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Archive for the ‘sustainability’ category: Page 609

Aug 5, 2015

The First Vegan Burger that ‘Bleeds’ like Meat

Posted by in categories: food, sustainability

This is the product that Google wanted to buy for $300 million and just got denied…

The first vegan burger that ‘bleeds’ like meat.

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Aug 5, 2015

China is building its first large-scale solar plant in the Gobi Desert

Posted by in categories: energy, sustainability

In a move that once again proves its commitment to renewable energy, China has begun construction on its first large-scale commercial solar plant out in the sun-dreched expanse of the Gobi Desert. Called Delingha, the colossal facility will spread out across 25 km² (6,300 acres) of vacant land in the country’s Qinghai province, and will feature six huge solar towers hooked up to an array of solar mirrors.

When complete, the plant will have a capacity of 200 megawatts, which means it will be able to supply electricity to 1 million households in Qinghai year-round. “Its designed heat storage is 15 hours, thus, it can guarantee stable, continual power generation,” Qinghai Solar-Thermal Power Group board chair, Wu Longyi, told the press.

The facility is the first solar plant to be run as a commercial entity, and according to Svati Kirsten Narula at Quartz, it’s being jointly developed by BrightSource Energy, based in Oakland, California, and the Shanghai Electric Group in China. The first phase of construction will look at completing two solar towers so they can generate 135 megawatts each to cover more than 452,000 homes, and then the remaining four will be completed to cover at least 1 million.

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Aug 4, 2015

Four Technologies That Could Let Humans Survive Environmental Disaster

Posted by in categories: sustainability, transhumanism

My new story for Gizmodo: Climate Change apparently is here–to survive and thrive, go transhuman. The essential thing to remember here is that environmental change creates a mandate for our species to speed up technological progress to make sure we can adapt to changing conditions on Earth.


Scientists say we blew it. We bought too many plastic trinkets from Walmart; we drove too many gas-guzzling Broncos. We made babies like rabbits without questioning if the planet could handle so many people. Well, it looks like it couldn’t. Climate change is here to stay, and it’ll probably end up affecting nearly every aspect of our lives over the next century.

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Aug 3, 2015

World’s first “aqueous solar flow battery” outperforms traditional lithium-iodine batteries

Posted by in categories: energy, solar power, sustainability

The scientists who last year revealed the world’s first solar battery that essentially combines a battery and solar cell, are now reporting its first significant performance milestone. Tested against traditional lithium-iodine batteries, the researchers are claiming energy savings of 20 percent.

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Jul 30, 2015

Solar Now Cheaper Than Fossil Fuels for Many Small Businesses

Posted by in categories: energy, sustainability

SolarCity is expanding its services to small and medium-sized businesses. This move allows local businesses to save money with renewable energy. Going solar.

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Jul 24, 2015

Phosphorene could lead to ultrathin solar cells

Posted by in categories: energy, solar power, sustainability

Scientists at Australian National University (ANU) have used simple transparent sticky (aka “Scotch”) tape to create single-atom-thick layers of phosphorene from “black phosphorus,” a black crystalline form of phosphorus similar to graphite (which is used to create graphene).

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Jul 23, 2015

2015 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium | July 26–31, 2015 | Milan, Italy

Posted by in categories: big data, complex systems, computing, food, information science, machine learning, mapping, space, surveillance, sustainability

MilanPhotoCollage_md


Hosted by the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society, the International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium 2015 (IGARSS 2015) will be held from Sunday July 26th through Friday July 31th, 2015 at the Convention Center in Milan, Italy. This is the same town of the EXPO 2015 exhibition, whose topic is “Feeding the planet: energy for life”.

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Jul 22, 2015

Renewable energy boom will mean vastly cheaper electricity

Posted by in categories: energy, solar power, sustainability

Renewable energy boom will mean vastly cheaper electricity

Renewable energy, combined with prolific battery storage, will soon result in vastly cheaper electricity — and solar power that’s less expensive than what fossil fuel-based power plants can produce.

Additionally, solar power with lithium-ion and flow-battery storage systems will make the combination of renewable energy so inexpensive that it will surpass nuclear power and obviate the need for futuristic power sources such as fusion, according to Tesla CTO JB Straubel.

Continue reading “Renewable energy boom will mean vastly cheaper electricity” »

Jul 20, 2015

We May Look Crazy to Them, But They Look Like Zombies to Us: Transhumanism as a Political Challenge

Posted by in categories: defense, futurism, geopolitics, governance, government, life extension, philosophy, sustainability, theory, transhumanism

One of the biggest existential challenges that transhumanists face is that most people don’t believe a word we’re saying, however entertaining they may find us. They think we’re fantasists when in fact we’re talking about a future just over the horizon. Suppose they’re wrong and we are right. What follows? Admittedly, we won’t know this until we inhabit that space ‘just over the horizon’. Nevertheless, it’s not too early to discuss how these naysayers will be regarded, perhaps as a guide to how they should be dealt with now.

So let’s be clear about who these naysayers are. They hold the following views:

1) They believe that they will live no more than 100 years and quite possibly much less.
2) They believe that this limited longevity is not only natural but also desirable, both for themselves and everyone else.
3) They believe that the bigger the change, the more likely the resulting harms will outweigh the benefits.

Now suppose they’re wrong on all three counts. How are we to think about such beings who think this way? Aren’t they the living dead? Indeed. These are people who live in the space of their largely self-imposed limitations, which function as a self-fulfilling prophecy. They are programmed for destruction – not genetically but intellectually. Someone of a more dramatic turn of mind would say that they are suicide bombers trying to manufacture a climate of terror in humanity’s existential horizons. They roam the Earth as death-waiting-to-happen. This much is clear: If you’re a transhumanist, ordinary people are zombies.

Continue reading “We May Look Crazy to Them, But They Look Like Zombies to Us: Transhumanism as a Political Challenge” »

Jul 9, 2015

In Historic Turn, CO2 Emissions Flatline in 2014, Even as Global Economy Grows

Posted by in categories: energy, sustainability

Perhaps (for once) some environmental news that we don’t have to fight over.

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