Lifeboat Foundation

A wind turbine shaped like a tree! 😃

This nature-inspired wind turbine is designed like a tree to silently generate green energy using its micro-turbine leaves. (Follow Tech That Matters for more.)

Credit: New World Wind

wello presented a future vision of mobility at CES 2020 with a solar-powered cross between a bike and an electric car. the réunion-based startup presented its compact tricycle designed specifically for people in urban areas, to help alleviate congestion on the roads by offering an alternative to cars.

Mercedes-Benz announces the next-gen eSprinter electric van that will be built on a new platform with more variants.

It is also coming to North America.

Back in 2018, Mercedes-Benz unveiled its electric eSprinter van and the electric van hit European markets last year.

Serena Corr looks at the science behind batteries, discusses why we are hunting for new ones and investigates what tools we use to pave this pathway to discovery.
Watch the Q&A: https://youtu.be/lZjqiR0czLo.

The hunt is on for the next generation of batteries that will power our electric vehicles and help our transition to a renewables-led future. Serena shows how researchers at the Faraday Institution are developing new chemistries and manufacturing processes to deliver safer, cheaper, and longer-lasting batteries and provide higher power or energy densities for electric vehicles.

Continue reading “The Hunt for New Batteries — with Serena Corr” »

For now, it looks like our best bet for going interstellar is to rely on robotic spacecraft that are optimized for speed.

For countless generations, the idea of traveling to an extrasolar planet has been the stuff of dreams. In the current era of renewed space exploration, interest in interstellar travel has understandably been rekindled. However, beyond the realm of science fiction, interstellar space travel remains a largely theoretical matter.

Continue reading “Reaching for the Stars: The Case for Interstellar Travel” »

The three-wheeled, two-person vehicle is curvy and lightweight.

Aptera, the company that shuttered in 2011 after failing to secure funding for its three-wheeled electric car, is back with a new solar electric vehicle it claims never needs charging, at least, for most drivers. And it predicts its top model, with a battery of 100 kWh, can get up to 1,000 miles of range.

Continue reading “Aptera is back with a new EV it says doesn’t need charging” »

Today, Aptera announced a solar electric vehicle that will not need to be plugged in for most regular uses, and it sports a 1,000 mile range on a full charge.

“With Aptera’s Never Charge technology, you are driven by the power of the sun. Our built-in solar array keeps your battery pack topped off and anywhere you want to go, you just go,” says co-founder Chris Anthony. Aptera says they will achieve this by making the vehicle as efficient as possible, allowing the relatively low amount of energy one can get from solar panels to do a lot more than it could for other electric vehicles.

The biggest thing Aptera does that others don’t is optimize the vehicle for low drag. With an airplane-like design and only three wheels, the car has a drag coefficient of just 0.13. To put this in perspective, a Tesla Model S has a drag coefficient of 0.24. With less “wind resistance,” travel at all speeds requires less energy, with the effect of saving more energy compared to normal cars increasing as the car goes faster. Aptera plans to do this while still having a 100 kWh battery pack, so the car will have great range.

Under the streets of south London, in a disused bomb shelter and tube tunnel, is a farm. Growers are producing fresh vegetables and herbs in a fraction of the time it takes a conventional farm https://econ.st/3mGeeW7

A 15-year-old Colorado high school student and young scientist who has used artificial intelligence and created apps to tackle contaminated drinking water, cyberbullying, opioid addiction and other social problems has been named Time Magazine’s first-ever “Kid of the Year.”

Gitanjali Rao, a sophomore at STEM School Highlands Ranch in suburban Denver who lives in the city of Lone Tree, was selected from more than 5,000 nominees in a process that culminated with a finalists’ committee of children, drinking water crisis in Flint, Michigan, inspired her work to develop a way to detect contaminants and send those results to a mobile phone, she said.

“I was like 10 when I told my parents that I wanted to research carbon nanotube sensor technology at the Denver Water quality research lab, and my mom was like, ” A what?” Rao told Jolie. She said that work ” is going to be in our generation’s hands pretty soon. So if no one else is gonna do it, I’m gonna do it.”