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Archive for the ‘energy’ category: Page 120

Sep 29, 2022

Watch the world’s first hydrofoiling ground effect vehicle take off

Posted by in categories: energy, sustainability, transportation

Regent has released video of its remarkable Seaglider prototype in flight testing. The first machine to combine the efficiency advantages of ground effect and hydrofoiling in a single design, it promises revolutionary speed and range in coastal areas.

Wing-in-ground effect (WIG) aircraft such as the Soviet-era Ekranoplan have shown promise in the past, but they’re yet to take off, so to speak, as a mainstream form of transport. These low-flying birds ride on a cushion of air between their wings and the surface, which gives them a significant lift and efficiency boost over regular planes flying higher in the air – as long as they stay within their own wingspan of the surface beneath. This extreme altitude restriction means that while ground-effect aircraft could fly over land, it’s too dangerous for regular operations, and they typically stay over water.

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Sep 29, 2022

World’s largest flow battery energy storage station connected to grid

Posted by in categories: chemistry, energy, physics

The 100 MW Dalian Flow Battery Energy Storage Peak-shaving Power Station, with the largest power and capacity in the world so far, was connected to the grid in Dalian, China, on September 29, and it will be put into operation in mid-October.

This energy storage project is supported technically by Prof. Li Xianfeng’s group from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. And the system was built and integrated by Rongke Power Co. Ltd.

The Dalian Flow Battery Energy Storage Peak-shaving Power Station was approved by the Chinese National Energy Administration in April 2016. As the first national, large-scale storage demonstration project approved, it will eventually produce 200 megawatts (MW)/800 megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity.

Sep 28, 2022

BIG designs an energy efficient residential complex in Amsterdam shaped like the bow of a ship

Posted by in category: energy

Bjarke Ingels Group and Barcode Architects collaborated to create ‘Sluishuis’ – an angular residential complex placed above the IJ Lake in Amsterdam. The structure’s sharp geometric ends meet in the air, water, and land, creating a mesmerizing structure that seems to be jutting into the sky while resembling the bow of a ship! It is constructed on an artificial island in the IJ Lake and forms a geometrically-intriguing gateway from the lake.

Designer: Bjarke Ingels Group x Barcode Architects.

Sep 26, 2022

A magneto-optic modulator could facilitate the development of next-generation superconductor-based computers

Posted by in categories: energy, quantum physics, supercomputing

In the future, many computers will most likely be based on electronic circuits made of superconductors. These are materials through which an electrical current can flow without energy losses, could be very promising for the development of high-performance supercomputers and quantum computers.

Researchers at University of California Santa Barbara, Raytheon BBN Technologies, University of Cagliari, Microsoft Research, and the Tokyo Institute of Technology have recently developed a magneto-optic modulator—a device that control the properties of a light beam through a . This device, introduced in a paper published in Nature Electronics, could contribute to the implementation of large-scale electronics and computers based on superconductors.

“We are working on a new technology that can speed up high-performance supercomputers and quantum computers based on superconductor technology,” Paolo Pintus, the researcher who led the study, told TechXplore. “Superconductors work properly only at low temperatures, generally just above absolute zero (−273.15° Celsius). Because of this, circuits made of these materials must be kept inside a dedicated refrigerator.”

Sep 26, 2022

MIT engineers build a battery-free, wireless underwater camera

Posted by in categories: energy, space

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) engineers have developed a battery-free, wireless underwater camera that’s powered by sound waves.


Scientists estimate that more than 95 percent of Earth’s oceans have never been observed, which means we have seen less of our planet’s ocean than we have the far side of the moon or the surface of Mars.

The high cost of powering an underwater camera for a long time, by tethering it to a research vessel or sending a ship to recharge its batteries, is a steep challenge preventing widespread undersea exploration.

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Sep 25, 2022

Lithium-ion battery material breaks barrier on fast charging

Posted by in categories: energy, sustainability, transportation

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, discovered a key material needed for fast-charging lithium-ion batteries. The commercially relevant approach opens a potential pathway to improve charging speeds for electric vehicles.

Lithium-ion batteries, or LIBs, play an essential role in the nation’s portfolio of . Most hybrid electric and all– use LIBs. These offer advantages in reliability and efficiency because they can store more energy, charge faster and last longer than traditional lead-acid batteries. However, the technology is still developing, and fundamental advances are needed to meet priorities to improve the cost, range and charge time of electric-vehicle batteries.

“Overcoming these challenges will require advances in materials that are more efficient and that are scalable to industry,” said ORNL Corporate Fellow and corresponding author Sheng Dai.

Sep 25, 2022

Researchers claim to have built Europe’s first ‘zero-emission’ house powered by hydrogen

Posted by in category: energy

Researchers in Italy claim to have built Europe’s first house powered by hydrogen fuel cells.

This solution was developed by scientists at the University of Sannio in southern Italy in collaboration with private companies, Euronews reported on Thursday.

“Lately, we have focussed on the issue of CO2 emissions in the environment and worked on the idea of using hydrogen to make this house a completely self-sufficient system,” Gerardo Canfora, the dean of the University of Sannio, told Euronews.

Sep 24, 2022

Scientists drilled two miles into the tectonic plate to understand Japan’s ‘great earthquake’

Posted by in category: energy

Scientists from the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Washington in the U.S. have discovered links to Japan’s next “great earthquake” after drilling deep into the underseas.

The researchers found that the tectonic stress in Japan’s Nankai subduction zone is less than expected after studying an earthquake fault, Phys.org reported on Thursday.

“This is the heart of the subduction zone, right above where the fault is locked, where the expectation was that the system should be storing energy between earthquakes,” said Demian Saffer, director of the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics (UTIG).

Sep 24, 2022

Energy storage materials built from nano-sized molecular blocks

Posted by in categories: chemistry, energy, nanotechnology

Molecules of the rare metallic element niobium can be used as molecular building blocks to design electrochemical energy storage materials. Mark Rambaran, Department of Chemistry at Umeå University, presents in his thesis a method for producing solid materials from aqueous solutions containing nano-sized niobium molecules, called polyoxoniobates.

“These polyoxoniobates are water-soluble and can be synthesized in large volumes. They act as , in the same way as when a child stacks Lego bricks,” Mark Rambaran says. “They can be used to make a wide range of materials, including supercapacitors that facilitate lithium-ion storage.”

Synthesis of polyoxoniobates can be done with microwave irradiation, because it is a rapid and efficient alternative to conventional hydrothermal methods, Mark Rambaran shows in his thesis.

Sep 24, 2022

National Ignition Facility’s laser-fusion milestone ignites debate

Posted by in category: energy

After failing to reproduce last year’s record-breaking fusion-energy shot, scientists at the US National Ignition Facility have gone back to the drawing board. Edwin Cartlidge discusses their next steps.