Tech for Good

2021-08-27 18:00:18 The World's Biggest Wind Turbine

China's MingYang Smart Energy Group this week announced the development of its MySE 16.0-242. That is a 16-megawatt turbine that can reportedly power 20,000 homes. Taller than the 70-story GE building in New York Rockefeller Center, MySE becomes the largest and most powerful wind turbine globally.

The previous record belongs to GE Haliade-X, which is a few feet shorter. A single rotation of its blades can power a home for two days. That is a UK home, not the US, where households tend to be bigger energy hogs.

You may read the details about the wind monster and why scientists could be worried about its installation here.

#wind Open / Comment

2021-08-26 18:00:13 Where heat meets cold

Prepare yourself for a dull post. That is because many of the most efficient technologies are boring. So, I cannot skip this one as it looks very promising in terms of efficiency.

We have already mentioned that HVAC (Heat Ventilation Air Conditioning) systems are energy and emission wasteful. Conventional transmission of electricity may lead to a two-thirds energy loss. When it comes to heating, things become even worse: thermal energy powers mechanical systems that generate electricity that powers mechanical systems that make heat.

The device with a boring TC3 name from Thermolift Inc., headquartered in Stony Brook, New York, provides a game-changing concept to heating and cooling. From a hot bath to room-temperature comfort to cryogenic experimentation at minus 150 degrees Fahrenheit (-101 degrees Celcius), the TC3 does it all—simultaneously.

Interested how? Details are here

#HVAC #startups #thermal Open / Comment

2021-08-25 18:00:12 Iconic construction

Meet ICON, an Austin, Texas-based construction tech startup doing a lot of great stuff. Creating single-family homes using 3D printing robotics. Developing construction systems to build infrastructure and habitats on the moon, and eventually Mars, with NASA. Building affordable, permanent housing for people who have experienced chronic homelessness. These are just some of the things ICON has been working on.

On August 24, the company has added a massive $207 million fundraise. And it looks like the team exactly knows how to spend this money to tackle the affordable and sustainable housing shortage.

Read more here.

#startups #robotics #urbantech #architecture Open / Comment

2021-08-24 18:00:09 Untapped precious metals in our cars
Today's post is about a disrupting technology in the recycling industry. It helps recover 90% of precious metals - platinum and palladium, from the critical component of diesel-powered vehicles, catalytic converters.

Current recycling methods recover only 30% of these metals using a highly hazardous and inefficient smelting method. That is worrying, on the one hand. On the other hand, that means a massive untapped market and an investment opportunity.

If you are curious about the tech side or the investment side, please follow the link to a complete story.

Disclaimer: not investment advice. I have no financial interest in the described company. Not an advertisement.

#startups #recycle Open / Comment

2021-08-23 18:00:12 Fear Busters

Like any other new big tech, electric cars raise many fears and complaints. One of the most frequent is they take too long to charge. We can gas up our car in less than 5 minutes. So why would we want to plug in and wait for 30 minutes or more with an EV?

This argument illustrates the lack of EV manufacturers' efforts in educating their buyers. The average American, for example, drives 25 miles (40 km) a day, meaning that most EVs on the market can go a week without charging and then get back to a full charge with one overnight charging session.

However, next month, a Chinese manufacturer, GAC, starts to sell an Aion V battery-electric SUV that can charge a depleted battery to 80% capacity in a lightning-fast 8 minutes. With a range of 500+ miles (800 km), that sounds like removing the range anxiety from the masses.

Details are here.

#EV Open / Comment

2021-08-22 07:07:01 It's Sunday, and here is the summary of this week's posts:

Recycled-plastic houses - a housing solution tackling the two significant challenges of modern humanity - plastic waste and the need for low-cost houses
A focus with a heat - a parabolic dish concentrator to offer a low-cost, low-maintenance, zero-emission modular thermal energy solution
Drone for the Mariana Trench - a soft robot that can function at a depth of more than 10 km
The world's 8th continent - a gorgeously designed floating station to clean the ocean plastic waste
Is the future nearer than we think? - the post about the new development from the Tesla team that has made our chat explode for a while ;)

By the way, we've got a channel chat with people sharing meaningful opinions (mostly). You are very welcome to join if you are interested @tfg_safechat

Have a safe weekend

Your Tech for Good Open / Comment

2021-08-20 18:30:11 Is the future nearer than we think?

Today, instead of a detailed post, we are having a piece of news. However, it is so exciting that I couldn't ignore it.

No matter how you see Elon Musk, you cannot deny that the techs he is bringing to the market are worth our attention. His EVs are the most technically advanced; his rockets are flying to space and come back; his satellites will soon provide internet coverage all over the globe - the list may go on and on.

Yesterday, Tesla had its annual AI Day. Among other highlights, there was an outstanding one. Tesla is building a humanoid robot, the Tesla Bot, which it expects to bring to the market as early as 2022.

Please find details here.

Also, guys, it would be great if you share this post with anyone who might be interested. I want this community to grow and have more people hear good tech news.

#robotics #AI Open / Comment

2021-08-19 07:07:01 The world's 8th continent

We talk a lot about ocean plastics. However, given the magnitude of that problem, I think it is never enough. Have you heard that marine debris currently covers a surface of approximately 1.6 million square meters in the North Pacific - known as the Great Pacific garbage patch?

Slovak designer Lenka Petráková suggests that this garbage patch could be considered the world's 8th continent. And she specifically selected that name, The 8th Continent, for her architectural project winning the 2020 Grand Prix Award for Architecture and Innovation of the Sea from Foundation Jacques Rougerie.

The 8th Continent is the floating station designed to clean the Great Pacific garbage patch and serve as a self-sustainable marine research and education center.

Read more here (or, at least, check out beautiful photos inside).
Video credit: EuroNews Green

#architecture #recycle #tidal #solar #design Open / Comment

2021-08-18 07:00:04 Drone for the Mariana Trench

What secrets does the deepest underwater place on the planet, the Mariana trench, hide? Well, we don't know: the commonly used equipment of oceanographers just flattens out under extreme hydrostatic pressure during a dive.

Chinese scientists from Zhejiang University are coming with a potential solution. Their soft robot can function at a depth of more than 10 km.

Please follow the link to find out the details.

#robotics Open / Comment

2021-08-17 07:03:01 A focus with a heat

Today I want to introduce you to parabolic dish concentrator technology. The prominent company in this sector is a US-based startup Solarflux. A recent independent report by Lehigh University’s Energy Research Center showed that their FOCUS device demonstrates solar-to-thermal conversion efficiency of 72%, meaning that once solar energy arrives at the device, it converts 72% of it into usable heat.

The FOCUS is a two-axis tracking device maintaining perfect alignment with the sun from dawn until dusk at all latitudes. It seems to offer a low-cost, low-maintenance, zero-emission modular thermal energy solution that we can use in many ways.

As usual, if you are interested in details, welcome to the full post.

#solar Open / Comment