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Archive for the ‘sustainability’ category: Page 580

Oct 31, 2016

Solar Cell Cathodes Made from Human Hair

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

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) in Kolkata, India, have for the first time implemented a bio-waste-derived electrode as cathode in a quantum-dot-sensitized solar cell.

“The materials to be used as cathode in quantum dot solar cells need to be highly catalytic and electrically conducting to facilitate the electron transfer processes,” explains Professor Sayan Bhattacharyya from the Department of Chemical Sciences at IISER. He adds that the lamellar structure of human hair is likely responsible for the graphene-like sheets in the transformed graphitic porous carbon. “Secondly,” he continues, “since hair contains keratin and other amino acids, carbonizing the acid-digested hair under inert conditions likely retains the nitrogen and sulphur hetero-atoms, which are useful to enhance the catalytic propensity of the produced carbon.”

As the professor explains, the idea behind this research project was to use a bio-waste resource like hair in future energy technologies to achieve a win-win situation — i.e., “A smart way to address environmental concerns and also to produce cheaper devices.”

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Oct 31, 2016

New Technique Reveals Powerful, “Patchy” Approach to Nanoparticle Synthesis

Posted by in categories: nanotechnology, particle physics, solar power, sustainability

Patches of chain-like molecules placed across nanoscale particles can radically transform the optical, electronic, and magnetic properties of particle-based materials. Understanding why depends critically on the three-dimensional features of these “polymer nano-patches”—which are tantalizingly difficult to reveal at a scale spanning just billionths of a meter.

Now, scientists have used cutting-edge electron tomography techniques—a process of 3D reconstructive imaging —to pinpoint the structure and composition of the polymer nano-patches. The results, published earlier this month in the journal Nature, “lay the foundation for new nanoscale architectures that could potentially enhance technologies such as self-assembled solar cells and catalysts,” said lead author Eugenia Kumacheva of the University of Toronto.

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Oct 31, 2016

Tesla’s New Solar Roof Shingles Remind Us of Its Future in Energy

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, energy, habitats, sustainability, transportation

So, could this material be also in the metal exterior of their cars?


Last Friday, Tesla Motors??? (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk debuted new solar roof shingles for homes at an event at Universal Studios in Los Angeles, reminding all of us that the electric car maker is much more than just a car company.

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Oct 31, 2016

Elon Musk Unveils ‘Solar Roof ’

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, solar power, sustainability

Elon Musk Unveils ‘Solar Roof ‘

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Oct 29, 2016

Elon Musk Unveils Tesla’s New ‘Solar Roof’

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, energy, habitats, sustainability, transportation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mUJnKI3ipI&feature=youtu.be

Energy independent housing. Here you go.


Filmed on Oct 28, 2016.

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Oct 29, 2016

Tesla Solar

Posted by in categories: solar power, sustainability

The sun provides more than enough energy in just one hour to supply our planet’s energy needs for an entire year. Your home can capture this free, abundant energy source through rooftop solar tiles, turning sunlight into electricity for immediate use or storage in a Powerwall battery.

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Oct 27, 2016

World facing biggest mass extinction since dinosaurs — with two thirds of animals wiped out in 50 years

Posted by in categories: climatology, existential risks, sustainability

Not all things future are for the best😑.


The world is facing the biggest extinction since the dinosaurs, with seven in 10 mammals, birds, fish, amphibians and reptiles wiped out in just 50 years, a new report warns.

The latest Living Planet report by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) estimates that by 2020 populations of vertebrates will have fallen by 67 per cent since 1970.

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Oct 27, 2016

New soap is cleaner and greener

Posted by in category: sustainability

Something needed to replace antibacterial soaps.


Whether they’re hand soap, shampoo, dish-washing liquid or laundry detergent, the majority of commonly-used soaps contain petroleum-based cleansing agents. Obtaining that petroleum isn’t exactly an eco-friendly process, plus it becomes a source of pollution once it goes down the drain. While there are petroleum-free soaps out there, they often don’t perform that well. Now, however, scientists have developed one that is claimed to actually work better than mainstream products.

The new soap was developed by a consortium led by the University of Minnesota. It combines renewable biodegradable ingredients such as fatty acids from soybeans or coconut, along with sugar from corn, to form a soap molecule known as oleo-furan-surfactant (OFS).

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Oct 26, 2016

Play the PC game Elon Musk wrote as a pre-teen

Posted by in categories: alien life, Elon Musk, internet, military, space travel, sustainability

Elon Musk is obsessed with space. At age 30, he founded SpaceX. At age 41, he oversaw the first cargo mission to the International Space Station by a private company. And at age 12, as a kid living in South Africa, he made a space-themed PC game called Blastar. Now, thanks to the power of the internet, you can play that game.

Musk sold the code for Blastar for $500 to the magazine PC and Office Technology, and a reproduction of the page it appeared on was published in Ashlee Vance’s biography Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future. From there, Tomas Lloret Llinares — a software engineer at Google — took the code and rebuilt the game to work in HTML5.

Your mission, as the game’s lonely space pilot, is to “destroy [the] alien freighter carrying deadly hydrogen bombs and status beam machines.” Blastar is mostly a mix of Space Invaders and Asteroid, though it’s much more basic. There is never more than two ships on the screen, there are few sound effects, and — like many games of its time — it really has no ending. It’s almost unimpressive; that is, until you remember that it was made by a 12-year-old in 1984.

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Oct 25, 2016

Watch a student-designed Hyperloop pod LEVITATE for the first time

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, sustainability, transportation

The future of travel is here: Watch a Hyperloop pod designed by students LEVITATE for the first time…


A team of more than 60 students from the University of Cincinnati came up with the prototype as part of Tesla boss Elon Musk’s Hyperloop design competition.

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