Capstone Green Energy Announces the Appointment of Ping Fu, Former CEO of Geomagic, to the Board of Directors

 

Holly Van Deursen Retires from Capstone Board of Directors After Serving 14 Years

VAN NUYS, CA / ACCESSWIRE / September 1, 2021 / Capstone Green Energy Corporation (www.CapstoneGreenEnergy.com) (NASDAQ:CGRN), a global leader in carbon reduction and on-site resilient green energy solutions, announced that Ping Fu was elected to its Board of Directors at the Annual Meeting of Stockholders on August 27, 2021. In addition, Ms. Fu will serve on the Capstone Green Energy Audit and Governance and Sustainability Committees. Ms. Fu currently serves on Boards of Directors for Live Nation Entertainment (LYV), The Long Now Foundation, and Burning Man. She also serves as an Advisor to the Prime Minister’s Office of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Honored as Inc. magazine’s 2005 Entrepreneur of the Year, Ms. Fu describes herself as an artist and a scientist whose chosen expression is business. In 1997, Ms. Fu co-founded Geomagic, a 3D imaging software company, which was acquired by 3D Systems in February 2013. Geomagic software enables the design and production of one-of-a-kind products and services at a cost less than that of mass production.

Before co-founding Geomagic, Ms. Fu was program manager of visualization at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, where she was part of the team that initiated and managed the NCSA Mosaic software project that led to Netscape and Internet Explorer. She has more than 20 years of software industry experience in database, networking, geometry processing, and computer graphics.

Since 2010, she has served on the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (NACIE) at the U.S. Department of Commerce. She is the author of the business book Bend, Not Break and is the holder of five U.S. and international patents. Ms. Fu has received numerous awards for her leadership as an entrepreneur, including the Outstanding American by Choice award from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the Carolinas, the Women’s Leadership Exchange Compass Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award by Business Leader magazine.

“I would first like to thank Ms. Holly Van Deursen for her fourteen years of dedication and professional service to the Capstone Board of Directors, several of those years serving in the capacity of Chairperson. Ms. Van Deursen retired from the Capstone Green Energy Board on August 27, 2021. She assisted in the stewarding of the Company through some of its more challenging times, and her keen sense of leadership, successful governance, and oversight will benefit the Company for years to come,” stated Robert C. Flexon, Chair of the Capstone Green Energy Board of Directors.

“We are extremely fortunate to welcome Ping Fu to the Capstone Board of Directors. Her impressive personal and professional accomplishments are nothing short of amazing, and her creativity and proven entrepreneurship skills will continue our drive forward to transform Capstone Green Energy into a global leader in carbon reduction and on-site resilient green energy solutions,” added Mr. Flexon.

“As the Green Energy industry has become more relevant than ever, I am thrilled to join the Board of Directors at Capstone Green Energy to help guide the experienced team at Capstone to new heights,” said Ping Fu. “As more businesses realize the need to look at alternative options for reducing their carbon footprint, lowering their emissions, having reliable sources of on-site power, all while reducing their energy costs, we want Capstone to be their go-to source,” added Ms. Fu.

“I am delighted to welcome Ping to our Board of Directors as we are entering an exciting time for the Company’s growth trajectory, complete with our new rebranding initiatives and an expanded product and service offering. Ping’s robust experience and know-how as a CEO and widely respected entrepreneur will garnish a fresh perspective as we continue to elevate Capstone Green Energy as a global leader in energy as a service and new innovative products,” stated Darren Jamison, President and Chief Executive Officer of Capstone Green Energy. “Additionally, the Capstone Leadership team and I are eager to collaborate with Ping as we look to expand on our internal Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) initiatives and internal Capstone Cares program. At the same time, her tech background should be beneficial in optimizing our multiple digital B2B outreach platforms,” concluded Mr. Jamison.

About Capstone Green Energy
Capstone Green Energy (www.CapstoneGreenEnergy.com) (NASDAQ:CGRN) is a leading provider of customized microgrid solutions and on-site energy technology systems focused on helping customers around the globe meet their environmental, energy savings, and resiliency goals. Capstone Green Energy focuses on four key business lines. Through its Energy as a Service (EaaS) business, it offers rental solutions utilizing its microturbine energy systems and battery storage systems, comprehensive Factory Protection Plan (FPP) service contracts that guarantee life-cycle costs, as well as aftermarket parts. Energy Conversion Products are driven by the Company’s industry-leading, highly efficient, low-emission, resilient microturbine energy systems offering scalable solutions in addition to a broad range of customer-tailored solutions, including hybrid energy systems and larger frame industrial turbines. The Energy Storage Products business line designs and installs microgrid storage systems creating customized solutions using a combination of battery technologies and monitoring software. Through Hydrogen Energy Solutions, Capstone Green Energy offers customers a variety of hydrogen products, including the Company’s microturbine energy systems.

For customers with limited capital or short-term needs, Capstone offers rental systems; for more information, contact: rentals@CGRNenergy.com. To date, Capstone has shipped over 10,000 units to 83 countries and estimates that, in FY21, it saved customers over $217 million in annual energy costs and approximately 397,000 tons of carbon. Total savings over the last three years are estimated at 1,115,100 tons of carbon and $698 million in annual energy savings.

For more information about the Company, please visit: www.CapstoneGreenEnergy.com. Follow Capstone Green Energy on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding expectations for green initiatives and execution on the Company’s growth strategy and other statements regarding the Company’s expectations, beliefs, plans, intentions, and strategies. The Company has tried to identify these forward-looking statements by using words such as “expect,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “should,” “estimate,” “intend,” “may,” “will,” “plan,” “goal” and similar terms and phrases, but such words, terms and phrases are not the exclusive means of identifying such statements. Actual results, performance and achievements could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements due to a variety of risks, uncertainties and other factors, including, but not limited to, the following: the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic; the availability of credit and compliance with the agreements governing the Company’s indebtedness; the Company’s ability to develop new products and enhance existing products; product quality issues, including the adequacy of reserves therefor and warranty cost exposure; intense competition; financial performance of the oil and natural gas industry and other general business, industry and economic conditions; the Company’s ability to adequately protect its intellectual property rights; and the impact of pending or threatened litigation. For a detailed discussion of factors that could affect the Company’s future operating results, please see the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the disclosures under “Risk Factors” in those filings. Except as expressly required by the federal securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, changed circumstances or future events or for any other reason.

CONTACT:
Capstone Green Energy
Investor and investment media inquiries:
818-407-3628
ir@CGRNenergy.com

SOURCE: Capstone Green Energy Corporation

enCore Energy Executive Chairman William Sheriff & CEO Paul Goranson deliver a formal corporate overview, followed by a Q & A session moderated by Noble Capital Markets Senior Energy Analyst Michael Heim. Return to the Investor Forum Event Page enCore Energy Corp. is a U.S. domestic uranium developer focused on becoming a leading in-situ recovery (ISR) uranium producer. The Company is led by a team of industry experts with extensive knowledge and experience in the development and operations of in situ recovery uranium operations. enCore Energy’s opportunities are created from the Company’s transformational acquisition of its two South Texas production facilities, the changing global uranium supply/demand outlook and opportunities for industry consolidation. These short-term opportunities are augmented by our strong long term commitment to working with local indigenous communities in New Mexico where the company holds significant uranium resources. News & Advanced Market Data on ENCUF

Energy Fuels President & CEO Mark Chalmers delivers a formal corporate overview, followed by a Q & A session moderated by Noble Capital Markets Senior Energy Analyst Michael Heim. Return to the Investor Forum Event Page Energy Fuels is the leading U.S. producer of uranium – the fuel for carbon- and emission-free nuclear energy. Nuclear energy is expected to see strong growth in the coming years, as nations around the world work to provide plentiful and affordable energy, while combating climate change and air pollution. Energy Fuels is also a major U.S. producer of vanadium and an emerging player in the commercial rare earth business where its work is helping to reestablish a fully integrated U.S. supply chain. With a truly unique portfolio, Energy Fuels has more production capacity, licensed mines and processing facilities, and in-ground uranium resources than any other U.S. producer. It boasts diverse cashflow-generating opportunities, including vanadium production, uranium recycling and rare earth processing. News & Advanced Market Data on UUUU

Peninsula Energy Managing Director & CEO Wayne Heili delivers a formal corporate overview, followed by a Q & A session moderated by Noble Capital Markets Senior Energy Analyst Michael Heim. Return to the Investor Forum Event Page Peninsula Energy Limited is an ASX listed company that owns the Lance Uranium Projects in Wyoming, USA which are in transition from an alkaline to a low pH in-situ recovery operation, with the aim of achieving the operating performance and cost profile of the industry leading uranium projects. News & Advanced Market Data on PENMF

Standard Uranium President & CEO Jon Bey and VP, Exploration Sean Hillacre deliver a formal corporate overview, followed by a Q & A session moderated by Noble Capital Markets Senior Energy Analyst Michael Heim. Return to the Investor Forum Event Page Standard Uranium is a mineral resource exploration company based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Since its establishment, Standard Uranium has focused on the identification and development of prospective exploration stage uranium projects in the Athabasca Basin in Saskatchewan, Canada. Standard Uranium’s Davidson River Project, in the southwest part of the Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan, is comprised of 21 mineral claims over 25,886 hectares. The Davidson River Project is highly prospective for basement hosted uranium deposits yet remains relatively untested by drilling despite its location along trend from recent high-grade uranium discoveries. A copy of the 43-101 Technical Report that summarizes the exploration on the Project is available for review under Standard Uranium’s SEDAR profile (www.sedar.com). News & Advanced Market Data on STTDF

CanAlaska Uranium CEO & EVP Cory Belyk delivers a formal corporate overview, followed by a Q & A session moderated by Noble Capital Markets Senior Energy Analyst Michael Heim. Return to the Investor Forum Event Page CanAlaska Uranium Ltd. (TSX-V: CVV; OTCQB: CVVUF; Frankfurt: DH7N) holds interests in approximately 214,000 hectares (530,000 acres), in Canada’s Athabasca Basin – the “Saudi Arabia of Uranium.” CanAlaska’s strategic holdings have attracted major international mining companies. CanAlaska is currently working with Cameco and Denison at two of the Company’s properties in the Eastern Athabasca Basin. CanAlaska is a project generator positioned for discovery success in the world’s richest uranium district. The Company also holds properties prospective for nickel, copper, gold and diamonds. News & Advanced Market Data on CVVUF

Blue Sky Uranium President and CEO Niko Cacos & VP, Exploration & Development Guillermo Pensado deliver a formal corporate overview, followed by a Q & A session moderated by Noble Capital Markets Senior Energy Analyst Michael Heim. Return to the Investor Forum Event Page Blue Sky Uranium Corp. (TSX.V: BSK; FSE: MAL2.F; OTC: BKUCF) is one of Argentina’s best-positioned uranium & vanadium exploration companies with more than 4,000 km2 (400,000 ha) of prospective tenements. The Company’s mission is to deliver exceptional returns to shareholders by acquiring, exploring and advancing towards production a portfolio of uranium-vanadium projects, with an emphasis on near-surface deposits with the potential for near-term low-cost production. The Company follows international best practices in exploration, with a focus on respect for the environment, the communities, and the cultures in all the areas in which we work. Argentina is the largest generator of electricity from nuclear energy in South America. The country is working to further expand their nuclear energy sector with additional power plants, but currently lacks domestic uranium production. Argentina’s desire for security of supply could provide a “guaranteed” first customer for a new domestic supplier. Large scale production could make Argentina a strategic exporter of uranium to the international nuclear energy sector. Blue Sky’s exploration work between 2007 and 2012 led to the discovery of a new uranium district in Rio Negro Province. The Company’s Amarillo Grande Project covers the district with three major properties, including the Ivana near-surface uranium deposit which hosts the largest NI 43-101 uranium resource in the country; Ivana also has potentially significant vanadium credits. Other exploration targets for blind uranium and vanadium mineralization are also present within the project area. The close proximity of the properties & targets provides the potential for an integrated, low-cost uranium-vanadium producing operation, making Amarillo Grande an excellent candidate to be the first near-term uranium producer in Argentina. The Company is a member of the Grosso Group, a resource-focused management group that pioneered the mineral exploration industry in Argentina and has operated there since 1993. The group is credited with four exceptional mineral deposit discoveries, and has a highly-regarded track-record for fostering strong relationships with the communities and governments where it works. The Grosso Group leverages its vast network of local, regional and international industry contacts to support the exploration team as they search for quality resource opportunities. News & Advanced Market Data on BKUCF

GoviEx Uranium CEO Daniel Major delivers a formal corporate overview, followed by a Q & A session moderated by Noble Capital Markets Senior Energy Analyst Michael Heim. Return to the Investor Forum Event Page GoviEx is a mineral resource company focused on the exploration and development of uranium properties in Africa. The company has a sizable resource inventory with over 143M lbs U3O8 in measured and indicated categories, and 86.9M lbs U3O8 in the inferred category. GoviEx’s principal objective is to become a significant uranium producer through the continued exploration and development of its flagship mine-permitted Madaouela Project in Niger, its mine-permitted Mutanga Project in Zambia, and its multi-element Falea Project in Mali. News & Advanced Market Data on GVXXF

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Nuclear Fusion Breakthrough: What Do New Results Mean for the Future of ‘Infinite’ Energy?

 

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has announced a major breakthrough in nuclear fusion, using powerful lasers to produce 1.3 megajoules of energy – about 3% of the energy contained in 1kg of crude oil.

Nuclear fusion has long been thought of as the energy of the future – an “infinite” source of power that does not rely on the need to burn carbon. But after decades of research, it has yet to deliver on its exciting promise.

How much closer does this new breakthrough bring us to the desired results? Here is a brief overview to put this new scientific advance into perspective.

What is Nuclear Fusion?

There are two ways of using nuclear energy: fission, which is used in current nuclear power plants, and fusion.

In fission, heavy uranium atoms are broken into smaller atoms to release energy. Nuclear fusion is the opposite process: light atoms are transformed into heavier atoms to release energy, the same process that occurs within the plasma core of the Sun.

A fusion reactor amplifies power: the reaction triggered must produce more energy than is needed to heat the fuel plasma for energy production to occur – this is known as ignition. No one has managed this yet. The current record was achieved in 1997 by the Joint European Torus in the UK, where 16 megawatts of power were generated by magnetic fusion, but it took 23 megawatts to trigger it.

 

Inside the fusion chamber of the DIII-D tokamak, San Diego, USA. Rswilcox, CC BY-SA

 

There are two possible ways of achieving nuclear fusion: magnetic confinement, which uses powerful magnets to confine the plasma for very long periods of time, and inertial confinement, which uses very powerful and brief laser pulses to compress the fuel and start the fusion reaction.

Historically, magnetic fusion has been favored because the technology needed for inertial fusion, particularly the lasers, was not available. Inertial fusion also requires much higher gains to compensate for the energy consumed by the lasers.

Inertial Confinement

The two largest inertial projects are the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the USA and the Laser MégaJoule in France, whose applications are mainly military and funded by defense programs. Both facilities simulate nuclear explosions for research purposes, though the NIF also carries out research on energy.

The NIF uses 192 laser beams that produce a total of 1.9 megajoules of energy for a period lasting a few nanoseconds to trigger the fusion reaction. Fuel is placed inside a metal capsule a few millimeters across, which, when heated by lasers, emits X-rays that heat up and compress the fuel.

It was this process that, on 8 August 2021, achieved the landmark energy production of 1.3 megajoules, the highest value ever recorded by the inertial approach. That is, the closest we have come to ignition.

The overall gain of 0.7 equals the record achieved by JET in 1997 using magnetic confinement. Still, in this case, the fuel absorbed 0.25 megajoules of energy and generated 1.3 megajoules: fusion, therefore, generated a good part of the heat needed for the reaction, approaching the point of ignition.

Still, a reactor will have to achieve much higher gains (more than 100) to be economically attractive.

 

Magnetic Confinement

The magnetic confinement approach promises better development prospects and is thus the preferred route for energy production so far.

The vast majority of research focuses on tokamaks, and fusion reactors invented in the USSR in the 1960s, where the plasma is confined by a strong magnetic field.

ITER, a demonstration reactor under construction in the south of France involving 35 countries, uses the tokamak configuration. It will be the world’s largest fusion reactor and aims to demonstrate a gain of 10 – the plasma will be heated by 50 megawatts of power and should generate 500 megawatts. The first plasma is now officially expected by the end of 2025, with a demonstration of fusion expected in the late 2030s.

The UK has recently launched the STEP project (Spherical Tokamak for Electricity Production), which aims to develop a reactor that connects to the energy grid in the 2040s. China is also pursuing an ambitious program to produce tritium isotopes and electricity in the 2040s. Finally, Europe plans to open another tokamak demonstrator, DEMO, in the 2050s.

Another configuration called the stellarator, like Germany’s Wendelstein-7X, is showing very good results. Though stellarator performances are lower than what a tokamak can achieve, its intrinsic stability and promising recent results make it a serious alternative.

 

The Future of Fusion

Meanwhile, private nuclear fusion projects have been booming in recent years. Most of them envision a fusion reaction in the next ten to 20 years and together have attracted US$2 billion in funding to outpace the traditional development sector.

 

Two different nuclear fusion deployment scenarios, compared with wind, solar and nuclear fission. G. De Temmerman, D. Chuard, J.-B. Rudelle for Zenon

 

While these initiatives use other innovative technologies to reach fusion and could thus very well deliver operational reactors fast, deploying a fleet of reactors throughout the world is bound to take time.

If development follows this accelerated track, nuclear fusion could amount to about 1% of global energy demand by 2060.

So while this new breakthrough is exciting, it’s worth keeping in mind that fusion will be an energy source for the second part of the century – at the earliest.

 

This article was republished with permission from  The Conversation, a news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It represents the research-based findings and thoughts of  Greg De Temmerman, Associate researcher at Mines ParisTech-PSL. Managing Director of Zenon Research, Mines ParisTech

 

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Noble Capital Markets Uranium Power Players Investor Forum – August 31, 2021 Starting at 9am EDT The Noble Uranium Power Players Investor Forum is a virtual conference bringing together leading companies involved in the exploration and production of uranium. Registration is fast and free.

 

 

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	Image Credit: Michael Mees (Flickr)

The National Renewable Energy Lab Sees Potential to Increase U.S. Energy Storage 3000%

 

In recent decades the cost of wind and solar power generation has dropped dramatically. This is one reason that the U.S. Department of Energy projects that renewable energy will be the fastest-growing U.S. energy source through 2050.

However, it’s still relatively expensive to store energy. And since renewable energy generation isn’t available all the time – it happens when the wind blows or the sun shines – storage is essential.

 

This article was republished with permission from  The Conversation, a news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It represents the research-based findings and thoughts of  Kerry Rippy, Researcher, National Renewable Energy Laboratory

 

As a researcher at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, I work with the federal government and private industry to develop renewable energy storage technologies. In a recent report, researchers at NREL estimated that the potential exists to increase U.S. renewable energy storage capacity by as much as 3,000% percent by 2050.

Here are three emerging technologies that could help make this happen.

Longer Charges

From alkaline batteries for small electronics to lithium-ion batteries for cars and laptops, most people already use batteries in many aspects of their daily lives. But there is still lots of room for growth.

For example, high-capacity batteries with long discharge times – up to 10 hours – could be valuable for storing solar power at night or increasing the range of electric vehicles. Right now there are very few such batteries in use. However, according to recent projections, upwards of 100 gigawatts’ worth of these batteries will likely be installed by 2050. For comparison, that’s 50 times the generating capacity of Hoover Dam. This could have a major impact on the viability of renewable energy.

 

Noble Capital Markets Uranium Power Players Investor Forum – August 31, 2021 Starting at 9am EDT The Noble Uranium Power Players Investor Forum is a virtual conference bringing together leading companies involved in the exploration and production of uranium. Registration is fast and free.

 

One of the biggest obstacles is limited supplies of lithium and cobalt, which currently are essential for making lightweight, powerful batteries. According to some estimates, around 10% of the world’s lithium and nearly all of the world’s cobalt reserves will be depleted by 2050.

Furthermore, nearly 70% of the world’s cobalt is mined in the Congo, under conditions that have long been documented as inhumane.

Scientists are working to develop techniques for recycling lithium and cobalt batteries and to design batteries based on other materials. Tesla plans to produce cobalt-free batteries within the next few years. Others aim to replace lithium with sodium, which has properties very similar to lithium’s but is much more abundant.

Safer Batteries

Another priority is to make batteries safer. One area for improvement is electrolytes – the medium, often liquid, that allows an electric charge to flow from the battery’s anode, or negative terminal, to the cathode, or positive terminal.

When a battery is in use, charged particles in the electrolyte move around to balance out the charge of the electricity flowing out of the battery. Electrolytes often contain flammable materials. If they leak, the battery can overheat and catch fire or melt.

Scientists are developing solid electrolytes, which would make batteries more robust. It is much harder for particles to move around through solids than through liquids, but encouraging lab-scale results suggest that these batteries could be ready for use in electric vehicles in the coming years, with target dates for commercialization as early as 2026.

While solid-state batteries would be well suited for consumer electronics and electric vehicles, for large-scale energy storage, scientists are pursuing all-liquid designs called flow batteries.

 

A typical flow battery consists of two tanks of liquids that are pumped past a membrane held between two electrodes. Qi and Koenig, 2017, CC BY

In these devices both the electrolyte and the electrodes are liquids. This allows for super-fast charging and makes it easy to make really big batteries. Currently these systems are very expensive, but research continues to bring down the price.

 

Storing Sunlight as Heat

Other renewable energy storage solutions cost less than batteries in some cases. For example, concentrated solar power plants use mirrors to concentrate sunlight, which heats up hundreds or thousands of tons of salt until it melts. This molten salt then is used to drive an electric generator, much as coal or nuclear power is used to heat steam and drive a generator in traditional plants.

These heated materials can also be stored to produce electricity when it is cloudy, or even at night. This approach allows concentrated solar power to work around the clock.

 

Checking a molten salt valve for corrosion at Sandia’s Molten Salt Test Loop. Randy Montoya, Sandia
Labs/Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND

This idea could be adapted for use with non-solar power generation technologies. For example, electricity made with wind power could be used to heat salt for use later when it isn’t windy.

Concentrating solar power is still relatively expensive. To compete with other forms of energy generation and storage, it needs to become more efficient. One way to achieve this is to increase the temperature the salt is heated to, enabling more efficient electricity production. Unfortunately, the salts currently in use aren’t stable at high temperatures. Researchers are working to develop new salts or other materials that can withstand temperatures as high as 1,300 degrees Fahrenheit (705 C).

One leading idea for how to reach higher temperature involves heating up sand instead of salt, which can withstand the higher temperature. The sand would then be moved with conveyor belts from the heating point to storage. The Department of Energy recently announced funding for a pilot concentrated solar power plant based on this concept.

 

Advanced Renewable Fuels

Batteries are useful for short-term energy storage, and concentrated solar power plants could help stabilize the electric grid. However, utilities also need to store a lot of energy for indefinite amounts of time. This is a role for renewable fuels like hydrogen and ammonia. Utilities would store energy in these fuels by producing them with surplus power, when wind turbines and solar panels are generating more electricity than the utilities’ customers need.

Hydrogen and ammonia contain more energy per pound than batteries, so they work where batteries don’t. For example, they could be used for shipping heavy loads and running heavy equipment, and for rocket fuel.

Today these fuels are mostly made from natural gas or other nonrenewable fossil fuels via extremely inefficient reactions. While we think of it as a green fuel, most hydrogen gas today is made from natural gas.

Scientists are looking for ways to produce hydrogen and other fuels using renewable electricity. For example, it is possible to make hydrogen fuel by splitting water molecules using electricity. The key challenge is optimizing the process to make it efficient and economical. The potential payoff is enormous: inexhaustible, completely renewable energy.

 

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