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Category: sustainability – Page 151

Small Modular Reactors are a promising area of nuclear technology that may be the pathway forward to cheap, safe, and sustainable energy.
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Credits:
Nuclear Power: Small Modular Reactors.
Science & Futurism with Isaac Arthur.
Episode 390, April 13, 2023
Written, Produced & Narrated by Isaac Arthur.

Special Thanks to Last Energy https://www.lastenergy.com.
Music Courtesy of Epidemic Sound http://epidemicsound.com/creator

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In an interview this year, Tosca Musk, entrepreneur and sister of Tesla Inc. and SpaceX CEO, Elon Musk, shed light on the unexpected burdens that come with her famous last name. While speaking to the Daily Mail, Tosca discussed the misconceptions and financial pressures she faces because of her sibling’s astronomical wealth. She is the younger sister of the richest man in the world who has a net worth of around $230 billion, according to Forbes.

Tosca, renowned for her role as founder of the streaming service and production company Passionflix, shared a particular incident that highlighted these issues. She revealed that when she sought to secure a location for her ventures, she was initially quoted $5,000 per day. As soon as her identity was recognized, the rate mysteriously skyrocketed to $25,000. Musk expressed her frustration, stating that such assumptions were hardly equitable.

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Lithium-ion batteries could get a significant boost in energy density from disordered rock salt (DRX), a versatile battery material that can be made with almost any transition metal instead of nickel and cobalt.

DRX cathodes could provide batteries with higher energy density than conventional lithium-ion battery cathodes made of nickel and cobalt, two metals that are in critically short supply.

Formed last fall, the DRX Consortium – which includes a team of approximately 50 scientists from Berkeley Lab, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the University of California at Santa Barbara – was awarded $20 million from the Vehicle Technologies Office in DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. The funding – allocated in $5 million yearly increments through 2025 – will allow the consortium to develop DRX battery cathodes that could perform just as well if not better than the NMC (nickel-manganese-cobalt) cathodes used in today’s lithium-ion batteries.

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Norway has installed the world’s northernmost solar farm and battery storage in the Svalbard archipelago, just south of the North Pole.

State-owned energy company Store Norske Energi installed the solar and storage at Isfjord Radio on the island of Spitsbergen, the largest and the only permanently populated island in the archipelago, and the solar farm is expected to come online tomorrow.

Isfjord was built as a radio station in 1933 to provide a communication link between the Svalbard archipelago and Norway’s mainland. It’s still a radio station and a weather station, and now there’s a hotel for tourists and researchers.

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Wildfires fueled by climate change have ravaged communities from Maui to the Mediterranean this summer, killing many people, exhausting firefighters and fueling demand for new solutions. Enter artificial intelligence.

Firefighters and startups are using AI-enabled cameras to scan the horizon for signs of smoke. A German company is building a constellation of satellites to detect fires from space. And Microsoft is using AI models to predict where the next blaze could be sparked.

With wildfires becoming larger and more intense as the world warms, firefighters, utilities and governments are scrambling to get ahead of the flames by tapping into the latest AI technology—which has stirred both fear and excitement for its potential to transform life. While increasingly stretched first responders hope AI offers them a leg up, humans are still needed to check that the tech is accurate.

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“If you can get up to a watt per square meter, it would be very attractive from a cost perspective,” Assawaworrarit says.

The invention taps into a source of energy that’s easily overlooked

The Earth is constantly receiving a tremendous amount of energy from the Sun, to the tune of 173,000 terrawatts. Clouds, particles in the atmosphere, and reflective surfaces like snow-covered mountains immediately reflect 30 percent of that energy out into space. The rest of it ends up warming the land, oceans, clouds, atmosphere, and everything else on the planet.

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The result: aspern Seestadt, reclaims a brownfield area to create a development that embraces new urban ideals while retaining the classical urban structure of old Vienna.

As aspern Seestadt has evolved, it has emerged as one of Europe’s most dynamic planned communities and an incubator for smart city initiatives. Geographic information system (GIS) technology helps planners implement clean energy and low-emission strategies and aids the long-range planning and implementation to ensure that aspern Seestadt achieves a unique balance of sustainability and livability.

-Vienna’s sustainable city within a city can be a model used by developing and developed countries dealing with housing crisis.

Mapping tools help the City of Vienna and its partners test and apply smart city concepts to the Aspern Seestadt planned development.

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The technology is part of a project by Rogers to detect wildfires early.

A Canadian telecom is installing artificial intelligence (AI) cameras to monitor and prevent wildfires caused by climate change. This is according to a report by City News Everywhere.

“Climate change is a global issue,” said Tony Staffieri, CEO of Rogers, the company behind the new initiative.

Interesting Engineering is a cutting edge, leading community designed for all lovers of engineering, technology and science.

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A new study modeled the behavior of solar vehicles in 100 locations around the world.

According to a new study, solar energy can provide a range of between 6 and 18 miles (11 and 29 kilometers) for electric vehicles each day, cutting down on the requirement for charging by half. The study took into account the capabilities of solar-powered vehicles in urban settings in 100 locations across the world, modeling the behavior of the cars in busy cities.

Used for limited purposes

Solar cars are automobiles that run primarily on solar energy, which is commonly captured using photovoltaic (PV) panels mounted on the surface of the car. Sunlight is converted into electricity by these panels, which can then be used to either directly power the electric engine of the vehicle or to charge batteries.

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Candela’s C-8 electric boat sails 420 nautical miles in 24 hours, shattering previous record.

In a groundbreaking achievement, Candela sets an impressive new world record for the longest 24-hour electric boat distance.

Swedish electric boat manufacturer Candela has shattered the previous world record for the longest distance sailed in 24 hours by an electric boat with 420 nautical miles. The Candela C-8 Polestar Edition electric boat accomplished the remarkable feat, showcasing electric marine transport’s incredible potential.

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