Lifeboat Foundation

A cheaper hydrogen fuel cell could mean better green energy options.

If you look at Amtrak’s route map, you’ll notice that the service isn’t really geared toward serving rural areas and smaller cities. Sure, they do stop at some smaller cities along existing rail routes, but those aren’t the point as much as a place to get fuel and let people get onto connecting services. On top of that issue, Amtrak largely uses the same tracks as freight trains, and the freight lines have been placed according to freight needs and not the needs of potential passengers. In one particularly weird case, it completely skips the Phoenix metro area, with the nearest station in Maricopa.

But I’m getting off topic a bit with that last one. The main point to gather from the map is that it’s designed mostly to connect larger cities with other large cities. Going from New York to Los Angeles isn’t a big deal. Going from El Paso to Albuquerque, well, even Amtrak tells you on the map that you’re getting on a Greyhound. Public transit really isn’t a priority in the United States, though. So maybe this isn’t a fair comparison. Let’s look at some maps in other countries for a minute:

A microwave dish transmitter is pointed toward a rectifying antenna in part of the Safe and Continuous Power Beaming – Microwave (SCOPE-M) demonstration at Army Blossom Point Research Field, Maryland, Sept. 21, 2021. U.S. Naval Research Laboratory developed the rectifying antenna, “rectenna”, to convert an x-band microwave beam to 1 kilowatts of DC power at a range of 1 kilometer.

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In physics, as in life, it’s always good to look at things from different perspectives.

Since the beginning of quantum physics, how light moves and interacts with matter around it has mostly been described and understood mathematically through the lens of its energy. In 1900, Max Planck used energy to explain how light is emitted by heated objects, a seminal study in the foundation of quantum mechanics. In 1905, Albert Einstein used energy when he introduced the concept of photon.

But light has another equally important quality, known as momentum. And as it turns out, when you take momentum away, light starts behaving in really interesting ways.

MIT spinoff Quaise Energy is building a drill that vaporizes rock — so that we can tap into the energy miles below our feet.

Geothermal energy: Earth’s core is as hot as the surface of the sun, but we don’t have to go too far below the surface to start feeling the heat — in the Mponeng gold mine in South Africa, which has a depth of 2.5 miles, rock temperatures can reach 140 degrees Fahrenheit.

Continue reading “MIT wants to use a rock-vaporizing drill to cut 12 miles into Earth’s crust” »

Perovskite solar cells might revolutionize how humans generate energy from sunlight.
https://brilliant.org/ElectricFuture.
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In this video we’ll explore the world’s fastest improving new solar technology, and provide an exclusive peek inside the lab of a team working on this breakthrough material.

Continue reading “Solar 3.0: This New Technology Could Change Everything” »

North Virginia will make multi-billion dollar decisions this year on the region’s transportation future—decisions that are only going to induce more driving.

During an industrial control systems hacking challenge, a Dutch team won $40,000 for cracking tech used to control the power grid.