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Category: sustainability – Page 509

Draft Moon Village Association Principles: creating best practices for sustainable lunar activities

On March 6, the Moon Village Association unveiled a set of 15 draft Moon Village Association (MVA) Principles intended to help facilitate the peaceful settlement of the Moon by establishing best practices for the long-term sustainability of lunar and cislunar activity. The MVA Principles are now published on the MVA website and are open for public comment. The announcement by the president of the MVA, Dr. Giuseppe Reibaldi, took place during a day-long symposium on Returning to the Moon: Legal Challenges as Humanity Begins to Settle the Solar System hosted by the Global Space Law Center at Cleveland State University’s Cleveland-Marshall College of Law (see “Hard law or soft law? The debate about the future of space law”, The Space Review, April 13, 2020).

As discussed further below, all stakeholders, including members of the general public, are invited to submit their comments on the principles through the MVA website. The purpose of this article is to answer some basic questions about the nature of the MVA Principles and to provide a concise summary of the principles to acquaint readers with their scope.

What is the Moon Village Association? The concept of the “Moon Village” is a vision of peaceful global cooperation in lunar exploration and utilization. The concept contemplates a collection of international efforts that involve both governmental and non-governmental (i.e. private) entities conducting activities in a spirit of cooperation and mutual assistance. Everyone is free to contribute to humanity’s future on the Moon in accordance with their individual capabilities. The Moon Village Association (www.moonvillageassociation.org) was incorporated in Vienna in 2017 with the goal of implementing the Moon Village concept by serving as a hub of communication for stakeholders in the new international push to establish a permanent human presence on the Moon. At the core of the MVA is an extensive network of professionals and institutions from more than 40 countries.

Research: A solar window will soon do the same job as a standard rooftop solar panel

Semi-transparent solar cells that can be incorporated into window glass are a “game-changer” that could transform architecture, urban planning and electricity generation, Australian scientists say in a paper in Nano Energy.

The researchers—led by Professor Jacek Jasieniak from the ARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science (Exciton Science) and Monash University—have succeeded in producing next-gen perovskite solar cells that generate electricity while allowing light to pass through. They are now investigating how the new technology could be built into commercial products with Viridian Glass, Australia’s largest glass manufacturer.

This technology will transform windows into active power generators, potentially revolutionizing . Two square meters of solar , the researchers say, will generate about as much electricity as a standard rooftop solar panel.

After The Hoversurf Bike Comes The eVTOL Hoversurf Formula

As cool as the Hoversurf Hoverbike is, the company is now working on another electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air vehicle, the Hoversurf Formula. There are bigger ambitions for the latter.

Seriously now, how much fun would it be saying goodbye to colleagues as you make your way up the elevator to your eVTOL commuter, watching them go down road congestion hell while you go toward the sky? And as cool as a flying electric motorcycle is, HoverSurf is now going after the eVTOL challenge with a 4 to 6 passenger payload and 100 to 400 miles of range, or even further depending on its flight configuration.

Tesla patents a new electrode for its 1-million-mile battery

Tesla patents a new NCA electrode that is likely going to be used in its new battery cell built in-house, which is expected to be longer-lasting and cheaper.

We previously reported on Tesla’s battery research partner, Jeff Dahn and his team at Dalhousie University, unveiling the impressive results of tests on a new battery cell that could last over 1 million miles in an electric vehicle.

The new battery tested is a Li-ion battery cell with a next-generation “single crystal” NMC 532 cathode and a new advanced electrolyte, which they patented.

For The Price Of One Cheapest Tesla Model 3, You Can Buy This Electric SUV Four Times!

Would you buy a Maple 30x electric SUV for less than a quarter of the price of the Tesla Model 3? If your answer is yes, then great, because the selling price of Maple 30x is, in fact, $9,800, after government subsidies.

Maple automotive is the result of a collaboration between Geely Holding Corp. and Kandi Technologies.

Geely Corp who has 78% of the total share in Maple, also owns Volvo, and London Black Taxi, along with massive shares in Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes.

Elon Musk hypes up Tesla smart home HVAC, hints at Cybertruck feature

Elon Musk seems to be really interested in Tesla expanding into the home HVAC industry — going as far as saying that he is “dying to do it.”

He first brought up the idea in an interview on the Joe Rogan Experience almost two years ago.

The CEO discussed the fact that Tesla addresses both energy generation and consumption when it comes to transport, but only energy generation, with solar power products, when it comes to the home.

Tesla to implement a key security feature ‘soon’

Tesla’s mobile app is one of the key parts of the Tesla ownership experience, and yet its security is lacking an important feature — two-factor authentication.

According to CEO Elon Musk, this will change in the near future.

When asked on Twitter whether there are any updates regarding two-factor authentication for the app, Musk said it’s “coming soon” (via Teslarati).

Investing In Renewable Energy Could See A Return Of To Up To 800%

The economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic has governments struggling with how to restart a global economy that has come to a grinding halt. Some short term needs have to be addressed as soon as possible — avoiding starvation, extending unemployment benefits, and arranging for emergency healthcare for those infected. But even as the world faces such daunting tasks, decisions made today will have enormous consequences for the future. While the emergency today is great, a much bigger emergency waits just around the corner as the Earth continues to overheat.

Governments in thrall to fossil fuel interests, such as the United States, see the virus as a chance to roll back advances in renewable energy. After all, the oil and gas industries provide for 10,000,000 jobs around the world. Surely those jobs must be protected, right?

A new dimension for solar energy

Circa 2012 Now, a team of MIT researchers has come up with a very different approach: building cubes or towers that extend the solar cells upward in three-dimensional configurations. Amazingly, the results from the structures they’ve tested show power output ranging from double to more than 20 times that of fixed flat panels with the same base area.

Innovative 3D designs from an MIT team can more than double the solar power generated from a given area.