Scientists studying a valuable, but vulnerable, species of poplar have identified the genetic mechanism responsible for the species’ inability to resist a pervasive and deadly disease. Their finding, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could lead to more successful hybrid poplar varieties for increased biofuels and forestry production and protect native trees against infection.

Solar energy could be the key to providing low-cost, highly reliable energy to the roughly 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa who currently live without power, says new UC Berkeley research published today in Nature Energy.

A new large-scale hydroeconomic model, developed by the Water Program at IIASA, will allow researchers to study water systems across whole continents, looking at sustainability of supply and the impacts of water management on the energy and agricultural sectors.

A University of Alberta master’s student is going to the ends of the Earth to learn more about geothermal energy.

Canada has committed to an electricity system by 2030 that will be 90 per cent carbon non-emitting, a move that requires transitioning to renewable energy such as wind, solar and biomass.

When it comes to energy production, there’s no such thing as a free lunch, unfortunately.

​A research group from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, has made great, rapid strides towards the development of a specially designed molecule which can store solar energy for later use. These advances have been presented in four scientific articles this year, with the most recent being published in the highly ranked journal Energy & Environmental Science. 

Growing and harvesting bioenergy crops—corn for ethanol or trees to fuel power plants, for example—is a poor use of land, which is a precious resource in the fight against climate change, says a University of Michigan researcher.

Pyrolysis – a process of biomass decomposition – can be organized automatically. That is, it is sufficient to heat biomass to a certain temperature and then the process proceeds in the autothermal mode due to its own heat release. This technology was studied by the scientists from Tomsk Polytechnic University in the article published in Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry (IF 2.209; Q2). The development of research in this domain will make energy generation out of biofuel more resource efficient and feasible.

Researchers at the University of Zurich have developed a nanoparticle type for novel use in artificial photosynthesis by adding zinc sulfide on the surface of indium-based quantum dots. These quantum dots produce clean hydrogen fuel from water and sunlight – a sustainable source of energy. They introduce new eco-friendly and powerful materials to solar photocatalysis.