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Archive for the ‘sustainability’ category: Page 120

Nov 5, 2023

New batteries for electric cars and wearables, backed by multi-million US$ funding, are both fire resistant and flexible

Posted by in categories: climatology, computing, sustainability, wearables

Batteries are regarded as crucial technologies in the battle against climate change, particularly for electric vehicles and storing energy from renewable sources. Anthro Energy’s novel flexible batteries are presently available to wearable manufacturers and could be employed in a variety of areas, including electric cars and laptops.

The innovative batteries score well in fire safety, thanks to new materials and design features that eliminate internal and external mechanical safety risks like explosions. Many of today’s batteries, such as lithium-ion batteries, contain a flammable liquid as an electrolyte.

Anthro Energy’s David Mackaniac and his team have created a flexible polymer electrolyte that is malleable like rubber. The new technology provides increased design flexibility for use across a range of devices, with adaptable shapes and sizes to suit specific applications.

Nov 5, 2023

Next-Gen $25,000 Tesla EV To Be Produced In Germany: Report

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, sustainability, transportation

Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently had an opportunity to visit the Tesla Giga Berlin-Brandenburg plant in Grünheide near Berlin, Germany. Besides making some pronouncements about interior decor, Musk reportedly let on that the plant is expected to be engaged in making Tesla’s next-generation, affordable electric car model.

According to the https://twitter.com/Gf4Tesla?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5E…vs.com%2F” target=“_blank” rel=“noopener noreferrer”>Gigafactory Berlin News channel on Twitter/X, which covers plant-related news, Musk announced during his visit that the upcoming €25,000 electric car (known in the U.S. to be a $25,000 electric car) will be produced in Berlin.

Nov 5, 2023

New calculations say there are more living cells than grains of sand or stars in the sky

Posted by in category: sustainability

The gargantuan number comes from crunching data on photosynthesis, other means of converting carbon dioxide into organic matter.

Nov 4, 2023

A Massive Water Recycling Proposal Could Help Ease Drought

Posted by in categories: government, sustainability

Members of Congress from Western states are pushing for $750 million to turn wastewater into pure water. Here’s how that works.

Nov 4, 2023

Alfred Anzaldúa (NSS and SRI) promotes Space 18th Sustainable Development Goal

Posted by in categories: space, sustainability

Alfred Anzaldúa talks about inevitability of human expansion into space and the proposal to add an 18th SDG, focused on space development, to the U.N. 2030 Agenda for sustainable development.

Nov 3, 2023

Textbook knowledge turned on its head: 3-in-1 microorganism discovered

Posted by in categories: climatology, sustainability

A team of researchers has now been able to show that there is an incredibly high biodiversity of environmentally relevant microorganisms in nature. This diversity is at least 4.5 times greater than previously known. The researchers recently published their findings in the journals Nature Communications and FEMS Microbiology Reviews.

The hidden world of microorganisms is often overlooked, even though many climate-relevant processes are influenced by microorganisms, often associated with an incredible diversity of species within the groups of bacteria and archaea (“primitive bacteria”).

For example, sulfate-reducing microorganisms convert a third of the organic carbon in marine sediments into . This produces toxic hydrogen sulfide. On the positive side, sulfur-oxidizing microorganisms quickly use this as an energy source and render it harmless.

Nov 2, 2023

The First-Ever Lunar Farm Shows That Plants Can Grow On The Moon

Posted by in categories: food, space, sustainability

Plants are not just able to survive in low gravity such as on the Moon, two new papers suggest – they may prefer it, at least based on the only species to sprout.

When Chang’e 4 landed on the Moon in January 2019 it carried with it a payload that could dictate the future of space exploration: seeds of four plant species it sought to grow on the lunar surface. The germination of a single cotton seed attracted plenty of attention at the time, but there’s more to growth than just sprouting. If crops grown on the Moon are less productive or more fragile than those on Earth, it’s going to be a big problem.

It’s taken more than four years, but important results from the experiment have now been released and they suggest that for all the obstacles to establishing colonies on the Moon and Mars, growing food might not be one. Then again, it’s still very early days.

Nov 2, 2023

Water can evaporate with just light, no heat, says surprising study

Posted by in categories: energy, sustainability

Contrary to what we all learned in elementary school science class, it turns out that heat may not be necessary to make water evaporate. Scientists at MIT have made the surprising discovery that light alone can evaporate water, and is even more efficient at it than heat. The finding could improve our understanding of natural phenomena or boost desalination systems.

Evaporation occurs when water molecules near the surface of the liquid absorb enough energy to escape into the air above as a gas – water vapor. Generally, heat is the energy source, and in the case of Earth’s water cycle, that heat comes primarily from sunlight.

But in the last few years, different teams of scientists have noticed discrepancies in their experiments concerning water held in hydrogels. Water appeared to be evaporating at much higher rates than should be possible based on the amount of heat it was exposed to, sometimes tripling the theoretical maximum rate.

Nov 1, 2023

Indian start-up develops autonomous cotton picker

Posted by in categories: food, robotics/AI, sustainability

Indian start-up Green Robot Machinery (GRoboMac) has developed a cotton picker with autonomous robotic arms, mounted on a semi-autonomous electric farm vehicle.

The robotic arms of the battery-operated machine are each capable of picking about 50 kgs cotton per day. That means that four arms, mounted on the vehicle, can pick about 200 kgs per day. High yielding farms can use additional arms, the company says.

Nov 1, 2023

Alternative funeral options are changing how we honor our dead

Posted by in categories: chemistry, sustainability

When someone dies in the US, the vast majority of the time, their body is either embalmed, placed in a coffin, and buried in a cemetery, or cremated and the ashes returned to their loved ones in an urn — but those aren’t the only options.

A growing number of funeral directors, startups, and nonprofits are providing people with alternative ways to have their bodies honored after death — suggesting that the funeral landscape of tomorrow won’t be so binary.

Traditional burial and cremation has a cost for the environment, releasing chemicals into the ground or greenhouse gasses into the air, but a number of other funeral options are showing that death can be green.