Energy@UT News

The Role of Supercomputers in Fighting COVID-19

In the battle against COVID-19, the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at UT has provided the supercomputing power that experts need to understand the virus, how it spreads, and how to fight it. Supercomputers like Frontera are critical during a pandemic because of the speed with which they complete calculations or simulations. Read more here.

UT Austin Ranked Among Top Universities for Sustainability

Sustainability has long been a priority on the Forty Acres, and the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education has awarded UT Austin its first-ever Sustainability Tracking Assessment & Rating System (STARS) Gold Rating. The University continues its commitment to sustainability in all aspects of campus life, from its new sustainability degree programs to its research footprint led by initiatives such as Planet Texas 2050 and Fueling a Sustainable Energy Transition. Read more here.

Increasing Energy Efficiency of Big Data Through Magnetic Circuits

Big data processing often means higher energy usage, but researchers led by Dr. Jean Anne Incorvia at the Cockrell School of Engineering have improved the energy efficiency of the computers that process this data using magnetic circuits in place of traditional silicon chips. This can potentially reduce cost and energy-intensive training requirements. Read more about this discovery here.

Tracking Methane’s Impact Around the Globe

Breakthrough Extends the Lifetime of Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

While lithium-sulfur batteries’ long-lasting charge is touted as the next step in battery technology, their progress has been significantly hindered by their short life cycle. Now, innovation from the Cockrell School of Engineering  has recently extended these 
environmentally-friendly batteries’ lifetime by adding a layer of tellurium to protect from gradual degradation. Read more here.

Tropical Trees Could Prove Critical to Climate Change Mitigation

Models for forecasting climate change used to represent forests as homogenous, but researchers led by Caroline Farrior at UT's Department of Integrative Biology have developed a model to determine the role of individual species in carbon storage using 30 years of data collected from a Panamanian tropical rainforest. Read more about this research published in the journal Science here.

Workshop Examines Natural Gas Flaring Challenges, Solutions

In January 2020, Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy and the UT Austin Energy Institute
gathered experts from the public sector, academia, non-governmental organizations, and the oil and gas industry to discuss challenges and potential solutions to gas flaring. Read the workshop summary here.