The Nordic KvarkenSpaceEco project, led by the University of Vaasa, has brought the Kvarken region into a new space age. Sustainable space economy and space-based data are now offering exciting business opportunities for companies in the region.
Category: sustainability – Page 156
Removing membranes could shave off as much as 30 percent of battery costs since they are the most expensive components.
Researchers at the University of Cincinnati in the US have developed a new design that could make lithium-ion batteries much cheaper to produce. This can have a profound impact on the large-scale energy storage systems needed to store renewable energy, a press release said.
Lithium-ion batteries, extensively used for power electronic devices, have also found their way into electric vehicles (EVs) thanks to their superior energy density over conventional batteries. These can also be deployed to store renewable energy when production is high, but the demand is low.
A new facility will be able to produce battery capacity to power 130,000 homes on a daily basis using renewable energy.
Zinc halide batteries touted as a low-cost alternative to battery energy storage system (BESS) have received a significant boost in the US after the Department of Energy (DOE) offered a $400 million loan to help scale production and reduce manufacturing costs, a press release said. The offer will cover setting up of four production lines at battery maker Eos’ facility in Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania.
Lithium-ion batteries are a crucial component of our attempts to switch to a greener economy powered by renewable energy. Although the technology is ubiquitous these days and powers everyday devices like smartphones and even electric vehicles (EVs), it is still very expensive.
The team plans to build battery-free underwater networks.
Deep Sea exploration is about to get more accessible. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed and demonstrated a technology that can transmit underwater signals spanning kilometers with a relatively low reader transmit power.
The researchers are calling their tech Van Atta Acoustic Backscatter (VAB), which can be used to map the pulse of the ocean. A submerged network of underwater sensors can continuously measure ocean vital signs like the temperature, pressure, and dissolved carbon dioxide to create more accurate climate change models and monitor the efficacy of carbon capture technologies, explained the researchers in their study.
Researchers have created a new 3D-printed substance dubbed “engineered living material.”
Removing pollutants from water is a crucial and arduous process to ensure that it is free from harmful contaminants. In recent years, several approaches and technologies for water pollution remediation have been developed and employed, including filtration, nano-materials, and chemical treatment, to mention a few.
Now, researchers at the University of California, San Diego, have developed a new environmentally friendly method for removing chemical contaminants from water bodies.
University of California.
In recent years, several approaches and technologies for water pollution remediation have been developed and employed, including filtration, nano-materials, and chemical treatment, to mention a few.
Belinda Howell, Non-Executive Director at Digital Catapult, walks Reuters Plus through the potential that AI has to reduce carbon emissions and mitigate climate change.
Perovskite light-emitting diode is used as the light source for a quantum random number generator used in encryption.
Encryption plays an important role in protecting information in this digital era, and a random number generator plays a vital part in this by providing keys that are used to both encrypt and unlock the information at the receiving end.
Now, a team of researchers has made use of light-emitting diodes made from the crystal-like material perovskite to devise a new type of Quantum Random Number Generator (QRNG) that can be used for encryption but also for betting and computer simulations.
A team of scientists from Ames National Laboratory has developed a new machine learning model for discovering critical-element-free permanent magnet materials. The model predicts the Curie temperature of new material combinations. It is an important first step in using artificial intelligence to predict new permanent magnet materials. This model adds to the team’s recently developed capability for discovering thermodynamically stable rare earth materials. The work is published in Chemistry of Materials.
High performance magnets are essential for technologies such as wind energy, data storage, electric vehicles, and magnetic refrigeration. These magnets contain critical materials such as cobalt and rare earth elements like neodymium and dysprosium. These materials are in high demand but have limited availability. This situation is motivating researchers to find ways to design new magnetic materials with reduced critical materials.
Machine learning (ML) is a form of artificial intelligence. It is driven by computer algorithms that use data and trial-and-error algorithms to continually improve its predictions. The team used experimental data on Curie temperatures and theoretical modeling to train the ML algorithm. Curie temperature is the maximum temperature at which a material maintains its magnetism.
Researchers at the University of California San Diego have developed a new type of material that could offer a sustainable and eco-friendly solution to clean pollutants from water.
Dubbed an “engineered living material,” it is a 3D-printed structure made of a seaweed-based polymer combined with bacteria that have been genetically engineered to produce an enzyme that transforms various organic pollutants into benign molecules. The bacteria were also engineered to self-destruct in the presence of a molecule called theophylline, which is often found in tea and chocolate. This offers a way to eliminate them after they have done their job.
The researchers describe the new decontaminating material in a paper published in Nature Communications.
Electric vehicles use lithium ion batteries with small amounts of nickel, manganese and cobalt. How do they work and what chemistry affects their properties?