The Solaris program will study space-based solar power amid rising energy concerns.
The European Space Agency (ESA) is set to approve a three-year study to determine whether sending huge solar farms into space could effectively meet the world’s energy demands, a report from the BBC reveals.
So, if all goes to plan, the technology could one day harvest massive amounts of energy from space — enough to power millions of homes.
ESA / A. Treuer.
The new technology could massively boost small-city EV adoption.
A new battery technology developed by Swiss startup Morand could see electric vehicle (EV) batteries charge in less time than it takes to fill an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle at a gas station, the company reveals.
Novel hybrid battery technology.
Kynny/iStock.
He is now the richest person in the world with a gap of a little over $10 billion.
Elon Musk, who broke records of personal wealth last year as the stock of his electric vehicle company Tesla soared, now has another record to his name. With Tesla’s stock price continuing its decline in 2022, Musk’s fortune has dropped by over $100 billion this year, Bloomberg.
Musk’s worth is mainly tied to his stock holding in Tesla, which according to recent estimates, now stands at around 14 percent. The CEO began offloading Tesla stock last year as the stock price soared and reached an all-time high of $402.
Solar farms moving from the land to the water.
Large solar arrays on land take up land that can be used to grow food. Solar arrays over water provide significant advantages.
Chemists have created nanorobots propelled by magnets that remove pollutants from water. The invention could be scaled up to provide a sustainable and affordable way of cleaning up contaminated water in treatment plants.
Martin Pumera at the University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague, in the Czech Republic and his colleagues developed the nanorobots by using a temperature-sensitive polymer material and iron oxide. The polymer acts like tiny hands that can pick up and dispose of pollutants in the water, while the iron oxide makes the nanorobots magnetic. The researchers also added oxygen and hydrogen atoms to the iron oxide that can attach onto target pollutants.
The robots are about 200 nanometres wide and are powered by magnetic fields, which allow the team to control their movements.
Currently floating on a lake in the Netherlands, the solar island comprises 180 movable solar panels that provide an increase in energy production by up to 40 percent.
A Portuguese company’s sustainable solution is following the Sun, almost like a stalker, in a bid to get the most out of its energy.
SOLARISFLOAT
SolarisFloat has developed an innovative floating solar solution that is unlike the many being installed in water bodies around the world. With single-or dual-axis tracking, the floating island is powered by electric engines that consume less than 0.5 percent of the total energy produced. As the BBC explained, the installation, named PROTEVS, is the first to merge floating solar panels with Sun-tracking technology.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) may be slowly making its way toward Ark Invest’s Golden Goose scenario, which involves a $22,000 price target pre-split.
At the beginning of 2020, ARK Invest released its updated TSLA valuation based on new research it had collected at the time. ARK analysts described ten difference scenarios Tesla could take leading up to 2024 and gave each one a price target.
Tesla seems to be on track to hit the scenario ARK Invest labeled “The High Functioning EV Company” which has a price target of $3,400. Keep in mind that ARK released these estimates before Tesla announced the stock split. In this scenario, Tesla manages to lower costs and build factories efficiently, but doesn’t launch its autonomous network.
Esla has managed to reduce costs further this year and could continue to do so in the coming years. In the third-quarter earnings call, CFO Zachary Kirkhorn stated that Tesla would continue to reduce manufacturing and operational costs in the future.
“We are also seeing benefits from the ongoing upward trend of locally built and delivered cars, which has increased from under 50% at the beginning of last year to over 70% most recently, which is a core component of our cost reduction strategy,” he added.
Two-dimensional materials, which consist of just a single layer of atoms, can be packed together more densely than conventional materials, so they could be used to make transistors, solar cells, LEDs, and other devices that run faster and perform better.
One issue holding back these next-generation electronics is the heat they generate when in use. Conventional electronics typically reach about 80 degrees Celsius, but the materials in 2D devices are packed so densely in such a small area that the devices can become twice as hot. This temperature increase can damage the device.
This problem is compounded by the fact that scientists don’t have a good understanding of how 2D materials expand when temperatures rise. Because the materials are so thin and optically transparent, their thermal expansion coefficient (TEC)—the tendency for the material to expand when temperatures increase—is nearly impossible to measure using standard approaches.
Solar panels often get a bad rap for spoiling the appearance of homes and businesses. Yet, this may be about to change.
