Lifeboat Foundation

“If we’re going to use scrap aluminum for hydrogen generation in a practical application, we need to be able to better predict what hydrogen generation characteristics we’re going to observe from the aluminum-water reaction,” says Laureen Meroueh PhD ’20, who earned her doctorate in mechanical engineering.

Since the fundamental steps in the reaction aren’t well understood, it’s been hard to predict the rate and volume at which hydrogen forms from scrap aluminum, which can contain varying types and concentrations of alloying elements. So Hart, Meroueh, and Thomas W. Eagar, a professor of materials engineering and engineering management in the MIT Department of Materials Science and Engineering, decided to examine — in a systematic fashion — the impacts of those alloying elements on the aluminum-water reaction and on a promising technique for preventing the formation of the interfering oxide layer.

To prepare, they had experts at Novelis Inc. fabricate samples of pure aluminum and of specific aluminum alloys made of commercially pure aluminum combined with either 0.6 percent silicon (by weight), 1 percent magnesium, or both — compositions that are typical of scrap aluminum from a variety of sources. Using those samples, the MIT researchers performed a series of tests to explore different aspects of the aluminum-water reaction.

And it can be used on any aircraft that uses electric propulsion.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has funded a company called Electric Sky to build a prototype for a wireless charger for its drone swarms.

The concept of wireless power has been around for many years now, and innovators have used different techniques such as lasers and microwaves, to name a few. The most common complaint of these techniques, however, is that the charging gets weaker as the distance between the transmitter and the receiver increases. Seattle-based Electric Sky has proposed a solution that addresses this issue.

Continue reading “DARPA Is Working on A New Wireless Tech to Charge Drone Swarms Seamlessly” »

Rolls-Royce’s new 2.5-megawatt hybrid-electric propulsion system delivered more than a megawatt of power only a few weeks after its first tests, a press statement reveals.

The iconic British engineering firm is developing the Power Generation System 1 (PGS1) demonstrator powertrain to test the technology for clean aircraft of the future.

The Chinese private spaceflight company Galactic Energy has made the second flight of its Ceres-1 rocket, carrying five satellites into orbit, including a satellite known as Golden Bauhinia-1–03. The launch took place at 04:12 UTC on Tuesday, December 7th (12:12 Beijing time) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

The Ceres-1 is a four-stage rocket, using three solid-fueled stages with a hydrazine-fueled fourth stage to complete orbital insertion and refinement. Ceres-1 is capable of launching a payload of up 400 kilograms to low Earth orbit, or up to 230 kilograms into a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 700 kilometers.

Also known as Gushenxing-1, Ceres-1 was developed by Galactic Energy, one of several Chinese companies currently fielding or testing small solid-fueled satellite launchers. The first Ceres-1 launch was conducted successfully on November 7, 2020, making Galactic Energy the second private Chinese company to launch a satellite into low Earth orbit.

One of the world’s largest battery-based energy storage systems, powered by Tesla’s utility-scale Megapack batteries, began operating in the Australian state of Victoria on Wednesday.

Large energy storage systems based on lithium-ion batteries have the potential to prevent blackouts and let utilities store and use more energy generated from renewable but intermittent sources, like solar or wind.

Paris-based renewable energy giant Neoen developed the facility with partners Tesla Energy and AusNet, with some construction by Cimic Group’s UGL. It has enough capacity to power one million homes for half an hour, according to the web site for the project.

Electric Sky says it’s begun building its first transmitter for providing tightly focused wireless power to drones in flight, thanks to funding from DARPA.

A startup called Electric Sky says it’s begun building its first Whisper Beam transmitter for providing tightly focused wireless power to drones in flight, thanks to a $225,000 award from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Electric Sky will use the six-month Phase I award, granted through DARPA’s Small Business Innovation Research program, to explore ways to adapt its wireless architecture to power a swarm of drones.

Continue reading “Electric Sky wins DARPA grant to work on focused power beaming system for drones” »

It is true that renewables have an immense road ahead, but we already know the destination, Net Zero, in all areas of life, so why keep throwing good money after bad with fossil fuels.

I show exactly where we are with renewables and storage, and indeed it is woefully short, but I also show how we could take the initiative and the right decisions to clean our energy supply as early as 2030.

Continue reading “Carbon Zero 2030. They Claim The Energy Supply Cannot Be Done. They Are Wrong!” »

Neoen reveals plans for another big battery in South Australia which could be even bigger than the Victorian Big Battery opened on Wednesday.

French renewable energy and battery storage developer Neoen, fresh from the formal opening of the Victorian Big Battery – the biggest in Australia to date – has revealed plans for a potentially even bigger battery in South Australia.

Neoen is due to hold a community open day on Thursday for the Blyth battery, which will be sized up to 300MW and 800MWh, trumping the 300MW/450MWh capacity of the newly opened VBB near Geelong.

Continue reading “Neoen reveals plans for another 300MW big battery in South Australia” »

British utility SSE and Norwegian energy giant Equinor announced late last week that they have secured financing to proceed with the construction of the $3.98 billion Dogger Bank C offshore wind farm off England’s northeast coast.

Dogger Bank C offshore wind farm, along with Dogger Bank A and Dogger Bank B, is due to become the largest offshore wind farm in the world upon completion, with an installed capacity of 3.6 gigawatts (GW). Each phase is 1.2 GW.

Dogger Bank C will generate around 6,000 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity a year when completed in 2026.