Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: sustainability – Page 382

Scotland missed 100% clean electricity consumption in 2020

In 2011, Scotland set a target of reaching 100% clean electricity consumption in 2020. And last year, the country almost reached its target – 98.6% of gross electricity consumption came from renewable sources, according to the Scottish government’s December energy statement.

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Scotland, which is working to achieve net zero by 2045 – a legally binding target – has one of the most ambitious climate targets in the world.

Tesla is leasing new land as part of its California expansion — for $1 per year

True to CEO Elon Musk’s word, Tesla is expanding its presence in California despite the company officially moving its headquarters to Texas. And amidst this California expansion, Tesla has leased nine acres of land to support its operations in Lathrop — all for a very reasonable price of $1 per year.

As noted in a Manteca Bulletin report, Tesla has been deliberately expanding its footprint in Lathrop since the company came to the city in 2014. During that time, Tesla was hoping to convert an old Mopar distribution center into a manufacturing facility for car parts. Tesla has since expanded its activities in Lathrop, with the company building an 870,000 square foot warehouse in the city. More recently, Tesla also broke ground on an upcoming “Megafactory” for its flagship battery storage unit, the Megapack.

With Tesla poised to employ an estimated 1,500 people working in two shifts at the “Megafactory,” the need for a space where the facility’s employees could park their vehicles while at work arose. With this in mind, the Lathrop City Council voted unanimously last week to lease nine acres of city-owned land to the electric vehicle maker. Tesla is expected to pay for all improvements, infrastructure, and maintenance for the new land, but this would likely be no issue.

Terraforming a Planet: Can Humans Stop Earth’s ‘Desertification’?

Could the sci-fi classic Dune offer solutions to climate change and desertification?

Today, planet Earth and civilization as we know it face a terrible crisis in the form of climate change. Thanks to the impact of urban sprawl, industrialization, commercial agriculture, and fossil-fuel emissions, we are experiencing a worldwide phenomenon of rising temperatures, rising sea levels, increased droughts and storms, wildfires, and “desertification.”

This last symptom refers to deserts expanding at their peripheries in response to diminished rainfall and hotter temperatures. Over time, this has the effect of destroying arable savannah and grasslands at the desert’s edge, which triggers drought, the destruction of farmland, and other vital infrastructure — not to mention the displacement of human populations.

Interestingly enough, this phenomenon also inspired one of the greatest works of science fiction ever: Frank Herbert’s Dune. Written in 1965, this novel remains one of the most influential works of modern literature, and not just within the science-fiction genre. Dune is one of the few works of science fiction that transcend genres, which is partly why it remains such a famous novel.

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👏 What an amazing year this has been for space!

NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems fully assembled NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion Spacecraft, and our launch and recovery teams are fully certified for NASA Artemis I, launching next year. Artemis I will be the uncrewed start of humanity’s return to the Moon! 🌕

Risen Energy Co. is planning to build a 45 billion yuan ($7 billion) integrated solar power factory in Inner Mongolia that’ll run on clean energy.

Japan’s EV war against China: Toyota to flood Chinese markets with affordable cars from next year

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.

Who Needs Plants When You Can Harness Solar Energy With An Artificial Leaf?

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.

New EV charging station quickly powers four vehicles at once

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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