Tesla has dismissed Evan Horetsky, also known as ‘Mister Giga’, the engineer behind Tesla’s construction projects and more recently leading Gigafactory Berlin construction, according to a German report.
Horetsky is a mechanical engineer who joined Tesla back in 2015 to work on the Gigafactory Nevada project.
He has since participated in most of Tesla’s construction projects around the world and most recently, he was put in charge of Tesla’s Gigafactory Berlin project.
It looks like Australia with be exporting solar power to other countries with less space.
A major renewable energy project in Australia billed as the world’s largest solar farm in development has had its proposed location revealed.
The AUD$20 billion facility – the heart of an ambitious electricity network called the Australia–ASEAN Power Link – will be built at a remote cattle station in the Northern Territory, roughly halfway between Darwin and Alice Springs.
The gargantuan 10-gigawatt array – spread out across some 20,000 football fields’ worth of photovoltaic panels – might be situated close to the heart of the Australian outback, but the energy reaped from the plant will ultimately be transported far, far away from the sunburnt country.
Windows are great for letting in light, but in summer months that comes with an unwanted side order of heat, causing many people to run the air conditioning non-stop. Now, researchers have developed windows that can change color automatically when heated by sunlight, to keep buildings cool – and to top it off, they’re solar panels as well.
Color-changing glass has been around for a long time, most commonly as transition lenses for eyeglasses that tint automatically under bright light. More recent developments have made it electronic and switchable on demand, and scaled it up to window size. At the same time, transparent (or semi-transparent) solar cells are getting more efficient, to the point where they can be fitted into windows.
In the new study, researchers at the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has combined the two technologies into one window. The “thermochromic photovoltaic” tech, as they call it, can switch colors when heated up by sunlight to block glare and reduce the need for cooling, and when it does it also starts harvesting energy from that light.
As the electric vehicle sector grows, the demand for batteries is poised to see a significant increase. This is a big opportunity for companies like LG Chem, which supplies batteries for several EV makers like Tesla. Amidst this surging demand, LG Chem revealed on Wednesday that it is planning on tripling its production capacity for cylindrical batteries, the type used by the Silicon Valley-based electric car maker.
LG Chem currently forecasts a further rise in its battery sales and profits this fourth quarter. This is rather optimistic of the South Korean company considering that the company has already posted record quarterly earnings thanks to its growing EV battery business. “Sales are continuously expected to grow thanks to greater shipments of automotive batteries and cylindrical batteries for EVs,” LG Chem noted.
FERNDALE, Mich. – Samples from Ferndale’s municipal water system have lead levels in the drinking water exceeding state standards, according to officials.
Oakland County Health Division (OCHD) was notified by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) about the results from testing. Testing occurred as part of routine compliance sampling required by EGLE under Michigan’s Safe Drinking Water Act.
The OCHD is coordinating the distribution of free water filter kits to Ferndale residents who qualify on Oct. 28 from 3 to 6 p.m. at the Gary Kulick Community Center (1201 Livernois St, Ferndale, MI 48220).
Volcon is the latest startup hoping to bite off a piece of the growing electric motorcycle pie. The company’s new Volcon Grunt is poised to fill a gap in the market with an interesting mix of specs and pricing.
Volcon Grunt electric motorcycle unveiled
The Volcon Grunt is a fat tire electric motorcycle of sorts that doesn’t just talk the talk.
A simple way to improve efficiency…
Solar panels offer huge potential to move more people away from electricity generated from burning coal, and a new innovation devised by scientists stands to more than double the amount of light captured by conventional solar cells.
In a new study, a team of scientists from the UK, Portugal, and Brazil discovered that etching a shallow pattern of grating lines in a checkerboard design on solar cells can enhance the current generated by crystalline silicon (c-Si) by as much as 125 percent.
“We found a simple trick for boosting the absorption of slim solar cells,” explains photovoltaics researcher Christian Schuster from the University of York.
Australia seems to be leading the way in terms of wind power as well. 😃
It was a big week for South Australia last week. First, as we wrote at the time, the state reached 100 per cent solar power (of state demand) for the first time on Sunday, October 11.
Then, just a few days later, the state reached 100 per cent wind power (of state demand), on Thursday, October 15.
This was not the first time for wind, as it occurs reasonably often and for sometimes lengthy periods, but the fact that the two events occurred within days of the other are nevertheless important milestones. And although the transition to clean energy is far from complete, it does give some insight into what the state Liberal government’s target of “net 100 per cent renewables” by 2030 might look like.