Lifeboat Foundation

New technique could significantly reduce emissions and provide a boost to the aviation industry.

Circa 2008

December 122008 Massachusetts-based FloDesign has developed a wind turbine that could generate electricity at half the cost of conventional wind turbines. The company’s design, which draws on technology developed for jet engines, circumvents a fundamental limit to conventional wind turbines. Typically, as wind approaches a turbine, almost half of the air is forced around the blades rather than through them, and the energy in that deflected wind is lost. At best, traditional wind turbines capture only 59.3 percent of the energy in wind, a value called the Betz limit.

Jet engine wind turbine

Continue reading “High efficiency wind turbine based on jet engine technology” »

There were the cleaners, with large padded feet, who were apparently polishing their way the whole length…’ — Arthur C. Clarke, 1972.

IceBot Antarctic (Planetary?) Robotic Explorers Made Of Ice ‘Some will combine in place to form more complicated structures, like excavators or centipedes.’ — Greg Bear, 2015.

Continue reading “BladeBUG Robots Clean Massive Wind Turbine Blades” »

BladeBUG Robots Clean Massive Wind Turbine Blades ‘There were the cleaners, with large padded feet, who were apparently polishing their way the whole length…’ — Arthur C. Clarke, 1972.

IceBot Antarctic (Planetary?) Robotic Explorers Made Of Ice ‘Some will combine in place to form more complicated structures, like excavators or centipedes.’ — Greg Bear, 2015.

Continue reading “IceBot Antarctic (Planetary?) Robotic Explorers Made Of Ice” »

Over the past few years, researchers have been trying to develop new designs for perovskite solar cells that could improve their performance, efficiency and stability over time. One possible way of achieving this is to combine 2-D and 3D halide perovskites in order to leverage the advantageous properties of these two different types of perovskites.

The two-dimensional crystal structure of 2-D halide perovskites is highly resistant to moisture; thus, it could help to increase the performance and durability of solar cells with a light-absorbing 3D halide perovskite layer. However, most of the strategies for combining 2-D and 3D halide perovskites proposed so far simply entail mixing these two materials together (e.g., mixing 2-D precursors with a solution-based 3D perovskite or reacting 2-D precursor solutions on top of a 3D perovskite layer).

Researchers at Seoul National University and Korea University have recently devised an alternative approach for creating solar cells that combine 2-D and 3D halide perovskites. This approach, outlined in a paper published in Nature Energy, could help to simultaneously improve both the efficiency and long-term stability of these cells.

This eco village is 100% self-sufficient and zero waste, offering warmth, shelter and even food! The community of 23 houses was built using recycled, repurposed and locally sourced materials in the Netherlands. These houses produce around 75% of their own electricity and 100% of their heat with the…

Solar powered yacht. 😃

Pierpaolo Lazzarini designs the ‘Pagurus’, a solar-powered amphibious catamaran. via: Myshify.

Using ocean/sea waves for power. 😃

https://youtu.be/BrDua3j1U3M

This is the Eco Wave Power, an innovative and affordable technology that produces clean, renewable energy from ocean waves. (More info: https://youtu.be/BrDua3j1U3M)

InSight lander’s “mole” was unable to hammer through the Martian soil, and unusually dusty solar panels meant the robot was generating less power.