Lifeboat Foundation

This is number 22 on IE’s list of 22 best innovations, a look back at recycling for all plastics.

Two companies, Plastonix and Elemental Recycling have done what others could not: they have found technologies that recycle all types of plastic.

The monumental task of recycling the 380 million tons of plastic disposed of each year, that clog the ocean and beaches throughout the world, has eluded us. Around 80 percent of all plastic ends up in the oceans and landfills.

Continue reading “All types of plastics now recyclable thanks to two companies” »

The new sodium-sulfur batteries are also environmentally friendly, driving the clean energy mission forward at a low cost.

To realize the universal goal of net-zero emissions by 2050, the world is keenly looking at advancements in battery technology. Lower costs, higher capacity, and optimal utilization of scarce natural resources are expected to play a major role in taking the mission forward.

Their findings were published in Advanced Materials.

Continue reading “A novel sodium-sulphur battery has 4 times the capacity of lithium-ion batteries” »

https://youtube.com/watch?v=89k0Ah0aDBw

It features cutting-edge solar panels and wind turbines.

Do you have a high-rise building that needs renewable power? PowerNEST is the only rooftop renewable energy system that can fully power a medium-to a high-rise building, according to its official website.

Continue reading “This novel energy system can harness solar and wind energy simultaneously” »

MIT engineers have developed ultralight fabric solar cells that can quickly and easily turn any surface into a power source.

These durable, flexible solar cells, which are much thinner than a human hair, are glued to a strong, lightweight fabric, making them easy to install on a fixed surface. They can provide energy on the go as a wearable power fabric or be transported and rapidly deployed in remote locations for assistance in emergencies. They are one-hundredth the weight of conventional solar panels, generate 18 times more power-per-kilogram, and are made from semiconducting inks using printing processes that can be scaled in the future to large-area manufacturing.

Continue reading “Paper-thin solar cell can turn any surface into a power source (w/video)” »

Outshining conventional solar cells

When they tested the device, the MIT researchers found it could generate 730 watts of power per kilogram when freestanding and about 370 watts-per-kilogram if deployed on the high-strength Dyneema fabric, which is about 18 times more power-per-kilogram than conventional solar cells.

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In the future humanity may build enormous structures, feats of mega-engineering that may rival planets or even be of greater scope. This episode catalogs roughly 100 major types of Megastructure, from those that are cities in space to those that rival galaxies.

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Continue reading “The Megastructure Compendium” »

A Dyson Sphere is a megastructure that has not yet been built. Scientists conceive of it as a giant shell that encloses the sun.

Hypothetically, the Dyson Sphere will be lined with mirrors and solar panels that will collect the energy from the sun. This would be an unimaginable amount of energy.

In theory, the Dyson Sphere would be large enough that it could be a habitable place for humans and it would act as an artificial biosphere in the case that Earth’s supplies have dwindled. It would be a way to ensure survival for the human race.

Canada’s TC Energy has shut the Keystone pipeline — which connects Alberta to the US — after 14,000 barrels of crude oil spilled into a creek in Kansas.

Pipe operator TC Energy announced the pipeline’s shutdown at 5.35 a.m. CT on Thursday. The Canadian company said it initiated an energy shutdown and response at 8 p.m. CT on Wednesday after alarms went off detecting a pressure drop in the system.

The cause of the leak is not known. It is not immediately clear as of presstime when the pipeline is expected to come back online.

Researchers at Japan’s National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) have developed a device capable of taking hundreds of times more electrochemical measurements than conventional devices. By analyzing the device’s large amounts of data, the team has identified molecular mechanisms that enable electrogenic bacteria to efficiently generate electricity even when subjected to a wide range of electrode potentials.

This technique can also be used to analyze materials interacting with microorganisms (e.g., biodegradable plastics), potentially facilitating efforts to discover innovative microbial degradable materials.

The work was published in the journal Patterns in October, 2022.