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Archive for the ‘sustainability’ category: Page 268

Feb 17, 2022

Scientists combine AI and atomic-scale images in pursuit of better batteries

Posted by in categories: chemistry, robotics/AI, sustainability, transportation

Today’s rechargeable batteries are a wonder, but far from perfect. Eventually, they all wear out, begetting expensive replacements and recycling.

“But what if batteries were indestructible?” asks William Chueh, an associate professor of materials science and engineering at Stanford University and senior author of a new paper detailing a first-of-its-kind analytical approach to building better batteries that could help speed that day. The study appears in the journal Nature Materials.

Chueh, lead author Haitao “Dean” Deng, Ph.D. ‘21, and collaborators at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, MIT and other research institutions used artificial intelligence to analyze new kinds of atomic-scale microscopic images to understand exactly why batteries wear out. Eventually, they say, the revelations could lead to batteries that last much longer than today’s. Specifically, they looked at a particular type of lithium-ion batteries based on so-called LFP materials, which could lead to mass-market electric vehicles because it does not use chemicals with constrained supply chains.

Feb 17, 2022

Tesla hit with disturbing racial discrimination allegations… again

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, space travel, sustainability

SpaceX readies Starship.

Tesla needs a major change.

Continue reading “Tesla hit with disturbing racial discrimination allegations… again” »

Feb 17, 2022

GreenCore Partners With B&D Industries To Provide Labor For 10,000 Solar EV Charging Plazas

Posted by in categories: sustainability, transportation

GreenCore EV Services has a goal of building and operating a network of over 10,000 solar EV charging plazas throughout the United States by the end of the decade. The company’s charging plazas will serve both consumer and commercial vehicles.

To help usher in this goal, GreenCore announced that it has selected B&D Industries to provide labor and prefabrication services to build out the company’s network of solar-powered EV charging plazas.

Feb 16, 2022

How the U.S. fell behind in lithium, the ‘white gold’ of electric vehicles

Posted by in categories: sustainability, transportation

The U.S. used to be a global leader in lithium production, but now has fallen way behind. Several domestic projects are in the works, but will it be enough?

Feb 16, 2022

Scientists accidentally stumble on ‘holy grail’ of batteries

Posted by in categories: mobile phones, sustainability, transportation

Lithium-sulfur batteries have three times the potential charge capacity of lithium-ion batteries, which are found in everything from smartphones to electric cars. Their inherent instability, however, have so far made them unsuitable for commercial applications, with lithium-sulfur batteries undergoing a 78 per cent change in size every charging cycle.

Overcoming this issue would not only radically improve the performance of battery-powered devices, it would also address some of the environment concerns that come with lithium-ion batteries, such as the sourcing and disposal of rare raw materials.

Feb 16, 2022

‘Exciton surfing’ could enable next-gen energy, computing and communications tech

Posted by in categories: computing, solar power, sustainability

A quasiparticle that forms in semiconductors can now be moved around at room temperature, a University of Michigan-led study has shown. The finding could cool down computers, enabling faster speeds and higher efficiencies, and potentially make LEDs and solar panels more efficient.

Today’s electronic devices rely on electrons to move both energy and information around, but about half of that energy is wasted as heat due to . Excitons, which escape traditional electrical losses, are one potential alternative.

“If you think of the past almost two decades, the computers have always been at two to three gigahertz—they never increase the speed. And that’s the reason. It just gets too hot,” said Parag Deotare, assistant professor of electrical engineering and science and corresponding author of the study.

Feb 16, 2022

Next-Gen Concentrating Solar Power Research Heats Up at NREL

Posted by in categories: solar power, sustainability

Feb 15, 2022

Marvel At The Size Of Giga Texas As Drone Takes 360-Degree Flight

Posted by in categories: drones, sustainability

Located near Austin, Tesla’s Gigafactory Texas is expected to start producing Model Ys for customers before the end of this quarter.

Feb 15, 2022

Autonomous Trash-Eating Boats Clean Up Water Pollution

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

With marine debris a growing concern, innovators are getting creative — designing autonomous boats that act as on-the-water trash-eating machines.

The latest development comes from the Danish company RanMarine Technology. They’ve created an aquadrone called WasteShark that sucks up waste from the water much like a Roomba — consuming up to 200 liters of garbage in a single ride.

Feb 15, 2022

New Magnet-Free Electric Motor Needs No Maintenance

Posted by in categories: sustainability, transportation

In order to come up with their design, MAHLE said it used a state-of-the-art simulation process that allowed it to adjust and combine the parameters of different motor designs incrementally in order to settle on the optimal solution. The company says this new method allows it to “quickly create the necessary technical conditions in order to advance e-mobility in a sustainable manner worldwide.”

Though the new motor design was conceived using the very latest simulation processes, the inception of induction motors dates back to the 19th century when they were invented by Nikola Tesla. A new electric vehicle development, EV-charging roads, similarly builds on the inventor’s early work on alternating currents.