Lifeboat Foundation

Our Next Energy Inc., an electric-car battery startup involving several former leaders of Apple secretive car project, is planning to invest $1.6 billion into a factory in Michigan to make enough battery cells for about 200,000 EVs annually.

The state of Michigan on Wednesday approved a $200 million grant for the project that promises to create 2,112 new jobs once the facility in Van Buren Township, about 10 miles west of the Detroit airport, is fully operational by the end of 2027. The company must create and maintain the jobs or face a clawback of the funds.

A workshop at UN General Assembly, organized in collaboration with the SRI Partner ACES Worldwide.
• Vidvus Beldavs-Energy Compacts — Implementation of Space Agenda 2030 — https://youtu.be/XQVHVkn3CiM?t=758
• Henk Rogers — The Hawaii — Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (Hi-SEAS) — https://youtu.be/XQVHVkn3CiM?t=1152
• Adriano V. Autino — How to make the 2030 SDGs sustainable — https://youtu.be/XQVHVkn3CiM?t=1781
• Kiran Gautam — Space science technology and sustainable civilian development — https://youtu.be/XQVHVkn3CiM?t=2481
• Pascale Ehrenfreund — Space exploration, an international endeavour — https://youtu.be/XQVHVkn3CiM?t=2955
• Agata Kptpdziejczyk — Analog missions for sustainable civilian development — https://youtu.be/XQVHVkn3CiM?t=3572
• Armin Wedler — AI-powered vehicles for humanitarian help deployment — https://youtu.be/XQVHVkn3CiM?t=4405
• Ioana-Roxana Perrier — Training the future space sceintists, engingineers and explorers — https://youtu.be/XQVHVkn3CiM?t=5461
• Serena Crotti — Space on Earth — Design of a trasnportable base for Space mission simulations on Earth — https://youtu.be/XQVHVkn3CiM?t=6333
• Bernard Foing — Space4All Researchers, Astronauts and Entrepreneurs — https://youtu.be/XQVHVkn3CiM?t=8738

An upcycling method changes the most widely produced plastic into the second most widely produced plastic, making it more sustainable.

A new technique has been developed by scientists that transforms polyethylene (PE), the most widely produced plastic, into polypropylene (PP), the second most produced plastic.

Upcycling plastic efficiently to eliminate waste

Continue reading “A new process can make plastics more environmentally friendly” »

The energy industry is looking to carbon capture and sequestration to mitigate climate change. That means finding lots of pore space.

They will need thousands of these underground sites to store tens of millions of tons of CO₂ to help mitigate climate change.

Scientists are ringing alarm bells about a significant new threat to U.S. water quality: as winters warm due to climate change, they are unleashing large amounts of nutrient pollution into lakes, rivers, and streams.

The first-of-its-kind national study finds that previously frozen winter nutrient pollution—unlocked by rising winter temperatures and rainfall—is putting water quality at risk in 40% of the contiguous U.S., including over 40 states.

Nutrient runoff into rivers and lakes—from phosphorus and nitrogen in fertilizers, manure, animal feed, and more—has affected water quality for decades. However, most research on nutrient runoff in snowy climates has focused on the growing season. Historically, cold temperatures and a continuous snowpack froze nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous in place until the watershed thawed in the spring, when plants could help absorb excess nutrients.

Biologist Roni Hochman Sussman explains how aquaculture could become the most sustainable and efficient way of feeding the globe’s rapidly increasing population.

Portland General Electric (PGE), a public utility, has partnered with NextEra Energy Resources to create a 350 megawatt (MW) clean energy project that combines wind, solar, and battery storage. Wheatridge Renewable Energy Facility, located at the northern edge of Oregon, has the capacity to serve 100,000 homes.

Although great progress is being made with scaling up renewables, intermittency remains a significant issue – since wind does not always blow, and the Sun does not always shine. Falling costs and improvements in technology mean that batteries are increasingly a realistic option for utilities, but we are still a long way from such systems being able to fully handle the demands of national electrical grids.

The newly operational Wheatfield facility is among the most notable advances in battery storage to date in the U.S. It consists of 120 turbines (a mix of 2.3 MW and 2.5 MW machines) generating 300 MW, alongside a 50 MW photovoltaic solar array, for a total of 350 MW. An accompanying battery storage facility is charged using power from the grid and provides 30 MW of continuous power for four hours, i.e. 120 megawatt-hours (MWh). When combined, this is enough to supply nearly 60% of the power generated by the Boardman Coal Plant, which became the last coal-fired plant in Oregon before its demolition a few weeks ago.

“Take Materials Science 101. You won’t regret it.”

Newly 3D printed metal could be used by Tesla to produce all-electric vehicles with just a few massive parts, thanks to two MIT students. Announced very recently.

PhonlamaiPhoto/iStock.

Continue reading “Tesla now can produce cars with just a few massive parts with MIT’s innovative 3D-printed metal” »

The leading maker of electric vehicles is trying to satisfy strong worldwide demand for its cars.