Volume 1 Issue 10, October 2016

In terms of energy policy, the Trump presidential campaign is largely aligned with mainstream Republican positions, evoking independence and deregulation. However, Trump's rhetoric and personality might inject uncertainties into long-term energy policies, increasing the risk inherent in energy related businesses.

The US plays a key role in shoring up European energy security and this is unlikely to change dramatically after the November 2016 elections. However, the outcome could compound longer term risks to an internationally engaged US energy policy, affecting European energy security and diplomacy.

Hillary Clinton's campaign has stressed her continuity with Obama's energy policy on key aspects such as decarbonization of the US economy, technological innovation and global cooperation. However, policy reforms to deliver long-term climate goals might be out of reach in a highly divided Congress.

Lower-cost alternatives to platinum electrocatalysts are being explored for the sustainable production of hydrogen, but often trial-and-error approaches are used for their development. Now, principles are elucidated that suggest pathways to rationally design efficient metal-free electrocatalysts based on doped graphene.

The elastocaloric effect can be exploited in solid-state cooling technologies as an alternative to conventional vapour compression. Now, an elastocaloric device based on the concept of active regeneration achieves a temperature lift of 15.3 K and efficiencies competitive with other caloric-based approaches.

The energy output of aqueous batteries is largely limited by the narrow voltage window of their electrolytes. Now, a hydrate melt consisting of lithium salts is shown to expand such voltage windows, leading to a high-energy aqueous battery.

Political divisions are important in understanding public perceptions of unconventional oil and natural gas development, but so is proximity to drilling activities. New research highlights that, as geographical distance from development areas increases, political ideology becomes more influential in explaining diverging perceptions.

The US National Labs will continue to play a crucial role in developing energy science and technology, yet their operation is not without its problems. Anadon et al. discuss the challenges faced by the Labs and propose changes that can help them to better meet their goals.

Technology breakthroughs will tilt the long-term balance between oil demand and the resource base of oil and gas. According to Amy Myers Jaffe, energy markets will be characterized by the growing tension between low carbon efforts led by the US and the strategies of large oil exporting countries.

High-performing positive electrode materials are crucial for the development of aqueous Zn-ion batteries. Here the authors report a battery based on reversible intercalation of Zn ions in a layered Zn_0.25V₂O₅⋅nH₂O-based positive electrode, which exhibits high-capacity and long-term cycling stability.

Aqueous Li-ion batteries have considerably lower energy density than their non-aqueous counterparts. Here the authors report a room-temperature hydrate metal salt electrolyte that, when coupled with a spinel Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ electrode, displays an energy density of 130 Wh kg⁻¹.

Although heating and cooling consume a large fraction of global energy, current technologies are not energy efficient. Tušek et al. report an elastocaloric heat pump with active regeneration that can outperform other caloric-based cooling and heat-pumping devices.

Metal-free doped-graphene materials are emerging as electrocatalysts for energy conversions, but their activity remains low. Here, Jiao et al. explore the origins of catalytic activity for hydrogen evolution, suggesting pathways to metal-free catalysts with activity to rival metal-containing benchmarks.

Further global deployment of wind energy, both onshore and offshore, will depend on its future costs. Wiser et al. report the results of a survey of 163 leading experts on the possibilities of cost reduction and technological advancements by 2050.

Energy harvesting from the environment by portable and flexible power sources can power a variety of devices sustainably. Chen et al. report a hybrid power textile with solar cells and triboelectric nanogenerators that can simultaneously harvest solar and mechanical energy.

Strategies to improve energy access in developing countries are urgently needed. Szabó et al. propose an approach to achieve wider access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa that depends on existing under-utilized energy infrastructure such as dams, non-hybridized gensets and biomass cofiring.

Controlling the crystallization process of perovskite films is crucial to obtaining high efficiency in perovskite solar cells. Bi et al. propose the use of poly(methyl methacrylate) as a template for the controlled nucleation and growth of perovskite crystals achieving efficiency of 21.6%.