Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: sustainability – Page 159

Solar power is the fastest-growing form of renewable energy and currently accounts for 3.6% of global electricity production today. This makes it the third largest source of the renewable energy market, followed by hydroelectric power and wind. These three methods are expected to grow exponentially in the coming decades, reaching 40% by 2035 and 45% by 2050. Altogether, renewables are expected to account for 90% of the energy market by mid-century, with solar accounting for roughly half. However, several technical challenges and issues need to be overcome for this transition to occur.

The main limiting factor for solar power is intermittency, meaning it can only collect power when sufficient sunlight is available. To address this, scientists have spent decades researching space-based solar power (SBSP), where satellites in orbit would collect power 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, without interruption. To develop the technology, researchers with the Space Solar Power Project (SSPP) at Caltech recently completed the first successful wireless power transfer using the Microwave Array for Power-transfer Low-orbit Experiment (MAPLE).

MAPLE was developed by a Caltech team led by Ali Hajimiri, the Bren Professor of Electrical Engineering and Medical Engineering and the co-director of the SSPP. MAPLE is one of three key technologies tested by the Space Solar Power Demonstrator (SSPD-1). This platform consists of an array of flexible, lightweight microwave transmitters controlled by custom electronic chips. The demonstrator was built using low-cost silicon technologies designed to harvest solar energy and beam it to desired receiving stations worldwide.

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Israel’s Brenmiller Energy has announced the opening of a “gigafactory” to manufacture the company’s thermal energy storage systems, which store power as heat and then provide users with energy on demand via steam. The company believes it to be the first factory in the world of its kind.

Thermal energy storage, true to its name, stores energy as heat — a crucial function as society transitions to renewable sources like solar and wind, sources that are now economically viable to gather but, alas, are as variable as the weather and seasons.

Brenmiller is angling for the new facility to be their primary production hub and plans to hit full capacity by the end of 2023.

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A novel 3D printing method called high-throughput combinatorial printing (HTCP) has been created that significantly accelerates the discovery and production of new materials.

The process involves mixing multiple aerosolized nanomaterial inks during printing, which allows for fine control over the printed materials’ architecture and local compositions. This method produces materials with gradient compositions and properties and can be applied to a wide range of substances including metals, semiconductors.

Semiconductors are a type of material that has electrical conductivity between that of a conductor (such as copper) and an insulator (such as rubber). Semiconductors are used in a wide range of electronic devices, including transistors, diodes, solar cells, and integrated circuits. The electrical conductivity of a semiconductor can be controlled by adding impurities to the material through a process called doping. Silicon is the most widely used material for semiconductor devices, but other materials such as gallium arsenide and indium phosphide are also used in certain applications.

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Digital society is driving increasing demand for computation, and energy use. For the last five decades, we relied on improvements in hardware to keep pace. But as microchips approach their physical limits, it’s critical to improve the code that runs on them to make computing more powerful and sustainable. This is especially important for the algorithms that make up the code running trillions of times a day.

In our paper published today in Nature, we introduce AlphaDev, an artificial intelligence (AI) system that uses reinforcement learning to discover enhanced computer science algorithms – surpassing those honed by scientists and engineers over decades.

Nature Publication.

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On his appointment, he said, It is really a great honour and privilege to be part of the Board of the Data Lab Scotland’s Artificial Intelligence and data to help contribute and provide strategic direction to the leadership of the Lab.

I am deeply humbled for this opportunity to contribute and help unlock the rich opportunities for AI and data, not just in Scotland, UK and across the world, by bringing industry, academia and public sector to harness opportunities, connect people and ideas, develop knowledge and expertise for the good of humanity and society-creating a better and sustainable economy and society.

The Nigerian-British man stressed his love for data and AI, saying, I am deeply passionate and intentional about data, AI, transformation, innovation, education, technology, inclusion, social and global mobility.

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Yup that’s right a Tesla Affordable Home.

Known for turning a sofa in the Boca Chica SpaceX office into his bed, Elon Musk, The World’s Richest Man, took it to another level when he announced Tesla’s $10,000 sustainable unboxable moveable home. If you are remotely familiar with the Tesla CEO, you wouldn’t be surprised that he is building a sustainable home. So, how did Elon go from overhauling the tech space to completely disrupting the real estate industry?Well, it all started with this tweet from 2020. At the height of the pandemic, Elon Musk made this insane announcement.

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Human influences have the potential to reduce the effectivity of communication in bees, adding further stress to struggling colonies, according to new analysis.

Scientists at the University of Bristol studying honeybees, bumblebees and stingless bees found that variations in communication strategies are explained by differences in the habitats that bees inhabit and differences in the social lifestyle such colony size and nesting habits.

The findings, published today in PNAS, reveal that anthropogenic changes, such as habitat conversion, climate change and the use of agrochemicals, are altering the world bees occupy, and it is becoming increasingly clearer that this affects communication both directly and indirectly; for example, by affecting food source availability, social interactions among nestmates and their cognitive functions.

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Cactus Materials touted the emerging talent pool at local universities and the emerging ecosystem of the semiconductor industry as reasons to do business in Arizona.

The White House has designated Phoenix as a workforce hub to help meet the demand for qualified and diverse talent in semiconductors, renewable energy and electric vehicles.

Over the next five years, Cactus Materials said it intends to make further upgrades at its facility and invest up to $300 million. The company had previously been awarded grants from NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy and has applied for funding earmarked for the semiconductor sector through the CHIPS and Science Act.

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