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Category: sustainability – Page 258

New York Leads World’s Most Innovative Cities

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.

Gigafactory Shanghai showed that Tesla could build factories efficiently.

Tesla China has been an integral part of the company’s profitable quarters this year. The construction of Giga Berlin and Giga Texas are not moving at quite the same speed as Giga Shanghai. However, Tesla has stated that the construction of Gigafactory Berlin and Texas are on schedule and could still start production by 2021. — Adam (@AdamHoov) November 26, 2020 These numbers don’t seem so crazy anymore (we’re at $2875 post split) $tsla @ARKInvest pic.twitter.com/PFkJMaOOvF

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New technique accurately measures how 2D materials expand when heated

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 in 2D devices are packed so densely in such a small area that the devices can become twice as hot. This 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.

ESA SOLARIS: Wireless Power Beamed Down From Space

Solar power could be gathered far away in space and transmitted wirelessly down to Earth to wherever it is needed. The European Space Agency (ESA) plans to investigate key technologies needed to make Space-Based Solar Power a working reality through its SOLARIS initiative. Recently in Germany, one of these technologies, wireless power transmission, was demonstrated to an audience of decision-makers from business and government.

The demonstration took place at Airbus’ X-Works Innovation Factory in Munich. Microwave beaming was used to transmit green energy between two points representing ‘Space’ and ‘Earth’ over a distance of 36 meters.

The received power was used to light up a model city and produce green hydrogen by splitting water. It even served to produce the world’s first wirelessly cooled 0% alcohol beer in a fridge before being served to the watching audience.

Arizona town looks for solutions amid Western water crisis

Drive just North of Scottsdale, Arizona, and you’ll find a loose grid of dirt roads known as the Rio Verde Foothills. It’s home to around 2,000 families drawn to rustic desert beauty and the freedom of living outside the city limits, but the town is about to become a symbol of the West’s growing water crisis.

John Hornewer moved to the area 23 years ago. When he discovered his new community didn’t have water service, he began hauling water for himself, along with some of his neighbors.

“As my neighbor saw me coming up the road with the trailer, they were like, ‘Hey, could you stop and drop off a load for me?’” Hornewer said.

Recreating photosynthesis for unlimited hydrogen energy

face_with_colon_three circa 2020.

“I believe that water will one day be employed as fuel, that hydrogen and oxygen which constitute it, used singly or together, will furnish an inexhaustible source of heat and light, of an intensity of which coal is not capable.” – Jules Verne, The Mysterious Island (1874).

We have come a long way since science fiction writer Jules Verne wrote this visionary sentence, but hydrogen has still not emerged as a major source of energy. ESA is setting out to change this through the latest Open Space Innovation Platform (OSIP) call for ideas.

Not only are fossil fuels a limited resource, when burned they also pollute the air with greenhouse gases that warm up our planet. In recent years, we have increased our use of renewable energy – from sunlight, wind and waves, for example – but the machines that generate energy from these sources are made from rare materials that we must dig ever deeper underground to find.

Algae-filled panels could generate oxygen and electricity while absorbing CO2

Greenfluidics, a Mexico-based startup, promises newer, greener bio panels that can provide fresh oxygen and considerably bring down your power consumption while also delivering biomass-based fuel to you, New Atlas has reported.

With the world trying to reduce carbon emissions, algae have taken quite the center stage in capturing the carbon dioxide being released. From using algal blooms as large carbon capture sites to even powering electronic devices using algae, researchers are trying to use these green organisms everywhere.

Artificial Photosynthesis Advance: Standalone Device Converts Sunlight, CO2 and Water Into Clean Fuel

Researchers have developed a standalone device that converts sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water into a carbon-neutral fuel, without requiring any additional components or electricity.

The device, developed by a team from the University of Cambridge, is a significant step toward achieving artificial photosynthesis.

Photosynthesis is how plants and some microorganisms use sunlight to synthesize carbohydrates from carbon dioxide and water.

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