Bioengineers propose “electro-agriculture,” a method that replaces photosynthesis with a solar-powered reaction converting CO2 into acetate, potentially reducing U.S. agricultural land needs by 94% and supporting controlled indoor farming.
Initial experiments focus on genetically modified acetate-consuming plants like tomatoes and lettuce, with potential future applications in space agriculture.
Revolutionary Electro-Agriculture
This solar breakthrough just changed everything.
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Last month, Oxford PV’s breakthrough solar cell broke the efficiency world record and is the world’s first commercially available Perovskite solar panel.
How does it work? And what does this mean for the future of solar?
Thanks you so much to the team for allowing me behind the scenes into their development facility and for the free Halloween costume.
#solar #efficiency #breakthrough #physics #perovskite.
Chapters.
0:00 The Solar Power Breakthrough.
3:25 Humanity’s Journey to Capture the Sun.
8:46 How We Broke the Limit of Solar Efficiency.
13:15 Building the World’s First Perovskite Solar Panel.
17:23 The Future of Solar.
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The efficiency and performance of photovoltaics (PVs) have improved significantly over the past decades, which has led to an increase in the adoption of solar technologies. To further enhance the performance of solar cells, energy researchers worldwide have been devising and testing alternative design strategies, leveraging different materials and cell structures.
Solar cells could be printed out like newspapers after Australia’s leading science organisation opened a $6.8 million facility dedicated to flexible solar technology.
The CSIRO launched its state-of-the-art Printed Photovoltaic Facility in south-east Melbourne on Wednesday, following more than 15 years of research into the renewable energy technology.
Researchers said printed, flexible photovoltaic cells could not only lower the cost of solar energy but could be used to deliver power in challenging areas such as space exploration, defence and disaster recovery.
“Scheduled for delivery in 2026, these new ferries will be powered with a hybrid mix of 85% hydrogen fuel cells and 15% biofuel from Bergen’s C25:33 engines.”
Norwegian power solutions supplier Bergen Engines has been selected to provide four generating sets to support the world’s largest hydrogen ferries, operating on Norway’s longest ferry connection from Bodø to Lofoten.
The C25:33L8A generating sets will be fueled by low carbon Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) and will serve as support power to the hydrogen fuel cells onboard, which act as the vessel’s main propulsion power.
Bioengineered bacteria to eat plastic in seawater:3 Which in large quantities can eat all the plastic in the ocean:3 Yay face_with_colon_three
Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) is a highly recyclable plastic that has been extensively used and manufactured. Like other plastics, PET resists natural degradation, thus accumulating in the environment. Several recycling strategies have been applied to PET, but these tend to result in downcycled products that eventually end up in landfills. This accumulation of landfilled PET waste contributes to the formation of microplastics, which pose a serious threat to marine life and ecosystems, and potentially to human health. To address this issue, our project leveraged synthetic biology to develop a whole-cell biocatalyst capable of depolymerizing PET in seawater environments by using the fast-growing, nonpathogenic, moderate halophile Vibrio natriegens. By leveraging a two-enzyme system—comprising a chimera of IsPETase and IsMHETase from Ideonella sakaiensis —displayed on V. natriegens, we constructed whole-cell catalysts that depolymerize PET and convert it into its monomers in salt-containing media and at a temperature of 30°C.
Newly emerging Chinese electric truck maker Windrose has claimed an Australian record for a public fast charge of more than 500 kilowatt hours as it topped up its massive batteries on its flagship heavy electric truck on a drive from Melbourne to Sydney.
The Windrose electric truck features a 729 kWh battery, and at a brief glance appears to be a Tesla Semi look-alike, with streamlined features and a driver’s seat placed in the middle of the cabin. The company claims a range of more than 670 kms, fully loaded to 49 tonnes, and hopes to enter commercial production next year.
The truck made an appearance at the All Energy show in Melbourne last week, before being taken around to show its wares to some major Australian logistics companies,. It then made the trip up the Hume Highway to Sydney on Sunday for another series of demonstrations.