Sub's Alternative Energy Thread

[Kung Wu]

Historic fusion discovery removes major obstacle to limitless clean energy (msn.com)



The dream continues

You should start an Emerging Technologies thread for these posts.

[SubGod22]

Historic fusion discovery removes major obstacle to limitless clean energy (msn.com)

Researchers have made significant progress in the pursuit of clean, limitless energy. A team at General Atomics, a facility operated for the US Department of Energy, has achieved a breakthrough in nuclear fusion that brings us closer to commercially viable fusion power. Their findings, published in the journal Nature, represent an important step forward in this endeavor.

Tackling the Core Challenges of Nuclear Fusion

Nuclear fusion, the same process that powers stars, holds great promise as a clean, sustainable energy source for the future. Achieving fusion on Earth, however, requires overcoming significant challenges, especially in terms of creating and maintaining the right conditions for fusion reactions to occur.

For fusion to happen, extremely hot, dense plasma needs to be generated and confined within a reactor. Plasma is a gas consisting of charged particles that must reach temperatures of hundreds of millions of degrees Celsius. At these extreme temperatures, atomic nuclei overcome their natural repulsion, allowing them to fuse and release large amounts of energy.

The dream continues

[SubGod22]

Company creates revolutionary new car engine with 'unprecedented' efficiency: 'Groundbreaking engine technology' (msn.com)

A Kansas aerospace company may be proving that internal combustion doesn't have to be a planet-warming concern.

Astron Aerospace has developed a hydrogen-burning engine that releases mainly water. That's right, it's a combustion engine with no heat-trapping fumes, according to a story on the tech from Interesting Engineering.

If the engine can be successfully scaled and adopted by motorists, it would provide a 60% efficiency rate that clobbers gas-guzzlers, which operate at around 20% to 40%, as noted by IE.

It's just a bonus that this is a Kansas company. This type of technological advancement could be huge if it plays out.

[SubGod22]

Toyota's portable hydrogen cartridges look like giant AA batteries – and could spell the end of lengthy EV charging (msn.com)

Toyota is showcasing a series of sustainable developments at the Japan Mobility Bizweek later this month – including its vision of a portable hydrogen cartridge future, which could apparently provide 'swappable' power for next-gen hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs).

Originally a project of Toyota’s mobility technology subsidiary Woven (formerly Woven Planet), the team produced a working prototype of a hydrogen cartridge back in 2022 but has since developed the idea further… and appears to be running with it.

The latest cartridges are lighter and easier to transport, with Toyota claiming the current iteration has been developed with the experience the company has gained in reducing the size and weight of the hydrogen tanks used in its fuel cell electric vehicles.

[Kung Wu]

With all due respect to Former President Trump and everything he and his family have had to deal with I really wished the Republicans had chosen Ron Desantis as their nominee. But I guess that is Florida's gain ...

Outstanding! He and Vance might make a formidable duo in our near future!

[ShockTalk]

With all due respect to Former President Trump and everything he and his family have had to deal with I really wished the Republicans had chosen Ron Desantis as their nominee. But I guess that is Florida's gain:

If there was a 5-run grand slam, that was its equivalent. Even Roy Hobbs didn't hit a HR that far.

[1972Shocker]

With all due respect to Former President Trump and everything he and his family have had to deal with I really wished the Republicans had chosen Ron Desantis as their nominee. But I guess that is Florida's gain:

[JVShocker]

Yeah. I thought the hurricane data was interesting, but I actually found it looking for weather info about the supposed cold snap we may or may not have next week. I've always been fascinated with weather in Alaska, probably because of the relationship between intense solar activity and effects on the North American jet stream and our own weather patterns here in the midwest. With my extremely limited knowledge of astronomy, I've just always been fascinated with our sun. Wish I had paid a little more attention in those classes at WSU. LOL.

[Kung Wu]

Maybe I was just out of the loop, but this is for the weather nerds like me out there. I just found this website. Kind of fun and interesting to watch weather patterns this way.

https://www.windy.com/77.089/104.392?27.645,-80.947,4

OMG. The "Waves" view in front of the hurricane is showing 30 ft high waves every 10 seconds. *gulp*

[Kung Wu]

Maybe I was just out of the loop, but this is for the weather nerds like me out there. I just found this website. Kind of fun and interesting to watch weather patterns this way.

https://www.windy.com/77.089/104.392?27.645,-80.947,4

Wow pretty stunning! Put in Orlando, Florida in the search bar at the top for interesting hurricane views. Especially the "Wind" view.

[JVShocker]

Maybe I was just out of the loop, but this is for the weather nerds like me out there. I just found this website. Kind of fun and interesting to watch weather patterns this way.

https://www.windy.com/77.089/104.392?27.645,-80.947,4

[SubGod22]

This definitely falls into an all of the above category. I like the resourcefulness.

Spain's Olive Oil Producers Turn Tons of Their Pits into Fuel - For homes, Planes and Industry

In a rather unique story from Reuters, the Spanish olive oil market is profiled for what it can do to power Spain’s homes, not just its economy and kitchens.

Accounting for half the production of olive oil in the EU, growers are now getting to sell olive pits as a valuable ingredient for biofuel. Hundreds of thousands of tons of olive pits are now being consumed in Spain every year to heat homes, power oil mills, and even airplanes.

Pits make up between 8% and 10% of an olive crop by weight. During the pressing stage in the oil production process, the pits are squeezed out and separated before being washed and dried to create fuel similar to wood pellets used in certain domestic stoves, grills, and fireplaces.

In the past, cultivators didn’t have a good idea of what to do with the olive pits, says Pablo Rodero, an affiliate with the Spanish biomass association, Avebiom. Avebiom estimates that 400,000 tons of olive pits are produced every year in Spain. That’s a lot of material to not know what to do with.

“Now everything is used,” Rodero told Reuters. “Olives are like pigs: Nothing goes to waste.”

According to Reuters, the energy shock from the Russian invasion of Ukraine that caused domestic heating prices to soar led directly to a further development of the olive pit industry as a fuel product.

One-third of all pits are now refined to remove as much moisture as possible and sold for around 300 euros per ton, which equates to around 6 cents per kilowatt-hour for home heating.

[SubGod22]

The potential in this is crazy. I've seen something similar in the past about some sort of 3D printed batteries that would be lighter and could be shaped however necessary to make it bigger than a typical battery without the weight. This seems similarish.

New Carbon Fiber Batteries Could Form the Actual Framework of Cars and Airplanes

Cars and planes could soon be built from the world’s strongest batteries, thanks to a ground-breaking innovation from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden.

Researchers detailed the advance of so-called massless energy storage—and a structural battery that could cut the weight of a laptop by 50%, make mobile phones as thin as a credit card, or increase the driving range of an EV by up to 70 percent on a single charge.

Structural batteries are materials that, in addition to storing energy, can carry loads. Stiff, strong carbon fibers could store electrical energy chemically and, in this way, the battery material can become part of the actual construction material of a product.

And, when cars, planes, ships, or computers are built from a material that functions as both a battery and a load-bearing structure, the weight and energy consumption are radically reduced.

“We have succeeded in creating a battery made of carbon fibre composite that is as stiff as aluminum and energy-dense enough to be used commercially,” says Chalmers researcher Richa Chaudhary, the first author of a paper recently published in Advanced Materials. “Just like a human skeleton, the battery has several functions at the same time.”

When it comes to vehicles there are high demands on the design to be sufficiently strong to meet safety requirements. There, the research team’s structural battery cell has significantly increased its stiffness, or more specifically, the elastic modulus, which is measured in gigapascal (GPa), from 25 to 70. This means that the material can carry loads just as well as aluminum, but with a lower weight.

“In terms of multifunctional properties, the new battery is twice as good as its predecessor – and actually the best ever made in the world,” said research leader Leif Asp, professor at the Department of Industrial and Materials Science at Chalmers.

[WstateU]

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C9QQ0lJSvu9/?igsh=bDkyeGwzcWFnNWtk

[SubGod22]

I look forward to seeing how well this goes. I like the potential of hydrogen.

This Sleek New LA Commuter Train Is Pollution-Free

In Los Angeles County, a new, low-emissions commuter train is helping combat local and global smog by powering itself with hydrogen fuel cells.

Liquid or gaseous hydrogen is considered the best green alternative to the heavy fuels that power society’s largest machines, and this ZEMU train is just a few months away from starting routine service from San Bernadino and Redlands to LA proper.

ZEMU stands for zero-emissions multiple units, and possesses several advantages over other decarbonized rail transport. Electric trains recharge via overhead powerlines, but these require millions in funding to install and maintain and aren’t practical for long distances.

“The reality is it can be used anywhere existing rail happens now,” says Tim Watkins, chief of legislative and public affairs at the San Bernardino County Transit Authority, the agency behind the project. “It doesn’t require a new capital investment into infrastructure.”

Manufactured by the Swiss company Stadler, ZEMU trains take on hydrogen fuel that is split into hydrogen molecules, generating energy that recharges an electric battery that powers the train’s motors. The battery is also recharged by breaking, and the only emission of any sort is water vapor.

“I think it’s going to enable a lot of places to decarbonize without having to make extremely expensive investments in infrastructure,” Watkins told Fast Company Magazine.