Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: energy

The idea is simple: Send kites or tethered drones hundreds of meters up in the sky to generate electricity from the persistent winds aloft. With such technologies, it might even be possible to produce wind energy around the clock. However, the engineering required to realize this vision is still very much a work in progress.

Dozens of companies and researchers devoted to developing technologies that produce wind power while adrift high in the sky gathered at a conference in Glasgow, Scotland last week. They presented studies, experiments, field tests, and simulations describing the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of various technologies collectively described as airborne wind energy (AWE).

In August, Alameda, Calif.-based Makani Technologies ran demonstration flights of its airborne wind turbines—which the company calls energy kites—in the North Sea, some 10 kilometers off the coast of Norway. According to Makani CEO Fort Felker, the North Sea tests consisted of a launch and “landing” test for the flyer followed by a flight test, in which the kite stayed aloft for an hour in “robust crosswind(s).” The flights were the first offshore tests of the company’s kite-and-buoy setup. The company has, however, been conducting onshore flights of various incarnations of their energy kites in California and Hawaii.

Read more | >

WiTricity, a wireless power transfer specialist, announced licensing and technology transfer agreements with Green Power, which gears up for wireless charging of electric vehicles in South Korea.

Green Power is already engaged in wireless charging systems of vehicles from 1 to 300 kW, but not yet in electric cars, which might be possible using 11 kW WiTricity DRIVE 11 system.

As we can see in the image above, WiTricity’s wireless charging was already demonstrated in South Korea with Hyundai Kona Electric, but it’s probably still too early to judge that such an option is coming.

Read more | >

A bit old news.

As the fast charging infrastructure progresses towards 150–350 kW power levels (for passenger cars and beyond in case of bigger vehicles), also plug/connector suppliers try to keep pace with change.

Here we see one of the ITT Cannon DC fast charging plugs, presented at the eMove360° fairs in Munich, Germany.

The company says that its ultra-fast liquid-cooled High Power Charging (HPC) solution is ready to deliver current of 500 A at a voltage of 1,000 V, which would be 500 kW! The HPC is available in both, CCS1 and CCS2 variants for North American and European markets.

Read more | >

A new study out of the University Medical Center Groningen in the Netherlands details the type of diet that was found to fuel the growth of healthy gut bacteria, particularly strains that have anti-inflammatory effects in the body. The results aren’t terribly surprising — that is to say, you’ll have to eat a healthy diet if you want a healthy gut. Among other things, the study found that high amounts of sugar and meat make things worse.

Read more | >

A Rocket Lab spokesperson told Ars that the new service, launching on an Electron rocket, would be capable of sending up to 30kg into lunar orbit and be available as soon as the fourth quarter of 2020. As for pricing, it was not disclosed. “Pricing is tailored to mission requirements, but we’ll be bringing previously impossible missions within reach at attainable prices,” the spokesperson said.

The “Photon” spacecraft is essentially a small third stage for the Electron rocket that provides in-space maneuvering capability for payloads. It combines propulsion, power, attitude determination and control, and radiation-tolerant avionics. These combined capabilities will allow Rocket Lab to deliver small spacecraft on lunar flyby missions, into a Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (where NASA intends to build a small space station called the Lunar Gateway), L1/L2 points, or lunar orbit. It will take up to 14 days for the Photon vehicle to deliver a payload to lunar orbit.

Read more | >

Star Trek’s Montgomery Scott famously said “ye cannot change the laws of physics”, but a real-life space engineer says he might have just done that.

David Burns of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama has unveiled what he’s calling the ‘helical engine’, which could potentially power flights across space without using any fuel at all.

There’s just one small problem — it breaks the laws of physics as we know them.

Read more | >

TOKYO (Reuters) — Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) unveiled a completely redesigned hydrogen-powered fuel cell sedan on Friday in its latest attempt to revive demand for the niche technology that it hopes will become mainstream.

Japan’s biggest automaker has been developing fuel-cell vehicles for more than two decades, but the technology has been eclipsed by the rapid rise of rival battery-powered electric vehicles promoted by the likes of Tesla Inc ( TSLA.O ).

Ahead of the Tokyo Motor Show starting on Oct. 24, Toyota unveiled a prototype of the new hydrogen sedan built on the same platform as its luxury Lexus brand’s LS coupe. The new Mirai model boasts longer driving range than its predecessor and completely redesigned fuel cell stack and hydrogen tanks, the company said.

Read more | >