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Increased local energy generation may offer a route to meet climate targets while empowering community groups, but care is still needed to support those vulnerable to energy system change.
Negative emissions technologies face numerous challenges, from techno-economic hurdles to public acceptance concerns, but progress in research, collaboration and regulation provide indications that they may yet form part of future energy systems.
The growth of photovoltaics in electricity markets and in research laboratories brings exciting challenges in scaling-up innovative technologies and deploying them for a variety of applications.
Cities appear to be progressing in leaps and bounds towards a renewable energy world, but their actions may soon start to lead to increasing friction with higher levels of governance.
Electric motors are replacing combustion engines in vehicles thanks to the tremendous progress in battery development, but issues remain in navigating transportation with battery technologies.
A set of new and updated policies have recently been launched at the Nature Research journals to try to increase the reproducibility and transparency of the research we publish.
US Secretary of Energy Rick Perry may have lost his bid to prop up coal and nuclear power, but he has started a valuable conversation about the grid and its resilience.
New approaches to collaboration between private and public sectors can speed up innovation, but greater coordination is required to make even greater gains.
Energy models provide powerful insights for decision-makers, but more care is needed around the choice of reference scenarios and the transparency of assumptions.
Recent large-scale carbon-capture schemes in the energy sector point to progress, but further development and support are still required to improve viability and widespread deployment.
The development of rechargeable batteries looks hugely successful on paper, but moving in leaps takes fundamental breakthroughs, truly meaningful performance advances, and technological integration.
It is easy to conflate what is known based on the scientific literature and what feels known because it is intuitive. However, empirical validation and precision are particularly critical for policy-relevant behavioural research, regardless of whether the results are surprising.
Disruption is often a bad word in established industries, and electricity generation is no exception. But with silicon solar cells getting ever closer to efficiency limits, innovative solutions are needed.
A continued lack of coordination and a focus on short-term decision-making threaten to undermine long-term energy system ambitions intended to meet objectives in future decades.
Recent announcements highlight the increasing competitiveness of renewable electricity sources and signal that the need for subsidies may be approaching an end.
