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Archive for the ‘energy’ category: Page 219

Dec 19, 2020

‘Heat Ray’ And ‘The Voice Of God’: My Experience With The Nonlethal Weapons Eyed For Use In D.C. Protests

Posted by in categories: energy, military

“During the summer disturbances in Washington, D.C., a top local military police officer asked the D.C. National Guard about deploying two military systems that seem to come out of science fiction. One, the Active Denial System (ADS), makes the target’s skin feel like it’s on fire. The other, called the Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD), directs intense sound in a narrow cone. The sound is so clear and so powerful that it was nicknamed “the voice of God.” I encountered both systems, one at Quantico, Virginia, the other in Falluja, Iraq. Here’s what I saw.”


DOD has two crowd control systems that are straight out of science fiction. One uses direct energy to create a burning sensation on exposed skin. The other is so loud that it sounds like the voice of God.

Dec 19, 2020

Bill Gates Invests in Hydrogen-Powered Airplane Startup

Posted by in categories: energy, government, transportation

The money will go towards fuel cells powerful enough to fly a passenger plane.

Dec 19, 2020

Toyota ready to unveil solid-state battery EV in 2021

Posted by in category: energy

The new batteries would be safer, more compact, and more energy-dense.

Dec 17, 2020

Hydropower Vision: New Report Highlights Future Pathways for U.S. Hydropower

Posted by in categories: business, economics, employment, energy, engineering

Hydropower has been around for more than a century, and is currently the nation’s largest source of clean, domestic, renewable electricity. What could its role look like in the year 2050?

Providing about 7 percent of the nation’s electricity, hydropower supports more than 143, 000 jobs in engineering, manufacturing, construction and utility operations and maintenance — all while improving the environment and strengthening our economy. Additionally, pumped-storage hydropower represents 97 percent of all energy storage in the United States, offering the flexibility and reliability the electricity grid needs to deliver affordable clean energy to American homes and businesses.

So what does the future of hydropower look like? To answer that question, over the past two years the Energy Department has collaborated with more than 300 experts from more than 150 hydropower industry companies, environmental organizations, state and federal governmental agencies, academic institutions, electric power system operators, research institutions and other stakeholders to explore how it could evolve in the coming decades.

Dec 17, 2020

Renewable Energy on the Outer Continental Shelf

Posted by in categories: energy, policy, sustainability

BOEM is responsible for offshore renewable energy development in Federal waters. The program began in 2009, when the Department of the Interior (DOI) announced the final regulations for the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Renewable Energy Program, which was authorized by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct). These regulations provide a framework for all of the activities needed to support production and transmission of energy from sources other than oil and natural gas. BOEM anticipates future development on the OCS from these general sources:

Offshore Wind Energy

Offshore wind is an abundant, domestic energy resource that is located close to major coastal load centers. It provides an efficient alternative to long-distance transmission or development of electricity generation in these land-constrained regions.

Dec 17, 2020

Iron’s in the Fire: Smokeless, Carbon Free Combustion

Posted by in category: energy

Did you know iron could burn? The combustion of iron powder seen here is taking place on an entirely smokeless, carbon free basis.

Tested in microgravity aboard ESA sounding rockets by a team from McGill University in Canada and Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, this technique has now been harnessed by Swinkels Family Brewers in the Netherlands, helping to free their brewing process from reliance on fossil fuels.

Continue reading “Iron’s in the Fire: Smokeless, Carbon Free Combustion” »

Dec 17, 2020

The batteries that could make fossil fuels obsolete

Posted by in categories: energy, sustainability

The advent of “big battery” technology addresses a key challenge for green energy – the intermittency of wind and solar.

Dec 17, 2020

Kitchen Temperature Superconductivity From Stacked 2D Materials

Posted by in categories: energy, food

Ultra-low-energy electronics ‘straight out of the fridge’? Could a stack of 2D materials allow for supercurrents at ground-breakingly warm temperatures, easily achievable in the household kitchen? An international study published in August opens a new route to high-temperature supercurrents at t.

Dec 13, 2020

Solar-based Electronic Skin Generates Its Own Power

Posted by in categories: energy, innovation

Scientists demonstrate a innovative e-skin with touch and proximity-sensing capabilities without using dedicated touch sensors.

Dec 13, 2020

How A Colorado Startup Could Change The Game For Electric Cars

Posted by in categories: energy, sustainability, transportation

“What our technology does is it improves range and lowers vehicle cost,” Campbell said. “It’s as simple as that.”

As the name of his company suggests, Campbell thinks the key is a more-solid electric car battery. The lithium-ion batteries powering almost all of today’s electric vehicles rely on a liquid electrolyte, which ferries charged ions from a cathode to an anode. While the technology makes it practical to charge and recharge, the liquid can catch fire if overloaded.

For decades, scientists have seen a potential answer in solid electrolytes, which could allow a battery to soak up more energy without overheating.