Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: sustainability – Page 206

The Kardashev Scale has become a standardized way of classifying (hypothetical) advanced civilizations. The lowest rank, Type 1, is still way ahead of us — but by how much? When will we achieve Type 1 status and exactly how could we plausibly do so? In this video, we go through some estimates of when humanity might become Type 1, and in particular what kind of energy sources we could harness to achieve this feat.

You can now support our research program and the Cool Worlds Lab at Columbia University: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support.

► Kardashev (1964), “Transmission of Information by Extraterrestrial Civilizations”, Soviet Astronomy, 8217: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1964SvA…
► Michio Kaku video clip from BigThink: https://youtu.be/7NPC47qMJVg.
► Wind map movie credit to Rufinoman and earth.nullschool.net: https://youtu.be/cj2JHsQUoRs.
► Wind energy calculation based off Smil (2004), “Inherent limits of renewable energies“
► References for the 3.7TW figure for tidal energy dissipation are: Cartwright 1993 (Theory of ocean tides with application to altimetry, in Satellite Altimetry in Geodesy and Oceanography, edites by R. Rummel and F. Sanso, pp. 99–141, Springer-Verlag, New York), Ray 1994 (Tidal energy dissipation: Observations from astronomy, geodesy, and oceanography, in, The Oceans, edited by S. Majumdaret al., pp. 171–185, Pa. Acad. of Sci., Easton, Pa.), Kagan & Sundermann 1996 (Kagan Dissipation of tidal energy paleotides, and evolution of the Earth-Moon system, Adv. Geophys., 38, pp. 179–266)
► Solar video comes from NASA SDO and GSFC: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12706
► Learn more about the Carno cycle here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnot_cycle.
► Learn more about the planetary equilibrium calculation here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_equilibrium_temperature.
► Tidal power map comes from Gunn & Stock-Williams (2012): https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148112001310
► Outro music by Thomas Bergersen “Final Frontier”: http://www.thomasbergersen.com.
► Columbia University Department of Astronomy: http://www.astro.columbia.edu.
► Cool Worlds Lab website: http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu.

::Playlists For Channel::

Continue reading “Becoming a Kardashev Type I Civilization” | >

A Dutch entrepreneur is helping to fight climate change rather unexpectedly — by using cryptocurrency mining to grow tulips!

In a modern twist, the Dutch are using bitcoin mining to reap an age-old bounty — tulips! Known for centuries as one of their most iconic cash crops, these beloved flowers now have another purpose in Holland: powering cryptocurrency.

The idea is so promising that even philosopher Nassim Nicholas Taleb has compared bitcoin mining in greenhouses to his concept of the “black swan” event. Despite the comparisons to Tulipmania, Koning believes that Dutch agriculturalists could benefit greatly from bitcoin mining in the years ahead.

Even though the cryptocurrency sector is currently facing a major downfall – from $16,300 per unit to $68,000 in 2021, De Groot is not worried.

Continue reading “A Dutch startup uses Bitcoin mining to grow tulips in the Netherlands” | >

Clean energy will reduce dependency on Russia and Arab countries for oil and gas.

What if the weight could instead be distributed between multiple support poles? That’s the design Eolink has in mind; its floating turbine swaps out the single large pole for four thinner ones angled towards each other in a pyramid shape. This not only distributes the weight of the turbine’s pieces, it allows the whole structure to be lighter.

The turbine Eolink plans to build as a proof of concept will have a generating capacity of five megawatts and weigh 1,100 tons. Its base will be a square with each side 171 feet (52 meters) long, and its rotor’s diameter will be 469 feet (143 meters). For reference, that’s about one and a half Big Bens, or four-fifths of the Washington Monument.

You wouldn’t think that such a huge piece of machinery would be simple to build and transport. But compared to conventional offshore turbines, Eolink’s design does carry a myriad of advantages in terms of both cost and ease.

Continue reading “This Floating ‘Pyramid’ Wind Turbine Will Produce More Energy at a Lower Cost, Company Says” | >

Solar cell technology is a seen as a key pillar in our transition to cleaner forms of energy, but within this field there is all kinds of room for experimentation. Solar cells that are thin and flexible hold unique promise in the area, as they could be applied to all kinds of irregular, curvy or otherwise unsuitable surfaces. Thinner than a human hair, a new lightweight solar cell from MIT scientists continues to push the envelope in this space.

The MIT team behind the technology sought to build on its previous advances in material science, which in 2016 culminated in ultra-thin solar cells light enough to sit atop a soap bubble without breaking it. As is the case with other thin, light and flexible solar cells we’ve looked at over the years, this pointed to all kinds of possibilities, from paper-based electronics to lightweight wearables that harvest energy throughout your day.

Despite the potential, the team still had some problems to solve, with the fabrication technique for the solar cells requiring vacuum chambers and expensive vapor deposition methods. In order to scale the technology up, the scientists have now turned to ink-based printable materials to streamline the process.

Read more | >

The technology could help make EVs more affordable as well as easier to charge.

A collaboration between researchers at the Yokohoma National University in Japan and the University of New South Wales Sydney, Australia has led to the development of a new electrode material that can be used in solid-state batteries. Thus the electrode doesn’t diminish after multiple charges and discharge cycles and can help in manufacturing durable batteries for electric vehicles.

As the world is turning over to electric modes of transportation in its bid to reduce carbon emissions, the battery has become a focal area of development.

Black_Kira/iStock.

Continue reading “A new electric car battery material could dramatically boost charging times” | >

World Food Day, celebrated every year on 16 October, marks the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in 1945 as an organization that deals with global food and agricultural issues. The number of people going hungry has increased since 2014 and the prevalence of undernourishment has remained virtually unchanged in the past 3 years. This reversal in progress sends a clear warning that more must be done urgently if the Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger is to be achieved by 2030.

Read more | >

The ultralight solar cells are made of semiconducting inks using printing processes that can be scaled in the future to large-area manufacturing.

A group of engineers at MIT have developed a rather interesting solution to be deployed in remote locations or for assistance in emergencies: solar cells made of ultralight fabric that can turn any surface into a power source.

The research is published in Small Methods.

Continue reading “Video: MIT engineers develop paper-thin solar cells that can power any surface” | >

Environmentalists, however, argue that the process may not be a good thing.

University of Colorado researchers have conceived of a method of making useful materials out of some of the plastics that are inundating landfills everywhere, according to a report by the Colorado Sun.

The end result is a series of polycyanurate networks which have been used for decades in electronic devices, automobiles, circuit boards, the space industry and more.

AzmanJaka/iStock.

Continue reading “Scientists create emissions-free method for recycling plastics” | >

While Elon Musk’s Tesla has been making waves in the global auto industry, China has also become the center of action in the EV space! One company in China has recorded.

A breakthrough in battery technology so huge that even Musk is impressed! Which.

Chinese company has recorded this feat? What does the revolutionary battery offer?

Join us as we dive into how China just shocked the entire EV industry with a new battery!

Continue reading “China JUST REVEALED Battery Breakthrough That Charges Faster Than Gasoline!” | >