financial crisis. That coincided with the end of the commodities boom of the 2000s, during which the prices of many commodities, from food to oil to chemicals, had drastically surged.Now, with trading in full swing, Crumb hopes Abaxx will play a role in stabilizing what he sees as the next commodity investment cycle — marked not just by a need for new commodities to facilitate the energy transition but also a surge in electrification."When people speak of the energy transition to a lower carbon economy, they are usually speaking of replacing internal combustion engines with electric vehicles, with electricity supplied by low carbon renewables, hydro, and nuclear power. This will lead to a dramatic increase in electricity consumption," a representative for Crumb wrote to Business Insider by email. Between 2022 and 2050, global electricity generation is expected to surge at a faster rate than it did over the past decade, according to a report from the International Energy Agency.Most importantly, though, exchanges like Abaxx could play a critical role in geopolitics, Crumb said. "You want more transparency; you want more markets because we think that leads to more peace," he said. "We think trade and networks keeps the world at peace."

Founder of new commodities exchange explains how it can fuel the green energy transition

<keyword id="22976106" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="indoor" source="keywords">Indoor</keyword> <keyword id="19900550" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="air-pollution" source="keywords">air pollution</keyword> is a bigger <keyword id="21117961" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="health-risk" source="keywords">health risk</keyword> than <keyword id="20543591" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="outdoor" source="keywords">outdoor</keyword> air pollution in India, and sometimes cities are cleaner than nearby villages where <keyword id="22976772" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="household-pollution" source="keywords">household pollution</keyword> is higher, according to the country's two top policy experts. Addressing the India <keyword id="20445293" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="clean-air" source="keywords">Clean Air</keyword> Summit (ICAS) 2024, Principal Advisor, <keyword id="19904190" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ministry-of-Health-and-Family-Welfare" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Ministry of Health and Family Welfare" meta.hostid="83" meta.entityid="Ministry of Health and Family Welfare">Ministry of Health and Family Welfare</keyword>, Soumya Swaminathan said, "Studies done in Delhi have shown that women's average exposure to high levels of <keyword id="20827287" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="black-carbon" source="keywords">black carbon</keyword> (women <keyword id="19895006" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="WHO" source="keywords">who</keyword> are mostly at home) is as much as auto-rickshaw passengers going around outdoor exposed to the ambient air pollution in Delhi, resulting in high systolic blood pressure." "Cities contribute less than 20 per cent to the overall state emissions, wherever they have been assessed, but household emissions predominate, ranging between 20 per cent and 40 per cent. Across the country, we are seeing is that sometimes cities are cleaner than the surrounding villages where household air pollution predominates," she said at the summit organised by think-tank Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy. This builds a strong case for expanding the scope of India's National Clean Air Programme (<keyword id="20133150" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="NCAP" source="keywords">NCAP</keyword>), which currently focuses on non-attainment cities. Air pollution is a major threat to public health and contributes to a significant amount of morbidity as well as mortality. Apart from PM2.5 and PM10, short-lived climate pollutants such as black carbon, methane, ozone, and hydrocarbons have the potential to harm the environment and warm the atmosphere even more than CO2. Black carbon can cause chronic respiratory illnesses, lung cancer, emphysema, pneumonia, asthma, heart disease, and low birthweight. "In terms of reducing our life expectancy, globally, PM2.5 is contributing to about 2.3 years of life lost. Just below that is tobacco. In fact, there's so much attention on tobacco and global frameworks for control, but not the same level of attention has been paid to PM2.5 and certainly not the same level of commitments," Swaminathan said. The impact of air pollution is not limited to public health but has a significant economic cost as well. Recently, the World Bank published a study highlighting that air pollution has resulted in a loss of around USD 8.1 trillion in 2019, which is 6.1 per cent of the global gross domestic product (GDP). "We are always talking about air pollution as a problem but studies also show a strong economic case for action on clean air. There are significant positive consequences to investing in cleaning up the air in terms of the return on investments. We know air pollution is not just bad for our health, but it's also bad for agriculture, because it reduces the sunlight that's reaching the crops and it's bad for our economy or any country's economy as it deters people from coming and living or visiting those places," Swaminathan added. Kalpana Balakrishnan, Director, WHO Collaborating Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, said that the main barrier to shifting to clean cooking fuels that can help reduce household air pollution levels is finance. "If we give free LPG to women for two years, they are unlikely to shift back to biomass cooking even if you remove the subsidies," she said. Through Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) launched in May 2016, more than 100 million households in India received LPG cylinders by the end of March 2023. Studies shows over 50 per cent of the households that received new LPG cylinders under PMUY did not choose to refill it even once. Around a third of the world's population - 2.4 billion people globally (including 500 million people in India) - still lack access to clean cooking solutions. Although the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MOPNG) claims that the country's household LPG "coverage" stands at 99.8 per cent, the National Family Health Survey conducted in 2019-21 (NFHS-5) shows that 41 per cent of the population still cooks on biomass.

Indoor air pollution poses greater health risk than outdoor: Experts

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hydrogen-energy-help-climate-crisis-but-still-hurdles-2023-10">Clean hydrogen fuel</a> may occur naturally in large underground reservoirs across the planet.</li><li>Big companies, startups, and the US government are all trying to tap into this carbon-free fuel.</li></ul>Believe it or not, drilling for a certain type of gas could open up a new world of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/white-hydrogen-france-clean-energy-climate-change-2023-10">clean energy</a>.Trillions of tons of lightweight, energy-dense hydrogen gas may be hidden deep underground. Those natural reservoirs, known as geologic hydrogen, could be a fruitful <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-first-commercial-carbon-capture-facility-opens-2023-11">carbon-free fuel</a> source.Geologic hydrogen is so promising that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-wealth-donations-charity-foundation-worlds-richest-people-list-2022-7">Bill Gates</a>, Amazon, and United Airlines are just some of the funders behind a startup called Koloma, which thinks it can tap into those reserves. Oil and gas giants BP and Chevron have joined a consortium to study geologic hydrogen. Even the US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is interested. It held a hearing on the subject last week."The vast majority of the in-place hydrogen is likely to be in accumulations that are too deep, too far <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-powers-on-16-megawatt-offshore-wind-turbine-taiwan-strait-2023-7">offshore</a>, or too small to ever be economically recovered," Geoffrey Ellis, a USGS geologist, said in the February 28 hearing. "However, if even a small fraction of this amount could be recovered, that would constitute a significant resource."<div type="image" title="hydrogen power plant with tall stacks emitting steam clouds into a blue sky" height="1500" width="2242" msid="108310178" hostid="261"></div>Hydrogen burns clean, but manufacturing it takes a lot of energy and expense, and even <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/urban-farming-gardening-carbon-footpring-study-produce-2024-2">creates carbon dioxide</a>. Still, it's a key pillar of President Joe Biden's clean-energy strategy, which is pumping $7 billion into seven hydrogen hubs across the country.Drawing from natural reservoirs of hydrogen would be much cleaner — if it's worth the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-approval-alaska-drilling-could-be-big-oils-last-surge-2023-3">drilling</a>.<h2>A hydrogen gold rush is beginning</h2>It's a relatively new prospect. In fact, scientists didn't believe it was possible for large amounts of hydrogen to accumulate underground until about 12 years ago, according to Ellis, who leads USGS efforts to map the world's potential reserves of underground hydrogen.That's when an <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fossil-fuel-companies-spend-millions-to-promote-individual-responsibility-2021-3">oil and gas company</a> assessed a mine that had exploded in Mali and found it was full of hydrogen gas.Hydrogen forms deep underground when water reacts with iron-rich rock. In the US, two long stretches of this rock are a promising place to look for hydrogen reserves, and efforts are already underway.One stretch runs from Kansas up to Ontario, then down to Michigan. The other is offshore, running the length of New Jersey to Georgia, according to Ellis. USGS started looking for these reserves in 2021 and has drilled several wells, with more planned this year.Ellis told the Senate committee that research is also ongoing in France and Australia, and active exploration efforts are underway in Brazil and Colombia. In February, researchers announced they had discovered a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/researchers-discover-albanian-mine-could-be-hydrogen-source-2024-3">hydrogen reservoir in a mine in Albania</a>.<div type="image" title="Bulqizë chromite mine" height="396" width="594" msid="108310180" hostid="261"></div>"Companies exploring for geologic hydrogen use many of the same technologies that are used in the oil and gas industry," Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) said in the hearing. "In fact, many of the people exploring for hydrogen today spent their careers exploring for oil and gas."It's still unclear how much hydrogen is out there, or how much it will cost to extract it. So the DOE's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy is doling out $20 million in grants to fund research on the subject, including the possibility of artificially stimulating the natural process that makes hydrogen underground."If our programs show success, this new source of hydrogen could lower energy costs and increase our nation's energy security and supply chains," Evelyn N. Wang, director of ARPA-E, told the Senate committee.Even so, the fuel would face some of the same challenges as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-hydrogen-fuel-industry-explainer-2020-1">manufactured hydrogen</a>. There may not be enough infrastructure to transport it far and wide. In the process, any hydrogen that leaks into the atmosphere would react with other compounds to cause the atmosphere to trap more heat. That could cancel out hydrogen's climate advantage over fossil fuels."Nobody has all the answers today," Koloma CEO and cofounder Pete Johnson told the Senate committee. "But the early data looks very promising and I believe that geologic hydrogen can play a very large role as we work to decarbonize the US energy economy."

Vast reserves of clean hydrogen fuel could be hiding beneath our feet

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Firebricks have been around for thousands of years.</li><li>Industries use them to store heat from burning <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/exxon-acquisition-permian-basin-pioneer-fossil-fuels-energy-transition-2023-10">fossil fuels</a>; newer versions conduct electricity.</li></ul>Industrial manufacturers make materials like aluminum and glass for everything from <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy02osti/32135.pdf">beverage containers</a> to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2238785423024006">aircraft parts</a>. They're also responsible for 17% of global carbon dioxide emissions, according to recent research published in <a target="_blank" href="https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae274">PNAS Nexus</a>.That's a problem. Countries are struggling to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/carbon-emissions-2022-record-renewables-growth-solar-wind-iea-2023-3">cut CO2 emissions</a> as the climate crisis worsens. And switching these major manufacturers to cleaner sources of energy, like wind and solar, would help significantly.But when the sun isn't shining or wind isn't blowing, these manufacturers need to rely on stored energy. Batteries are one option, but some scientists think an ancient technology, firebricks, is a cheaper and easier solution.<h2 id="4d66210e-a897-4885-9d6c-45b833a3fd2c">Firebricks are cheap and effective</h2><div type="image" title="A hand holds a thin grayish brick with white speckles" height="683" width="1024" msid="112508425" hostid="261" sizebytes="28908"></div>If you have a brick fireplace, you might notice the bricks stay warm for a while after the fire goes out.People have used bricks to<a target="_blank" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352409X23000287"> help keep</a> kilns and ovens hot since the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bronze-age-lost-tomb-ireland-rediscovered-photogrammetry-2024-1">Bronze Age</a>. Even modern industrial manufacturers use firebricks in daily operations.They stack the bricks in tall rows, heat them up to extremely high temperatures, and then blow air through channels to harness the heat for melting glass or metal, for example.Heating up the bricks causes carbon emissions since manufacturers typically burn fossil fuels to do it.However, a few new companies think they've figured out how to use electricity from the grid to heat up the bricks instead.Electrified Thermal Solutions and other companies make firebricks that <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/power-grid-transmission-renewable-energy-nimby-states-ferc-2024-5">conduct electricity</a>."A normal firebrick is an insulator like rubber. Electricity just doesn't go through it," MIT professor Charles Forsberg, an advisor to the company, said.However, when you add compounds like chromia and nickel oxide the firebrick becomes an electrical conductor.Forsberg said these conductive bricks function similarly to an <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gas-stove-debate-cooking-induction-electric-kitchen-2023-1">electric oven</a>, except the firebrick can handle heat that would melt your oven's wires."It's a way to heat firebricks to a blazingly hot temperature," he said. It can <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/05/25/science/race-clean-up-heavy-industry-heats-up/">reach</a> 3,270 degrees Fahrenheit, more than hot enough to melt steel, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/05/25/science/race-clean-up-heavy-industry-heats-up/">The Boston Globe reported</a>.Instead of storing the electricity like a battery, the bricks would store heat. So, a steel mill, for example, could take <a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow noreferrer" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/modernize-us-electric-grid-what-it-will-take-2024-5">electricity from the grid</a>. The high electrical current would heat up the oxides inside the firebricks, and the bricks would retain the heat, which the manufacturer could then use to melt metal.Of course, there's still the issue that electricity from the grid often comes from fossil fuels. But eventually, as more renewable energy feeds the grid, this could help major manufacturers drastically reduce carbon emissions, and also save a lot of money.Mark Jacobson, a professor at Stanford University, estimated in the PNAS Nexus study that transitioning 149 countries entirely to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-renewable-energy-transition-solar-electric-vehicles-hit-records-2024-2">renewable energy</a> by 2050 would cost about $59 trillion. He and his colleagues used computer models to examine two options: one where industries used firebricks and one where they relied on technologies like electric furnaces and boilers and stored energy in batteries.Implementing firebricks saved over $1.2 trillion dollars worldwide, he told Business Insider.The savings partially come from the bricks' cheap cost, which are about a tenth of the price of traditional storage batteries, Jacobson said. "When we use firebricks, we reduce the cost of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/california-was-battery-powered-twice-last-week-2024-4">batteries</a> because we need fewer batteries," he said.<h2 id="518d0dd9-00e6-4e75-b1be-eeb5884abf76">Making small changes for big emissions savings</h2><div type="image" title="Two people stand in front of a device that looks like a large refrigerator" height="683" width="1024" msid="112508428" hostid="261" sizebytes="72432"></div>Forsberg said early adopters of conductive firebricks might still use <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/natural-gas-biden-exports-pause-energy-costs-less-predictable-2024-2">natural gas</a> or oil if they run out of stored heat."Someday in the future, it may all be electric," he said, "but my guess is in the near term, most of the people who need high-temperature heat are going to buy a cheap <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-ban-gas-stoves-in-new-buildings-emissions-reduction-2023-4">gas burner</a>."It's also going to take a while to get these new firebricks installed. Jacobson said the first adopters might be companies that need to replace their equipment or newcomers starting from scratch. Once they do, though, "I think they'll find that it's actually much more beneficial," he said.Electrified Thermal Solutions is working on one of its first industrial applications, <a target="_blank" href="https://electrifiedthermal.com/kentucky-governor-announces-ets-available-for-doe-funding-to-help-electrify-chemical-plant/">replacing</a> gas boilers in a Kentucky chemical plant.Another company, <a target="_blank" href="https://rondo.com/calgren-case-study">Rondo</a>, has installed its technology in a biofuel company in California. Rondo said its system reduces CO2 emissions and lowers the cost of energy because it requires less electricity than hydrogen fuel.Having a few successful example projects might help change some minds in other industries, Jacobson said.Forsberg said one of the biggest benefits of the newer firebrick technology is that it updates processes many industries have in place. "The goal is minimum change," he said. "If you want to cause a revolution in technology, don't change anything you don't have to change."

Researchers want to combine an ancient technology with clean energy to save over $1 trillion worldwide

<ul class="summary-list"><li>I got a Costco membership at the end of 2021 but quickly realized the warehouse wasn't for me.</li><li>I joined Costco to <a href="https://www.insider.com/what-i-buy-from-costco-to-save-money-extreme-couponer-2022-9">save money</a>, but the bulk-buy structure enabled my worst shopping habits.</li></ul>The first time I tagged along on a friend's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-you-should-always-get-at-costco-in-bulk">Costco</a> run, I was so enchanted that I signed up for a membership right after checkout. Not long after, I realized the bulk retailer wasn't for my two-person household. It's not that I hated Costco's quality or options — I actually really like the products and have few complaints.Instead, I realized the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uk-vs-us-costco-food-court-2023-8">membership program</a> and structure enabled some of my worst shopping habits.<h2>I became a very impulsive shopper at Costco</h2>At first, being able to buy in bulk helped me plan ahead and stock up on supplies and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/costco-best-beauty-skin-care-buys-according-to-shopper-photos-2022-3">personal-care items</a>, like toilet paper.But if I ever wanted to try a new product, satisfying that curiosity involved a commitment. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/costco-best-things-for-single-people-to-buy">Exploring new products</a>, which Costco sells in large quantities or big sizes, had a more significant financial and spatial cost than purchases at regular grocery stores.I'd often grab something because I thought it was good to have on hand, only never to use it. It took me months to use a jar of capers from the warehouse, and I didn't even touch a large pack of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trying-trader-joes-pasta-sauces-ranking-review-photos">canned tomatoes</a> for almost a year. <div type="image" title="Canned tomatoes in a pantry." height="3024" width="4032" msid="112718148" hostid="261" sizebytes="822934"></div><h2>It became really easy to waste food and money, too</h2>If I can't see an item when I open my fridge or pantry, I completely forget it's there. This was bad news for buying in bulk at Costco. Though this wasn't as much of an issue with shelf-stable items, it was still frustrating to realize that I'd buy the same trail-mix bundles, trash bags, or Lysol wipes we already had at home.Meanwhile, my refrigerated or frozen items, like salad greens or massive bags of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trying-best-rotisserie-chicken-at-grocery-store-review-photos-2022-11">chicken</a> thighs, would often spoil or get freezer-burned before I could go through them.Obviously, this wasn't Costco's fault, but I hadn't wasted this much food or money before I had my membership.<h2>Buying snacks in bulk also led me to become a pretty bad snacker </h2>Large quantities of snacks such as trail-mix packets were an asset to my fiancé, whose job involves intense physical labor. But I work from home and found large portions and boredom often made a perfect combination for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-to-get-costco-losing-weight-grocery-list-2023-9">mindless snacking</a>.The two of us could easily wipe out a bulk box of Simple Mills crackers within a week of purchasing it, and special sweets such as Thin Mints pretzels didn't stand a chance. Because we'd go through snacks so quickly, I found myself doubling up on items at the warehouse to save myself an extra trip.My worst offense was having to replace a massive bag of Halloween candy that I picked up in September because we whittled the whole thing down before the holiday even came around. <div type="image" title="The interior of a Costco store." height="2448" width="3264" msid="112718145" hostid="261" sizebytes="584298"></div><h2>My house also became overridden with large items</h2>I live in an older home with a shallow pantry, so storing large food items is already challenging. To combat the lack of space, I had to put my Costco buys wherever they would fit.I ended up <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/interior-designer-kitchen-design-tips-rental-space-2023-6">storing food among my kitchen</a> supplies and equipment, which took up valuable counter and cabinet space. When I ran out of room there, I stored boxes of snacks and tea on top of my refrigerator, even though they routinely fell onto the floor.<h2>Costco didn't save me much time, either </h2>Although Costco is a great place to stock up on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/costco-best-things-for-2-people-to-get-2021-6">basic staples</a>, from cleaning supplies to salt, I couldn't always find everything I needed at my local warehouse. After shopping there, I'd still have to supplement with trips to other supermarkets, specialty stores, and farmers' markets to grab herbs or spices.I've since let my Costco membership lapse and found that my pantry and kitchen have become better organized and less overrun with stuff. I still find bulk buys I've never opened. My new shopping habits better fit our lifestyle, and although I enjoyed shopping at Costco, I don't think I'll ever get a membership again. This story was originally published on September 28, 2023, and most recently updated on August 22, 2024.

I canceled my Costco membership after a year. I loved the store, but it fueled my worst habits.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The Biden administration unveiled a rule linking clean energy tax breaks to worker pay.</li><li>Projects must hire apprentices and pay prevailing wages to qualify for increased tax breaks.</li></ul>The Biden administration wants to ensure businesses are paying their <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jobs-climate-manufacturing-work-best-places-georgia-carolinas-2024-1">clean energy workers </a>well — and it's using a new tax break to push for it.The Treasury Department, alongside the Internal Revenue Service, announced a final rule on Tuesday that stipulates how clean energy projects can get their <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-inflation-reduction-act-means-finances-tax-health-climate-democrats-2022-8">tax break</a> from the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/house-passes-inflation-reduction-act-sending-it-to-biden-2022-8">Inflation Reduction Act</a> multiplied by five by paying workers more."No developer will leave that money on the table," John Podesta, Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy, told reporters.To qualify, projects have to hire <a target="_blank" href="https://www.apprenticeship.gov/employers/registered-apprenticeship-program">registered apprentices</a>, who are paid for their work and earn credentials while doing it, and pay the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prevailing-wage-law-solve-labor-shortage-great-resignation-government-contracts-2022-1">prevailing wage</a> to their workers, a level of minimum pay generally set for workers on government contracts. While prevailing wage has "long applied" to federal projects, according to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, this is the first time it's been applied to clean energy tax incentives."This is a major step to put American workers at the center of the clean energy economy. It will help to attract and strengthen a skilled workforce in partnership with our nation's labor unions and private sector companies, and it'll help make sure this workforce is well paid," Yellen said in a call with reporters.The rule gets at one of the big issues facing the clean energy economy: It doesn't pay as well as jobs in more <a target="_blank" href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22914487/clean-energy-fossil-fuels-salaries-unions">carbon-intensive fossil fuel energy</a>. For instance, a 2021 paper from the University of Massachusetts Amherst's Political Economy Research Institute <a target="_blank" href="https://peri.umass.edu/images/CA-CleanEnergy-6-8-21.pdf?utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=Recode%202.2.2022&amp;utm_term=Recode">found</a> that while clean energy work in California pays $86,000 — above the average national wage of $65,000 — fossil fuel work pays, on average, $130,000.Of course, there is now more opportunity for clean energy work as the industry grows, and some jobs have robust pay — but many roles <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-jobs-career-grow-pay-well-high-salary-2024">require a bachelor's degree or apprenticeship experience</a>, underscoring the importance of hiring apprentices.Sean McGarvey, president of North America's Buildings Trades Unions, told reporters that in the past, the average solar worker earned less than a quarter of NABTU members' total wage and benefits package."That's why we were so reluctant without these rules that are being put in place to embrace the clean energy transition; we were always talking about a just transition," McGarvey said. "In the fossil fuel industry, our experience has been for the last hundred years that they pay top wages and fringe benefits, and, in the renewable industries that burgeoned over the last several decades, that has not been the case."The new rule could open up the type of federal tax support for clean energy that fossil fuel companies have enjoyed for decades."With these new rules in place, there will be huge increases for many, many people that are existing in this industry right now and the opportunities for hundreds of thousands of people to join this industry with middle-class family-sustaining wages and with good healthcare and post-retirement benefits," McGarvey said.Are you considering going into clean energy for higher pay? Contact this reporter at <a target="_blank" href="mailto:jkaplan@businessinsider.com">jkaplan@businessinsider.com</a>.

There's a huge pay raise on the way for clean energy workers 

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Global fossil fuel demand is expected to peak this decade as the clean energy economy booms, the IEA said.</li><li>Past peak demand in the late 2020s, global use of oil could fall into an "undulating plateau" for a while.</li></ul>The golden age of fossil fuels is coming to its close, and that close is coming soon."In all scenarios, the momentum behind the clean energy economy is enough to produce a peak in demand for coal, oil and natural gas this decade, although the rates of post-peak decline vary widely," the International Energy Agency said in a report Tuesday.Oil demand could reach a maximum level of 102 million barrels of oil per day in the late 2020s before declining slightly to 97 million in 2050. Past that peak, demand for oil could fall into an "undulating plateau lasting for many years."Global natural gas demand, which had been increasing by roughly 2% every year since 2011, is expected to slow to a 0.4% annual pace from now until 2030. Global coal demand is also expected to weaken as its biggest consumers, iron and steel producers, wean off coal.The IEA report added that geopolitical turmoil, stubborn inflation, and elevated debt levels have heightened <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/commodities/israel-hamas-outlook-oil-prices-economy-stock-market-volatility-inflation-2023-10">volatility in commodities like oil</a>, and largely <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/commodities/oil-prices-outlook-war-inflation-fed-rates-israel-russia-opec-2023-10">disrupted</a> global energy markets. It comes a month after IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol previewed its findings in a column published in the <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/f6155d7b-2ef7-4f62-a08a-b640b7e87fca" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Financial Times</a>, saying that "the age of seemingly relentless growth" for fossil fuel demand is at the beginning of the end. "This is the first time that a peak in demand is visible for each fuel this decade — earlier than many people anticipated," he wrote.In contrast with its view on fossil fuels, the IEA report Tuesday noted that "clean energy is the most dynamic aspect of global energy investment."The Inflation Reduction Act passed last year has also funneled hundreds of billions of dollars into clean energy projects, ramping up the path towards decarbonization.But renewable energy stocks have been reeling amid cost inflation, supply-chain bottlenecks and higher borrowing costs, as Fed rate hikes particularly capital-intensive buffet industries.The S&amp;P Global Clean Energy Index is down 33.51% since January. Companies like SolarEdge and Enphase Energy are down 70% and 62% respectively, year-to-date.

Global fossil fuel demand is likely to peak this decade as the clean energy economy grows, IEA says

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Renewables can offer cheaper energy than fossil fuels, but the grid isn't designed to handle them.</li><li>We explore the places in the US making progress on this front. </li></ul>Think about the last time your <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blackouts-power-outages-more-common-climate-change-electric-grid-infrastructure-2023-3">power went out</a>.Maybe a car hit an electricity-distribution pole or a falling branch took down a power line <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moving-from-texas-power-outage-ercot-energy-grid-winter-storm-2023-12">during a storm</a>. It probably took at least a few minutes, maybe hours, before your power turned back on.Most likely, that's because workers at your local utility first had to assess how to restore your power. Then dispatchers had to drive to the nearby switches that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/texas-winter-storm-power-cuts-white-house-emergency-declaration-2021-2">control the flow of energy</a> and manually flip them until everyone's lights were back on.Not in Chattanooga, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moving-to-tennessee-pros-cons-nashville-memphis-chattanooga-2023-2">Tennessee</a>. Instead, software automatically sends commands to smart switches throughout the system, rerouting the flow of electricity to restore power in seconds.The electric utility in Chattanooga, EPB, has invested $280 million in creating one of the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/power-smart-grid-electric-investment-save-money-prevent-blackouts-2024-4">smartest power grids</a> in the country. It has this self-healing system and manages energy more efficiently than traditional grids, reduces carbon emissions, and saves customers money on their electricity bills."They are an example of people who are looking forward to say: We see technology coming," Kevin Schneider, the chief engineer studying power systems at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, told Business Insider. "It is a challenge. It will be expensive, but we view it as less expensive and less challenging than doing nothing for the next 10 years and then trying to catch up."Nationwide, our <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/power-grid-strain-home-vehicle-electrification-ai-startups-2024-3">power systems are in trouble</a>. The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-laws-us-infrastructure-invest-funding-2024-3">infrastructure is aging and outdated</a>, costing consumers billions a year in higher energy bills. Moreover, the aging grid is not ready for the barrage of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-change-migration-where-moved-escape-natural-disasters-extreme-weather">increasingly severe weather</a> that the climate crisis is bringing, nor the incoming surge of renewable energy and battery storage as the US moves toward the Biden-Harris administration's goal to achieve a carbon-pollution-free grid by 2035."Much of our grid infrastructure is 40, 50, 60-plus years old," Joe Rand, an energy policy researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, told BI. "And so it is in need of upgrading and maintenance."Smarter grids, like Chattanooga's, are just part of what it will take to modernize the American grid in the coming decades. They can deliver electricity in a "cleaner, more efficient, faster way," Joshua Rhodes, a research scientist studying smart grids at the University of Texas at Austin, told BI.However, getting that electricity in the first place from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/texas-green-power-energy-america-economy-wind-oil-solar-prices-2023-11">wind, solar, and other renewables</a> is where the challenge begins.<h2 id="69b81dd9-e41b-4840-b480-f88f0bf2481c">A troubled transition to renewable energy</h2><div type="image" title="giant wind turbines standing in water" height="1414" width="2121" msid="110091236" hostid="261" sizebytes="187698"></div>Last year was record-breaking for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-renewable-energy-transition-solar-electric-vehicles-hit-records-2024-2">clean energy in the US</a>. Renewables, including wind, solar, and hydropower, represented about <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wri.org/insights/clean-energy-progress-united-states">25% of the electricity generated</a> in the US in the first half of 2023.And this year is off to a solid start. South Fork Wind — New York's first offshore wind farm — began powering homes in March. And the Edwards &amp; Sanborn project, the US's largest solar energy and energy storage project in California, came online in January.Renewable energy is not only cleaner than fossil fuels but also often less expensive."In many parts of the United States, wind and or solar are basically the cheapest ways that we can <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/solar-panel-industry-electricity-generation-us-eia-tariff-prices-trade-2024-2">generate electricity</a>," Rand said.But we have a long way to go to reach 100% clean electricity by 2035. Renewables are intermittent energy sources. Unlike fossil fuels, the amount of energy they generate fluctuates. But <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hedge-funds-betting-electricity-power-grid-congestion-trading-2024-3">our grid system wasn't designed</a> to handle that variation.Plugging intermittent energy sources into this outdated grid network can cause problems, such as energy imbalances that exceed capacity and trigger outages, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.stevens.edu/profile/podonkor">Philip Odonkor</a>, an assistant professor in the School of Systems and Enterprises at Stevens Institute of Technology, told BI.So what's happened is a bottleneck: Renewable projects are generating energy but with limited ways of getting it to towns and cities. At the end of 2023, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2022-04/Queued%20Up%E2%80%A6But%20in%20Need%20of%20Transmission.pdf">930 gigawatts</a> of power — enough to power <a target="_blank" href="https://www.seia.org/solar-industry-research-data">roughly</a> 171 million homes — were waiting to connect to the grid.To achieve zero-emissions electricity by 2035, the US needs to revamp the grid with up to 10,100 miles of new transmission lines that can transport renewable energy from point A to point B. The Midwest grid operator, Midcontinent Independent System Operator, has approved the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nrdc.org/bio/toba-pearlman/midwest-grid-operators-inching-forward-miles-go-0">country's largest transmission investment</a> to date, totaling $10.3 billion, to improve how it delivers electricity to 45 million people across the Midwest.But in general, construction on new high-voltage transmission has slowed to a trickle over the past decade, Rand said. In 2013, the US <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ferc.gov/sites/default/files/2020-05/dec-energy-infrastructure_3.pdf">completed</a> over 3,000 miles of transmission projects. Last year, it <a target="_blank" href="https://cms.ferc.gov/media/energy-infrastructure-update-december-2023">completed</a> 251 miles.It's not economic or technology barriers holding these projects back, Rand said: "It's institutional, regulatory, and social issues."<h2 id="ed839077-604c-48e7-a55c-f3e216767d9a">Breaking down barriers</h2><div type="image" title="A man walks through a power station" height="1937" width="3000" msid="110091239" hostid="261" sizebytes="1045202"></div>When South Fork Wind began operations in March, it was a major milestone but also years behind schedule. Economic headwinds struck in 2020 with the Trump administration's moratorium on offshore wind, which stalled progress for two years."The clearest delay for South Fork was losing those years of progress," said <a target="_blank" href="https://wrisenergy.org/about-wrise/leadership/board/">Julia Bovey</a>, the director of external affairs for offshore wind at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.eversource.com/content/residential">Eversource Energy</a>, which co-owns South Fork Wind with <a target="_blank" href="https://us.orsted.com/?gad_source=1&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQjwir2xBhC_ARIsAMTXk84wQN2zsVWYlPKJurVNpM-v2sPcNdUtPeJL5HMpCMOYQ9fYAfdwwnwaAu_mEALw_wcB">Ørsted</a>.Other obstacles stand in the way of clean energy — the biggest being the lengthy permitting process and interconnection queue delays. The permitting process for renewable-energy projects involves massive amounts of paperwork and can take <a target="_blank" href="https://www.osc.ny.gov/press/releases/2024/04/dinapoli-renewable-energy-projects-taking-years-become-operational-nys#:~:text=On%20average%2C%20the%20permit%20application,permit%20process%20is%20not%20improved">three or more years to finish</a>.In the end, about <a target="_blank" href="https://emp.lbl.gov/sites/default/files/2024-04/Queued%20Up%202024%20Edition_1.pdf">80%</a> don't make it to completion, and those that do can get stuck in the clogged interconnection queue for as long as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2024/03/01/the-energy-sector-and-ai-unplugging-the-interconnection-queue-backlog/?sh=4932ad4162f4">five more years</a>. By the end of 2023, almost <a target="_blank" href="https://emp.lbl.gov/sites/default/files/2024-04/Queued%20Up%202024%20Edition_1.pdf">12,000 projects</a> were in the queue, waiting to be connected to the grid."It's a seriously complex process with so many stakeholders," Bovey said.South Fork Wind was the first utility-scale offshore-wind project in the US to make it through this process. In doing so, it revealed a lot of issues that could be fixed through standardization and better agency coordination, Bovey said. But it also proved that bringing offshore wind online was possible."Every hope is that this has paved the way for future projects to be cheaper, bigger, faster, and just as responsible — just as well sited," Bovey said.On the whole, Paul Denholm, a principal analyst and senior research fellow at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, is more skeptical of the country's prospects. We'll be closer to a 50% renewable-power grid by 2035 with the way things are going, he told BI.Right now, we lack the federal policy necessary to solve regulatory and permitting delays, clear the interconnection queue, and drive rapid infrastructure upgrades and technology implementation, Denholm said.For example, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator's transmission investment, while noteworthy, took 11 years to get approval, and its next series of approvals have been delayed."So from that standpoint, it's pretty clear that we're not on a path to get to 100%," Denholm said.<h2 id="a55db279-156b-40fd-940e-ba037839bbdf">There's no going back</h2><div type="image" title="An electric vehicle charges in California" height="683" width="1024" msid="110091241" hostid="261" sizebytes="41490"></div>Regardless of how quickly the US gets there, we're headed for a clean-energy revolution. The federal government has invested nearly <a target="_blank" href="https://www.energy.gov/infrastructure/clean-energy-infrastructure-funding-projects-and-programs">$100 billion</a> in clean energy through its Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act.Old infrastructure must be modernized across the country because the production and use of energy are going to get much more complicated.Nationwide, the grid draws power from about 12,000 power plants. Over the next 20 years or so, it will have to balloon to incorporate millions of small, distributed energy-generation resources, from hydropower dams to offshore wind farms to rooftop solar panels.Then there will be the batteries, which store wind and solar energy until a rainy day. Meanwhile, newly electrified cars and heating systems will increase energy demand.Eventually, home appliances may tap into data from the grid — how much people are drawing energy from it, how much carbon it's emitting, and how much electricity costs at any given hour — to help you make smart decisions about when to wash your dishes or heat your house."Historically it was meant to go one way," Schneider said of the grid. "Now we've got solar that pushes power back in. We've got EVs. We've got new loads like heat pumps. So the edge is getting so much more complicated with a lot more stakeholders in there."Smart grids are essential for integrating all that new stuff. The rollout of smart-grid technologies, renewable projects, and new transmission lines will happen piecemeal across the country, at different paces in different places, depending on policies, utility finances, and the economy — high up-front costs can be a major deterrent. However, the return on investment can be even greater.Take Chattanooga. EPB spent $280 million to refurbish its power system with smart technologies. In its first 10 years, the project generated $2.7 billion worth of economic value by creating jobs, attracting businesses, and reducing customers' electricity bills, an EPB-funded <a target="_blank" href="https://assets.epb.com/media/Lobo%20-%20Ten%20Years%20of%20Fiber%20Infrastructure%20in%20Hamilton%20County%20TN_Published.pdf">study</a> found.MISO foresees a similar return on its $10.3 billion investment. It estimates that investment will bring <a target="_blank" href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/sam-gomberg/midwest-transmission-system-investments-will-be-a-game-changer-for-a-clean-energy-future/">$37.3 billion of value</a> for customers by transporting cheaper, more reliable power. So the benefits can outweigh the cost."As we move forward, things are becoming more complex," Schneider said. "And we need to find ways to work together collaboratively. Because no one group or organization has all the answers, it's going to be a lot of different things coming together."

What it will take to modernize the American grid and usher in the clean-energy revolution

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/zap-energy-fusion-power-plant-z-pinch-2023-12">fusion reactor</a> in southern France achieved a significant milestone toward clean, limitless energy.</li><li>The fusion reactor, WEST, created a super-hot plasma and sustained it for a record-breaking 6 minutes.</li></ul>A fusion reactor in southern France, called WEST, just achieved an important milestone that brings us one step closer to clean, sustainable, nearly limitless energy.Scientists at New Jersey's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, who collaborated on the project, announced today that the device created a super-hot material called <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-video-solar-flares-erupt-simultaneously-on-sun-earth-impacts-2024-4">a plasma</a> that reached 90 million degrees Fahrenheit (50 million degrees Celsius) for 6 straight minutes.The ultimate goal is to sustain a super-hot plasma for many hours, but 6 minutes is a new world record for a device like WEST. Other nuclear reactors similar to WEST have created hotter plasmas, but they haven't lasted as long.WEST is what's called <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/largest-fusion-reactor-power-on-in-japan-2023-12">a tokamak</a>. It's a donut-shaped fusion reactor the size of an 8-by-8-foot room with 8-foot-tall ceilings, capable of generating the same type of energy that powers our sun. That's why scientists sometimes call these machines "artificial suns."<div type="image" title="the sun glowing yellow-orange orb in black space covered in roiling plasma with two dark large spots" height="1024" width="1024" msid="109895805" hostid="261"></div>"What we are trying to do is create a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/second-nuclear-fusion-reaction-experiment-yields-more-energy-2023-8">sun on Earth</a>," Luis Delgado-Aparicio, PPPL's head of advanced projects, told Business Insider. "And that is extremely, extremely challenging," he said, but this new record suggests they're headed in the right direction.The sun runs on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hydrogen-bomb-vs-atomic-bomb-what-is-the-difference-2023-9">nuclear fusion</a> (when atomic nuclei combine and release energy) not to be confused with the nuclear fission process (when atomic nuclei split apart and release energy) that powers today's nuclear reactors.Fusion energy is more powerful than any form of energy we have today. If we can harness that power, it could <a target="_blank" href="https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/what-is-nuclear-fusion">produce</a> almost 4 million times more energy per kilogram of fuel than fossil fuels. Plus, it's carbon-free.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-no-fusion-energy-power-plants-yet-how-2023-10">Significant challenges</a> remain before that becomes a reality, which is where experimental reactors like WEST come in.While WEST won't be used to generate fusion for electricity to power homes, it's critical for the research that's laying the groundwork for future commercial reactors.<h2>WEST creates more energy and lays the groundwork for ITER</h2><div type="image" title="The exterior of a tokamak, a large device with metal ladders and scaffolding around it" height="552" width="600" msid="109895807" hostid="261"></div>WEST has a lot in common with ITER, a nearby reactor being built in southern France, which will be the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/whats-the-iter-nuclear-fusion-plant-and-why-is-it-important-2016-2">world's largest tokamak</a> capable of self-sustaining burning plasmas when it's finished. Creating that self-heating mix is a crucial step to harnessing the power of fusion for commercial purposes.However, due to cost and technology <a target="_blank" href="https://phys.org/news/2023-01-international-fusion-energy-delays-chief.html">setbacks</a>, it's unclear when ITER will be finished. In the meantime, other facilities are conducting experiments to figure out how best to operate the giant reactor. That includes WEST.The two reactors are practically neighbors, and the experiments at WEST are directly applicable to ITER, Delgado-Aparicio said.For fusion to happen on Earth, the fuel needs to reach at least 50 million degrees Celsius. One of the main obstacles fusion power faces is that it takes a tremendous amount of energy to generate those extreme temperatures, and, so far, reactors can't sustain a plasma long enough to gain an energy surplus that could be put toward commercial use. For now, fusion reactors typically consume more energy than they produce.WEST's latest breakthrough was no exception. However, it did generate 15% more energy from fusion compared to earlier attempts, PPPL reported in a statement. Moreover, the plasma was twice as dense, another important component of creating more energy.<h2>The key to WEST's record success: tungsten</h2><div type="image" title="A man holds a sample of tungsten in a glass jar" height="651" width="1024" msid="109895809" hostid="261"></div>WEST is helping scientists test the best materials for building the walls inside a fusion reactor, which isn't easy since these environments can reach temperatures more than three times hotter than the sun's center.Originally, WEST contained carbon walls. While carbon is easy to work with, Delgado-Aparicio said, it also absorbs tritium, a rare <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oppenheimer-science-to-understand-physics-atomic-bombs-2023-7">hydrogen isotope</a> that fuels the fusion reaction."Imagine you have a wall that is not only a wall, but it's some sort of a sponge," he said, "a sponge that absorbs your fuel."So, in 2012, scientists decided to test a different material for the tokamak's walls, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tungsten-cube-sold-on-amazon-sell-for-thousands-crypto-community-2021-11">tungsten</a> — the same material that ITER will use for some of its main components.<div type="image" title="Three men in white lab coats sit at a desk looking at a computer" height="1281" width="2000" msid="109895810" hostid="261"></div>Because of tungsten's ability to withstand heat without absorbing tritium, Delgado-Aparicio believes it is the ideal material for tokamak walls.That said, tungsten isn't perfect. One of its downfalls is it can melt and enter <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fusion-startup-tokamak-energy-raises-87-million-2020-1">the plasma</a>, contaminating it. In turn, this can counteract the process, radiating a lot of energy away and cooling the plasma.To optimize the system, scientists need to understand how exactly tungsten behaves and interacts with the plasma. That's what researchers are doing with WEST.<div type="image" title="A purplish wavy line against a blue background" height="570" width="696" msid="109895812" hostid="261"></div>The team at PPPL modified a diagnostic tool that they used in this latest experiment from WEST. The tool helped the team accurately measure the plasma's temperature to better understand how tungsten migrates from the wall of the device to the plasma."We can detect how it moves inside, we can follow it, we can study its transport inside the machine," Delgadot-Aparicio said. That could help build future methods for keeping the plasma free of impurities like blobs of tungsten that cool it down."Now we understand how that cooling needs to be taken care of," he said, "and that experience is going to be exported next door to ITER."WEST and ITER aren't the only reactors that use tungsten.Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), for example, is using tungsten walls for SPARC, its demonstration <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/power-line-fuel-for-fusion-energy-investment-falls-bankruptcy-woes-2020-5">fusion reactor</a>. And Korea's KSTAR has a tungsten divertor and recently demonstrated a 30-second, 100-million-degree plasma.Whether tungsten proves to be the key to unlocking commercial fusion energy remains to be seen.Commercial fusion energy is still likely decades away, but Delgado-Aparicio thinks they're making steps toward "this big goal of giving energy to humankind."PPPL said it will publish the results of its experiment in a peer-reviewed journal in a few weeks.

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