Vol. 1 No. 1 (2023)

Energy is a key pillar of sustainable human development. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals call for all countries, whether poor, rich, or middle-income, to take actions on preserving the ecosystem and environment on which we depend, while promoting economic prosperity. Fossil fuels have always been our main source of energy. They supported our first and second industrial revolutions and brought us into the modern world today.

While the global demand for energy continues to increase with technological progress and population growth, the supply of energy is facing increasingly greater challenges. The environmental pollution and global warming caused by the development and utilization of traditional fossil fuels are sounding the alarm for us to change our approach. The widespread adoption of clean energy has become an inevitable trend and a necessary choice for achieving carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals and ensuring the sustainable development of human civilization and progress.

This work dealt with the optimal design of a stand-alone photovoltaic system (SAPS) based on the battery storage system and assessed its technical performance by using a PVsyst simulation. Specifically, this study was carried out to determine the optimal orientation and tilt angle of a solar panel for collecting maximum solar radiation. Borj Cedria, Tunisia, was taken as a case study site to investigate the optimum tilt angle using PVsyst and to estimate the global solar irradiance using the PV-GIS. The proposed system produced 1314 kWh of energy for the load, which is considered technically suitable for this area, thanks to the system’s performance ratio of 58.3% and high specific efficiency generation, as well as a solar fraction of about 92.5%. From an economic point of view, the SAPS can save more than TND44,000 (12,991 Euros) per year from the purchase of the grid system’s energy, and from the aspect of sustainability, 66.24 kg of CO₂ emissions annually can be avoided by utilizing the sun’s energy. Furthermore, an efficient solar panel use requires its characteristics to be identified under various conditions. An original experimental setup was carried out in a photovoltaic laboratory to identify the photovoltaic characteristics of the SAPS. Experimental and simulation results performed using PSIM software were in good agreement, which showed the experimental setup’s effectiveness.

Near-field radiative heat transfer (NFRHT) has been demonstrated to exceed the blackbody limit due to the coupling effect of evanescent waves in the near-field region, opening the door to its application in active thermal control, thermophotovoltaics, and nanoscale imaging. Although the theoretical studies on NFRHT have been investigated exhaustively, experimental measurements of NFRHT have been stagnant due to the challenges in controlling the gap distance at the nanoscale. Remarkable progress has been greatly boosted in the 21st century to overcome the nanoscale controlling and measurement of NFRHT, benefiting from the advances of micro-nanofabrication techniques and materials science. In this review, in-depth discussions on the experimental development of NFRHT are examined. According to the structure of the emitter and receiver, experimental devices are divided into three different categories: plate-to-plate structure, tip-to-plate structure, and sphere-to-plate structure. Existing experimental setups and methodology of NFRHT between metals, semiconductors, two-dimensional materials, and hyperbolic metamaterials are thoroughly explored and analyzed in detail. Finally, remarks on outstanding challenges at the nanoscale and promising advances in applications are briefly concluded in the measurements of NFRHT.

With the continuous increase in global energy consumption, the development and utilization of renewable energy become imperative. However, the intermittency and fluctuation of wind and solar power generation prevent direct grid integration, resulting in energy waste. As a large-scale electrochemical energy storage technology, redox flow batteries (RFBs) can effectively store renewable energy and smooth power output. In this paper, the development history of RFB technology in China is summarized by analyzing relevant patent application data and elaborating on the working principles, advantages and disadvantages of various RFBs, and their latest research progress. The technical challenges in current RFB research are analyzed and the application prospects of RFB commercialization are presented. The results showed that although RFB technology has made significant progress in China, it still faces issues, such as high battery cost and limited cycle life. To realize the efficient utilization of renewable energy and green low-carbon development, RFB technology needs continuous optimization and upgrade. This paper can provide references for the development of RFB technology.

The continuous increase in anthropogenic CO₂ emissions is widely acknowledged as one of the main reasons for global climate change. To address this issue, significant advancements have been made in developing CO₂ capture and utilization technologies that offer new solutions for mitigating carbon emissions and promoting a carbon economy. In this review, we summarize the recent research progress in CO₂ capture and separation technologies, including pre-combustion, post-combustion, oxy-fuel combustion, chemical looping combustion and calcium looping combustion. Among these technologies, post-combustion is seen as one of the most promising options for reducing CO₂ emissions from existing power plants, as it can be easily integrated into existing facilities without requiring major modifications. Therefore, the second section of this article focuses on the various post-combustion processes and technologies, such as physical absorption, amine scrubbing, dual-alkali absorption, chilled ammonia, membrane separation, and solid adsorption, with a particular emphasis on most recent research reports. As amine-based chemical absorption is the most leading post-combustion CO₂ capture technique, the third section summarizes the recent development in amine-based absorption technology by covering conventional and emerging types of absorbents such as single amine, blended amine, biphasic amine, and non-aqueous amine processes. The different liquid absorption-based process is compared in terms of regeneration energy consumption, CO₂ intake capacity, and optimal operating conditions, and the comparison data is summarized in tables. A critical literature review and comparison of various techniques show that non-aqueous amine absorbents can be promising alternatives to the conventional monoethanolamine (MEA) process. The goal of this review is to provide strategies and perspectives for accelerating the further study and development of CCS technologies.

Global climate change has become a major environmental threat and development challenge facing humanity. Controllable nuclear fusion is a globally recognized ideal solution for clean energy, but its required high-energy triggering conditions and intense energy release prevent existing technologies from achieving safe, stable, and long-term continuous operation. Here, inspired by the traditional Chinese firecrackers, we propose a pulsed fusion reaction flywheel energy storage multi-reactor relay operation to drive the steam turbine to continuously and stably generate electricity for a long period of time; meanwhile, to install cleaning rotors in the cooling medium pipeline to enhance heat exchange, and to apply radiative cooling technology on the surface of the cooling tower to improve cooling efficiency and to reduce energy consumption, thereby improving system safety and overall energy efficiency. Proposing the combination of original technologies at both the hot end and the cold end of the system, we strive to open up a new way for controllable nuclear fusion power generation.