The energy landscape is undergoing a transformative shift, driven by the pressing need for climate urgency and increasing demand for clean energy solutions. The clean energy sector has seen significant investment and innovation in recent years, leading to a proliferation of emerging technologies. However, only a limited number of these innovations are poised to significantly impact the industry. FutureBridge has identified five disruptive technologies that are poised to drive the energy transition.
Perovskite solar cells: Solar photovoltaic (PV) is arguably the face of this energy transition, playing a primary role since its inception. Today, solar PV is the fastest-growing renewable power source and is expected to continue to grow till 2050, propelled by the rising need for cheap renewable electricity and green hydrogen. Perovskite solar cells are composed of a cheap-to-produce inorganic or hybrid halide-based compound that has a particular crystalline structure (called ABX3) that was first discovered in the mineral perovskite, which now lends its name to both, the structure, and the solar cell. Perovskite solar cells saw rapid development, increasing their lab efficiency from 3 per cent in 2009 to 27.1 per cent today, much higher than the best crystalline solar cell at 22.6 per cent efficiency. A hybrid perovskite-Si tandem cell was even able to achieve 32.5 per cent efficiency
Passive cooling: Cooling systems such as air conditioners and refrigerators are responsible for 7 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions and 20 per cent of worldwide electricity consumption. Cooling demand is expected to skyrocket, with global air conditioner units tripling from 2019 to 2050, which will severely constrain power grids. A possible solution could be passive cooling that requires only sunlight. Unlike conventional cooling systems, passive radiative cooling doesn’t require electricity or fuel but only sunlight. It uses specially engineered materials that absorb sunlight and re-emit heat in a particular infrared spectrum (8-14 microns) that has high transmissive power, escaping directly to outer space, hence cooling itself. This engineered material can then be developed in the form of paints or panels.
Solid-state batteries: The solid-state battery is a type of battery that employs a solid electrolyte instead of a liquid or polymer gel electrolyte found in the present lithium-ion or lithium-polymer batteries. It is one of the most anticipated technologies as EV makers look to overcome the limitations of conventional lithium-ion batteries such as short range, slow charging, battery safety, and weight issues. Solid-state batteries’ superior properties come from their ability to use energy-dense lithium as an anode, which is too dangerous for liquid electrolytes as the dendrites can easily pass through liquids to short-circuit the battery.
Methane Pyrolysis: Methane pyrolysis is a hydrogen production technology that decomposes natural gas (methane) into solid carbon and hydrogen, which is labeled as turquoise hydrogen. Methane pyrolysis’ promise is in its ability to be an important bridging technology to feed the hydrogen economy until the cost of green hydrogen is low enough for mass deployment.
Wireless charging: With increasing support from governments and policymakers, electric vehicles (EVs) are likely to be the future of transport. However, plug-in EVs cause inconvenience to users due to the long and frequent charging stops and charger-EV incompatibility, which is threatening to slow their uptake. Wireless charging technology can overcome these barriers by reducing charging time and increasing the range. It will also resolve compatibility issues by bypassing the complex web of different connectors, standards, and protocols. Wireless charging, as the name suggests, charges EVs wirelessly based on the principle of electromagnetic energy transfer, which uses an alternating magnetic field and is commonly used in transformers and consumer electronics.
