Energy & Power — Posts
15 posts on "Energy & Power" by Shlomo Strauss — bilingual writing on technology, science, and business.
- Supercritical fluids and the future of geothermal energy — Advanced electromagnetic drilling aims to reach deep supercritical fluids, potentially providing limitless geothermal energy for the AI revolution.
- Natural gas feeds the world — here is how it travels to do so — From fertilizer production to cryogenic tankers sailing at -161°C, this piece explains why natural gas underpins global food supply and modern industry.
- A home Bitcoin miner that heats your shower water — Superheat debuted at CES 2026 a home ASIC device that repurposes Bitcoin mining heat for water heating, spotlighting a broader inefficiency in how we…
- Why Chinese waste-to-energy plants are hungry for Western trash — China built over 1,000 waste-to-energy plants, but moisture-heavy local garbage drops furnace temperatures into the dioxin-forming range — making dry…
- Molten salt and the eutectic point powering next-generation solar — A Chinese concentrating solar plant using 30,000 heliostats and a eutectic molten-salt mixture can store thermal energy for up to six hours, outperforming
- How supersonic jet engines could power AI data centers — Boom is adapting its supersonic jet engine to generate electricity for data centers, potentially eliminating the water-cooling workaround that limits…
- Small modular reactors and the case for a new nuclear age — From AI data centers to lunar bases, this post examines how small modular reactors work, why tech giants are betting on them, and what risks remain.
- Sodium batteries: a cheaper, safer alternative to lithium — Sodium-ion batteries offer lower cost, improved safety, and better cold-weather performance than lithium, though their lower energy density currently…
- Ethanol: from sugarcane and yeast to fuel, antiseptics and tax law — A concise look at ethanol — how it is produced from plants, why it is considered a relatively clean fuel, and why industrial grades are deliberately…
- Hydrogen cars: how they work and what is holding them back — From the electrochemistry of the fuel cell to the challenges of green hydrogen production, a clear look at the technology, its promise, and its current…
- How a fusion reactor could turn mercury into gold — A US startup claims that bombarding mercury-198 with neutrons inside a fusion reactor can produce gold as a byproduct — here is the science and the…
- From mining waste to battery materials: olivine's unlikely second — A New Zealand startup has developed a process to extract magnesium, silicate, and battery-grade NMC from olivine powder — an industrial waste product — in
- China's space solar panel plan: bold energy vision or engineering — China has announced plans for a kilometer-wide solar array in geostationary orbit that would beam energy to Earth via microwaves, though the engineering…
- The real advantage is efficiency, not more resources — Using the LED vs. incandescent bulb as a lens, this post argues that smarter allocation of limited time and money beats simply acquiring more of either.
- Solid-state batteries and why they matter more than you think — Solid-state batteries promise faster charging, greater safety, and longer lifespan — and a Chinese company claims to have already shipped them in budget…