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Archive for the ‘sustainability’ category: Page 480

Sep 22, 2019

Solar and Wind Power So Cheap They’re Outgrowing Subsidies

Posted by in categories: government, solar power, sustainability

(Bloomberg) — For years, wind and solar power were derided as boondoggles. They were too expensive, the argument went, to build without government handouts.

Today, renewable energy is so cheap that the handouts they once needed are disappearing.

On sun-drenched fields across Spain and Italy, developers are building solar farms without subsidies or tax-breaks, betting they can profit without them. In China, the government plans to stop financially supporting new wind farms. And in the U.S., developers are signing shorter sales contracts, opting to depend on competitive markets for revenue once the agreements expire.

Sep 20, 2019

Researchers alter mouse gut microbiomes

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, food, health, sustainability

Humans choose food based on the way it looks, smells, and tastes. But the microbes in our guts use a different classification system — one that is based on the molecular components that make up different fibers. In a study published September 19 in the journal Cell, investigators found particular components of dietary fiber that encourage growth and metabolic action of beneficial microbes in the mouse gut.

The research aims to develop ways to identify compounds that can enhance the representation of health-promoting members of the gut microbial community. The goal is to identify sustainable, affordable dietary fiber sources for incorporation into next-generation, more nutritious food products.

“Fiber is understood to be beneficial. But fiber is actually a very complicated mixture of many different components,” says senior author Jeffrey Gordon, a microbiologist at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. “Moreover, fibers from different plant sources that are processed in different ways during food manufacturing have different constituents. Unfortunately, we lack detailed knowledge of these differences and their biological significance. We do know that modern Western diets have low levels of fiber; this lack of fiber has been linked to loss of important members of the gut community and deleterious health effects.”

Sep 20, 2019

The green revolution is necessary but not enough!

Posted by in categories: space, sustainability

It is not a matter of “saving the planet”, but saving civilization and its development.

The only sustainable development is the one that aims at space, using the immense resources of the Solar System.

Sep 19, 2019

AI helps reduce Amazon hydropower dams’ carbon footprint

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, sustainability

A team of scientists has developed a computational model that uses artificial intelligence to find sites for hydropower dams in order to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Hydropower dams can provide large quantities of energy with carbon footprints as low as sources like solar and wind. But because of how they’re formed, some dams emit dangerously high levels of greenhouse gases, threatening sustainability goals.

With hundreds of currently proposed for the Amazon basin—an ecologically sensitive area covering more than a third of South America—predicting their in advance could be critical for the region, and the planet.

Sep 19, 2019

Daimler Ends Gas Engine Development: Full Focus On Electric Cars

Posted by in categories: sustainability, transportation

Daimler has just announced that it is halting all future development of gasoline engines. The automaker will solely focus on electric cars from here on out. This implies that Mercedes-Benz is taking the same approach.

The future is electric. We all know that and so too does Daimler now with this move to electric-drive only for future vehicles.

Sep 19, 2019

How to Feed a Mars Colony of 1 Million People

Posted by in categories: food, space travel, sustainability

What might it take to feed a million people on Mars? Lab-grown meat, tunnel-grown crops and cricket farms, a new study finds.

When it comes to plans for crewed missions to Mars, NASA typically assumes round trips with only brief stopovers on the Red Planet. However, commercial space companies have emerged with the goal of colonizing outer space, with SpaceX specifically aiming to develop a civilization on Mars.

Sep 16, 2019

Tesla’s ‘Joe Mode’ in its V10 update is a lifesaver for parents

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, sustainability, transportation

Tesla owners who travel with kids can breathe an extra sigh of relief with the electric car maker’s V10 Update, as the company has introduced a new feature known as “Joe Mode.” The new feature will allow drivers to lower the volume of alerts and prompts that will are engaged while the vehicle is in motion.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced some details on V10’s “Joe Mode” earlier this year while replying to numerous followers who speculated about what new features will be coming to be new update. As one follower asked for a mode that would help keep his children asleep during drives, Musk replied with introductory information about the V10 feature.

Hoping to get “Joe Mode” into V10. The default, of course, is normal volume, but selecting “Joe Mode” would lower the volume of strident beeps & chimes by half.

Sep 16, 2019

EU agency starts space sustainability initiative

Posted by in categories: business, security, space, sustainability

PARIS — The European Union’s equivalent of a foreign ministry is starting a new effort to promote the need for sustainable space operations, but that effort will not initially include any new regulation of European satellite operators.

Carine Claeys, special envoy for space and head of the Space Task Force for the European External Action Service, said in a Sept. 13 panel discussion at Euroconsult’s World Satellite Business Week that the Safety, Security and Sustainability of Outer Space (3SOS) public diplomacy initiative will promote “ethical conduct” in space amid concerns about orbital debris.

The acronym, she noted, has a second meaning. “It is also three times SOS,” she said, “to create the case and a sense of urgency.”

Sep 15, 2019

A Solar-Powered Hyperloop Train Could Soon Be a Reality

Posted by in categories: solar power, sustainability, transportation

Click here to read the full article.

The Hyperloop may still be a decade from becoming a reality, but already people are trying to improve upon the concept. Chinese architecture firm MAD is developing an eco-friendly version of the futuristic transportation system, one that would utilize solar and wind energies to operate.

Earlier this week, MAD announced that it was working with US-based Hyperloop Transportation Technologies on a new sustainable design with the aim of creating “enhanced connectivity between cities and people,” according to CNN. The proposed Hyperloop draws its power from a system of solar panels and wind turbine forests.

Sep 14, 2019

Meet the 8 Tech Titans Investing in Synthetic Biology

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, computing, food, sustainability

“DNA is like a computer program but far, far more advanced than any software ever created.” Bill Gates wrote this in 1995, long before synthetic biology – a scientific discipline focused on reading, writing, and editing DNA – was being harnessed to program living cells. Today, the cost to order a custom DNA sequence has fallen faster than Moore’s law; perhaps that’s why the Microsoft founder is turning a significant part of his attention, and wallet, towards this exciting field.

Bill Gates is not the only tech founder billionaire that sees a parallel between bits and biology, either. Many other tech founders – the same people that made their money programming 1s and 0s – are now investing in biotech founders poised to make their own fortunes by programming A’s, T’s, G’s and C’s.

The industry has raised more than $12.3B in the last 10 years and last year, 98 synthetic biology companies collectively raised $3.8 billion, compared to just under $400 million total invested less than a decade ago. Synthetic biology companies are disrupting nearly every industry, from agriculture to medicine to cell-based meats. Engineered microorganisms are even being used to produce more sustainable fabrics and manufacture biofuels from recycled carbon emissions.