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Archive for the ‘sustainability’ category: Page 231

Jan 17, 2022

Next Fiat Panda aims for ‘most affordable EV’ title, will slot below 500e

Posted by in categories: sustainability, transportation

Next Fiat Panda aims for ‘most affordable EV’ title with customizable, clever crossover that will slot below 500e.


What’s the most affordable EV you can buy? If rumors out of Fiat are to be believed, the answer to that question will soon be “the new Fiat Panda” as Stellantis targets the bottom end of the booming electric car market.

Set to arrive as soon as this spring, the new Fiat Panda will be an EV-only offering from Stellantis’ “entry” Italian brand, and is expected to slot in below the ell-electric Fiat 500e, price-wise, in the company’s lineup. Its main objective, as the brand’s President, Oliver Francois, told AutoExpress UK, is to “awaken the sleeping giant” he believes Fiat to be. “That’s exactly my point of view,” he says, when discussing new models. “We have not even started awakening the giant.”

Continue reading “Next Fiat Panda aims for ‘most affordable EV’ title, will slot below 500e” »

Jan 17, 2022

Dimming the Sun Could Spell Doom for Humanity, Experts Warn

Posted by in categories: climatology, engineering, policy, sustainability

Policy experts and scientists are coming together to stop such experimentation.

Back in March of 2021, we brought you news of a study from the Bill Gates-backed Harvard University Solar Geoengineering Research Program which aimed to evaluate the efficacy of blocking sunlight from reaching our planet’s surface in order to delay the effects of climate change.

Now, more than 60 policy experts and scientists have come together to claim that these kinds of geoengineering initiatives are very dangerous for humanity, according to Phys.org.

Continue reading “Dimming the Sun Could Spell Doom for Humanity, Experts Warn” »

Jan 17, 2022

Geneva Airport’s New Glasshouse Terminal Is Powered by 75,000 Square Feet of Solar Panels

Posted by in categories: solar power, sustainability, transportation

Geneva’s new airport terminal is not only futuristic looking, but it’s energy positive, with solar panels, geothermal power and smart glass.

Jan 17, 2022

Rolls-Royce Says Its Electric Plane Just Smashed the World Record for Speed

Posted by in categories: sustainability, transportation

The first electric plane took flight in 1973. There was just one person on board and the plane only stayed in the air for 14 minutes, but it was the beginning of an ongoing effort to power aircraft with batteries instead of fuel. Multiple companies are working on building faster, lighter, more efficient electric planes, as well as batteries to power those planes—and last week an aircraft made by Rolls-Royce hit some new milestones in the industry.

Cheerily dubbed the Spirit of Innovation, the plane is part of the company’s Accelerating the Electrification of Flight initiative. The seemingly precocious plane just completed its maiden flight a little over a month ago, and Rolls-Royce subsequently launched “an intense flight testing phase” to collect data on the performance of the aircraft’s power and propulsion system, a 400kW electric powertrain they call “the most power-dense propulsion battery pack ever assembled in aerospace.”

Last week, the company said in a press release, they set three new world records. First, the aircraft reached a top speed of 345.4 mph (555.9 km/h) over 1.8 miles (3 kilometers). That’s 132 mph (213 k/h) faster than the existing record. The Spirit of Innovation got up to an altitude of 9,842.5 feet (3,000 meters) in 202 seconds—60 seconds faster than the existing record. And finally, the plane reached a maximum speed of 387.4 mph (623 km/h) during its flight tests, which Rolls-Royce says makes it the world’s fastest all-electric vehicle. The company is waiting on the Federal Aviation Institute to confirm and certify these claims.

Jan 17, 2022

SCO2 Turbomachinery Developed for Concentrated Solar Power Plant

Posted by in categories: government, solar power, sustainability

Southwest Research Institute worked with government and commercial collaborators to successfully develop and demonstrate full-scale turbomachinery for one of the world’s first supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) power systems for a concentrated solar power (CSP) plant. The technology combines sCO2 power cycles with integrated thermal energy storage.

The project was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s APOLLO program, which was created to improve performance and reduced the cost of electricity from CSP plants. The 10MW sCO2 turbomachinery has successfully completed performance and endurance tests in a closed-loop environment.

SCO2 is carbon dioxide held above a critical temperature and pressure, which causes it to act like a gas while having the density of a liquid. It’s also nontoxic and nonflammable, having been used in dry cleaning processes, low-GHG refrigeration systems, as well as to decaffeinate coffee.

Jan 17, 2022

MIT Scientists Overcome a Major Bottleneck in Carbon Dioxide Conversion

Posted by in categories: chemistry, sustainability

Study reveals why some attempts to convert the greenhouse gas into fuel have failed, and offers possible solutions.

If researchers could find a way to chemically convert carbon dioxide into fuels or other products, they might make a major dent in greenhouse gas emissions. But many such processes that have seemed promising in the lab haven’t performed as expected in scaled-up formats that would be suitable for use with a power plant or other emissions sources.

Now, researchers at MIT.

Jan 17, 2022

New sub-Jupiter-mass exoplanet detected by astronomers

Posted by in categories: physics, satellites, sustainability

An international team of astronomers using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has detected a rocky planet, about half the mass of Earth, in an extraordinarily short 7.7-hour orbit around its parent star.

It’s a reminder that the science of extrasolar planet hunting seems to enter bizarro land with each new discovery. Planetary scientists still haven’t figured out how our own tiny Mercury — which orbits our Sun once every 88 days — actually formed and evolved. So, this iron-rich ultrashort-period (USP) planet, dubbed GJ 367b should really boggle their minds.

It’s completely rocky, unlike most previously detected gaseous hot Jupiters on extremely short stellar orbits. As a result, the tiny planet is estimated to have a surface with temperatures of 1,500 degrees Celsius, hot enough to melt iron; hardly an Earth 2.0.

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Jan 16, 2022

New Wind Generation Technology Produces 6 Times More Energy

Posted by in categories: energy, sustainability

A wind power company, SheerWind, from Minnesota USA has announced its new Invelox wind power generation technology. The company says its turbine could generate six times more energy than the amount produced by traditional turbines mounted on towers.via: News Direct

Source/image: News Direct

Jan 16, 2022

The World’s Fastest Electric Airplane

Posted by in categories: health, sustainability, transportation

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THE SPIRIT OF INNOVATION
On November 16, 2021, an experimental aircraft called the ‘Spirit of Innovation’, designed by Rolls Royce, would record an average speed of just under 556 km/h or 345mph over a 3km span. The Spirit of Innovation is the world’s fastest, all electric aircraft. It superseded the previous record set by the Siemens eAircraft Extra 330 LE Aerobatic aircraft in 2017 by over 213 km/h or 132 mph, and it also climbed over 60 seconds faster to 3,000 meters or about 10,000 ft.

Continue reading “The World’s Fastest Electric Airplane” »

Jan 16, 2022

Tarform begins delivering its slick-looking US-built electric motorcycles

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, sustainability

Brooklyn, New York-based Tarform Motorcycles began sketching out designs for its slick-looking electric motorcycles almost five years ago. Despite pandemic-related setbacks that delayed production, the company is now beginning deliveries on its first electric motorcycles.

These aren’t just any run-of-the-mill bikes though.

Unlike many of the electric motorcycles we see today that take on a more conventional design intended to please the widest audience, Tarform focused on a more bespoke, hand-made direction from the beginning.