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Category: sustainability – Page 447

Nestron Cube Two Is the Tiny House With Its Own AI Assistant

The tiny house we’re going to discuss today won’t buy you freedom like trailer-based models, but it compensates for that with its own AI assistant. It’s smart, it’s tiny, it can be solar powered if you want, and it’s still very chic. It’s dubbed the next-generation tiny house: the Cube Two from Nestron.

You don’t have to actually live large in order to live large. Tiny houses are a good option when it comes to minimizing your footprint, downsizing costs and not sacrificing anything but space you probably wouldn’t be using either way.

Desalination Breakthrough Could Lead to Cheaper Water Filtration

AUSTIN, Texas — Producing clean water at a lower cost could be on the horizon after researchers from The University of Texas at Austin and Penn State solved a complex problem that had baffled scientists for decades, until now.

Desalination membranes remove salt and other chemicals from water, a process critical to the health of society, cleaning billions of gallons of water for agriculture, energy production and drinking. The idea seems simple — push salty water through and clean water comes out the other side — but it contains complex intricacies that scientists are still trying to understand.

The research team, in partnership with DuPont Water Solutions, solved an important aspect of this mystery, opening the door to reduce costs of clean water production. The researchers determined desalination membranes are inconsistent in density and mass distribution, which can hold back their performance. Uniform density at the nanoscale is the key to increasing how much clean water these membranes can create.

Abu Dhabi is going to build the world’s largest indoor farm

Considering the innovations in vertical farming, it seems indoor farming is gaining even more steam.

Abhu Dhabi is now about to build the world’s largest indoor farm; overcoming their desert climate and making efficient use of their limited water supply. It will be able to produce 10000 tonnes of fresh vegies every 12 months.

Very cool! 😃

THE DESERT emirate of Abu Dhabi is set to have the world’s largest indoor farm, capable of producing more than 10000 tonnes of fresh vegetables every 12 months.

Abu Dhabi’s intense climate means that for eight months of the year it is impossible to grow vegetables naturally.

Continue reading “Abu Dhabi is going to build the world’s largest indoor farm” | >

This fuel is cheap, sustainable and completely safe — and we make over a million tonnes of it every day

Sanivation collects human waste from special toilets and turns it into sustainable fuel, which improves sanitation and reduces the environmental impact of burning wood.

Kenyan company Sanivation is putting waste to work, thanks to their human-waste briquettes.

But, as Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder Emily Woods explains, you wouldn’t know it:

“People question it at first, but our product doesn’t look like faeces, it doesn’t smell like faeces, you wouldn’t know it was unless we told you.”

Four ways microbial fuel cells might revolutionize electricity production in the future

The world population is estimated to reach 9.5 billion by 2050. Given that most of our current energy is generated from fossil fuels, this creates significant challenges when it comes to providing enough sustainable electricity while mitigating climate change.

One idea that has gained traction over recent years is generating using bacteria in devices called microbial fuel cells (MFCs). These fuel cells rely on the ability of certain naturally occurring microorganisms that have the ability to “breathe” metals, exchanging electrons to create electricity. This process can be fuelled using substances called substrates, which include organic materials found in wastewater.

At the moment microbial fuel cells are able to generate electricity to power small devices such as calculators, small fans and LEDs—in our lab we powered the lights on a mini Christmas tree using “simulated wastewater.” But if the technology is scaled up, it holds great promise.

Controlling the nanoscale structure of membranes is key for clean water, researchers find

A desalination membrane acts as a filter for salty water: push the water through the membrane, get clean water suitable for agriculture, energy production and even drinking. The process seems simple enough, but it contains complex intricacies that have baffled scientists for decades—until now.

Researchers from Penn State, The University of Texas at Austin, Iowa State University, Dow Chemical Company and DuPont Water Solutions published a key finding in understanding how membranes actually filter minerals from water, online today (Dec. 31) in Science. The article will be featured on the print edition’s cover, to be issued tomorrow (Jan. 1).

“Despite their use for many years, there is much we don’t know about how water filtration membranes work,” said Enrique Gomez, professor of chemical engineering and materials science and engineering at Penn State, who led the research. “We found that how you control the density distribution of the membrane itself at the nanoscale is really important for water-production performance.”

SpaceX will attempt to ‘catch’ Starship’s Super Heavy rocket booster instead of landing it

Tesla will need a landing platform to catch the rocket as it lands. According to Elon Musk its to save mass/weight and speed up the rockets readiness for its next launch.

This is for Tesla’s reusable rocket program.

SpaceX aims to develop a fully reusable Starship and Super Heavy launch vehicle, capable of performing multiple flights per day. Musk shared that not adding landing legs to the Super Heavy rocket “Saves mass & cost of legs & enables immediate repositioning of booster on to launch mount — ready to refly in under an hour,” he said. When asked if the decision to eliminate the legs is due to the high stress the vehicle would experience upon landing Musk responded, “Legs would certainly work, but best part is no part, best step is no step,” he wrote via Twitter.

Saves mass & cost of legs & enables immediate repositioning of booster on to launch mount — ready to refly in under an hour— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 302020

Legs would certainly work, but best part is no part, best step is no step— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 302020