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2021-10-16 11:26:28 Open / Comment

2021-10-16 11:25:55 This 3D-printed device is the most advanced wearable design yet

From watches that capture our heart rate to sweat-powered devices, wearable technology has advanced by leaps and bounds in recent years. This doesn’t only hold implications for your personal workout routine. Researchers from the University of Arizona have come up with 3D-printed wearable technology which uses wireless power transfer and compact energy storage to make it the most sensitive and efficient model yet.

Their biosymbiotic device is a custom fitted using MRIs, CT scans, and smartphone images. It looks like a breathable mesh cuff, and the detailed design allows it to capture physiological parameters that traditional wearables are not sensitive enough to pick up like temperature and strain in the body when someone jumps or walks on a treadmill.

This biosymbiotic design has potential applications in health and athletics. The wireless design means that metrics usually captured with bulky ECG monitors can be recorded much more easily as people go through their daily routine. Placing the devices in strategic areas of the body, like the bicep or armpit, allows for even more data capture personalization.

Biomedical engineer Philipp Gutruf summarizes: “We introduce a completely new concept of tailoring a device directly to a person and using wireless power casting to allow the device to operate 24/7 without ever needing to recharge.” Open / Comment

2021-10-14 09:40:54 Open / Comment

2021-10-14 09:40:48 These bike garages in Denmark are made from recycled wind turbine blades

While wind turbines play an important role in our transition towards a post-carbon world, they do pose a few environmental concerns. For example, most of the wind turbines operating today have a lifespan of about 20 years, which means that a large number of these gigantic pieces of machinery will need to be decommissioned sometime soon.

This creates a major sustainability problem since most turbine blades today are nearly impossible to recycle because they’re made from a composite of materials that are also generally non-biodegradable. However, the good news is that there are several research teams and companies looking for innovative and creative solutions to this growing waste challenge.

Among these is The Re-Wind Network — a research group in Denmark that is repurposing discarded blades as bike garages. The team is also researching ways to recycle wind turbine blades into architectural elements that can be integrated within infrastructure, reports My Modern Met. Some of their ideas include recycling discarded blades to build pedestrian footbridges, skate parks, and noise barriers adjacent to highways.

“We’re exploring the potential reuse of the blades across architecture and engineering,” says Lawrence C. Bank of the Georgia Institute of Technology, one of the leading institutions involved in the study. “Developing such methods can have a positive effect on air quality and water quality by decreasing a major source of non-biodegradable waste.”

Other solutions to the problem of recycling wind turbines involve some companies that are working to engineer wind turbine blades that can be easily recycled when they stop spinning for good. One of these companies is renewable energy firm Siemens Gamesa, which claims that its new sustainable blade is “the world’s first wind turbine blade that can be recycled at the end of its lifecycle,” and a “milestone” for the wind industry. Open / Comment

2021-10-13 10:01:36 Open / Comment

2021-10-13 10:01:29 US reported record solar power growth in 2020

We’ve previously written about how renewables outpaced fossil fuels in Europe for the first time in 2020. Now, new data demonstrates how US renewables, specifically solar, also thrived despite the challenges of a global pandemic.

Last year, the US built more utility-scale solar power plants than any other year, creating an added total of 9.6 gigawatts of renewable energy. Researchers from Berkeley Lab report that if not for the pandemic, numbers would have been even higher.

The Berkeley Lab report finds that a December 2020 federal tax credit helped push the development of new projects, and the extension of that credit to 2024 has further incentivized investment.

The biggest growth in solar infrastructure was in Texas. Although California and Florida have previously been leaders in solar development, the widespread panels in the states are already flooding the grid with renewable energy on sunny days, driving down the price of energy.

According to the US Energy Information Administration, 5.1 gigawatts of renewable electricity was added on homes, businesses, and in smaller projects in 2020.

This progress is critical for meeting the US’ goal of sourcing 40 percent of power from solar by 2035. Open / Comment

2021-10-12 09:59:06 Open / Comment

2021-10-12 09:58:52 Researchers hope a team of robots can efficiently clean up nuclear waste sites

We’ve shared updates from Boston Dynamics’ robotics lab before, and now the famous robots are back, but this time they’re not dancing, they’re cleaning up nuclear waste! A team of researchers from the University of Bristol hopes that robots could help keep humans safer in the decommissioning process of nuclear disaster sites. To test out their strategy, the researchers took a robot team to perhaps the most famous nuclear disaster site of all: Chernobyl.

On the ground, the team worked primarily in the New Safe Confinement (NSC) facility, a structure placed on top of the remains of Reactor 4 in 2016. On site, the researchers trained robots to create a 3D map of the area and measure radiation levels─which can be up to 40,000 times above normal levels in this location. This data can help researchers identify the location of radiation as well as how it is spreading.

Although Chernobyl is largely abandoned, it does attract tourists each year. The region has also become more prone to wildfires in recent years, which pose the threat of further radiation release and spread. The researchers are optimistic that the use of robots would help differentiate between radioactive waste types on site, boosting the efficiency of clean up efforts. If successful, robots could be deployed to decommission other nuclear sites, like Fukushima. Open / Comment

2021-10-11 11:44:25 Open / Comment

2021-10-11 11:44:16 Austria announces new carbon tax to curb emissions

In order to curb greenhouse gas emissions, the Austrian government has introduced a new carbon tax that is set to be fully implemented by July next year.

This means that Austrians will have 30 euros (around $35 USD) added to their consumer bills per ton of CO2. This cost will rise to 55 euros ($64 USD) per ton by 2025.

The government believes that the tax will generate five billion euros ($5.8 billion USD) by 2025, which will be returned to residents as an annual “climate bonus,” with the exact amount determined based on factors such as where they live (so that those in rural regions without the same access to good public transport aren’t penalized), and how many children they have. Children are allotted half their parents’ amount, which means that a family of two adults and two children in Vienna could expect to receive a climate bonus of 300 euros ($358 USD).

The aim of the tax is to make carbon-intensive choices more expensive as well as inspire people to choose more climate-friendly forms of transport and heating, but without adding to the overall tax burden.

Alongside the introduction of the carbon tax, the government also plans to reduce taxes for energy-intensive industries that will be the most affected by the new carbon tax. Plus, the governing coalition of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz’s conservative People’s Party and the environmentalist Greens announced income tax cuts, a reduction in some health insurance charges, and other policies that are designed to benefit medium-and-low income communities. Open / Comment