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Category: sustainability – Page 17

Chemists develop four-charge storage molecule to advance artificial photosynthesis

A research team from the University of Basel, Switzerland, has developed a new molecule modeled on plant photosynthesis: under the influence of light, it stores two positive and two negative charges at the same time. The aim is to convert sunlight into carbon-neutral fuels.

Plants use the energy of sunlight to convert CO2 into energy-rich sugar molecules. This process is called and is the foundation of virtually all life: animals and humans can “burn” the carbohydrates produced in this way again and use the energy stored within them. This once more produces carbon dioxide, closing the cycle.

This model could also be the key to environmentally friendly fuels, as researchers are working on imitating natural photosynthesis and using sunlight to produce high-energy compounds: solar fuels such as hydrogen, methanol and synthetic gasoline. If burned, they would produce only as much carbon dioxide as was needed to produce the fuels. In other words, they would be carbon-neutral.

Increasing efficiency in artificial photosynthesis

Chemical engineers at EPFL have developed a new approach to artificial photosynthesis, a method for harvesting solar energy that produces hydrogen as a clean fuel from water.

“Artificial is the holy grail of all chemists,” says Astrid Olaya, a at EPFL’s Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering (ISIC). “The goal is to capture sunlight, on the one hand to oxidize water to generate oxygen and protons, and on the other to reduce either protons to hydrogen or CO2 to chemicals and fuels. This is the essence of a circular industry.”

With global energy demands increasing, we are in need of viable alternatives to fossil fuels, whose negative environmental impact has also become all too apparent. One of those alternatives is hydrogen, which can be consumed in simple fuel cells for energy, leaving behind only water.

MIT’s 1972 collapse model updated: Humanity enters make-or-break decade

MIT’s 1972 global collapse warning revisited: Humanity enters make-or-break decade.

Nearly five decades later, sustainability analyst Gaya Herrington revisited World3 with fresh data. Her study, published in the Journal of Industrial Ecology in November 2020 and later shared by KPMG (where she then worked), compared several of the model’s scenarios with decades of empirical trends across variables such as population, fertility and mortality, industrial output, food production, services, non-renewable resources, persistent pollution, human welfare, and ecological footprint.

The aim was straightforward. After half a century, which of World3’s possible futures does the real world most resemble? Herrington found that the dynamics described in 1972 still fit the data “strikingly” well. In scenarios that keep growth as the primary goal, what the original authors called the “standard run” and what we’d now call “business as usual,” the model points to declines in industrial capital, agricultural output, and welfare within this century.

Hydroxyl adsorption identified as key factor in electrocatalytic ammonia production

Compared with the energy-intensive Haber-Bosch process, renewable energy-driven electrocatalytic nitrate reduction reaction (NO3−RR) provides a low-carbon route for ammonia synthesis under mild conditions. Using nitrate from wastewater as the nitrogen source and water as the hydrogen source, this route has the potential to produce ammonia sustainably while mitigating water pollution.

Copper (Cu)-based catalysts show a good performance for NO3−RR to ammonia. However, they suffer from issues including high overpotential, competing nitrite (NO2–) formation, and low overall energy efficiency.

In a study published in ACS Catalysis, a team led by Prof. Bao Xinhe and Prof. Gao Dunfeng from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, along with Prof. Wang Guoxiong from Fudan University, proposed hydroxyl (*OH) as a selectivity descriptor for via NO3−RR over Cu catalysts.

Pairing food waste and nanocatalysts to reduce carbon emissions in aviation

For researchers from The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a new avenue for reducing carbon emissions can be found on the side. A side of salad dressing, that is.

In 2020, the United States federal government committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. An important step toward carbon neutrality is embracing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), an alternative to conventional jet fuel that is made from renewable feedstocks. As part of this initiative, Grainger engineers have been hard at work creating the critical nanocatalysts for converting biocrude oil from food waste such as salad dressing into sustainable aviation fuel.

Hong Yang, a professor of chemical & biomolecular engineering, and Yuanhui Zhang, a professor of agricultural & , joined forces to tackle this problem.

Legacy Auto & Fake News Freaking Out Over Tesla Robotaxis & Autonomy

Questions to inspire discussion.

🚕 Q: What real-world application of Tesla’s FSD technology is currently operating? A: Tesla Road, a robo taxi service in Austin, Texas, allows paid customers to ride in Teslas that are literally driving themselves, demonstrating Tesla’s FSD supervised technology in action.

🛻 Q: How are Cybertruck owners responding to their vehicles? A: Cybertruck owners, including celebrities Theo Von and Kat Williams, describe their vehicles as unique experiences that feel like “driving in the future”, forming a small but enthusiastic group.

💰 Q: What financial challenge is Rivian facing in the EV market? A: Rivian faces a $100 million deficit due to the Trump administration’s rollback of fuel economy standards, compounded by high price points and lack of profitability per vehicle, making it difficult to compete with Tesla.

🤝 Q: What recent partnership has Honda formed for autonomous driving development? A: Honda and Helm AI have entered a multi-year joint development agreement to accelerate Honda’s Navigate on Autopilot system for highway and urban autonomy, though it’s not full autonomy and requires constant driver attention.

Media Coverage of Tesla.

Continue reading “Legacy Auto & Fake News Freaking Out Over Tesla Robotaxis & Autonomy” | >

Your household gadgets could soon be battery-free — scientists create tiny solar cells that can be powered by indoor light

“Currently, solar cells capturing energy from indoor light are expensive and inefficient. Our specially engineered perovskite indoor solar cells can harvest much more energy than commercial cells and is more durable than other prototypes. It paves the way for electronics powered by the ambient light already present in our lives.”

Perovskite is already becoming a popular material for use in solar panels, with marked benefits compared with silicon-based materials.

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