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Category: energy – Page 76

An innovative floating offshore wind turbine prototype was launched in New Bedford, Massachusetts this week. Instead of a single anchor tower, the approach uses a pyramid base that can also passively orient itself in the direction of the blowing wind.

As wind turbines get bigger and sweep larger areas in a single rotation, wind farms move offshore to gain maximum advantage from powerful sea winds. Over the years, the costs of wind-based energy have been plummeting, but as wind farms are set up farther into the sea, the costs and time required to set up new wind farms are bound to increase.

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The first all-electric tugboat built in the United States, Crowley’s eWolf, has started sea trials along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The 82-foot ship assist tug, built by Coden, Ala. shipbuilder Master Boat Builders, is expected to enter service at the Port of San Diego in 2024. Video footage of the vessel on sea trials was shared by Crowley on social media.

The eWolf is designed to operate on full electric power, producing zero carbon emissions and expected 70 ton bollard pull strength. The vessel is equipped with an integrated electrical package provided by ABB, a 6.2 MWh Orca battery energy storage system from Corvus Energy and two electrically driven Schottel RudderPropellers type SRP 430 LE (2,050 kW each) featuring propeller diameters of 2.5 meters. The vessel also has two small generators on board for emergency use and to enable long distance transits at a reduced speed.

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Carbon nanotubes have long tantalized researchers with their extraordinary mechanical and electronic properties. As one-dimensional nanostructures with remarkable mechanical strength and electrical conductivity, CNTs have been eyed for next-generation composites, energy storage devices, sensors and more. Yet realizing their promise has proven an enduring challenge.

CNTs have ultra-high surface energy and readily form large bundles rather than remaining as individualized tubes, severely compromising resultant material properties. Exfoliating these bundles, particularly in solution, has remained an immense difficulty despite intense R&D efforts over 30+ years employing covalent and noncovalent functionalization strategies.

Covalent approaches disrupt the CNTs’ pristine sp2 carbon networks, damaging their intrinsic properties. Noncovalent methods like surfactants and polymers have had limited success in debundling smaller diameter single-wall CNTs (SWCNTs), especially longer high aspect ratio tubes preferred for optimal conductivity and strength. And virtually all tactics have struggled to exfoliate specific SWCNT types, hindering enrichment in metallic SWCNTs boasting far higher conductance than their semiconducting counterparts.

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Gravity is the reason things with mass or energy are attracted to each other. It is why apples fall toward the ground and planets orbit stars.

Magnets attract some types of metals, but they can also push other magnets away. So how come you feel only the pull of gravity?

In 1915, Albert Einstein figured out the answer when he published his theory of general relativity. The reason gravity pulls you toward the ground is that all objects with mass, like our Earth, actually bend and curve the fabric of the universe, called spacetime. That curvature is what you feel as gravity.

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The vessel’s design significantly reduces drag through hydrofoiling and realizing an impressive 80 percent energy savings.

The Open, designed by BMW Group Designworks, boasts an expansive cabin that spans 14.8 meters in length and 4.5 meters in width. It includes a flush deck featuring a two-seater helm station, a sheltered galley with ample seating, a double sunbed at the stern, and a spacious relaxation area on the foredeck.

The firms claim that by significantly reducing drag through hydrofoiling and realizing an impressive 80 percent energy savings, The Open surpasses traditional day yachts that typically consume over 150 liters of fossil fuels per hour. Hydrofoil technology uses a foil or wing underwater to lift the boat’s hull until it is totally outside the water.

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Scientists have discovered a new class of materials, carbon nitrides, which could rival diamonds in hardness. This discovery, the result of international collaboration and decades of research, opens up possibilities for various industrial applications due to their durability and other properties like photoluminescence and high energy density. Funded by international grants and published in Advanced Materials, this breakthrough marks a significant advancement in material science.

Scientists have solved a decades-long puzzle and unveiled a near unbreakable substance that could rival diamond, as the hardest material on earth, a study says.

Researchers found that when carbon and nitrogen precursors were subjected to extreme heat and pressure, the resulting materials – known as carbon nitrides – were tougher than cubic boron nitride, the second hardest material after diamond.

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Attempts to turn string theory into a workable theory of nature have led to the potential conclusion that our universe is a hologram—that what we perceive as three spatial dimensions is actually composed of only two. The greatest realization of this hologram-led program is a proposal that goes by the awkward and clunky name of the AdS/CFT correspondence, first proposed by string theorist Juan Maldacena in the late 1990s.

The AdS/CFT correspondence is not a solution to the problems posed by per se, but a statement motivated by advances in the theory when one takes the holographic principle seriously. It is also not a by itself, but it does tell us that we are not entirely misguided when we make the bold claim that we live in a , and begin to dream about what that revelation might entail.

We need to, briefly I assure you, unpack these acronyms to see how powerful this connection is, and what it might teach us about the wider . The “AdS” stands for anti-de Sitter, which is a particular kind of solution to Einstein’s general theory of relativity. The name comes from Dutch physicist Willem de Sitter, who constructed a mock universe that was empty of all matter and energy with the exception of a strong outwards curvature.

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New research enhances hybrid supercapacitors by creating more efficient electrodes, marking a significant step forward in energy storage technology.

Like batteries, supercapacitors are a type of energy-storage device. However, while batteries store energy electrochemically, supercapacitors store energy electrostatically—through the buildup of charge on their electrode surfaces.

Hybrid supercapacitors (HSCs) combine the advantages of both systems by incorporating battery-type and capacitor-type electrodes. Despite synthesis techniques that allow the active components in HSC electrodes to grow directly on conductive substrates without added binders (“self-supporting” electrodes), the fraction of active material in these electrodes has remained too low for commercial requirements.

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Scientists have developed a new material from a mineral abundant on Mars that they claim could open the door to sustainable habitation on the red planet.

Researchers assessed the potential of a type of nanomaterials – ultrasmall components thousands of times smaller than a human hair – for clean energy production and building materials on Mars.

The study, published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials, found that a material typically considered a waste product by NASA can be altered to provide clean energy and sustainable electronics.

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