As people search for solutions to the climate change crisis on Earth, scientists are working to create renewable energy sources as alternatives to fossil fuels. Now, scientists at Stanford University hope to offer a new solution as they are developing a single device that collects solar energy and shoots radiation out into space – acting as both a heater and air conditioner.
Collecting the sun’s energy via solar power has been a leading alternative energy source for many years. But this new work suggests that devices could both collect solar energy could and also use what is described as “space energy,” which isn’t really a source of energy, but rather a heat sink.
Objects emit heat as infrared radiation (a type of light we can’t see). This radiation is mostly reflected back to Earth by reflective particles in the atmosphere. But some of it can escape into space. But this ...
