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Category: sustainability – Page 146

Whisper in the sky: Massive electric plane ready to test vertical takeoff

Butterfly, the inaugural eVTOL incorporating Optimum Speed Tilt Rotor and Individual Blade Control technologies, promises optimal efficiency and a refined ride.

In response to the dynamic demands of evolving personal mobility, the electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) industry has flourished in recent years. Numerous aviation startups are actively competing to be the pioneers in introducing their respective models to the market.

Aiming to make a significant impact in the eVTOL sector, California-based aerospace company Overair has successfully built and assembled the first-ever eVTOL aircraft utilizing Optimum Speed Tilt Rotor (OSTR) and Individual Blade Control (IBC) Technology. Named Butterfly, the firm claims that it features a “completely novel approach to aviation that unlocks a new standard in quietness, performance, and reliability,” according to a statement by the company.

Nearly half of new passenger cars in EU electrified —ACEA

Dec 20 (Reuters) — Sales of electric cars in the European Union were almost half of all new passenger car registrations in the EU between January and November 2023 and already crossed the halfway mark in the month of November alone, data showed on Wednesday.

Electrified vehicles — either fully electric models, plug-in hybrids or full hybrids — accounted for over 47.6% of all new passenger car registrations in the EU as of November, up from 43% in the same period last year, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) said.

New-car registrations in the EU increased 6.7% in November, the 16th consecutive month of growth, with a year-on-year rise of 13.3% in the registration of electric vehicles. Petrol car registrations grew by 4.2%, while diesel dropped by 10.3%, the data showed.

Revolutionary Robotic Blended-Wing Aircraft Set to Transform Cargo Transport

Summary: A novel aircraft design pioneered by startup Natilus could dramatically alter the cargo transportation industry, offering larger capacities, reduced emissions, and futuristic remote control options.

In the field of aviation technology, a groundbreaking blended-wing robotic aircraft presents a future where efficient and sustainable cargo planes are the norm. The company pioneering this effort, Natilus, has built a model that harmonizes ecological concerns with the need for faster and cost-effective transportation.

Drawing from the source article, the unconventional plane differs from traditional airliners with its distinct diamond-shaped body that facilitates a more spacious cargo hold. This design enables up to 60 percent more cargo to be carried compared to the current models in use. Furthermore, it notably claims to cut carbon emissions by half, a crucial development for an industry under increasing pressure to become more environmentally friendly.

National Forest Service Trolls Tesla After Cybertruck Gets Stuck in Forest

The clip, which made the rounds on social media, showed the 7,000-pound truck with a Christmas tree loaded in its bed helplessly spinning its tires while slowly being towed up the hill by a white Ford truck.

The incident led to plenty of mockery. After all, Tesla CEO Elon Musk made a big deal out of the Cybertruck having “more utility than a truck” during his incredibly awkward delivery event last month.

Even the local Stanislaus National Forest Service, which manages the National Forest where the truck got stuck, took the opportunity to issue a public service announcement, as spotted by the LA Times.

Tesla’s big reveal: Wireless inductive home charger for EVs on the way

Tesla sparks innovation with wireless inductive home charging for EVs, signaling a bold leap toward a self-driving future.

December 2023 has been a rollercoaster for Tesla, with over two million vehicle recalls due to Autopilot issues. However, Tesla remains committed to advancing autonomous driving technology, and its latest move hints at a futuristic approach – wireless inductive home charging for electric vehicles (EVs).

Teasing a wireless future

Tesla’s interest in wireless charging was hinted at in March during the Investor Day event, where a promotional image showcased what appeared to be a charging mat in a home garage. In a recent episode of “Jay Leno’s Garage” featuring the Tesla Cybertruck, Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen and VP of Vehicle Engineering Lars Moravy confirmed the company’s foray into wireless charging technology.

Exploring the Runaway Greenhouse: Implications for Exoplanet Habitability

Could Earth end up with a runaway greenhouse effect like Venus someday, and what could this mean for finding life on exoplanets? This is something a recent study published in Astronomy & Astrophysics hopes to address as an international team of researchers used a 3D global climate model to investigate if Earth is destined to develop a runaway greenhouse effect like the planet Venus, which precious studies speculate was once much like Earth long ago. This study holds the potential to bring awareness of the long-term consequences of climate change and what steps can be taken to mitigate the effects.

A Runaway greenhouse effect can turn a habitable planet like Earth with a surface liquid water ocean into an inhospitable planet like Venus. (Credit: Thibaut Roger / UNIGE)

“Until now, other key studies in climatology have focused solely on either the temperate state before the runaway, or either the inhabitable state post-runaway,” said Dr. Martin Turbet, who is a research scientist at CNRS laboratories of Paris and Bordeaux and a co-author on the study. “It is the first time a team has studied the transition itself with a 3D global climate model and has checked how the climate and the atmosphere evolve during that process.”

New technique could make modeling molecules much easier

Much like the humans that created them, computers find physics hard, but quantum mechanics even harder. But a new technique created by three University of Chicago scientists allows computers to simulate certain challenging quantum mechanical effects in complex electronic materials with far less effort.

By making these simulations more accurate and efficient, the scientists hope the technique could help discover new molecules and materials, such as new types of solar cells or quantum computers.

“This advance holds immense potential for furthering our understanding of molecular phenomena, with significant implications for chemistry, , and related fields,” said scientist Daniel Gibney, a University of Chicago Ph.D. student in chemistry and first author on the paper, published Dec. 14 in Physical Review Letters.

IBM demonstrates useful Quantum computing within 133-qubit Heron, announces entry into Quantum-centric supercomputing era

At its Quantum Summit 2023, IBM took the stage with an interesting spirit: one of almost awe at having things go their way. But the quantum of today – the one that’s changing IBM’s roadmap so deeply on the back of breakthroughs upon breakthroughs – was hard enough to consolidate. As IBM sees it, the future of quantum computing will hardly be more permissive, and further improvements to the cutting-edge devices it announced at the event, the 133-qubit Heron Quantum Processing Unit (QPU), which is the company’s first utility-scale quantum processor, and the self-contained Quantum System Two, a quantum-specific supercomputing architecture, are ultimately required.

But each breakthrough that afterward becomes obsolete is another accelerational bump against what we might call quantum’s “plateau of understanding.” We’ve already been through this plateau with semiconductors, so much so that our latest CPUs and GPUs are reaching practical, fundamental design limits where quantum effects start ruining our math. Conquering the plateau means that utility and understanding are now enough for research and development to be somewhat self-sustainable – at least for a Moore’s-law-esque while.