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Archive for the ‘sustainability’ category: Page 375

Feb 21, 2020

New Battery Tech Could Double Electric Car Driving Range

Posted by in categories: food, sustainability

Current-day EVs generally use graphite anode batteries, which tend to provide shorter range compared to their gas-guzzling brethren, according to the researchers. Silicon anodes, on the other hand, have ten times the capacity — but are much worse at holding their capacity over time.

Frying Batteries

The team, led by Hun-Gi Jung, came up with a way to keep these silicon anodes stable by using “a simple thermal process used for frying food,” according to a statement, which involves the use of water, oil, and starch.

Feb 21, 2020

Home: Apparently people are cool with lumber as an industry, as opposed to lumber as a carbon collector

Posted by in categories: 3D printing, habitats, sustainability

Choice is the one thing our creators gave us. Me, personally I prefer hemp, and not just because I smoke the female version for medicinal reasons, but because scientifically it makes sense, and can help unscrew #AmericanFarmers…Yes we need more forests, not less. However, we don’t need to use trees, when we have hemp. Pembient can 3D Print ivory, thus making animal Ivory obsolete, yet people still kill for Ivory. We can make wood products from hemp, yet we still fell trees. #HowDumbAreWe


Eco-Friendly Our hemp is grown using sustainable methods, which helps eliminate deforestation.

Made in the USA All hemp growth and material production is conducted in the United States of America.

Continue reading “Home: Apparently people are cool with lumber as an industry, as opposed to lumber as a carbon collector” »

Feb 20, 2020

Tesla wins court approval to build Gigafactory in Germany

Posted by in categories: sustainability, transportation

How do you make “environmentally friendly cars” by destroying the environment. This is really uncool. “What would Greta Do?” Environment activists had managed to halt the felling of the trees two days ago, arguing that Tesla’s Gigafactory would affect local wildlife and water supply. However Tesla is said to plant 3 trees for every one it cuts down. Is that good for the wildlife in the forest and the water table?


A high court in Berlin has allowed Tesla to continue clearing a 92 hectare forest for its massive Gigafactory. The court rejected pleas from environment activists and said that its decision was final.

Feb 19, 2020

Scientists develop safer lead-based perovskite solar cell

Posted by in categories: solar power, sustainability

Researchers at Northern Illinois University and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado, are reporting today (Feb. 19) in the journal Nature on a potential breakthrough in the development of hybrid perovskite solar cells.

Considered rising stars in the field of solar energy, convert light into electricity. They’re potentially cheaper and simpler to produce than traditional silicon-based solar cells and, on a small scale in laboratory settings at least, have demonstrated comparable efficiency levels. But key challenges remain before they can become a competitive commercial technology.

One major challenge is the use of lead. Most top-performing hybrid solar cells contain water-dissolvable lead, raising concerns over potential leakage from damaged cells.

Feb 19, 2020

The breakthrough material that can turn any surface into a solar cell

Posted by in categories: quantum physics, solar power, sustainability

Researchers have developed quantum dot solar cells that can be made into thin, flexible films and used to generate electricity even in low-light conditions.

Feb 18, 2020

Body composting promises a sustainable way of death

Posted by in category: sustainability

The science behind turning your body into fertile soil.

Feb 18, 2020

Farms inside shipping containers could grow more local produce

Posted by in categories: food, robotics/AI, sustainability

“It’s a 320-square-foot shipping container like you would see on a boat, a train, a truck, outfitted with an automated growing system,” he says, “to grow about 3.5 acres worth of produce with no pesticides, no herbicides, and about 98.5% less water.” Inside the Greenery, plants grow vertically, with their roots in a nutrient solution instead of soil. Sensors, pumps, and LED lights automatically maintain ideal growing conditions, so you don’t have to be an expert to start farming. “You plug it in and you’re growing same day,” McNamara says.


The crops grow vertically under LED lights.

Feb 18, 2020

The Value of Space Exploration

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, solar power, space travel, sustainability

Steven Hawking: “I don’t think we will survive another thousand years without escaping beyond our fragile planet.”


Probably the most notable direct result of space exploration is satellites. Once we could position a ship in orbit and take telemetry, we knew we could place unmanned pieces of equipment there and just let it orbit, running on its own, while receiving orders from the ground. From those satellites, we have created a global communication system and the global positioning system (GPS) that powers most of our communications capabilities today. What can bring peace and harmony on the planet more than our ability to communicate with each other beyond geographic and political boundaries? These technologies have been enhancing and saving for years.

Continue reading “The Value of Space Exploration” »

Feb 17, 2020

Democratizing space exploration with new technologies

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, space travel, sustainability

Emergent technologies have made our world more efficient, engaging, and accessible. We’ve witnessed how innovations like artificial intelligence (AI) have transformed from largely an insider trend of the leading edge of the tech industry into more commercially viable devices, such as Amazon Echo, Siri, and on-demand machine learning from AWS. There tools have democratized the way we interact with the world.

In addition to AI, other innovative technologies have helped democratize many markets across the globe. However, the sector with, perhaps, the most notable impact in democratizing technology lies in industries that go beyond our planet.

The NewSpace industry—now comprised of startups, developing countries, and universities—is leading a movement of tech innovations that are helping to pave the way for the new space explorers. This new era not only focuses on lowering the barriers of entry for investors and companies, but it’s also fostering more sustainable, consumer-friendly models that promote better access to the final frontier.

Feb 17, 2020

How billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk went from getting bullied as a child to becoming one of the most successful and provocative men in tech

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, robotics/AI, space travel, sustainability

It seems like there’s nothing Elon Musk can’t do.

As CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, founder of The Boring Company, and cofounder of OpenAI and Neuralink, Musk seems to be everywhere all at once, pushing all kinds of futuristic technologies. He’s said he won’t be happy until we’ve escaped Earth and colonized Mars.

Between space rockets, electric cars, solar batteries, and the billions he’s made along the way, Musk is basically a real-life Tony Stark — which is why he served as an inspiration for Marvel’s 2008 “Iron Man” film.