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<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

Since 2013, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk">Elon Musk</a> has promised that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla">Tesla</a> will have a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnn.com/2013/09/18/business/tesla-self-drive-car/index.html">self-driving car</a>. To get there, the company has leaned on a specialized group of test drivers who are part of what's known internally as "Project Rodeo."Test drivers on Project Rodeo say they push the company's self-driving software to its limit. They work to bridge the gap between driver-assist software and fully autonomous driving. Operating on open streets with other vehicles, cyclists, and pedestrians, they have tested unreleased software that will be crucial to Tesla's push into autonomous driving.Test drivers said they sometimes navigated perilous scenarios, particularly those drivers on Project Rodeo's "critical intervention" team, who say they're trained to wait as long as possible before taking over the car's controls. Tesla engineers say there's a reason for this: The longer the car continues to drive itself, the more data they have to work with. Experts in self-driving tech and safety say this type of approach could speed up the software's development but risks the safety of the test drivers and people on public roads."The idea is that you're a cowboy on a bull and you're just trying to hang on as long as you can," a former test driver who trained for the critical-intervention team in San Francisco said.Business Insider spoke with nine current and former Project Rodeo test drivers and three Autopilot engineers in states including California, Texas, and Florida. The drivers worked on training Tesla's Full Self-Driving software and its Autopilot software, which, despite the products' names, require a licensed driver at the wheel. Most asked to remain anonymous, citing a fear of professional reprisal, but their identities are known to Business Insider. Eight of the drivers described experiences that occurred over the past year, mostly between November and April.<div type="image" title="tesla cars in a parking lot" height="2827" width="4195" msid="114814069" hostid="261" sizebytes="1645262"></div>None of the test drivers who spoke with BI said they had been involved in a crash.Five who worked for the company in 2024 said they narrowly avoided collisions, including almost hitting a group of pedestrians. One former critical-intervention driver in Texas told BI that they sometimes ventured into their city's bar district late at night to see how Tesla's FSD software reacted to drunk patrons spilling out after last call. The former driver in San Francisco recalled riding around Stanford University during training, testing how close FSD would allow the vehicle to get to people at crosswalks before they had to take over. And a third critical-intervention driver said they allowed the car to speed through yellow lights and drive 35 mph under the speed limit on an expressway to avoid disengaging the system.A former Autopilot engineer told BI that while testing is done on open roads, Tesla runs hundreds of simulations and sometimes tests difficult scenarios on a closed course before rolling out new software to test drivers' vehicles.Tesla did not respond to a detailed list of questions about Project Rodeo and its self-driving technology.The test drivers' experiences highlight the balancing act Tesla and other automakers face as they prepare their self-driving software for widespread consumer use.Experts say public testing is crucial and can help identify safety issues before the technology hits the market. Missy Cummings, a former safety advisor for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said that while practices vary, she believes many autonomous-vehicle companies likely employ tactics similar to Tesla's."In theory, these drivers have gone through training, and eventually these cars do need to be able to operate in the public domain," Cummings said. She added that clearly marked vehicles could help the public better identify test drivers.Safety experts say fragmented and limited autonomous-vehicle regulations, coupled with self-reporting by automakers, create a complex environment where companies balance public safety with getting their products ready for commercial use."There are very few rules around autonomous testing and a lot of dependency on self-reporting," said Mark Rosekind, a former NHTSA administrator and chief safety innovation officer for Zoox, an Amazon-owned autonomous-taxi firm. "If companies aren't reporting, it's hard to know what's going on."In the past decade, authorities have investigated several automakers, including Tesla, Waymo, and Cruise, over crashes involving self-driving or driver-assist software.<div type="image" title="elon musk looks at a tesla" height="3488" width="4868" msid="114814075" hostid="261" sizebytes="1020846"></div>A lot depends on Tesla's promise of autonomous driving; Musk said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-tesla-worth-basically-zero-without-self-driving-2022-6">in 2022</a> that self-driving was "really the difference between Tesla being worth a lot of money or worth basically zero." The Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas wrote in a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-robotaxi-release-date-elon-musk-stock-price-2024-9">note</a> last month that the company's future valuation was "highly dependent on its ability to develop, manufacture, and commercialize autonomous technologies." Tesla's stock fell by 10% on October 11, the day after the company's robotaxi event. <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/tesla-stock-price-q3-earnings-elon-musk-profit-margins-guidance-2024-10">It rebounded after Tesla reported earnings on October 23</a>, and it's up by more than 3% overall in the year to date.<h2 id="e24440fb-f024-4003-b2a2-7b4d055c8c7a">Inside the day-to-day of a Project Rodeo driver</h2>Tesla went on a hiring spree this year, bringing on test drivers in at least half a dozen US cities, a review of LinkedIn profiles suggests.A <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-job-openings-seasonal-test-drivers-data-capture-2023-7">job listing from 2023</a> said test drivers needed a "clean driving record, safe driving habits, and a minimum of 4 years of licensed driving experiences." Eight drivers told BI that the onboarding process included two to three weeks of hands-on training, including test drives with a trainer in the passenger seat.According to employees and internal documents, one specialty within Project Rodeo works to replicate the job of a ride-hailing driver by picking random points on a map and driving between them. Those working on a different team, known as the "golden manual" team, drive manually, without any assistance, to train FSD software on what by-the-book, error-free driving looks like.Critical-intervention test drivers, who are among Project Rodeo's most experienced, let the software continue driving even after it makes a mistake. They're trained to stage "interventions" — taking manual control of the car — only to prevent a crash, said the three critical-intervention drivers and five other drivers familiar with the team's mission. Drivers on the team and internal documents say that cars rolled through red lights, swerved into other lanes, or failed to follow posted speed limits while FSD was engaged. The drivers said they allowed FSD to remain in control during these incidents because supervisors encouraged them to try to avoid taking over.The critical-intervention drivers recalled multiple instances where they felt unsafe but believed intervening could put their jobs at risk. The former driver in Texas recalled taking over only after FSD nearly rammed the car into the side of a vehicle stopped at an intersection.Non-critical-intervention drivers said they also felt pressure to push the system as far as possible. Five current and former employees said that they were instructed to intervene if they became uncomfortable with the software's behavior but that they sometimes received feedback from their supervisors if they were considered to have disengaged too early.John Bernal, a former test driver and data analyst at Tesla, said test drivers dealt with risky situations as far back as 2022. (Bernal was terminated that year; he said he was fired for sharing videos on his YouTube channel that showed his personal Tesla malfunctioning while using FSD.) He described instances where he broke traffic laws in order to collect data. Bernal said that his supervisors never instructed him to break the law but that he sometimes felt it was the only way to get the data the company wanted.He recalled one test in 2022 that was designed to see how well the system recognized a red light."My training was to wait until the wheels touched the white line before I could slam on the brakes," Bernal said. He said he sometimes ended up in the middle of the intersection if the system didn't work correctly.He also worked to train the autonomous software on "vulnerable road users" — defined by the Department of Transportation as pedestrians, bicyclists, people on scooters or in wheelchairs, or highway workers on foot — when he manually drove the "Ground Truth Machine," a Tesla outfitted with lidar and radar sensors to help the system map and identify objects."I'd drive over double lines to get close to a bike," Bernal said. "I would go obnoxiously slow through an alleyway where drunk people were, and I would be extremely rude and get really close to people."<div type="image" title="tesla showroom with autopilot posters" height="2939" width="4200" msid="114814073" hostid="261" sizebytes="255868"></div>Two years later, test drivers were asked to train the system near pedestrians, test drivers said. Five recalled a bug with FSD that made vehicles brake too early at crosswalks. To improve its performance, they were instructed to interact with pedestrians as frequently as possible.Sometimes, the drivers said, the software would slam on the brakes when no one was at the crosswalk; other times, it wouldn't stop at all. According to Tesla employees and internal documentation, FSD's performance depended heavily on its software version, and the versions appeared to operate at different levels of caution.The former San Francisco driver said that as they drove around Stanford University, their trainer, another test operator with more experience on the team, chastised them for braking too early. They recalled that at one point they came within three feet of hitting a bicyclist at a roundabout."I vividly remember this guy jumping off his bike. He was terrified," the driver told BI. "The car lunged at him, and all I could do was stomp on the brakes." They said the trainer was pleased by the incident. "He told me, 'That was perfect.' That was exactly what they wanted me to do."The driver added that "it felt like the goal was almost to simulate a hit-or-miss accident and then prevent it at the last second."The former Autopilot engineer said it was better for training to see whether the software could correct itself. They also said that not intervening when the car acted abnormally — including veering into another lane or doing something that confuses another driver — was important for training. Human motorists don't always drive rationally, they explained, and the software needs to know how to respond. It's also easier to parse the data if there are fewer driver interventions, they said."At the critical juncture where it's about to make the key decision," they said, it's helpful to see whether the software makes the right or wrong call. "We want the data to know what led the car to that decision," the engineer said. "If you keep intervening too early, we don't really get to the exact moment where we're like, OK, we understand what happened."<h2 id="52098605-f887-4702-a6ab-cf47e173ce28">A 'Wild West' with little regulation</h2>Tesla is one of many automakers attempting to make autonomous vehicles a reality. Waymo, backed by Alphabet, launched the first driverless taxi service in Phoenix in 2020."In many ways, it's like the Wild West out there," said Cummings, the former NHTSA safety advisor. "There is very little regulation around training or informing the public about testing."The stakes of data collection on public roads are high. In 2018, a self-driving Uber with a person behind the wheel struck and killed a pedestrian in Arizona. Cruise paused testing after one of its driverless vehicles hit a pedestrian in October 2023. Another vehicle had already hit the pedestrian when the Cruise car struck her, dragging her 20 feet before stopping. It <a target="_blank" href="https://www.getcruise.com/news/blog/2024/cruise-resumes-manual-driving-as-next-step-in-return-to-driverless-mission/">resumed testing</a> with safety drivers in some cities in May.<div type="image" title="waymo self driving taxi interior with pedestrians outside" height="4000" width="6000" msid="114814077" hostid="261" sizebytes="568560"></div>Two former Waymo employees said that they had a team similar to Tesla's critical-intervention team but that Waymo's version of critical-intervention testing was limited to closed tracks with dummies. Two former Cruise employees said that they had mapping teams and teams that tested on closed courses and public roads but that, unlike at Tesla, those teams were instructed to take over as soon as the software went off track, and they typically tested with at least two people in the car.A Waymo spokesperson said the company's safety framework included rigorous testing in controlled environments and on public roads. A Cruise spokesperson said the company's vehicles were designed as fully autonomous systems and were therefore fundamentally different from Tesla's driver-assistance technologies.Philip Koopman, an autonomous-driving expert at Carnegie Mellon University, said that Tesla's critical-intervention approach, as described to him by BI, was "irresponsible" and that the company should be playing out all "critical scenarios" on a closed course."By allowing the software to continue misbehaving to the point a test driver needs to avoid a crash, Tesla would be imposing a risk on other road users who have not agreed to serve as test subjects," Koopman said.Alex Roy, a general partner at NIVC and a former director of operations at the autonomous-driving startup Argo AI, said companies should be correcting the software as soon as it strays from the course, particularly on public roads."You should play those mistakes out in a simulation, not on an open road," Roy said. "Real-world testing is necessary, but real-world mistakes are not." The former Tesla engineer said they doubted that computer simulations are sophisticated enough to replicate the data generated by real-world driving. The former engineer said that, to help the software improve, it was best for test drivers to avoid intervening whenever possible."If you have a parent that's holding the bike the entire time, it never gets to learn," the engineer said.Test drivers on Project Rodeo felt this keenly."You're pretty much running on adrenaline the entire eight-hour shift," one former test driver in the Southwest said. "There's this feeling that you're on the edge of something going seriously wrong."Do you work for Tesla or have a tip? Reach out to the reporter via a non-work email and device at <a target="_blank" href="mailto:gkay@businessinsider.com">gkay@businessinsider.com</a> or <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link">248-894-6012</a>.

Inside 'Project Rodeo,' the Tesla effort pushing the limits of self-driving technology

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Donald Trump's presidential win boosted his social media company, Tesla, and crypto stocks.</li><li>Banking stocks also gained, while clean-energy stocks tumbled.</li></ul>Donald Trump's victory in the presidential election <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/trump-trade-us-presidential-election-dollar-treasuries-stocks-crypto-djt-2024-11">boosted shares</a> of his social media company, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk">Elon Musk</a>'s Tesla, and a slew of cryptocurrency stocks in premarket trading on Wednesday.The former president's reelection sent renewable-energy stocks tumbling as traders bet his administration would be <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-trump-climate-policies-ev-subsidies-renewables-fossil-fuel-drilling-2024-7">less friendly</a> in terms of subsidies and regulation.Shares of Trump Media &amp; Technology Group surged as much as 62% to $55 as investors wagered Truth Social's parent company, which counts Trump as its <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-truth-social-tmtg-stock-wealth-election-harris-x-2024-9">largest shareholder</a>, would benefit from his second term. The stock — which has Trump's initials, DJT, as its ticker — was trading 37% higher at last check.If the gain holds, Trump would be about $1.3 billion richer on paper given his near-53% stake in the company.Tesla stock rose 15% in premarket trading and was poised to open at its highest level in more than a year. Musk, the electric-vehicle maker's CEO, has <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-praises-elon-musk-a-star-is-born-2024-11">emerged</a> as one of Trump's most vocal champions and closest advisors.Crypto stocks jumped on the prospect of a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/bitcoin-price-record-high-crypto-trump-trade-us-presidential-election-2024-11">friendlier US regulatory environment</a> under Trump. Coinbase and MicroStrategy both rose 13% in Wednesday's premarket. Bitcoin, the most popular crypto, climbed past $75,000 for the first time on election night before paring gains.<h2 id="b91524b5-c53d-4ab4-9fae-d43ef3d76f42">Boost for banks</h2>Conventional financial stocks also gained with Bank of America, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, BlackRock, Blackstone, and KKR rising between 6% and 9% in the US premarket.Traders expect Wall Street banks, asset managers, and private equity firms to benefit from tax cuts and deregulation under Trump.In contrast, clean-energy stocks slid with Plug Power, SunRun, First Solar, and Enphase Energy all dropping at least 10% in premarket trading. Danish wind turbine manufacturer Orsted and rival Vestas fell 10% and 8% respectively in Frankfurt trading.The declines likely reflect concerns that Trump's reelection will lead to the repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act passed by the Biden administration, which provided large-scale tax credits for renewable-energy providers.The broader stock market gained before the open with futures underlying the S&amp;P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average climbing more than 2.3%, while Nasdaq 100 futures rose 1.8%.

Trump Media, Tesla, and crypto stocks surge as Trump wins — and clean energy companies tumble

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Short-sellers betting against renewable energy stocks made $1.3 billion since Trump's win, Bloomberg reported. </li><li>Trump is expected to roll back many of the Biden administration's climate programs.</li></ul>It was a tough week for clean energy stocks after Donald Trump clinched the presidential election, but for the short sellers betting against them, the gains have been impressive. Traders betting against renewables have gains on paper of around $1.3 billion since Trump's win sent stocks in the sector tumbling, according to Bloomberg.Among the most-shorted renewable names are shares of Plug Power, SolarEdge Technologies, and Enphase Energy, which have each seen declines of over 24% since market close on Tuesday. First Solar and Bloom Energy have also been popular targets for short-sellers, and have lost around 11% and 3% since Tuesday.The renewables selloff comes after Trump won the US presidential election earlier this week.Trump, who frequently used the slogan "drill, baby, drill" while on the campaign trail, is expected to roll back many of the Biden administration's clean energy initiatives. In particular, Trump has long been critical of the Inflation Reduction Act's billions of dollars toward solar and wind subsidies.Trump could also slash subsidies for electric vehicles and manufacturing EV batteries in the US, which has led EV makers' stocks to tumble (<a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/tesla-stock-price-trump-win-elon-musk-election-tsla-2024-11">excluding Tesla</a>, which is headed by key Trump ally Elon Musk and is expected to benefit from the former president's return to the White House).Trump is also expected to pull out of the Paris Agreement again, which would remove the US from worldwide climate diplomacy talks with Europe and China.Trump has also promised to make it easier to develop energy infrastructure. In the spring, he asked top oil executives for a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-asked-oil-execs-for-1bn-2024?utm_source=Iterable&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=campaign_BI%20Sustainability,%20November%207,%202024">$1 billion contribution</a> to his campaign in exchange for dismantling Biden's environmental policies, handing out more drilling leases, and expediting permits for new liquefied natural gas exports, according to a report from the Washington Post.

Traders betting against clean energy stocks have made $1.3 billion since Trump's election win

<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

Tucked beneath a 48-story San Francisco skyscraper, at the far end of the parking lot on the first subbasement level, is a door with a keypad lock. An unimposing sign reads "Utility Meter Room." Behind the door is a tangled clot of pipes: yellow, blue, and orange, each one as wide as a 100-pound barbell plate. The pipes — along with thousands more just like them, winding their way under more than 600 American cities, campuses, hospitals, and airports — are more than a blast from our industrial past. They're a steampunk vision of the future.I've come to 345 California Center, a postmodern hexagon that towers over San Francisco's financial district, to get a look at the hottest new idea for how to break the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/san-francisco-doom-loop-fix-american-city-housing-transit-2023-7">urban doom loop</a> — the post-pandemic, remote-work apocalypse that is hollowing out America's cities. And when I say "hottest," I don't mean it metaphorically. It's like a sauna down here. Because the Utility Meter Room doesn't run on a self-contained, industrial-sized boiler, like most big buildings. Instead, it's drawing a feed of blistering, high-pressure, vaporized water from a century-old loop of steam pipes that runs beneath the city's streets. The steam loops are a relic of the 19th century, as forgotten as the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/41/steenson.php">pneumatic tubes</a> that used to shoot mail all over American cities. But unlike the pneumatic tubes, the steam loops are still there — and they can provide enough heat to keep a building like 345 California Center nice and toasty, even on the coldest of days.The steam loops are part of an antiquated system known as "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/recycling-waste-heat-abundant-sustainable-energy-source-2023-7">district energy</a>." It was basically a shared-services model: a utility would make steam at a central location and then pipe it out to every building in the city. Nobody had to provide their own heat — it was way more convenient, and cheaper, to get it from a common source. But then cities began to abandon district energy. Buildings, businesses, and homes started making their own hot water in boilers fueled by coal, then oil, then natural gas. Sometimes it was cheaper, and maybe it was more convenient. But it also set the planet on fire. More heating meant more greenhouse gases, and more <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-change-global-warming-extreme-heat-inflation-global-economy-impact-2024-3">global warming</a>. Which brings me back to our steampunk future. Today, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/companies-brag-green-but-offices-have-long-way-to-go-2022-4">cities are starting to price the looming climate catastrophe</a> into their energy costs. Starting this year, commercial buildings in New York City will be slapped with steep fines if they're emitting too much carbon. Boston and Washington have similar "decarbonization" laws in place, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.kqed.org/science/1992085/san-francisco-will-continue-enforcing-gas-ban-in-new-buildings-despite-berkeleys-repeal-of-similar-rules">San Francisco isn't allowing natural gas</a> in any new construction. That means businesses need to find a cleaner, cheaper source of heat. And those ancient steam loops beneath the streets are starting to seem like a ready-made solution."The real benefit of a district-energy system, especially in cities, is the distribution system," says Kevin Hagerty, the CEO of Vicinity Energy. "If a city wants to decarbonize, and they have a district-energy system, it's much easier. They don't have to change things on a building-by-building basis."<div type="image" title="An orange upright pipe vents steam into the night sky in front of a building with stone arches and gaslamp-type lights, and parked cars on an urban street" height="2946" width="3927" msid="110505068" hostid="261"></div>In July, Vicinity is installing what will be the nation's first zero-carbon urban steam loop. Drawing electricity from the increasingly decarbonized New England grid, powered by solar and offshore wind, the utility will use the energy to boil water and then deliver steam directly to Boston office buildings and restaurants and storefronts through the city's antiquated maze of pipes. It's a remnant of the Industrial Revolution being used to forestall a lethal climate evolution.District energy could also be a godsend to businesses struggling to survive the current landscape of empty offices and boarded-up shops. By taking steam right out of the street beneath them, commercial landlords can pay less for their utilities and avoid carbon fines — which means they can lower their rents and hold on to tenants who might otherwise bail. District-energy loops also eliminate the need for boilers and other cumbersome building infrastructure, freeing up space for tenant-grabbing amenities like gyms, roof-decks, and golf simulators. (Yep. That's a real thing.)The other choice? Spend thousands to upgrade a building's energy systems — cash that landlords don't have on hand, and an expense they can't pass along to tenants. "If you're a building owner, district energy allows you to pay a small premium on your service to get that type of steam," says Blake Ellis, a principal at the engineering firm Burns &amp; McDonnell. "Then you don't have that big capital outlay you probably don't want right now." Especially if, as in many downtowns, your building is only 70% occupied.About a third of the cost of running a commercial building is energy. And according to one major study, a building as energy-efficient as 345 California Center can charge 20% more for rent than a comparable, inefficient building. Every dollar saved in energy costs, the study found, equates to 3.5% higher rent. And it's a lot easier to be energy efficient if all you have to do is plug into a carbon-free steam loop. "This building is 40 years old," Tim Danz, the chief engineer for 345 Cal, tells me. "But we're using the latest technology to manage our energy." He points to the gnarl of pipes that shoots the steam up to the 36th floor, where it's used to cook a water supply large enough to heat the entire building. Having a boiler, Danz explains, "would be another system we would have to provide care and feeding for." District energy, by contrast, is just there for the taking, right beneath our feet.The most convincing evidence that steam loops make economic sense comes from who's getting into the district-energy game. Vicinity, the nation's biggest clean-steam provider, is owned by Antin Infrastructure Partners, a leading private-equity firm. Cordia, an energy provider operating in 10 cities, is partially owned by the private-equity giant KKR. Everyone needs heat — which makes it a highly bankable investment. "These private-equity funds come in and find areas where they can put capital into a business and get a nice steady rate of return," Hagerty says. "Decarbonizing takes capital, and private equity is a great source of capital." In the long run, of course, private equity may decide to do what it always does and load up these new energy businesses with massive amounts of debt before dismantling them for parts. But for now, the big money sees big profits to be made from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/america-build-infrastructure-transportation-housing-regulation-environment-2023-11">America's forgotten infrastructure</a>. Outside of places like airports and college campuses, the idea of district energy fell out of favor long ago. We let the systems go fallow — but fortunately, all the accumulated infrastructure we buried on top of the old steam loops made it impossible to dig their little-used pipes out of the ground. So the whole thing was still down there, waiting, when COVID drove millions of city dwellers to head for the countryside. Now, by drawing heat from their old steam loops, America's cities have an opportunity to jump-start all the downtown commerce that was crippled by the pandemic. And it could happen all over the place! Dozens and dozens of cities have steam loops they can use, from New York and Chicago to Miami to San Diego and Portland and Milwaukee. What's more, lots of companies these days are looking for greener buildings, both to save money and to burnish their environmental bona fides. From AI startups to biotech companies, steampunk-heated buildings could become the cool new place to be. "Forward-minded companies want to be in a building that doesn't have any on-site fossil-fuel combustion," says Costa Samaras, the director of the Scott Institute for Energy and Innovation at Carnegie Mellon. "The best, greenest buildings will be net-zero buildings. They'll be considered a premium asset. The challenge is, are we going to get enough premium assets in time?" Meaning: Can we use steam loops to fix the urban doom loop before the climate doom loop dooms us all?<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/adam-rogers">Adam Rogers</a> is a senior correspondent at Business Insider.

The steampunk technology that could save America's cities

<ul><li>The Nothing Phone (2a) is the latest mid-range smartphone from Nothing in India.</li><li>The device has been priced starting at ₹23,999 and is available in three variants.</li><li>Here’s my review of the Nothing Phone (2a) that will help you decide whether to buy the device or not. </li></ul> Carl Pei-led <keyword id="22591291" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nothing-Technologies" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Nothing Technologies" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Nothing Technologies">Nothing Technologies</keyword> recently launched the<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/nothing-phone-2a-smartphone-debuts-in-india-priced-starting-at-23999/articleshow/108240037.cms"> Phone (2a)</a>, the company’s third smartphone and its most affordable offering to date. The device features the company’s signature transparent design while toning down the Glyph interface. The Nothing Phone (2a) is placed below the Nothing Phone (2) and is aimed at users looking for a more affordable option but wanting a similar design and UI. The device’s highlights include its design, clean UI and battery life. I have been using the Nothing Phone (2a) for a few days now, and here is my detailed review of the latest mid-range smartphone from the smartphone maker. <h2>Nothing Phone (2a) price and availability</h2>The Nothing Phone (2a) has been launched in three variants. The base variant, with 8GB RAM and 128GB of internal storage has been priced at ₹23,999. The mid variant with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage has been priced at ₹25,999 and the top-end variant with 12GB RAM and 256GB of internal storage has been priced at ₹27,999. The Nothing Phone (2a) is available in four colour options – Black, Blue, Special Edition and White. In the box <ul><li>Nothing Phone (2a)</li><li>USB Type-C to Type-C cable</li><li>SIM ejector tool</li><li>Documentation</li></ul><h2>Nothing Phone (2a) specifications</h2> <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none;" class="redcator-table-advance"></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#000000;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Particulars </td><td style="border-right:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#000000;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Specifications </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Display </td><td style="border-right:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">6.7-inch Full HD+ OLED </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Refresh rate </td><td style="border-right:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">120Hz </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Protection </td><td style="border-right:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Gorilla Glass 5 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Chipset </td><td style="border-right:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">MediaTek Dimensity 7200 Pro </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Variants </td><td style="border-right:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">8GB + 128GB, 8GB + 256GB, 12GB + 256GB </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Rear camera </td><td style="border-right:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">50MP + 50MP </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Selfie camera </td><td style="border-right:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">32MP </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Battery </td><td style="border-right:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">5,000mAh </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Charging </td><td style="border-right:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">45W </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Wireless charging </td><td style="border-right:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">NA </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Fingerprint sensor </td><td style="border-right:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">In-display fingerprint sensor </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Weight </td><td style="border-right:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">190 grams </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Water resistance </td><td style="border-right:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">IP54 </td></tr></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody></table> <h2>Pros and cons</h2>Pros <ul><li>Design</li><li>Performance</li></ul>Cons <ul><li>No charger in the box</li><li>Average low-light photography</li></ul><h2>Design and display</h2>Starting with the design, Nothing has made several changes to the design of the device when compared to its predecessors, while retaining its transparent design language. The device comes in four colour options – Black, Blue, Special Edition and White. I received the Black colour variant of the device, which is also my preferred variant. <div type="image" title="Rear" msid="112111179" hostid="261" sizebytes="74046" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Nothing Phone (2a) rear design&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> The Nothing Phone (2a) comes with a redesigned camera module, with the cameras placed horizontally and the LED flash placed above the camera module. The smartphone comes with a transparent plastic back, showcasing some of the interiors of the device. While you may want to use the device without a case to flaunt the design, it is a dust and fingerprint magnet and you may be forced to slap on a case. The company has reduced the number of lights on the Glyph interface to just three for the Nothing Phone (2a) but they look good and add a unique touch to the device. The Glyph interface lights up for notifications, calls and even to show the battery level while being charged. <div type="image" title="Right" msid="112111191" hostid="261" sizebytes="74214" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Power button&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> The smartphone features a matte black plastic frame with the power button placed on the right side. <div type="image" title="Left" msid="112111200" hostid="261" sizebytes="66714" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Volume rockers on the left&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> You get two individual volume rockers on the left side. <div type="image" title="Top" msid="112111212" hostid="261" sizebytes="55984" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Microphone at the top&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> At the top, you get a microphone. <div type="image" title="Bottom" msid="112111219" hostid="261" sizebytes="49696" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Ports at the bottom&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> At the bottom, the device features a SIM tray, a microphone, a USB Type-C port and a speaker grille. Coming to the display, the smartphone features a 6.7-inch Full HD+ OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and up to 1300 nits peak brightness. <div type="image" title="Display" msid="112111228" hostid="261" sizebytes="79354" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Nothing Phone (2a) display&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> The display is quite bright and easy to read outdoors, offering good sunlight visibility. The colours are accurate and you will not face any issues, whether you are gaming, watching movies or just browsing social media. It is equipped with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 to offer protection to the display. <h2>Software and performance</h2>The Nothing Phone (2a) runs on Android 14 out of the box with the company’s Nothing OS 2.5 on top. The device will get three years of Android updates and four years of security updates, which is fine for a mid-range smartphone. If you have used a Nothing phone before, the software remains the same. You get a near-stock Android experience, along with improvements and added customisation options. Nothing is popular for its quirky widgets and that is also the case with the Phone (2a). You get a good collection of widgets with the device and it does not come with any bloatware so you don’t have to worry about having to uninstall a ton of apps. In terms of performance, the Nothing Phone (2a) is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7200 Pro chipset coupled with up to 12GB LPDDR4X of RAM and 256GB of UFS 2.2 internal storage. The Dimensity 7200 Pro offers good performance and battery efficiency. The chipset, which is coupled with ample RAM and storage can handle multitasking efficiently, without any stuttering. I played popular titles such as Asphalt 9 and Call of Duty: Mobile on the device and did not notice any stuttering. If you are a casual gamer, you can get the device without any worries. If you plan on using the device for extended gaming sessions, it does heat a little but is manageable. The Nothing Phone (2a) is powered by a 5,000mAh battery with 45W fast charging support. The device is power efficient and easily offers over a day’s of battery life, with regular usage, streaming and light gaming. <h2>Camera</h2>Coming to the camera department, the Nothing Phone (2a) features a dual camera setup at the back consisting of a 50MP primary camera with OIS and a secondary 50MP ultra-wide-angle camera. <div type="image" title="Rear camera" msid="112111250" hostid="261" sizebytes="33010" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Nothing Phone (2a) rear camera&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> The device can capture good photos in daylight conditions, with good colour reproduction and proper saturation. The device can capture a good amount of detail. In low light conditions, the images captured are decent but there is some noise. The colours are good and there is minimal noise. The device can capture good portraits in daylight conditions, with proper edge detection and subject focus. While there is no telephoto camera offered with the phone, you can capture decent shots using the 2x zoom option. On the front, the device features a 32MP selfie camera. The selfie camera works well and is great for capturing selfies and video calls. <h2>Verdict</h2>The Nothing Phone (2a) is a well-designed smartphone that stands apart in the crowd while offering decent features. The device comes with a clean UI, good software support and offers decent performance. The device does have its share of issues such as a back that attracts fingerprints and lack of a charger in the box. Overall, the Nothing Phone (2a) is a good option worth considering in the under ₹30,000 segment. Disclaimer: The content on this website is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as a purchasing guide or recommendation. We advise readers to do additional research, including hands-on usage of the device at a retail outlet, before making a decision. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/hp-omen-transcend-14-review/articleshow/108980896.cms">HP Omen Transcend 14 review – a feature-packed, lightweight gaming laptop with excellent display</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/vivo-v30-pro-review/articleshow/108944431.cms">Vivo V30 Pro review: premium cameras in the mid-range segment</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/oneplus-12-review/articleshow/108723955.cms">OnePlus 12 review: A feature-packed device with promising battery back-up</a>

Nothing Phone (2a) review – mid-range smartphone with an eye-catching design

<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.

An 'artificial sun' achieved a record-breaking fusion experiment, bringing us closer to clean, limitless energy

<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>The Fed needs to cut rates to help the struggling clean energy sector, Elizabeth Warren said in a letter to Fed Chair Jerome Powell.</li><li>Along with Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Warren said that high interest rates have "completely tanked" major renewable infrastructure projects which are heavily debt-financed.</li></ul>High interest rates are hurting the clean energy sector, and the Fed needs to do something about it, Elizabeth Warren said.In a <a href="https://www.warren.senate.gov/oversight/letters/warren-whitehouse-to-federal-reserve-chair-powell-high-interest-rates-are-blocking-clean-energy-progress-increasing-energy-costs">letter</a> written to Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Tuesday (before the Fed's March meeting), Sen. Warren said that the central bank's extreme rate hikes have stymied progress in the energy transition."Your decision to rapidly raise interest rates beginning in 2022, and the potential that they may remain too high for too long, has halted advances in deploying renewable energy technologies and delayed significant climate and economic benefits from these projects," Warren, along with Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, wrote to Powell.Clean energy projects are an incredibly debt-reliant sector of the economy, and the Fed's elevated rates have pinched those companies by jacking up the cost of borrowing money. Last year, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/renewable-energy-stocks-climate-change-outlook-performance-interest-rates-markets-2023-11">clean energy stocks</a> were some of the worst-performing companies in the S&amp;P 500, and they're still limping along. Amid a record-setting stock market, the <a href="https://www.ishares.com/us/products/239738/ishares-global-clean-energy-etf#chartDialog">iShares Clean Energy ETF</a> is down almost 12% this year alone.In their letter, Warren and Whitehouse noted that the high interest rates have buffeted progress in areas including electric vehicle production, clean energy projects, and offshore wind. They highlighted that EV makers have pushed out plans to increase manufacturing, underscored by announcements like Tesla's lower production forecasts because of "higher borrowing costs."Several clean energy projects have taken a hit, too, with companies backing out of offshore wind projects. Battery storage developers are concerned about meeting their goals in the high-rate environment, they said.Finally, they added that the elevated rates are beginning to impede the Biden administration's goals to increase the 41 megawatts of current offshore wind capacity to 30,000 megawatts by 2030. Because those projects are financed by debt — as much as 85% to 90% of capital expenditures — high rates have in some cases "completely tanked" major renewable infrastructure projects across the country. "Your interest rate increases have jeopardized the IRA's opportunities to create new green jobs and cut electricity costs, despite the Fed's mission to 'promote maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates in the U.S. economy,'" the senators wrote to Powell.They added: "We urge you to cut interest rates throughout 2024 to allow for continued progress on clean energy projects and the climate and economic benefits these projects provide."

You Searched For "clean technology" and got 11 results

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