We are not simply watching new products emerge; we are witnessing the next major transition in how heat, hot water and energy will be produced, stored and delivered. There are numerous contributing factors forcing an entire global industry’s demise and parallel replacement with the introduction of technologies that are created to be more economic, efficient and eco-conscious for the consumer in both home and commercial properties
History shows that incumbent energy systems do not disappear because they are familiar, they are replaced when a better mix of cost, convenience and performance becomes available. The whaling industry is a grand example of new ideas and subsequent technology replacing older and established methods. Before Kerosene was discovered and introduced whale fat was used as an important ingredient that helped to light indoor and outside streetlamps. Archaeological evidence from 3000 BC suggests that Arctic Inuit tribes are believed to have hunted whales as a source of food and fuel. Other cultures adopted this strategy and whaling became a huge global industry throughout the 1500s and 1600s. This period of whale hunting created widespread demand for whale oil that spread across the centuries until around 1854-1856.
Once Kerosene arrived as a cheaper and mass-produced form of energy, whale blubber was no longer the key substance used for domestic and commercial fuel. The American whaling fleet of ships had been steadily built up and consisted of a peak 199 ships in1858. By 1860 – a timeline that coincides with the introduction of Kerosene, that number had dropped to 167 ships. When 1876 began only 39 whaling ships remained, demonstrating the effect of Kerosene upon the American whaling industry.
A continuity of new ideas regularly impacts societal consumption and the world is in another liminal period of transition that sees fossil fuels being ignored in favour of cleaner renewables and alternative synthetic energies. But how are these renewables being extracted and dispersed to paying customers?
The future of energy will not be defined by a single winner. It will be shaped by a mix of technologies that can meet different customer, infrastructure and cost realities. The technologies that will matter most are not just those that are technically possible, but those that are scalable, commercially practical and easier for customers to adopt.
Conventional methods of renewable energy manufacturing are well documented. These approaches include turbines for wind that capture, trap and circulate energy into transmission grids that keeps properties warm and is the cause for heating water.
A main criticism of wind energy is the installation of turbines that have to be constructed and installed in often scenic and rural areas. Homeowners in the local area complain of dwindling house prices and landscape obfuscating. The Chinese have begun to experiment with alternative manners of wind energy capture that seemingly eradicate these concerns.
Instead of fixed wind turbines the Chinese have begun to extract energy from offshore floating wind turbines. This new innovation looks like a blimp that hangs in the air, think of the Good Year zeppelin, shaped like a jet engine, but used for renewable power production. Utilising a portable approach to trapping and converting wind energy into electricity arrives with several immediate benefits: the first being a 40% reduction in material usage when compared to traditional fixed wind turbines. Electrical costs are also cut by a further 30%.
A floating wind turbine is positioned around 300-to-500 metres, a higher elevation than a fixed installation. this allows the capture of higher winds and therefore produces a greater yield of renewable power at a lower cost in terms of materials and revenue. Full scale commercial availability of floating wind turbines is expected.
A researcher for the Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR), Gong Zeqi, under the Chinese Academy of Sciences is quoted as saying. “When wind speed doubles, the energy it carries increases eightfold, triple the speed, and you have 27 times the energy,” (Interesting Engineering, 24th Sept 2025)
China is optimistic regarding the potential of airborne wind power. The National Development and Reform Commission will research development priorities for large-scale high-altitude wind-power generators from 2016 to 2030.
China has successfully tested this new technology and highlights a moment of change for the offshore wind industry and for renewable fuel as a whole. Other forms of renewable energy that rely on fixed technology will want to emulate this success and begin to make the harvesting of clean energy smaller or more mobile, more cost effective and less consuming of all related materials.
Identical innovation is being employed for hydrogen refuelling of cars. A cited difficulty of hydrogen powered cars is refuelling. A standard hydrogen car is equipped with a small battery that requires power from an outlet. As there are few hydrogen refuelling stations companies such as Toyota have engineered a solution.
Hydrogen cars can now be fuelled by handheld cartridges that are manually inserted. This means improved customer convenience and instant energy access to hydrogen car owners.
Although hydrogen fuelled cars are not performing at a high commercial standard, multinational brands that are renowned for solid manufacturing principles such as Toyota are introducing these ideas in anticipation of expected market growth.
Hydrogen will only move forward at pace where innovation solves everyday usability, infrastructure and convenience barriers for customers.
Toyota Motor Corporation achieved record-high global vehicle sales in 2025, selling approximately 11.3 million units and marking a 4.6% year-on-year increase. These statistics position Toyota as the global top-selling car manufacturer for the sixth consecutive year.
New innovations that supply further options to property heating and hot water are now being becoming apparent. Thermochemical energy storage can be developed and introduced as an additional option for domestic and commercial property owners who require warmth and hot water.
A thermochemical energy storage system will be able to fuel a domicile’s heating and hot water through a chemical reaction. Thermochemical energy storage relies on heat from either industrial waste or power from excess solar panels that is added to materials such as salt hydrate or hydroxide. This heat breaks the materials down and separates into two distinct chemical forms.
Both forms are stored separately at room temperature that traps the stored heat. Because both forms are kept apart all heat is absorbed and can only be released by a prompted interaction. Energy is released once both separate forms are forced back together releasing the energy as strong and efficient heat for commercial and domestic properties.
There are a number of benefits associated with thermochemical storage systems, these include: very high energy density, no heat loss – can store energy captured during the summer period for winter months, temperature versatility in different applications – meaning that alternative chemical reactions can yield greater levels of heat. For example, heat of 100°C can be produced for low-grade residential heat or heating to over 800°C and can be used for industrial purposes.
In terms of energy, a majority of global leaders have realised that fossil fuels are essentially the modern-day equivalent of whale blubber. Designers and engineers of low carbon technology are working to provide the next “kerosene” and are presenting various innovative options in doing so. Technological upgrades require previous methods to be rested into history, as the process of timeless refinery continues.
Rinnai is working towards supplying all contractors, specifiers, system designers and customers with information and knowledge that improves awareness of in-coming technological options and insight into the direction of global energy supply.
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