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Category: sustainability – Page 347

With affordability in its latest offering, Toyota wants to eliminate the only advantage that Chinese automobile makers enjoy: competitive prices.

Japan is a world leader in automobile technology. Apart from Germany, no one can compete in the automobile sector. And if you need any evidence to corroborate this fact, you need to look no further than Toyota, a globally loved automobile brand that has produced some of the best cars to date. And now Toyota is looking to aggressively dominate the Chinese electric vehicles (EV) market with some affordable cars from next year.

Toyota to launch an all-electric small sedan in China:

Toyota Motor Corp. has made plans to launch an impressive, all-electric small sedan in China late next year. It will turn to local partner BYD for key technology and create an affordable yet spacious EV for the Chinese market.

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The idea of a human-made device that can process solar energy to make usable fuels has been tantalizing researchers since the 1970s. There being no such thing as a free lunch, it is not so easy to engineer a device that mimics photosynthesis, which Mother Nature perfected a long time ago. Nevertheless, researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley Lab in California appear to have solved an important piece of the “artificial leaf” challenge.

Solar Energy & The Artificial Leaf Of The Future

The concept of the artificial leaf first crossed the CleanTechnica radar in the form of a card-sized photoelectrochemical cell, back in 2011. Instead of converting sunlight into electricity, the cell acts as a catalyst that deploys solar energy to break water into oxygen and hydrogen.

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Swiss tech company ABB has unveiled a new EV charging station that can rapidly power four electric vehicles at once — which could help make annoying wait times at stations a thing of the past.

The challenge: It typically takes less than five minutes to fill up a car’s tank at a gas station, and gas stations are everywhere in the U.S.

Depending on an EV’s battery and the type of EV charging station, it can take anywhere from 45 minutes to several hours to fully charge the car, and because charging stations are far less common than gas stations, drivers regularly have to wait for ports to open up.

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More wind power capacity was installed in the US than any other generating technology in both 2019 and 2020, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

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Annual US wind turbine capacity additions set a record in 2020, totaling 14.2 gigawatts (GW) and surpassing the previous record of 13.2 GW added in 2012. After 2020’s record year for wind turbine capacity addition, total US wind turbine capacity is now 118 GW.

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An initial series of test flights with drones has been launched in Poland as part of the EU-funded Uspace4UAM project. The first of these trials is now underway in Rzeszów, a city of close to 200,000 people.

The test flights are being carried out by three Uspace4UAM consortium members: Dronehub, the developer of -in-a-box systems for automated monitoring and data collection; drone equipment and sensor supplier Honeywell; and drone software technology company Altitude Angel. About 160 flights will be carried out in the Rzeszów area during the first phase, under 3 scenarios of autonomous drones flying for public service missions. The first scenario will involve emergency aerial monitoring of accident sites, the second will take ortho-and photogrammetric photos for public institutions, and the third will replicate the transportation of automated external defibrillators for use in life-threatening situations.

“Dronehub demos within Uspace4UAM started in November 2021, and we will end in June 2022. During this time, amongst other objectives, we will check how drones react to different and rapidly changing ,” states test flight project manager Jakub Węglarz of Dronehub in a news item posted on the SESAR Joint Undertaking website. The SESAR Joint Undertaking—which is funding Uspace4UAM—is a partnership between European private and public sector institutions formed to speed up the delivery of smarter, connected, accessible and more sustainable air transport solutions through research and innovation.

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Most electric pressure washers require two things tethering you to your home: a water hose and extension cord. Well, the latest Greenworks electric pressure washer ditches both of those things. While being 24V battery-powered, you’ll still get 600PSI of cleaning power. In addition to that, it has a 20-foot siphon hose that can pull its water from any fresh source, be that a bucket, lake, or something else. Right now this electric pressure washer is on sale for the first time at $144, making now a great time to pick it up. You’ll also find discounts on electric lawn mowers and much more below, as well. We also have a wide selection of Tesla, Greenworks, and other e-bike discounts in today’s New Green Deals, so you won’t want to miss that either.

Head below for other New Green Deals that we’ve found today, more on why going electric for your yard tools like the mower on sale is important, and of course Electrek’s best EV buying and leasing deals. Also, check out the new Electrek Tesla Shop for the best deals on Tesla accessories.

Amazon is offering a deal on the new Greenworks 24V 600PSI Battery-powered Electric Pressure Washer for $143.70 shipped once you clip the on-page coupon. Down from its $159 list price at Walmart, today’s deal marks the first price drop that we’ve tracked since its release earlier this month. This electric pressure washer delivers impressive power for a battery-powered option. You’ll find 600PSI and 0.8GPM available here which is more than enough to clean your home’s siding, driveway, and car. You’ll find a 5-in-1 selectable spray nozzle with 0º, 15°, 25º, 40º, and a watering option at the ready.

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Trivergence is starting to affect every industry. In financial services, the wallet has become a smart app that can collect data and learn. On a blockchain, users can exchange, save, borrow, invest and protect this digital money peer-to-peer without the intermediation of banks. In manufacturing, 3D printers are manufacturing aircraft parts in a Boeing facility with a blockchain network facilitating all the patented files, contracting and payments peer-to-peer. Telecommunications companies are no longer negotiating complex, costly and ever-changing roaming agreements, but using blockchain-based smart contracts among providers to automate the web of payments and settlement globally.

Over time, the Trivergence will usher in a next-generation internet where nearly every animate and inanimate object on Earth generates data, a distributed ledger records and secures this data and AI analyzes the data, communicates with the objects, alerts their owners and continuously adjusts and improves the efficiency of the economy and the sustainability of its effects on the environment.

New business models enabled by this Trivergence are beginning to disrupt many industries and provide platforms for innovation in the economy for decades ahead. This second era has weighty implications for every business, government and individual, as well as technology strategy, architecture and leadership. If we can overcome the dark side — and that’s a big “if” — this Trivergence helps us reclaim our digital identities, effectively fight climate change and help solve some of the world’s most intractable problems.

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Drivers of electric vehicles could save an average of £110 a year—and cut their carbon footprint by 20%—by using “smart charging” to power up their cars at the best possible times, a report by a research team involving Swansea University experts has shown.

Smart charging helps spread out demand for electricity to avoid overloading the National Grid. This is a major issue given the huge growth in the number of electric vehicles, with up to 11 million forecast to be on Britain’s roads by 2030.

Already people can get cheaper electricity by charging at certain times, usually in the early hours of the morning. But smart charging could go much further than this. For example, it could mean charging when windy weather means surplus wind power is being generated, or having your charging automatically coordinated with your neighbors.

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