Newshub
Intelligence on exergy, efficiency, and planetary limits.
Curated briefs across four streams — key news, industry signals, research notes, and the full white paper library — newest first.
Latest
Advanced search →
High-temperature heat pumps move from innovation to industrial reality
The High-Temperature Heat Pump Symposium 2026 in Copenhagen concluded that high-temperature heat pumps are becoming a cornerstone of industrial decarbonisation, with case studies covering steam above 150 °C in chemicals, food, dairy and paper.
Industry2 min read
Read article
Critical minerals: why supply chain worries have gone from risk to reality
Reporting on IEA analysis, SCI finds export controls have converted supply concentration into an immediate risk. Full implementation of China's expanded rare earth measures could expose USD 6.5 trillion a year of downstream production outside China.
Industry3 min read
Read article
LONGi lifts crystalline silicon–perovskite tandem cell efficiency to a certified 35.5%
LONGi has announced a 35.5% conversion efficiency for its two-terminal crystalline silicon–perovskite tandem cell, certified by ESTI. Larger-area devices reached 34.3% and 32.2%, with tandem modules certified at 31.4% and 29.4%.
Industry2 min read
Read article
TheStorage puts its first industrial-scale sand heat store to work at a brewery
TheStorage installed its first industrial-scale sand-based heat storage pilot at a brewery in January 2026, producing fossil-free steam for production lines. The company says the technology scales from 20 to 500 MWh with 1 to 20 MW of charging power.
Industry3 min read
Read article
EU Battery Regulation: carbon footprint declarations bite in 2026, passports follow in 2027
From 18 February 2026, industrial rechargeable batteries above 2 kWh must carry verified carbon footprint declarations under EU Regulation 2023/1542. Digital battery passports follow on 18 February 2027, with recycling efficiency and material recovery targets from 2027.
Industry3 min read
Read article
IEA-PVPS reports measurable gains in PV module recycling recovery and purity
IEA-PVPS finds meaningful advances in PV module recycling, with SPR reporting 98 wt% silicon recovery by mechanical processing and Solarcycle nearly 92 wt% silver. Purity and reuse pathways improved, but reporting and boundary harmonisation gaps remain.
Industry3 min read
Read article
Cumulative exergy demand of primary aluminium, v1.0
A reference white paper presents the cumulative exergy demand from bauxite to primary aluminium ingot using physical allocation.
White papers1 min read
Read article
Exergy destruction mapped across 62 cement kilns
A multi kiln study quantifies where exergy is destroyed in clinker production and identifies the largest improvement opportunities.
Research1 min read
Read article
Grid scale flow battery cleared for a 400 MWh build
A vanadium flow battery project receives final approval, offering long duration storage with high round trip exergy efficiency.
Industry1 min read
Read article
Exerginity established in British Columbia
A new scientific institute opens to advance the measurement and application of exergy across energy systems.
Key news1 min read
Read article
Energy and Exergy Analysis of Green Hydrogen Production
Thermal equilibrium modelling of biomass pyrolysis at 500 °C and gasification at 900 °C, with energy and exergy efficiencies computed for green hydrogen production under both process conditions.
v1.0 · Journal of Polytechnic 28(2) (2025)
White paper15 min readPınar Büyük, Ahmet Eryaşar
View white paper
Exergy Efficiency of Closed and Unsteady-Flow Systems
A companion treatment extending systematic exergy efficiency definitions to closed and unsteady-flow systems, where boundary work, transient storage and finite reservoirs change how recovered and expended exergy must be accounted.
v1.0 · Energies (2025)
White paper17 min readYunus A. Çengel, Mehmet Kanoğlu
View white paperIndustry
Industry briefs
Waste heat recovery and efficiency targets push thermoelectric materials towards a USD 1.59 billion market
Emergen Research values the global thermoelectric materials market at USD 728.4 million in 2025, reaching USD 1.59 billion by 2035. Waste heat recovery leads applications, while tellurium supply and modest conversion efficiency remain constraints.
Industry3 min read
Read article
IEA finds critical mineral security weakening as prices rebound and investment falls
The IEA's Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2026 reports a price rebound, refining concentration edging higher to 72%, a 9% fall in critical mineral investment and persistent copper and lithium supply deficits to 2035.
Industry3 min read
Read article
UNCTAD maps a critical minerals trade order built on export measures and partnerships
UNCTAD's Global Trade Update for June 2026 finds lithium demand rising 353% between 2024 and 2040, supply concentrated in a few countries, nearly 100 new export measures since 2020 and 73 critical mineral partnership agreements analysed.
Industry2 min read
Read article
IEA-PVPS rebuilds the benchmark PV life cycle inventory on 83 factory-level assessments
IEA-PVPS has published its first life cycle inventory update since 2020, drawing on 83 factory-level LCAs collected through France's ADEME tender process. It reports higher internally recycled silicon, lower kerf loss and markedly reduced supply chain impacts.
Industry3 min read
Read articleResearch
Research briefs
Tilting a thermal store lifts its exergy efficiency by eight points
Geometry is a free variable in thermal storage. Inclining a paraffin shell-and-tube store changes the natural convection field enough to move exergy efficiency by several points.
Research2 min read
Read article
Sensible against latent: a packed bed puts the two storage routes side by side
Most storage comparisons are made across papers, rigs and assumptions. This one holds the hardware fixed and swaps only the medium.
Research2 min read
Read article
Hydrogen or ammonia from residues: an exergy and environmental comparison
Residual biomass can be turned into hydrogen or into ammonia. The two routes look similar on a mass balance and quite different on an exergy balance.
Research2 min read
Read article
Maize cobs in a concentric tube reactor: allothermal gasification assessed on exergy
Allothermal gasification supplies process heat from outside the bed. The exergy balance shows what that architecture buys, and what the external heat costs.
Research2 min read
Read articleWhite papers
White papers
The Exergy of Electrification: Heat Pumps, Hydrogen and the Rational Use of Electricity
This technical report examines electrification through the lens of exergy, defining electricity as a premium carrier produced at nearly 100 percent quality. By auditing transport, heating, and industry, it introduces an 'electricity merit order' to prioritise high-leverage uses like heat pumps and electric motors. The document critiques 'carrier-neutral' accounting and identifies that a merit-order approach to domestic heating could reduce peak infrastructure demand by five-sixths compared to resistive or hydrogen-based alternatives.
White papers17 min read
Read article
Waste Heat Is Not Waste: The Global Exergy Opportunity in Industry
This seventh volume in the Exerginity series evaluates industrial rejected heat, estimated at thousands of terawatt-hours annually, as a critical energy resource. By categorising heat into high, medium, and low temperature bands, author Wim Adriaan Bakker demonstrates how exergy-based assessments identify commercial recovery opportunities. The paper outlines a technical toolkit for using, moving, upgrading, converting, and storing heat across nine industrial sectors, concluding that temperature-graded inventories and formal offtake agreements are essential for establishing a viable recovery economy.
White papers17 min read
Read article
From Energy Transition to Exergy Transition: A Better Framework for Global Decarbonization
This white paper proposes the Exergy Transition framework to address limitations in carbon-only accounting. By applying energy, exergy, exergoeconomic, and exergoenvironmental analysis (the 4E method), the paper introduces three indicators: second-law efficiency, avoidable destruction cost, and avoidable impact. Wim Adriaan Bakker demonstrates how identifying thermodynamic irreversibilities can optimise decarbonisation routes, potentially reducing the required scale of new generation infrastructure by factors of three to five through more intelligent resource use and resource-quality management.
White papers16 min read
Read article
The Global Exergy Report: Where Humanity Destroys Useful Energy and What We Can Do About It
This report establishes an annual audit of global second-law efficiency, mapping the flow of six hundred exajoules harvested annually. Utilising engineering coefficients and historical exergy accounting, the research identifies seven primary sectors of destruction, including thermal power and low-temperature heating. It introduces the Exerginity Global Exergy Index (EGEI) to rank nations and industries, concluding that adopting ten specific technological levers, such as heat pumps and electrification, can double global energy intelligence within a generation.
White papers20 min read
Read article