Lifeboat Foundation

Engineers at MIT say they have developed a new motor that could be used to electrify large aircraft, significantly reducing their carbon footprint with the help of innovative new electric propulsion technology.

The 1-megawatt motor has already undergone design and testing of its primary components, which the MIT team says helps demonstrate that its power generation is comparable to current small aircraft engines.

Every year, pollution from carbon dioxide in excess of 850 million tons is produced by the aviation industry. If left unmitigated, those levels could increase by as much as three times by mid-century, concerns that have prompted caps on the carbon dioxide emissions of international flights that have been instituted in recent years.

The NOMAD Laboratory researchers have recently shed light on fundamental microscopic mechanisms that can help with tailoring materials for heat insulation. This development advances the ongoing efforts to enhance energy efficiency and sustainability.

The role of heat transport is crucial in various scientific and industrial applications, such as catalysis, turbine technologies, and thermoelectric heat converters that convert waste heat into electricity.

Particularly in the context of energy conservation and the development of sustainable technologies, materials with high thermal insulation capabilities are of utmost importance. These materials make it possible to retain and utilize heat that would otherwise go to waste. Therefore, improving the design of highly insulating materials is a key research objective in enabling more energy-efficient applications.

Photosynthesis. The maps elucidate the complex energy transfer process in photosynthesizing bacteria, providing a clear picture of how sunlight energy is channeled from the outer to the inner molecular ring of the light-harvesting complex.

Systems obeying quantum mechanics are notoriously difficult to visualize, but researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have developed an illustration technique that displays quantum features in an easy-to-read diagram called a coherence map. The researchers used these maps to study the quantum mechanisms that underlay photosynthesis, the process by which plants and some bacteria use sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into food.

Japanese company PowerX has unveiled the detailed design of the first-ever “Battery Tanker” at the Bariship International Maritime Exhibition held in Imabari City, Ehime Prefecture, Japan.

For over a century, oil tankers have been a familiar sight on international shipping routes, delivering vital energy sources to power our civilisation. But as the world shifts away from fossil fuels, they could soon be joined by new and futuristic-looking vessels bringing cleaner forms of energy.

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are considered ideal electrochemical energy storage materials due to their high electrical conductivity, large theoretical surface area, and good chemical stability.

However, CNTs tend to aggregate due to strong van der Waals forces, which reduces their electrochemically active area. This problem is even worse for single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) due to their high length-to-diameter ratio.

Recently, a joint research team led by Dr. Wang Xiao from the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology (SIAT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dr. Zhu Sheng from Shanxi University, and Prof. Li Yan from Peking University has encapsulated polyoxometalate guest molecules within SWNTs (with a diameter of approximately 1.4 nm) to enhance the electrochemical energy storage of CNTs.

BEIJING, June 9 (Reuters) — BYD announced on Friday a new brand of electric vehicles (EV) ranging from off-road to sports cars as the company looks to meet more diversified consumer demand.

The new brand is called Fang Cheng Bao, which translates from Chinese literally as “Formula” and “Leopard”. The Chinese EV giant is expected to launch the first model this year — an SUV identified for now internally as SF, BYD said in a statement.

BYD, with its Dynasty and Ocean series of pure electric and plug-in hybrid models mostly priced under 300,000 yuan ($42,140.16), has been out selling Volkswagen-branded cars in China since November.

A new airplane seat concept that allows wheelchair users to stay in their own chair throughout a flight was revealed this week by a subsidiary of US airline Delta, a move welcomed as a “huge step” by potential customers.

“Unbelievably excited,” is how power wheelchair user and avid traveler Cory Lee described his reaction after a working prototype of the design was demonstrated by Delta Flight Products (DFP) at the Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIX) in Hamburg, Germany, a symposium spotlighting airplane cabin innovations.

DFP’s concept seamlessly converts to and from a traditional airplane seat. The built-in seat folds up to allow a wheelchair to be docked into place. The seat would be installed into pre-existing aircraft seat track systems, so would not involve any structural change to the airplane.

Israel’s Brenmiller Energy has announced the opening of a “gigafactory” to manufacture the company’s thermal energy storage systems, which store power as heat and then provide users with energy on demand via steam. The company believes it to be the first factory in the world of its kind.

Thermal energy storage, true to its name, stores energy as heat — a crucial function as society transitions to renewable sources like solar and wind, sources that are now economically viable to gather but, alas, are as variable as the weather and seasons.

Brenmiller is angling for the new facility to be their primary production hub and plans to hit full capacity by the end of 2023.

Raju’s curiosity as a child has catapulted this brilliant innovation, for which he has also won awards. “I am looking forward to setting it up in many more villages in Telangana, saving millions of Kilowatts of energy and lots of civic money too,” he says.