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Archive for the ‘sustainability’ category: Page 434

Jul 14, 2020

Ocean Power Plant Generates Energy From Waves — Unlimited Cheap Clean Electricity

Posted by in categories: energy, sustainability

Unlimited Clean Energy with The Wavestar machine. Harness the Power of Wave Energy with the World’s Strongest Wave Power Concept. Oceans cover more than 70% of Earth’s surface and ocean waves carry enormous power. By utilizing the largest source of untapped clean energy, it could supply a substantial part of the world’s electricity. Wave energy is more predictable compared to wind power, the waves come and go slowly and can be forecasted 24 hours ahead. Also the production continues 6–8 hours after the wind settles. This makes wave energy an ideal complement for wind turbines and could satisfy the continuously increasing demand for renewable energy in the grid.

The concept was invented by sailing enthusiasts Niels and Keld Hansen in 2000. The challenge was to create a regular output of energy from ocean swells and waves that are 5–10 seconds apart. This was achieved with a row of half-submerged buoys, which rise and fall in turn as the wave passes, forming the iconic part of Wavestar’s design. This allows energy to be continually produced despite waves being periodic.

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Jul 14, 2020

Tesla turbine spinning way past 100,000 RPM!

Posted by in categories: food, sustainability

Had some spare time today so this is what I built. A #Tesla #turbine #levitating on #neodymium #magnets

Check out these other videos of the awesome stuff I’ve been working on.

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Jul 14, 2020

Tesla scraps plans for its bargain version of the Model Y

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, sustainability, transportation

Tesla is scrapping plans for a bargain Model Y SUV because of its short range on a single charge, CEO Elon Musk said in a tweet over the weekend.

Earlier this year, the electric car maker began producing its pricier, dual-motor all-wheel drive version of the Model Y, which starts at $49,000.

Tesla had planned to roll out a cheaper version of the Model Y — expected to be priced under $40,000 — with a single engine, rear-wheel drive and smaller battery. But Musk tweeted that the range on that vehicle would have been “unacceptably low” at less than 250 miles on a single charge.

Jul 13, 2020

Solar Flow Battery: Single Device Generates, Stores and Redelivers Renewable Electricity From the Sun

Posted by in categories: chemistry, solar power, sustainability

Chemists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and their collaborators have created a highly efficient and long-lasting solar flow battery, a way to generate, store and redeliver renewable electricity from the sun in one device.

The new device is made of silicon solar cells combined with advanced solar materials integrated with optimally designed chemical components. The solar flow battery, made by the Song Jin lab in the UW-Madison chemistry department, achieved a new record efficiency of 20 percent. That bests most commercially available silicon solar cells used today and is 40 percent more efficient than the previous record holder for solar flow batteries, also developed by the Jin lab.

Jul 13, 2020

Laser-sculpted aluminium purifies water with the power of sunlight

Posted by in category: sustainability

A black panel of aluminium created by lasers can purify water containing human waste and heavy metals to drinkable standards, using just sunlight.

Jul 12, 2020

EVs, batteries and the multi-million-tonne scrap heap

Posted by in categories: sustainability, transportation

As sales of electric vehicles start to soar, the thorny issue of what to do with end-of-life lithium-ion batteries isn’t going away. We look at the problem and explore the solutions.

To say that the legacy of today’s electric vehicles is set to be a mountain of lithium-ion battery waste would be kind. In 2017, when worldwide sales of electric vehicles exceeded one million cars per year for the first time, calculations from UK-based University of Birmingham researchers revealed stark figures. These vehicles alone are destined to leave some 250,000 tonnes of unprocessed battery waste when they eventually reach the scrap heap in 2027. This is just the beginning.

Latest modelling from the Paris-based International Energy Agency indicates the number of electric cars on the road will lie between 125 million and 220 million by 2030. Given this, come the middle of this century, the 250,000-tonne waste figure looks meagre against the tens of millions of tonnes of waste that could follow. And to make matters worse, recycling is playing catch-up.

Jul 12, 2020

Elon Musk Hints About His Wish to Set Up Tesla’s Second Gigafactory in Asia

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, sustainability, transportation

We need one in Nigeria too.


Elon Musk has come to hint about his wish to set up Tesla’s second gigafactory in Asia. As he responded to queries on the Twitter handle, he indicated that the location of the second outlet won’t be necessarily inside China.

The soaring market

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Jul 10, 2020

Photo-rechargeable zinc-ion devices merge solar cell and battery tech

Posted by in categories: solar power, sustainability

Scientists have made a battery that can be directly charged in sunlight without needing an external solar panel. Clever design of the battery electrodes facilitates photo-rechargeable zinc-ion batteries that could find applications as cheap devices for off-grid solar farms.

Solar energy is often stored in rechargeable batteries for later use. Currently, this process requires separate solar cells to harvest the energy, and batteries to store it. Now, a team led by Michael De Volder from the University of Cambridge in the UK has engineered a battery cathode that can take the place of the solar cell and recharge the battery without requring an external energy harvester.

An image showing the energy levels of P3HT and graphene oxide

Jul 9, 2020

Tesla ‘very close’ to level 5 autonomous driving technology, Musk says

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, robotics/AI, sustainability, transportation

SHANGHAI/BEIJING — U.S. electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc is “very close” to achieving level 5 autonomous driving technology, Chief Executive Elon Musk said on Thursday, referring to the capability to navigate roads without any driver input.

Musk added that he was confident Tesla would attain basic functionality of the technology this year, in remarks made via a video message at the opening of Shanghai’s annual World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC).

The California-based automaker currently builds cars with an autopilot driver assistance system.

Jul 9, 2020

Electrons in the fast lane: Microscopic structures could improve perovskite solar cells

Posted by in categories: solar power, sustainability, transportation

Solar cells based on perovskite compounds could soon make electricity generation from sunlight even more efficient and cheaper. The laboratory efficiency of these perovskite solar cells already exceeds that of the well-known silicon solar cells. An international team led by Stefan Weber from the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz has found microscopic structures in perovskite crystals that can guide the charge transport in the solar cell. Clever alignment of these electron highways could make perovskite solar cells even more powerful.

When convert sunlight into electricity, the electrons of the material inside the cell absorb the energy of the light. Traditionally, this light-absorbing material is silicon, but perovskites could prove to be a cheaper alternative. The electrons excited by the sunlight are collected by special contacts on the top and bottom of the cell. However, if the electrons remain in the material for too long, they can lose their energy again. To minimize losses, they should therefore reach the contacts as quickly as possible.

Microscopically small structures in the perovskites—so-called ferroelastic twin domains—could be helpful in this respect: They can influence how fast the electrons move. An international research group led by Stefan Weber at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz discovered this phenomenon. The stripe-shaped structures that the scientists investigated form spontaneously during the fabrication of the by mechanical stress in the material. By combining two microscopy methods, the researchers were able to show that electrons move much faster parallel to the stripes than perpendicular to them. “The domains act as tiny highways for electrons,” compares Stefan Weber.