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Category: energy – Page 268

General Atomics and Boeing team up on high-energy laser weapon

General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) and Boeing have entered into a partnership to develop a scalable 100 kW to 250 kW-class High Energy Laser (HEL) weapon system for air and missile defenses.

Laser weapons have been high on the wish lists of major military powers ever since the first laser was invented by Theodore Maiman at the Hughes Research Lab, Malibu, California in 1960. With enough concentrated power to burn through steel, enough range to cover literally astronomical distances, an operating cost of a dollar a shot, and an unlimited number of shots so long as there’s power available, the laser looked like the so-called ultimate weapon – if it could be made practical.

Of the problems that have hampered laser weapon development over the past six decades, one of the biggest is how to properly cool a laser generator. This is important because weapon-grade lasers have an efficiency between 50 and 70 percent, with the leftover percentages being lost as heat that could shut down or damage the device.

Ecological Power Storage Battery Made of Vanillin, the Main Flavor Component of Vanilla

Researchers at TU Graz have found a way to convert the aromatic substance vanillin into a redox-active electrolyte material for liquid batteries. The technology is an important step towards ecologically sustainable energy storage.

It is ground-breaking in the field of sustainable energy storage technology,” says Stefan Spirk from the Institute of Bioproducts and Paper Technology at Graz University of Technology. He and his team have succeeded in making redox-flow batteries more environmentally friendly by replacing their core element, the liquid electrolyte, which are mostly made up of ecologically harmful heavy metals or rare earths – with vanillin, an important ingredient of Austrian vanilla croissants.

GE starts testing world’s biggest 13MW offshore wind turbine

GE unveils its largest wind turbine prototype yet, a 13MW behemoth that stands 248 metres tall and destined for use in offshore wind farms.

Wind turbine manufacturer GE Renewable Energy has unveiled latest wind turbine prototype, an optimised version of its Halifax-X offshore wind turbine design that can deliver a massive 13MW of output.

It is the largest turbine that GE has produced, standing 248 metres tall, with 107 metre long blades and offers around double the generation capacity of most wind turbines currently deployed around the world.

GE said that a working version of the wind turbine, optimised for offshore projects, had been deployed and was currently undergoing a series of tests to satisfy the requirements for certification.

Tesla Worldwide Microgrid Energy Storage Business Is Bigger Than You Thought

Featured image: TransAlta / Twitter One of Tesla’s main goals is the deployment of energy generation and storage systems. These microgrids can provide electricity to homes, relieving our dependence on a mine-and-burn hydrocarbon economy. Tesla currently has over 120 operational microgrids around the world, which is an excellent confirmation of the company’s success in achieving its goals.

You’ve Heard of Vantablack. Scientists Just Created ‘Super White’, And It’s Very Cool

Scientists have created a super white paint that is the yin to Vantablack’s yang.

While ultra black materials can today absorb more than 99.96 percent of sunlight, this new super white coat can reflect 95.5 percent of all the photons that hit it.

Instead of warming up under direct light, objects painted with this new acrylic material can remain cooler than their surrounding temperature even under the Sun, which could allow for a new energy-efficient way to control temperature inside buildings.

It’s Official: Solar Is the Cheapest Electricity in History

Just a matter of time.

In a new report, the International Energy Agency (IEA) says solar is now the cheapest form of electricity for utility companies to build. That’s thanks to risk-reducing financial policies around the world, the agency says, and it applies to locations with both the most favorable policies and the easiest access to financing. The report underlines how important these policies are to encouraging development of renewables and other environmentally forward technologies.

☀️ You love renewable energy. So do we. Let’s nerd out over it together.

Solar and Covid lead change as grid demand, prices and emissions tumble to record lows

Rooftop solar, Covid and more large scale renewables push Australia’s main grid to record low levels of demand and emissions intensity, and the lowest prices in years.

The combined impact of growing rooftop solar and the Covid-19 pandemic – along with the continued influx of large scale wind and solar – has create a suite of new records in Australia’s electricity grids in the September quarter, sending demand, emissions and prices to new lows.

The latest Quarterly Energy Dynamics for the September quarter, compiled by the Australian Energy Market Operator, also noted record highs for wind and solar output, which along with falling gas prices and cut-price bidding by coal generators trying to stay competitive led to the lowest wholesale prices in more than five years, and in some cases, record low prices.

Importantly, the emissions intensity of Australia’s main grid also fell to a record low of 0.7 tonnes of Co2 equivalent – thanks to the big reduction in black coal output and the increase in renewables, and despite a rise in the dirtiest fuel source, brown coal.

Twin peaks: South Australia reaches 100 pct solar, and then 100 pct wind power in same week

Australia seems to be leading the way in terms of wind power as well. 😃

It was a big week for South Australia last week. First, as we wrote at the time, the state reached 100 per cent solar power (of state demand) for the first time on Sunday, October 11.

Then, just a few days later, the state reached 100 per cent wind power (of state demand), on Thursday, October 15.

This was not the first time for wind, as it occurs reasonably often and for sometimes lengthy periods, but the fact that the two events occurred within days of the other are nevertheless important milestones. And although the transition to clean energy is far from complete, it does give some insight into what the state Liberal government’s target of “net 100 per cent renewables” by 2030 might look like.