Lifeboat Foundation

Solar energy is reaching new heights faster than ever.

A tandem solar cell developed by researchers at the Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin (HZB) has converted 32.5 percent of incident solar radiation into electrical energy, a world record. The achievement was certified by the European Solar Test Installation (ESTI) in Italy, a university press release said.

As the demand for renewable energy grows, researchers are looking at ways of increasing the efficiency of solar cells. This enables more energy to be harvested from the same area of land deployed to generate power. There has been significant success when halide perovskites have been used to make solar cells.

Year 2019 face_with_colon_three

Zeppelins, the rigid airships most famously epitomized by the Hindenburg, now seem kind of retro, rather than the image of futurity they represented in the 1930s. But they could be about to make a comeback in a big way — courtesy of a new aluminum-shelled, solar-powered airship that’s being built by the U.K.-based company Varialift Airships.

According to the company’s CEO Alan Handley, the airship will be capable of making a transatlantic flight from the United Kingdom to the United States, consuming just 8% of the fuel of a regular airplane. It will be powered by a pair of solar-powered engines and two conventional jet engines.

Continue reading “Zeppelins Could Make A Comeback With This Solar-Powered Airship” »

The last event of 2022 will take place December 19th: Christmas Special meeting. with our president Prof. Bernard Foing!
We’ll have a look at what we have done in 2022, and we’ll announce the program of 2023.
The Zoom meeting will be open to all of the SRI Members and invited friends – just registered or going to register during the meeting.
All the participants will have the possibility to make questions to the SRI President, the Founder and the Board of Directors, about the 2023 program. Criticisms and proposals will be welcome too.
We have a huge programme for 2023, and we are going through some key steps, to achieve an higher legal status for our association: to be registered as a not for profit entity on the Unic National Register of the Third Sector Entities (RUNTS). Such an achievement will allow SRI to call Italian taxpayers to target the 5×1000 of their yearly tax to SRI, and the donations to be deducted from the tax declaration. These conditions, when achieved, will greatly contribute to the sustainability of our initiatives.
We are asking each of the SRI members and supporters to assume this priority for December 2022: to bring onboard many new members and to seek for donors and sponsors!
We will celebrate together during the Xmas Special event and exchange season greetings and wishes for a vibrant year 2023 for Space Renaissance International!

Around 38% of the world’s total landmass is used for agriculture – yet hunger is worsening, and food security is in crisis, threatened by pressures including climate change, conflict and global recessions.

While there’s no one-stop solution, technology can help to fill some of the gaps. Mechanical engineer Josie Hughes is on a mission to show how robotics can play a role in our everyday lives, particularly when it comes to food. Starting with LEGO robots as a child, the Cambridge graduate now leads the Computational Robot Design & Fabrication Lab (CREATE) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), where she’s one of the youngest researchers to join as a tenure-track assistant professor.

One of her innovations, a raspberry-picking robot powered by artificial intelligence, could help make farming more efficient and cost-effective, and solve labor shortages – which in the UK alone left £60 million ($74 million) worth of fruit and vegetables rotting in fields this summer. CNN spoke with Hughes about her research, and when robots might be harvesting your next meal.

Majik Water is a social enterprise that specializes in air to water technologies in arid and semi arid regions. They are creating a new source of affordable, clean drinking water for water scarce communities. If you have air, you can have drinking water.

Technology developed at Argonne can help narrow the field of candidates for molten salts, a new study demonstrates.

Scientists are searching for new materials to advance the next generation of nuclear power plants. In a recent study, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory showed how artificial intelligence could help pinpoint the right types of molten salts, a key component for advanced nuclear reactors.

The ability to absorb and store heat makes molten salt important to clean energy and national climate goals. Molten salts can serve as both coolant and fuel in nuclear power reactors that generate electricity without emitting greenhouse gases. They can also store large amounts of energy, which is increasingly needed on an electric grid with fluctuating sources such as wind and solar power.

The carbon-negative concrete blocks absorb more CO₂ during production than they emit.

A Limburg (Netherlands) company called Masterbloc has engineered an eco-friendly building material from steel slag left over from the steel industry, according to an article by The Brussels Times.

The company CEO Bjorn Gubbels claims the block stores CO₂ and can help boost the circular economy.

Continue reading “Carbon-eating blocks ingest eight tonnes of CO2 a day, says company” »

In April, Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk said he was done selling Tesla shares to help finance his ongoing overhaul at Twitter.

Since then, he jettisoned more than $20 billion worth of Tesla stock and has continued the selling spree this week.

As the stock continues to skid, Jim Cramer sees an electric buying opportunity.

Chemist Martial Gervais Oden-Bella developed a method for recycling used cooking oil by turning it into soap! Not only is he helping the environment, but he’s made a profitable business in the process.

In Cameroon, people were tossing the used oil down the drain, which can pollute water treatment systems and the environment. When the oil ends up in the environment, it’s harmful and toxic to wildlife. Now the businesses (restaurants and hotels in the southwestern city of Douala) save the used oil to give to Oden-Bella, who turns it into soap and other cleaning products.

Continue reading “Chemist From Cameroon Makes Cleaning Products” »