Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: sustainability – Page 452

Technology that can convert salty seawater or brackish water into safe, clean drinking water has the potential to transform millions of lives across the globe, which is why so many scientists are busy working on projects to do just that.

Now, a new innovation developed by scientists in Australia could be the most promising one yet, with researchers using metal-organic framework compounds (or MOFs) together with sunlight to purify water in just half an hour, using a process that’s more efficient than existing techniques.

It’s cheap, it’s stable, it’s reusable, and it produces water that meets the World Health Organisation (WHO) standards for desalination. Around 139.5 litres (nearly 37 gallons) of clean water can be produced per day from a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of MOF material, based on early testing.

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Tesla’s stock (TSLA) is surging 18% over the last few days as investors are getting in just before Battery Day and the important announcements that it will bring. On Wednesday, Tesla announced a 5 for 1 stock split that sent the stock price surging.

Despite stock splits not actually changing the value of a company, they have been known to increase stock prices temporarily as people anticipate higher volume from small investors.

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A team of researchers working at the University of Maryland has uncovered the structure of the mysterious blue whirling flame. In their paper published in the journal Science Advances, the group describes using computer simulations to determine the structure of the unique type of flame.

Back in 2016, a team of researchers discovered what they described as a blue whirling flame while they were studying the properties of liquid fuel floating on water. They had added fuel to a tank full of water that was enclosed in a space that generated a vortex. They described a fire that looked at first like a tornado, but then shortly after, settled into what they dubbed a blue whirling flame. They noted at the time that its color suggested it likely was very efficient, burning the fuel without creating soot—a property that might be useful in cleaning up oil spills. Since then, others have looked at the unique type of flame, but no one had tried to understand its . In this new effort, the researchers took a closer look at the flame and found it was actually three types of flames that had merged into one.

To learn more about the nature of the blue whirling flame, the researchers created using conditions known to generate them. They then slowly adjusted the parameters until they were able to generate the flame virtually. They discovered that the flame was actually the result of three known types of flames merging: those with an invisible outer flame, which happens when there is less fuel than oxygen in the mix—and two that had types of visible inner flames in which higher ratios are more common.

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A global research team has been able to transform brackish water and seawater into safe, clean drinking water in less than 30 minutes using metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and sunlight.

In a discovery that could provide for millions of people across the world, researchers were not only able to filter harmful particles from and generate 139.5L of clean water per kilogram of MOF per day, but also perform this task in a more energy-efficient manner than current desalination practices.

The World Health Organization suggests good quality drinking water should have a total dissolved solid (TDS) of 600 parts per million (ppm). Researchers were able to achieve a TDS of 500 ppm in just 30 minutes and regenerate the MOF for reuse in four minutes under sunlight.

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Tesla’s highly-anticipated Battery Day is still several weeks away, but CEO Elon Musk appears to have started posting cryptic teasers about some of the innovations that would be introduced at the event. Based on a recent post on Twitter, it appears that Tesla’s Plaid Model S, and perhaps even the Plaid Model X, may be unveiled at Battery Day.

Ever the internet’s resident meme lord, Elon Musk recently posted a photo of Herbert Ruggles Tarlek, Jr., a character on the television situation comedy WKRP in Cincinnati, which ran from 1978 to 1982. The character was noted for his loud plaid suits, which were usually dominated by bold colors and patterns. Musk’s tweet noted that “One day soon, I will wear this outfit.”

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What if you could solve two of Earth’s biggest problems in one stroke? UC Riverside engineers have developed a way to recycle plastic waste, such as soda or water bottles, into a nanomaterial useful for energy storage.

Mihri and Cengiz Ozkan and their students have been working for years on creating improved materials from sustainable sources, such as glass bottles, beach sand, Silly Putty, and portabella mushrooms. Their latest success could reduce plastic pollution and hasten the transition to 100% clean .

“Thirty percent of the global car fleet is expected to be electric by 2040, and high cost of raw battery materials is a challenge,” said Mihri Ozkan, a professor of electrical engineering in UCR’s Marlan and Rosemary Bourns College of Engineering. “Using from landfill and upcycling could lower the total cost of batteries while making the battery production sustainable on top of eliminating plastic pollution worldwide.”

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Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory say they’ve found a breakthrough way to recycle carbon dioxide into energy-rich ethanol fuel. The secret is an electrified catalyst made from copper and carbon, which the researchers say can be powered using low-cost off-peak or renewable energy. What results is a process that’s more than 90 percent effective, which they say is far higher than any similar existing process.

Northern Illinois University professor and participating Argonne researcher Tao Xu says the new catalyst isn’t just a single stop that can produce ethanol—it’s the first step down a possible long list of ways to turn carbon dioxide into other useful chemicals. Despite the obvious plenitude of carbon dioxide, recycling it effectively into new things has been hard because of how stable and chemically stubborn the molecules are.

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In Elon we trust the planet earth!

Tesla studies the possibility of becoming an energy supplier in Europe, offering photovoltaic, storage and electric car charging in one package.

Tesla doesn’t just sell cars. Among the various sectors in which it operates, domestic energy is perhaps the one with the widest growth margins. After launching its photovoltaic products, both solar panels, and tiles, and after the famous PowerWall accumulation, Musk’s company is studying the possibility of offering all its assets in a single offer, even becoming an electricity provider in the world.

It would be a very important step, which would allow Tesla to manage all the variables in an integrated way, including the charging of electric cars. The novelty was discovered through a survey that the same company distributed to customers in Germany, with questions that left room for few doubts:

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Tesla is going to work with spaceships too. Enhanced partnership with SpaceX.

This is revealed by a new job position, for future designers who will range from electric cars to spaceships for Mars.

A couple of days ago SpaceX tested a prototype of the future Starship, the spacecraft that will be flying to the Moon and Mars. It was a rather raw reproduction, just slightly reminiscent of the style used in the digital rendering presentation. Today we discover that, as demonstrated by a new job place, Tesla’s may be called into the final design.

Tesla, in fact, looking for new experts, specifies that the tasks for future designers who will range from electric cars to spaceships for Mars. The growing collaboration between the two Elon Musk companies is therefore evident.

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