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Archive for the ‘energy’ category: Page 319

Feb 18, 2017

2017 (Buckminster) Fuller Challenge Prize

Posted by in categories: complex systems, energy, engineering, environmental, futurism, innovation, science, sustainability

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEWBmIrXyhw

“Launched in 2007, the Fuller Challenge has defined an emerging field of practice: the whole systems approach to understanding and intervening in complex and interrelated crises for wide-scale social and environmental impact. The entry criteria have established a new framework through which to identify and measure effective, enduring solutions to global sustainability’s most entrenched challenges. The rigorous selection process has set a unique standard, gaining renown as “Socially-Responsible Design’s Highest Award.”

The Fuller Challenge attracts bold, visionary, tangible initiatives focused on a well-defined need of critical importance. Winning solutions are regionally specific yet globally applicable and present a truly comprehensive, anticipatory, integrated approach to solving the world’s complex problems.”

Deadline is March 31, 2017

Feb 17, 2017

Astonishing geomagnetic spike hit the ancient kingdom of Judah

Posted by in category: energy

Planentary magnetic fields how do they work —

Astonishing geomagnetic spike hit the ancient kingdom of Judah.

If this were to happen again today, the electrical grid could be a smoking ruin.

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Feb 16, 2017

From Initial Nucleation to Cassie-Baxter State of Condensed Droplets on Nanotextured Superhydrophobic Surfaces

Posted by in categories: energy, nanotechnology

Science mimicking nature’s dew in a lab. Important btw in how we looking at H2O harvesting and improving how we advance green energy; however, I see usage of this research in other emerging technologies as well.


Understanding how droplet condensation happens plays an essential role for our fundamental insights of wetting behaviors in nature and numerous applications. Since there is a lack of study of the initial formation and growing processes of condensed droplets down to nano-/submicroscale, relevant underlying mechanisms remain to be explored. We report an in situ observation of vapor condensation on nano-/microtextured superhydrophobic surfaces using optical microscopy. An interesting picture of the vapor condensation, from the initial appearance of individual small droplets (≤1 μm) to a Cassie-Baxter wetting state (30 μm), are exhibited. It is found that individual droplets preferentially nucleate at the top and the edge of single micropillars with very high apparent contact angles on the nanotextures. Scenarios of two distinguished growing modes are reported statistically and the underlying mechanisms are discussed in the view of thermodynamics. We particularly reveal that the formation of the Cassie-Baxter wetting state is a result of a continuous coalescence of individual small droplets, in which the nanotexture-enhanced superhydrophobicity plays a crucial role. We envision that these fundamental findings can deepen our understanding of the nucleation and development of condensed droplets in nanoscale, so as to optimize design strategies of superhydrophobic materials for a broad range of water-harvesting and heat-transfer systems.

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Feb 9, 2017

Battery can be recharged with carbon dioxide

Posted by in categories: energy, futurism

(Phys.org)—Researchers have developed a type of rechargeable battery called a flow cell that can be recharged with a water-based solution containing dissolved carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted from fossil fuel power plants. The device works by taking advantage of the CO2 concentration difference between CO2 emissions and ambient air, which can ultimately be used to generate electricity.

The new flow cell produces an average power density of 0.82 W/m, which is almost 200 times higher than values obtained using previous similar methods. Although it is not yet clear whether the process could be economically viable on a large scale, the early results appear promising and could be further improved with future research.

The scientists, Taeyong Kim, Bruce E. Logan, and Christopher A. Gorski at The Pennsylvania State University, have published a paper on the new method of CO2-to-electricity conversion in a recent issue of Environmental Science & Technology Letters.

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Feb 9, 2017

Smaller and smarter MEMS and electronics for bullets that can monitor a building during urban warfare

Posted by in categories: energy, engineering, military

Engineers at the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center, or ARDEC, have been making advancements in an initiative called “Component Miniaturization.”

Its mission focuses on making armament systems more precise, energy efficient, scalable and effective by reducing the size of critical components in sub-systems such as safe and arm devices, electronics packages, power supplies and inertial measurement systems. Size reductions in one sub-system can have a positive effect on another. For example, a smaller and more efficient electronics package design can reduce power supply demands as well as reduce the need for heavier supporting structures. The space savings and mass savings could then be used to add a larger explosive warhead or increase control surfaces for additional maneuverability. The reduced size and mass could also allow for additional portability to smaller calibers or to systems with greater launch velocities.

The initiative involves several discrete projects, some of which are described below:

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Feb 7, 2017

Realizing high-performance and low-cost fluorescent organic LEDs

Posted by in categories: energy, quantum physics

A purely organic p–n junction is used as the luminescent center in a novel planar device that exhibits a high external quantum efficiency and an extremely low driving voltage.

In recent years, organic LEDs (OLEDs) have become a popular option for creating digital displays. These devices generally consist of three types of semiconductors (i.e., a p-type hole-transport layer, an n-type electron-transport layer, and an emission layer).1–3 The emission layer (normally capable of bipolar transport) provides a platform for carrier capture, exciton generation, and transition, and the luminescent property of an OLED mainly depends on the fluorescence behavior of single-molecule emitters. However, the incorporation of the emission layer within the structure of an OLED causes two energy barriers to be induced at the interfaces with the emission and transport layers. This means that the driving voltages for OLEDs are generally much larger than for traditional inorganic LEDs (with similarly chromatic emission). Moreover, the excitons that are generated at most purely organic emitters have a strong binding energy.

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Feb 7, 2017

Solar-powered Ring Garden marries desalination and agriculture for drought-stricken California

Posted by in categories: education, energy, food, sustainability

Ring Garden is a finalist of LAGI 2016: Santa Monica, a biennial design competition that encourages interconnectivity between art, renewable energy and education.

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Feb 6, 2017

Tesla and Scalar Energy Explained

Posted by in categories: energy, mathematics, quantum physics

Nice write up and anyone working or researching central nervous system should not find this research and findings shocking.


Re: Scam hunter’s question; “Can you explain what a scalar torsion field model is?”

The History of Scalar Energy

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Feb 5, 2017

Scientists Transform Plastic Trash Into Liquid Fuel

Posted by in category: energy

In Brief A team of Chinese chemists have developed a method that could allow plastics to be turned into diesel fuel.

While several companies and institutions have been working at reducing the world’s plastic waste, they are hampered by the lack of means to dispose of them. The most common plastic, polyethylene, happens to also be the hardest to break down. But a solution seems at hand.

A team of Chinese chemists has developed a method for degrading polyethylene and turning it into a liquid fuel.

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Feb 3, 2017

Fuel cells could provide new green energy solutions

Posted by in categories: energy, sustainability

Prabhuraj Balakrishnan, a PhD student researcher at the University of Manchester, talks about his recent discovery that could see a major leap in sustainable energy production, realised using graphene and other 2D materials in fuel cell systems.

1st February 2017 in News, Science & Technology

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