Lifeboat Foundation

What if plants could tell us when pests are attacking them, or they’re too dry, or they need more fertilizer. One startup is gene engineering farm plants so they can communicate in in fluorescent colors. The result: a farmer’s phone, drone, or even satellite imagery can reveal what is happening in hundreds of acres of fields …

That leads to better food, fewer crop failures, and more revenue for farmers.

Continue reading “Engineering plants to talk via bioluminescence” »

Circa 2021

DETROIT – The EV Revolution is in full-swing right now. Tesla just passed the trillion-dollar valuation mark. Lucid Group just rolled out its first cars with 500+ miles of driving range. Rivian just had the biggest initial public offering since Facebook.

Every legacy automaker — from Ford to GM to Volkswagen — is investing tens of billions of dollars iino electrifying their fleets. The EV Revolution has arrived.

Continue reading “The Forever Battery That Promises to Change the EV Industry” »

You don’t need to install solar panels on your roof if your roof is already made of solar panels.

On Tuesday, January 4, Panasonic announced that Redwood Materials would start supplying copper foil to its battery production facility in Giga Nevada. The Japanese tech giant announced the news during the 2022 CES tech trade show.

“Our work together to establish a domestic circular supply chain for batteries is an important step in realizing the full opportunity that EVs have to shape a much more sustainable world,” said Allan Swan, the President of Panasonic Energy of North America, at the latest CES tech trade show.

Redwood Materials, which former Tesla CTO JB Straubel founded, will be supplying Panasonic with copper foil made from recycled materials. The company recycles scripts from discarded electronics like cell phone batteries, laptops, power tools, and even scooters and electric bicycles. Redwood extracts materials like cobalt, nickel, and lithium, which are usually mined, from discarded electronics.

The 2.9 megawatt solar power plant in Otaki Village generates climate-friendly electricity for 600 households. juwi Shizen Energy Operation takes over operational management of the plant.

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) has forecast in its January Short-Term Energy Outlook that rising electricity generation from clean energy such as solar and wind will reduce generation from fossil fuel-fired power plants over the next two years.

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The EIA is forecasting the share of generation for US clean energy, excluding hydropower, to grow from 13% in 2021 to 17% in 2023.

The FT reviewed hundreds of patent applications by Meta and found references to a “virtual store” where users could buy virtual products, as well as objects that correspond to real-world items that have been sponsored by third-party brands.

A patent reviewed by the FT said brands would go through a bidding process to “sponsor the appearance of an object” inside a virtual store.

Meta’s head of global affairs Nick Clegg told the FT in an interview that the business model for the metaverse would be “commerce-led”.

Could the University of Michigan’s lithium-sulfur battery be the breakthrough electric vehicles have been waiting for?