[ad_1] Tesla doesn’t just make cars. The company also engineers, manufactures and installs solar panels — both the traditional kind and modules that look like ordinary roof tiles. And while the latter seems like it could be a path to more mainstream adoption of renewable energy, the former is still the go-to solution for the […]
Category: energy
Extra-light, flexible solar cell could keep your smartwatch powered
[ad_1] The trick was to develop “mechanically robust” light-absorbing materials that achieve some of the highest power conversion efficiency of any organic cell, at 13 percent. That’s lower than many conventional solar cells (over 20 percent), but should be enough for wristwear. They’re relatively easy to make thanks to continuous printing tech. Be sure to […]
New York power plant mines Bitcoin using excess energy
[ad_1] The facility and its mining partner, Atlas Holdings, characterized this as a win for both the plant and the community. In theory, this helps the facility turn a profit while creating more jobs and tax revenue. It’s a logical fit, at least, as cryptocurrency mining often depends on large amounts of energy — something […]
AI can help find more places to store captured CO2 underground
[ad_1] The team trained a convolutional neural network to find the “hidden correlations” in components of high-frequency data from simulated earthquakes. The AI learned how to find patterns that could be used to infer the ‘missing’ low frequencies, to put it another way. The result is an algorithmic system that, in the right circumstances, can […]
The rise of cloud computing has had a smaller climate impact than feared
[ad_1] Between 2005 and 2010, data center electricity consumption increased by a lot more (56 percent), as the New York Times reported. So what happened after that? According to the study, data centers shifted from smaller computer centers over to much larger facilities run by Google, Microsoft, Amazon and other tech giants. These companies are […]
Alphabet quits work on its energy-generating kites
[ad_1] As Makani’s Fort Felker said, this doesn’t necessarily mean that Makani is shutting down. Its recent investor Shell is “exploring options” to continue work on wind kite technology, although Felker didn’t elaborate on what that meant. The team did make some progress while under Alphabet’s wing, launching a 20kW demo project, and growing it […]
Rain may soon be an effective source of renewable energy
[ad_1] The new design mates an aluminum electrode with an indium tin oxide electrode layered with PTFE, a material with a “quasi-permanent” electric charge. When a drop hits the PTFE/tin surface, it bridges the two electrodes and creates a closed-loop circuit. That helps fully release any stored charges. The technology could handle sustained rainfall, too. […]
Tesla unveils its easier to install Solar Roof
[ad_1] This is the third version of the Solar Roof tiles from the company and between the pervious versions and now, the company says that it has increased power density, reduced the parts used in the tiles by half and brought down costs substantially compared to the second generation tiles. Musk did point out that […]
Tesla may open ‘Centers’ to get around pro-dealership laws
[ad_1] The company is reportedly implementing the approach to make the most of its EV output. While Tesla delivered a record 97,000 cars in the third quarter of 2019, it also had 3,000 cars sitting in inventory. The Centers might reduce that inventory by offering a “continuous flow” of vehicles to delivery centers. We’d add […]
IKEA will produce more energy than it consumes by 2020
[ad_1] The retailer expects to offer home solar panels in stores across all its markets in 2025. Ultimately, it plans to be climate-positive (reducing more emissions than it puts out) by 2030. IKEA’s timing isn’t a coincidence. Like Google, Amazon and other companies, it’s using both the Global Climate Strike and the UN’s Climate Action […]