Syzygy Plasmonics, a technology company developing a high-performance photocatalyst for the industrial gas, chemical and energy industries, announced a $23-million Series B financing led by Horizons Ventures with participation from new global investors including Equinor Ventures. (Earlier post.) Licensed from Rice University, Syzygy’s “antenna-reactor” plasmonic photocatalyst has been published in... Read more →

Through its UPS Flight Forward subsidiary, UPS plans to purchase electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft from Beta Technologies (BETA) as part of its innovation-driven strategy to identify new ways to help small businesses with sustainable solutions. BETA’s ALIA-250 is the result of 3 years of design and development.... Read more →

Australia-based Fortescue Metals Group, one of the world’s largest producers of iron ore, recently revised its emissions reduction goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030—10 years earlier than its previous target. Fortescue Future Industries (FFI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fortescue, will be a key enabler of this target through the... Read more →

Starfire Energy, a Colorado-based developer of modular chemical plants for the carbon-free production of ammonia and hydrogen, has closed a major funding round. The investment round was led by AP Ventures, a significant investor in breakthrough hydrogen technologies, and included New Energy Technologies, Chevron Technology Ventures, Osaka Gas USA, and... Read more →

Seamus O’Regan Jr., Canadaa’s Minister of Natural Resources, announced the Hydrogen Strategy Implementation Strategic Steering Committee, which will advance and measure the progress outlined in the Hydrogen Strategy for Canada launched in December 2020. (Earlier post.) The committee, co-chaired by Natural Resources Canada and the Canadian Hydrogen and Fuel Cell... Read more →

Denmark-based shipping company MHO-Co is heading a consortium that will spend €4.5 million during the next three years on developing green solutions for the future of the maritime industry. Together with Aalborg University, among others, and with grants from the Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Program (EUDP), MHO-Co will test... Read more →

Denmark-based Everfuel A/S has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with an undisclosed German-Norwegian shipping company for collaboration on hydrogen supply to a new zero-emission shipping solution. The two parties are exploring a cooperation whereby Everfuel will be responsible for delivery of hydrogen, including planning, installation and operation of an... Read more →

The European innovation project Flagships will deploy the world’s first commercial cargo transport vessel operating on hydrogen, plying the river Seine in Paris. Commercial operations are set to commence in 2021. The hydrogen cargo transport vessel will be owned by French inland shipowner Compagnie Fluvial de Transport (CFT), a subsidiary... Read more →

MAN Energy Solutions has begun the ‘AmmoniaMot’ project. Initiated by MAN with partners from industry and research institutes, it aims to define the steps necessary to produce a dual-fuel, medium-speed engine capable of running on diesel-fuel and ammonia. Supported by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi), and... Read more →

ARPA-E announced up to $35 million for a new program focused on developing technologies to reduce methane emissions in the oil, gas, and coal industries: “Reducing Emissions of Methane Every Day of the Year” (REMEDY) (DE-FOA-0002504). The REMEDY program seeks highly replicable system-level technical solutions that achieve an overall methane... Read more →

The US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) announced the availability of $61.4 million for technologies that produce low-cost, low-carbon biofuels. (DE-FOA-0002396) Topic areas for the “Bioenergy Technologies Office Scale-Up and Conversion” funding opportunity include high-impact biotechnology research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) to bolster the body of scientific... Read more →

A team at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has achieved diesel-like efficiency in a single-cylinder spark-ignition (SI) research engine while maintaining compatibility with stoichiometric 3-way catalyst (TWC) systems. A paper on their work is published in the International Journal of Engine Research. The ORNL team conducted engine experiments with both... Read more →

Unifrax, a leading manufacturer of high-performance specialty materials, introduced a new, nano-structured alumina catalyst support technology for the transportation market: Eco-lytic. Housed within a vehicle’s catalytic converter, the Eco-lytic catalyst support fiber is designed to replace the existing catalytic converter or add to existing systems in order to enhance emission... Read more →

Volvo Group and steel-maker SSAB have signed a collaboration agreement on research, development, serial production and commercialization of the world’s first vehicles to be made of fossil-free steel. Volvo plans already this year to start the production of concept vehicles and components from steel made by SSAB using hydrogen. Plans... Read more →

Piedmont Lithium Limited released an updated Global Mineral Resource estimate (MRE) for its flagship Piedmont Lithium Project in North Carolina. The total MRE for the project is 39.2 Mt at 1.09% Li2O (Figure 1), with 55% of the MRE currently classified in the Indicated category. The Mineral Resource estimate is... Read more →

If fast charging is available, the competitiveness of battery electric trucks compared with diesel trucks can actually improve with larger trucks, according to a new study by Björn Nykvist and Olle Olsson from the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI). In a study published in the journal Joule, the two researchers model... Read more →

Lightning eMotors signed a new exclusive partnership with Soderholm Bus & Mobility in Hawaii to provide Lightning eMotors’ zero-emission powertrains for their commercial van and bus customers. Soderholm Bus & Mobility, headquartered on Oahu, is the Nº 1 bus distributor in the Pacific Islands and has sold more buses over... Read more →

Clean Energy Ventures, a $110-million venture capital firm investing in early-stage climate tech startups, is leading the investments in two battery startups: one in the upstream (Nth Cycle) and one in the downstream (Volexion). Nth Cycle extracts cobalt, nickel and other critical battery metals from discarded batteries, e-waste and mining... Read more →

Toyota Motor Europe (TME) Fuel Cell Business will supply and integrate fuel cell modules into a zero-emission train prototype as part of the FCH2RAIL project in Europe. The main objective of the FCH2RAIL project is to develop, build, test, demonstrate and homologate a scalable, modular and multi-purpose Fuel Cell Hybrid... Read more →

Hydro is exploring the potential for developing and operating hydrogen facilities to meet large internal demand as well as serving an external market, leveraging the company’s industrial and renewable power expertise. We see a substantial potential for industrial hydrogen consumption. Taking a developer and operator role in the hydrogen sector... Read more →

Rio Tinto has commenced production of battery-grade lithium from waste rock at a lithium demonstration plant at the Boron mine site in California. The demonstration plant is the next step in scaling up a breakthrough lithium production process developed at Boron to recover the critical mineral and extract additional value... Read more →

Polestar, the premium electric performance car brand founded by Volvo Cars and Geely Holding, has set a goal of creating the first climate-neutral car by 2030. The Polestar 0 project will drive a ‘design towards zero’ focus by eliminating emissions rather than offsetting by planting trees. The company made the... Read more →

Apex Clean Energy has ordered 19 electrified Ford F-series pickup trucks from XL Fleet, including ten plug-in hybrid electric and nine hybrid electric systems for pickups in its service fleet, for delivery in the second quarter of 2021. Apex is a leading clean energy company that develops, constructs, and operates... Read more →

Korea-based Doosan Fuel Cell, a developer of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), will take part in the Korea-China Smart Farm Village project in Pocheon. This complex—comprising smart farms, hydrogen fuel cell generators, logistics systems and housing with leisure facilities—will sit on a 250,000 m2 (62 acre) parcel of land. Sookyung... Read more →

In a new piece of research, BloombergNEF (BNEF) finds that the levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH2) made from renewable electricity is set to fall faster than it previously estimated. BNEF now forecasts that green hydrogen from renewables should be cheaper than natural gas (on an energy-equivalent basis) by 2050 in... Read more →

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts an increase in demand for petroleum products during the 2021 summer driving season as the impacts of COVID-19 diminish in the United States. EIA’s annual Summer Fuels Outlook, released today with EIA’s Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), expects a 15% increase in US highway... Read more →

SAE International announced revisions to SAE J3072 Standard: Interconnection Requirements for Onboard, Utility-Interactive Inverter Systems and SAE J2847/3 Recommended Practice: Communication for Plug-in Vehicles as a Distributed Energy Source. The updated electrical vehicle charging documents will play a major role in advancing automotive requirements for Distributed Energy Resources (DER) projects.... Read more →

Adding another school district fleet electrification program to its growing list of customers, AMPLY Power has been selected to manage the charging of electric school buses for the Palermo Union Elementary School District in Northern California. The zero-emission commitment from the school significantly lowers operating and fuel costs for the... Read more →

LanzaJet, Inc., a leading sustainable fuels technology company and sustainable fuels producer, announced that Shell has joined as an investor in the company to advance LanzaJet’s global growth, accelerate commercialization of its technology, and scale the production of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). LanzaJet’s technology opens up a new and exciting... Read more →

Ammonia has recently emerged as a liquid storage and transport medium that has shown promising stability for long-distance hydrogen transport. At 108 kg H2/m3, liquefied ammonia (NH3) can store 50% more hydrogen than liquid hydrogen. When ammonia is decomposed at high temperatures, only hydrogen and nitrogen gases are produced, with... Read more →