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Archive for the ‘sustainability’ category: Page 572

Feb 14, 2017

Nuclear Reactors to Power Space Exploration

Posted by in categories: nuclear energy, solar power, space travel, sustainability

For the past five decades—from the Apollo-era lunar science experiments to the Mars Curiosity and the New Horizons missions—Pu-238 Radioisotope Thermal Generators (RTG) have served as a power source. While some of the NASA’s forays will continue to rely on these RTGs, others will require larger power sources to enable human space and planetary exploration and establish reliable high bandwidth deep-space communications. Solar power cannot handle this goal. A larger nuclear-based power source is required.

In a recent Washington Post article, Jeff Bezos, founder of amazon.com and creator of Blue Origin space project said, “I think NASA should work on a space-rated nuclear reactor. If you had a nuclear reactor in space—especially if you want to go anywhere beyond Mars­—you really need nuclear power. Solar power just gets progressively difficult as you get further way from the sun. And that’s a completely doable thing to have a safe, space-qualified nuclear reactor.”

Calls for space nuclear power are not new. In fact, numerous reactor concepts have been proposed in the past. Their development is often dampened by the perception that nuclear is too hard, takes too long and costs too much.

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Feb 13, 2017

Creating computers that use 10,000 times less energy

Posted by in categories: computing, cosmology, mobile phones, sustainability

Quest to settle riddle over Einstein’s dark energy theory may soon be over

Saving energy is just as important as finding new and sustainable sources. By reducing the demand we reduce the energy and storage needed in the first place.

This is a first step in creating the tools needed to design and engineer low energy electronics. Cell Phones that last for weeks on a single charge and computers and servers using micro watts. However you will still need a lot of energy to drive screens and interface devices.

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Feb 11, 2017

Google Test Of AI’s Killer Instinct Shows We Should Be Very Careful

Posted by in categories: climatology, military, robotics/AI, sustainability

If climate change, nuclear weapons or Donald Trump don’t kill us first, there’s always artificial intelligence just waiting in the wings. It’s been a long time worry that when AI gains a certain level of autonomy it will see no use for humans or even perceive them as a threat. A new study by Google’s DeepMind lab may or may not ease those fears.

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Feb 11, 2017

This New Material Can Turn Sunlight, Heat, and Movement Into Electricity

Posted by in categories: solar power, sustainability

Scientists have discovered that a certain type of mineral has the right properties to extract energy from multiple sources at the same time — turning solar, heat, and kinetic energy into electricity.

The mineral is a type of perovskite — a family of minerals with a specific crystal structure — and this is the first time researchers have identified one that can convert energy from all three sources at room temperature.

Since the first perovskite solar cell was invented back in 2009, these minerals have been positioned as the ‘next big thing’ in renewable energy technology.

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Feb 11, 2017

YK Bae can now amplify photonic laser thrust

Posted by in categories: military, solar power, space travel, sustainability

Young Bae of Advanced Space and Energy Technologies in Tustin, California, has improved his photonic laser thruster. was developed with NASA funding. His thruster works because light exerts pressure when it hits something. In theory, it is possible to move an object like a CubeSat by nudging it with a laser beam. In practice, however, the pressure which light exerts is so small that a device able to do a useful amount of nudging would require a laser of unfeasibly large power.

Dr Bae has overcome this limitation by bouncing light repeatedly between the source laser and the satellite, to multiply the thrust. In his latest experiments, Dr Bae has managed to amplify the thrust imparted by a single nudge of the laser by a factor of 1,500, which is big enough to manoeuvre a CubeSat as well as a conventional thruster would. This brings two advantages. First, since no on-board propellant is required, there is more room for instruments. Second, there being no fuel to run out, a CubeSat’s orbit can be boosted as many times as is desired, and its working life prolonged indefinitely.

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Feb 10, 2017

Crystals for Superconduction, Quantum Computing and High Efficiency Solar Cells

Posted by in categories: chemistry, computing, quantum physics, solar power, sustainability

Nice forum on QC Crystal Superconduction in Mar.


From March 8–10, 2017, an International Conference on Crystal Growth is to be held in Freiburg under the auspices of the German Association of Crystal Growth DGKK and the Swiss Society for Crystallography SGK-SSCR. The conference, jointly organized by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, the Crystallography department of the Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University Freiburg and the University of Geneva, is to be held in the seminar rooms of the Chemistry Faculty of the University of Freiburg. Furthermore, the Young DGKK will hold a seminar for young scientists at Fraunhofer ISE on March 7, 2017.

“Whether for mobile communication, computers or LEDs, crystalline materials are key components of our modern lifestyle,” says Dr. Stephan Riepe, group head in the Department of Silicon Materials at Fraunhofer ISE. “Crystal growth has a long tradition and today is still far from becoming obsolete. Materials with special crystalline structure are being developed for applications in high-temperature superconductors through to low-loss power transmission. Artificial diamonds are a favorite choice for building quantum computers. At the conference, the production of silicon, III-V semiconductors and most currently perovskite layers for cost-effective high efficiency tandem solar cells will also be discussed.”

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Feb 9, 2017

Dotz Nano reveals proof of concept for a new type of flash memory

Posted by in categories: computing, quantum physics, solar power, sustainability

New Graphene based flash memory card coming.


Dotz Nano (ASX: DTZ) has successfully completed a proof of concept research study into the use of Graphene Quantum Dots (GQDs) in flash memory devices with the Kyung Hee University in South Korea.

GQDs are being developed for use in various applications including medical imaging, sensing, consumer electronics, energy storage, solar cells and computer storage.

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Feb 7, 2017

Toxic particles from air pollution causing people’s brains to swell… “city life” linked to brain deterioration

Posted by in categories: neuroscience, sustainability

Geez; not good. 1st thought is our friends in Beijing.


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Feb 7, 2017

Solar-powered Ring Garden marries desalination and agriculture for drought-stricken California

Posted by in categories: education, energy, food, sustainability

Ring Garden is a finalist of LAGI 2016: Santa Monica, a biennial design competition that encourages interconnectivity between art, renewable energy and education.

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Feb 4, 2017

Architects Reveal What They Think “The City of the Future” Will Look Like

Posted by in categories: space, sustainability

In Brief

  • From colonies on Mars to massive pods under the sea, architects and urban planners have come up with some wildly imaginative designs for the future of city living.
  • Given current population trends and our ever-worsening environment, we need to start thinking now about how humanity will live in the future.

When you imagine what the cities of the future will look like, it’s hard to think that we can do more than what some nations have already achieved. For instance, Dubai, Japan, and Singapore feature some of the world’s most impressive modern architectural marvels; Helsinki is pioneering a future in data transparency; Brazil is setting the standard for efficient and sustainable mass transportation and eco-consciousness; and Korea is defining an urban landscape anchored on digital connectivity.

But architects and urban planners are letting their imaginations run wild — after all, where else can we go but toward our most outlandish, exciting, and sometimes even dystopian imaginings of the future?

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