Musk said a Tesla robotaxi service will start with about 10 vehicles in Austin and rapidly expand to thousands of vehicles should the launch go well with no incidents.
Category: sustainability – Page 7
Researchers in Australia are working on a way to lower the cost of producing solar thermal energy by as much as 40% with the help of shatterproof rear-view mirrors originally designed for cars.
That could be huge for agriculture and industrial facilities which need large amounts of heat for large-scale processes at temperatures between 212 — 754 °F (100 — 400 °C). That addresses food production, drying crops, grain and pulse drying, sterilizing soil and treating wastewater on farms; industrial applications include producing chemicals, making paper, desalinating water, and dyeing textiles.
A quick refresher in case you’re out of the loop: solar thermal energy and conventional solar energy (photovoltaic) systems both harvest sunlight, but they work in fundamentally different ways. Solar thermal setups capture the Sun’s heat rather than its light, use reflectors to concentrate sunlight onto a receiver, and convert solar radiation directly into heat energy. This heat can be used directly for heating buildings, water, or the aforementioned industrial processes.
Using global land use and carbon storage data from the past 175 years, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin and Cognizant AI Labs have trained an artificial intelligence system to develop optimal environmental policy solutions that can advance global sustainability initiatives of the United Nations.
The AI tool effectively balances various complex trade-offs to recommend ways of maximizing carbon storage, minimizing economic disruptions and helping improve the environment and people’s everyday lives, according to a paper published today in the journal Environmental Data Science.
The project is among the first applications of the UN-backed Project Resilience, a team of scientists and experts working to tackle global decision-augmentation problems—including ambitious sustainable development goals this decade—through part of a broader effort called AI for Good.
“Light Out, Power Up”: Carbon Nanotubes Discovered Emitting More Energetic Light Than They Absorb in Groundbreaking Quantum Breakthrough
Posted in nanotechnology, quantum physics, solar power, sustainability | Leave a Comment on “Light Out, Power Up”: Carbon Nanotubes Discovered Emitting More Energetic Light Than They Absorb in Groundbreaking Quantum Breakthrough
IN A NUTSHELL 🌟 Scientists at Japan’s RIKEN Center for Advanced Photonics have discovered that carbon nanotubes can emit more energetic light than they absorb. 🔍 The phenomenon, known as up-conversion photoluminescence (UCPL), occurs even in pristine nanotubes, defying previous theories requiring structural defects. ☀️ This discovery holds potential for enhancing solar energy efficiency by.
Hyundai Motor Group is investing $21 billion in the U.S., with $6 billion dedicated to innovation and partnerships, significantly increasing Boston Dynamics’ robotics production.
Researchers in Singapore have achieved a breakthrough in rechargeable battery technology by solving one of the most persistent challenges in zinc-ion batteries, with the help of artificial intelligence.
Dendrites, tiny needle-like structures that form during charging and cause short circuits, have long posed an issue in zinc-ion (Zn-ion) battery technology by compromising battery safety and shortening their lifespan.
A research team led by Prof. Wang Mingtai at the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a finely tuned method for growing titanium dioxide nanorod arrays (TiO2-NA) with controllable spacing without changing individual rod size and demonstrated its application in high-performance solar cells.
Their findings, published in Small Methods, offer a new toolkit for crafting nanostructures across clean energy and optoelectronics.
Single-crystalline TiO2 nanorods excel at harvesting light and conducting charge, making them ideal for solar cells, photocatalysts, and sensors. However, traditional fabrication methods link rod density, diameter, and length—if one parameter is adjusted, the others shift accordingly, often affecting device efficiency.
Three year old Space Solar has completed an 18-month engineering design and development project for key parts of its modular space-based solar power system.
Tesla is developing a terawatt-level supercomputer at Giga Texas to enhance its self-driving technology and AI capabilities, positioning the company as a leader in the automotive and renewable energy sectors despite current challenges ## ## Questions to inspire discussion.
Tesla’s Supercomputers.
💡 Q: What is the scale of Tesla’s new supercomputer project?
A: Tesla’s Cortex 2 supercomputer at Giga Texas aims for 1 terawatt of compute with 1.4 billion GPUs, making it 3,300x bigger than today’s top system.
💡 Q: How does Tesla’s compute power compare to Chinese competitors?
A: Tesla’s FSD uses 3x more compute than Huawei, Xpeng, Xiaomi, and Li Auto combined, with BYD not yet a significant competitor. Full Self-Driving (FSD)
Light is all around us, essential for one of our primary senses (sight) as well as life on Earth itself. It underpins many technologies that affect our daily lives, including energy harvesting with solar cells, light-emitting-diode (LED) displays and telecommunications through fiber optic networks.
The smartphone is a great example of the power of light. Inside the box, its electronic functionality works because of quantum mechanics. The front screen is an entirely photonic device: liquid crystals controlling light. The back too: white light-emitting diodes for a flash, and lenses to capture images.
We use the word photonics, and sometimes optics, to capture the harnessing of light for new applications and technologies. Their importance in modern life is celebrated every year on 16 May with the International Day of Light.