From the desk of lifelong learner
Transportation is ~30% of global emissions. One underappreciated lever is lightweighting — and magnesium, the lightest structural metal, is getting a second look as seawater-based production makes clean manufacturing feasible for the first time.
From the desk of lifelong learner
Not all storage technologies are interchangeable. The Ragone plot — power density vs energy density — reveals why capacitors, electrochemical batteries, and chemical/mechanical storage occupy distinct niches, and why mismatching technology to application is expensive.
From the desk of lifelong learner
Energy Return on Investment is the right metric for comparing energy sources — but most popular comparisons measure EROI at the point of extraction rather than point of use. When you account for the full chain, the picture looks very different from the conventional wisdom.
From the desk of lifelong learner
RTE tells you how much electricity you recover from a storage system compared to what you put in. The numbers vary dramatically across technologies — from 85% for lithium-ion to 25% for hydrogen — and understanding why reveals the physics of each approach.
From the desk of lifelong learner
DAC is a fight against entropy. The second law of thermodynamics sets an absolute energy floor of 120 kWh per tonne of CO₂ — and current technology is only 7–8% efficient against that floor. The numbers matter for how seriously we should take DAC as a climate solution.