Energy Science

Where does charcoal come from—and is it sustainable?

Charcoal energizes everything from backyard barbecues to industrial metallurgy, but its environmental impact is worse than once thought. Research from the School of Arts & Sciences finds that policy changes could make charcoal more sustainable.

Marilyn Perkins

Marrying models with experiments to build more efficient solar cells

Penn chemist Andrew M. Rappe, in collaboration with former postdoc Arvin Kakekhani and researchers at Princeton University, has gained insight into how the molecular make up of solar cells can affect their properties and make them more efficient.

Luis Melecio-Zambrano , Michele W. Berger



In the News


Salon.com

Humans are dangerously pushing the limits of our planet in ways other than climate change

Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences says that dangerous extreme weather events will only get worse if we continue to burn fossil fuels and generate carbon pollution.

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Salon.com

Climate change will raise sea levels, cause apocalyptic floods and displace almost a billion people

Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences says that the displacement of hundreds of millions of climate refugees is inevitable but would take place over a much more manageable timeline if carbon emissions were immediately reduced, as opposed to continuing with current rates of fossil fuel burning.

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Bloomberg

How an oil giant took control of Biden's billion-dollar bet on carbon capture

Danny Cullenward of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the Weitzman School of Design says that there’s a strong case for gigaton-scale carbon removal but criticizes oil company Occidental’s claim that such technology will enable the continuation of oil production.

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Associated Press

Climate activists target jets, yachts and golf in a string of global protests against luxury

Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences warns that diverting attention from fossil fuel companies toward the rich could play into the hands of a deflection campaign against climate regulation.

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Popular Mechanics

This radical new metal from outer space could transform everything—from electric vehicles to nuclear submarines

Analysts at the Weitzman School of Design’s Kleinman Center for Energy Policy predict that the need for dysprosium will increase by more than 2,500 percent by 2035.

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France 24

U.S. to invest $1.2 bn on facilities to pull carbon from air

Helene Pilorge of the School of Engineering and Applied Science says that the rocks in the subsoil of Louisiana and Texas are sedimentary rocks, different from Icelandic basalts but perfectly viable for storing CO2.

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