Researchers at Tel Aviv University said that they have created superconducting wires that use fibers made from single sapphire crystals that are “slightly thicker” than a human hair. The result is a structure that can transport about 40 times more electricity than a copper wire of the same size.
The research group believes that such cables could be used on a large scale to transport energy more efficiently. They could also be deployed to more effectively collect energy from wind and solar farms as well in energy storage.
“Sources such as wind turbines or solar panels are usually located in remote places such as deserts or offshore lines, and you need an efficient way to deliver the current,” said Boaz Almog, a member of the research group. “These superconductors can traverse the long distances without losing any of the energy to heat due to electrical resistance.”
There was no information on commercial applications of this technology in the near future.
Back in February researchers at Stanford first taunted us with the possibility of simultaneous, two-way data transmission on the same frequency. Now some folks at Rice University are edging full-duplex communication closer to reality.
By the time carriers get around to rolling out 4.5G networks, engineers could potentially double throughput without adding more cell towers and using only existing mobile hardware. With an extra antenna and some fancy software tricks, which allow the device to ignore locally produced signals, the Rice team was able to produce a connection ten-times stronger than previously published studies.
Since the technology is based on existing MIMO setups, it may also prove the shortest route to asynchronous full-duplex transmissions.
The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System is a 3,600 acre solar generator project is to be built in California’s Mojave Desert. Zurich architectural studio Rafaa has come up with an innovative solar generator project to be built in California’s Mojave Desert. Dubbed the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System (ISEGS), Rafaa’s massive project will span 3,600 acres with 3 solar electric generating plant complexes that utilize ‘Luz Power Tower’ (LPT) technology.
LPT technology uses a field of over 173,000 mirror-like heliostats that concentrate the sun’s rays onto a single solar receiver atop a 450-foot power tower, creating steam and generating electricity. Rafaa has proposed two separate ideas for Ivanpah’s tower structure. The first is a twisted linear-based model while the second is a cylindrical honeycomb based model.
Despite the importance of our air ducts and ventilation systems, most of us rarely get them cleaned as often as we should. Although the insides of air ducts seem to be wildly popular in spy and horror movies, who knows what kind of dust creatures are actually lurking around in there?
Hoping to make the whole process a bit less troublesome, Czech company Neovision has created an air duct-cleaning robot named Jetty. It may look like a laser-equipped human-hunting floating robot straight from the Matrix or Terminator, but the only thing Jetty will be blasting is dirt. This dry ice shooting robot is controlled via remote joystick and equipped with a 1024×768 camera for easy navigation.
Currently the robot’s range is limited by its Ethernet-over-Cat5 power cable, but Neovision researchers hope to remove this limitation from future models. Jetty may not be the most efficient way to clean your ducts, but it would definitely be a convenient way for home and business owners to keep their air ducts nice and clean without having to do too much work.
And it’s easily available for only $145,000! PC-Aero’s brand new electric aircraft is an impressive plane that is sure to jump to the top of every environmentally-conscious aviation enthusiast’s wish list. Capable of flying up to three hours on a single charge while cruising at 100mph, the Elektra One is quite the impressive development in eco-friendly flying.
Of course to maximize its efficiency, the plane is only capable of seating one person with a maximum cargo weight of 220 pounds (that’s including the pilot). This means you won’t be able to fly your friends around in your shiny new $145,000 toy, but at least you’ll be cutting down on air pollution.
The plane has been successful in its testing phases last spring and is intended to go on sale in the middle of next year, though it is still pending certification as a brand new ultralight aircraft in Germany. Check out the video below to see the Elektra One in action.
The Russian government has given the go-ahead on an ambitious new tunnel project that could connect Siberia with Alaska via an underground rail line. If completed, the $65 billion project will be the longest underwater tunnel in the world, besting the Chunnel between England and France by twice the distance. The planned course would stretch over 65 miles and would snake beneath the Big and Little Diomede Islands. According to Inhabitat, the project will be funded by a private and public partnership. So why build it?
Aside from being a civil engineering marvel, the tunnel would also provide an efficient way to move 100 million tons of freight per year. In addition, the tunnel could provide an easy transmission route for electricity developed by tidal energy stations and wind plants in Russia to Alaska and Canada. In addition, the rail system would complete a high-speed network that could stretch from London to New York City. Unfortunately, the project doesn’t seem to be geared toward passenger travel. At least, not for now.
Called Hybrid Memory Cube (HMC), the technology represents a logic layer with a stack of memory chips that are vertically connected with through silicon vias (TSVs). According to Micron, the numbers of contacts as well as short distances enable dramatically higher data transfer rates than today’s memory architecture. The prototype shown at Hot Chips was rated at 128 GBps.
In comparison, current DDR3-1600 devices deliver 12.8 GBps. Micron claims that a single HMC could deliver about 20 times the bandwidth of a DDR3 module, while it consumes substantially less energy – only 10 percent of the energy per bit that DDR3 uses. According to the manufacturer, the architecture also requires about 90 percent less space than current RDIMMs.
Micron does not provide any information when HMCs will be available for purchase, but it pitches the technology as a way to break through the “memory wall”, which is a term that commonly refers to the relatively small gains in memory efficiency and performance gains. The memory is designed to be used either to be used in close proximity to the CPU in performance-based systems or as far memory in systems that are built for better power efficiency.
Global positioning systems have become surprisingly accurate in the 2D landscape – certainly much more accurate than what we would have expected about 10 years ago.
However, altitude measurements aren’t on the same level. However, researchers at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Poland and at Ohio State University said they have developed a software that is improving vertical accuracy and will enhance applications that are used in potentially hazardous regions at high altitudes.
They also claim that their software could be used to measure how quickly glaciers at high altitudes are melting. The new technology will enable GPS systems to reflect the correct location, including altitude, within a few inches.
According to the researchers, the determination of altitude is tricky as it is affected by electron interaction and tropospheric refraction that re-route GPS signals. Today’s models do not always correctly account for tropospheric delays and do not fully consider the impact of weather and temperature variations. The new software developed at both universities was tested in three different scenarios using ground station receivers located in the Carpathian Mountains in Poland – a region known for its steep slopes. They discovered one method that gave the correct altitude 97 percent of the time.
“Of the three methods we tested, the third and most accurate was also the most complicated,” said Dorota Grejner-Brzezinska, professor of civil and environmental engineering and geodetic science at Ohio State University. “This method was developed by our team, and required knowledge of three or four reference stations in order to perform the calculations properly.”
The team said that it will conduct further testing, but noted that there is already enough evidence that GPS in 3D scenarios can be improved.
Solar panels have been around for quite some time now, providing a much greener method of generating power. The only problem is that most solar panel arrays aren’t exactly the most efficient replacements for electricity due to their need for the perfect positioning and good weather. Luckily for solar panel researchers around the globe, a 13 year old boy figured out a way to increase solar panel efficiency all on his own.
While Aidan Dwyer was on a winter hike in the Catskills, he was amazed by patterns he saw in the trees and realized that these pattern resembled the Fibonacci sequence (0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21…etc). After realizing trees grew in that manner in order to be efficient in using sunlight for photosynthesis, he put two and two together and decided to try to apply the same concept to solar panels.
He created a tree-like stand for solar panels and attached them in a Fibonacci-like manner and compared the results with a standard flat solar panel array. His simple creation yielded an incredible 50 percent jump in efficiency between the traditional method and the Fibonacci design. Since then, young Aidan ha already earned himself a provisional U.S. patent and is undoubtedly sought out for by many who are looking to utilize his design. Perhaps now we can expect to see entire groves and forests of solar panel trees in the future. That would be quite a sight to see!
Now can somebody propose to the city council to use solar-powered LED street lights?
Millenniata has successfully developed the M-Disc, which is known as the first ever permanent file backup disc that lasts forever. Designed for businesses, scrapbookers, photographers, archivists, genealogists, or anyone who want to protect their data and afraid to loss the data forever, the M-Disc provides long-lasting storage by literally etching data into a rock-like material. It will not degrade over time and is usable on a daily basis. The current version reads like a single-layer DVD-R with 4.7GB of storage space. According to the company, they are currently working on a Blu-ray version of M-Disc that will be announced later. The Millenniata M-Disc will be available in October 2011. The M-Disc is priced at $2.99 a pop. The M-Disc 5-pack retails for $13.89, while the M-Disc 10-pack is priced at $26.59.
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