Chinese internet giant Baidu has secured permits to offer a fully driverless commercial robotaxi service, with no human driver present, in Chongqing and Wuhan via the company’s autonomous ride-hailing unit, Apollo Go. Baidu’s wins in Wuhan and Chongqing come a few months after the compa…
Quantum computing will change everything.
“I think I can safely say that nobody really understands quantum mechanics,” renowned physicist Richard Feynman stated once. That shouldn’t come as a big surprise as quantum physics has a reputation for being exceptionally enigmatic. This was the selling point for the quantum physicist Dr. Shohini Ghose from Wilfrid Laurier University.
Having always excelled at mathematics and physics, Ghose was always interested in mysteries, detective stories, and mathematics. This led her to an intense fascination with physics, as she quickly discovered that she could use mathematics to help solve the mysteries of the universe.
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The economy of Southern Africa is rapidly developing, driving a growing demand for electricity. Efficiently meeting this demand will require balancing social, economic, geographic, technological and environmental considerations.
Researchers at UC Santa Barbara led an international team that analyzed the region’s resources and power grid. Using this data, they developed an energy portfolio that most effectively meets Southern Africa’s 2040 energy requirements, finding that wind and solar are the region’s most cost-effective options. What’s more, their model’s proposal effectively freezes greenhouse gas emissions at 2020 levels while doubling the amount of electricity the grid can produce. A detailed analysis appears in the journal Joule.
Currently, Southern Africa’s 315 million people use about 275 terawatt hours, roughly the same amount as California. “However, Southern Africa is expected to double its electricity demand by 2040,” said co-lead and corresponding author Ranjit Deshmukh, an assistant professor in UCSB’s Environmental Studies Program. “Developing the region’s excellent wind, solar and natural gas resources is the least expensive option for its consumers, and can meet this demand without increasing the region’s electricity sector carbon emissions.”
