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Archive for the ‘energy’ category: Page 349

Dec 7, 2014

Moss can power a radio, and could eventually charge your phone

Posted by in category: energy

By — Grist

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A team of scientists over in Europe have decided to take the idea of “green” power very, very literally: They have developed a system to harness the energy generated by moss.

Modern Farmer:

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Nov 23, 2014

BitCoin, Cryptocurrency, and Blockchain Technology — The Ethereum Primer

Posted by in categories: automation, big data, biotech/medical, bitcoin, business, complex systems, computing, disruptive technology, economics, encryption, energy, engineering, ethics, finance, futurism, geopolitics, government, hacking, hardware, human trajectories, information science, innovation, internet, journalism, law, materials, military, neuroscience, open access, open source, philosophy, physics, policy, privacy, science, scientific freedom, security, software, supercomputing, transparency

Quoted: “Ethereum will also be a decentralised exchange system, but with one big distinction. While Bitcoin allows transactions, Ethereum aims to offer a system by which arbitrary messages can be passed to the blockchain. More to the point, these messages can contain code, written in a Turing-complete scripting language native to Ethereum. In simple terms, Ethereum claims to allow users to write entire programs and have the blockchain execute them on the creator’s behalf. Crucially, Turing-completeness means that in theory any program that could be made to run on a computer should run in Ethereum.” And, quoted: “As a more concrete use-case, Ethereum could be utilised to create smart contracts, pieces of code that once deployed become autonomous agents in their own right, executing pre-programmed instructions. An example could be escrow services, which automatically release funds to a seller once a buyer verifies that they have received the agreed products.”

Read Part One of this Series here » Ethereum — Bitcoin 2.0? And, What Is Ethereum.

Read Part Two of this Series here » Ethereum — Opportunities and Challenges.

Read Part Three of this Series here » Ethereum — A Summary.

Oct 31, 2014

Richard Branson, Success, Unpreparedness, Failure, and Death!

Posted by in categories: business, electronics, energy, internet, physics

Richard Branson, Success, Unpreparedness, Failure, and Death!

GOD  OF  SUCCESS

The Largest God of Entrepreneurial Success, “knighted by the English Crown,” wanted to teach us that the Power of Simplicity with Boldness is sufficient to defeat the Science of Complexity and a most-unprepared à –la-Sir-Francis-Drake company called: “Virgin Galactic.”

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Oct 18, 2014

Marilyn Monroe in London and Continuous Performance Improvement

Posted by in categories: business, economics, education, energy, existential risks, futurism

Marilyn Monroe in London and Continuous Performance Improvement

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This is an actual story.

I was the Insurance Broker House EVP for the world’s global oil corporation number two and got asked a delicate official favor from the Client.

To give you an idea of this piece of business, the Client was paying cash US$ 100 million for insured and re-insured premiums over their fixed and liquid assets. The latter via a major and reputable London Reinsurance Brokerage House.

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Oct 17, 2014

British Supermarket to Power Itself Solely With Food Waste

Posted by in category: energy

Brandon Baker — Nation of Change

Article image

It’s good to refrain from wasting energy, but it’s even better to procure energy from items that you otherwise would waste.

That’s the thinking behind the latest announcement from Sainsbury’s, the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom. The chain’s Cannock location will soon be powered solely by the company’s own food waste. Waste management and recycling firm Biffa has partnered with the store to use its advanced anaerobic digestion (AD) facilities and a power link that allows the Cannock store to use the waste generated from Sainsbury’s other locations.

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Oct 13, 2014

Generating electricity from water droplets

Posted by in category: energy

Kurweil AI

http://www.rtcc.org/files/2013/10/Water_droplets_466.jpg
MIT researchers discovered last year that when water droplets spontaneously jump away from superhydrophobic (water-repelling) surfaces during condensation, the droplets can gain electric charge in the process.

Now the same team has demonstrated that this process can generate small amounts of electricity, which could lead to devices that can charge cellphones or other electronics using just the humidity in the air. As a side benefit, the system could also produce clean water.

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Aug 11, 2014

Solar panels light the way from carbon dioxide to fuel

Posted by in categories: energy, solar power

Princeton

Research to curb global warming caused by rising levels of atmospheric greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, usually involves three areas: Developing alternative energy sources, capturing and storing greenhouse gases, and repurposing excess greenhouse gases. Drawing on two of these approaches, researchers in the laboratory of Andrew Bocarsly, a Princeton professor of chemistry, collaborated with start-up company Liquid Light Inc. of Monmouth Junction, N.J. to devise an efficient method for harnessing sunlight to convert carbon dioxide into a potential alternative fuel known as formic acid. The study was published June 13 in the Journal of CO2 Utilization.

The transformation from carbon dioxide and water to formic acid was powered by a commercial solar panel generously provided by the energy company PSE&G that can be found atop electric poles across the state. The process takes place inside an electrochemical cell, which consists of metal plates the size of rectangular lunch-boxes that enclose liquid-carrying channels.

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Aug 10, 2014

Segway Inventor Dean Kamen Thinks His New Stirling Engine Will Get You Off The Grid For Under $10K

Posted by in categories: energy, engineering

Christopher Helman — Forbes

Kamen's Beacon 10 Stirling engine. (Courtesy Deka Research)
For the new issue of Forbes Magazine I wrote an article about David Crane, the visionary CEO of NRG Energy . When I met Crane for lunch a couple weeks ago, no sooner had we sat down than he began singing the praises of this new contraption he had in his basement. The machine — which can generate 10 kilowatts of continuous power, fed by Crane’s natural gas line — is a new iteration of an old creation, the Stirling engine. This version, called the Beacon 10, was created after a decade of engineering by famed inventor Dean Kamen.

I caught up with Kamen (who is best known for creating the Segway scooter) over the phone last week to ask him about the device. “We’ve turned his basement into an extension of our laboratory,” said Kamen. “It’s certainly not a machine made for the typical home, but he has a gigantic swimming pool and a huge house.”

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Jul 22, 2014

Russian Physicists Launch Campaign To Rebuild Tesla’s Wardenclyffe Tower And Power The World

Posted by in categories: energy, physics

Written by
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“Tesla was right and we are ready to prove it!” So say the two Russian physicists who have just launched an Indiegogo campaign to rebuild Nikola Tesla’s Wardenclyffe Tower in Fall, 2014. Tesla believed that the tower could transmit power wirelessly but this was never definitively proven in his lifetime.

If he was right, and after extensive study the team are convinced he was, the project could provide an efficient, worldwide energy transmission system that would distribute all the clean energy we can use.

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Jul 2, 2014

AN ACTUAL EXCHANGE BETWEEN THE ROYAL DUTCH SHELL WORLDWIDE CEO AND THE ROYAL DUTCH SHELL WORLDWIDE CHIEF STRATEGIST!

Posted by in categories: big data, business, complex systems, disruptive technology, economics, education, energy, engineering, existential risks, finance, futurism, information science, innovation, physics, robotics/AI, science, scientific freedom, security

AN ACTUAL EXCHANGE BETWEEN THE ROYAL DUTCH SHELL WORLDWIDE CEO AND THE ROYAL DUTCH SHELL WORLDWIDE CHIEF STRATEGIST!

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AN ACTUAL EXCHANGE BETWEEN THE ROYAL DUTCH SHELL WORLDWIDE CEO AND THE ROYAL DUTCH SHELL WORLDWIDE CHIEF STRATEGIST!

QUESTION: HOW CAN WE ILLUSTRATE MR. ANDRES AGOSTINI’S CONCURRENT COORDINATED CONVERGENT SYSTEMS THINKING (CCCST): ARTICULATED UNDER INTELLIGENCE AUGMENTATION AND AMPLIFICATION (IAA) VIA ASIN: B00KNL02ZE ANSWER: BY PAYING ATTENTION TO AN INDOORS INTERVIEW BY THE ROYAL DUTCH SHELL HERE:

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