Lifeboat Foundation

KINGSTON, N.Y. (AP) — On a tributary of the Hudson River, a tugboat powered by ammonia eased away from the shipyard dock and sailed for the first time to show how the maritime industry can slash planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions.

The tugboat used to run on diesel fuel. The New York-based startup company Amogy bought the 67-year-old ship to switch it to cleanly-made ammonia, a new, carbon-free fuel.

The tugboat’s first sail on Sunday night is a milestone in a race to develop zero-emissions propulsion using renewable fuel. Emissions from shipping have increased over the last decade — to about 3% of the global total according to the United Nations — as vessels have gotten much bigger, delivering more cargo per trip and using immense amounts of fuel oil.

Researchers have developed a new organic thermoelectric device that can harvest energy from ambient temperature. While thermoelectric devices have several uses today, hurdles still exist to their full utilization. By combining the unique abilities of organic materials, the team succeeded in developing a framework for thermoelectric power generation at room temperature without any temperature gradient.

Their findings were published in the journal Nature Communications.

Thermoelectric devices, or thermoelectric generators, are a series of energy-generating materials that can convert heat into electricity so long as there is a temperature gradient —where one side of the device is hot and the other side is cool. Such devices have been a significant focus of research and development for their potential utility in harvesting waste heat from other energy-generating methods.

The first phase of the world’s largest sodium-ion battery energy storage system (BESS), in China, has come online.

The first 50MW/100MWh portion of the project in Qianjiang, Hubei province has been completed and put into operation, state-owned media outlet Yicai Global and technology provider HiNa Battery said this week.

As a trailblazer in clean logistics, Hyzon continues to leverage hydrogen’s potential to fuel transportation innovations.

Hyzon Motors is making significant strides in revolutionizing the heavy-duty transportation industry with the production of its pioneering Class 8 200kW Fuel Cell Electric Truck. This milestone highlights the company’s dedication to advancing zero-emission technology and addressing sectors traditionally reliant on diesel.

The vehicle production results from a strategic partnership with North Carolina-based Fontaine Modification, which assembles the trucks by integrating Hyzon’s advanced fuel cell systems, battery packs, and hydrogen storage solutions into the chassis. This collaboration ensures each vehicle meets new standards in innovation and road-readiness.

Continue reading “Hyzon’s Fuel Cell Trucks Challenge The Diesel Norm” »

In a few picoseconds (trillionths of a second), a small, thin piece of copper momentarily becomes dense plasma, specifically a state called warm dense matter, warm being a relative term—the metal is nearly 200,000 degrees Fahrenheit. With the short duration of a high-powered laser pulse, copper shifts from a solid state to a plasma state in an instant before it explodes. Understanding the progression of heat in the copper is an exciting breakthrough in physics relevant to the interior of giant planets and laser fusion fuel cores.

Lithium-ion (or Li-ion) batteries are heavy hitters when it comes to the world of rechargeable batteries. As electric vehicles become more common in the world, a high-energy, low-cost battery utilizing the abundance of manganese (Mn) can be a sustainable option to become commercially available and utilized in the automobile industry.

Currently, batteries used for powering electric vehicles (EVs) are nickel (Ni) and cobalt (Co)-based, which can be expensive and unsustainable for a society with a growing desire for EVs.

By switching the positive electrode materials to a lithium/manganese-based material, researchers aim to maintain the high performance of Ni/Co-based materials but with a low-cost, sustainable twist.

The US has some impressive flywheel energy storage plants. The largest of these is the 20 MW Beacon Power flywheel station located in Stephentown, New York. Until recently, it was the world’s largest flywheel energy storage system (FESS), but not anymore.

China has developed a massive 30-megawatt (MW) FESS in Shanxi province called the Dinglun flywheel energy storage power station.

Continue reading “China connects world’s largest flywheel energy storage system to grid” »

An international team of researchers has found a surprisingly simple relationship between the rates of energy and information transmission across an interface connecting two quantum field theories. Their work was published in Physical Review Letters on August 30.

Scientists Create Matter from Pure Light, Demonstrating Einstein’s E=mc² Equation in Action.

Physicists at Brookhaven National Laboratory have achieved a groundbreaking experiment, creating matter from light by demonstrating the Breit-Wheeler process. Using the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, they accelerated heavy ions to generate nearly real photons, leading to the formation of electron-positron pairs. This experiment showcases Einstein’s E=mc² equation in action, aligning with predictions for transforming energy into matter. While these virtual photons act similarly to real ones, the experiment is a crucial step towards proving the process with real photons when technology advances to create gamma-ray lasers. Don’t forget to comment your thought about this!