Archive for the 'Energy' Category
Stacking Concrete Blocks Is a Surprisingly Efficient Way to Store Energy
August 19th, 2018I like to follow these relatively low-tech methods of energy storage, even though they don’t seem to catch on. It’s interesting to see a modern take on old ideas. The Energy Vault (below) is a similar concept to the Ares, which stores energy by moving a mass up a hill on rails. The Energy Vault, […]
The San Onofre Nuclear Plant Is a ‘Fukushima Waiting to Happen’
August 17th, 2018Via: San Diego Union Tribune: Southern California Edison is keeping 3.6 million pounds of lethal radioactive waste at the shuttered San Onofre nuclear plant in San Clemente. The waste poses a significant threat to the health, safety and economic vitality of the region’s more than 8 million residents. But Edison’s plan for storing it is […]
Airbus’ Solar-Powered Zephyr Smashes Flight Duration Record on Maiden Outing
August 12th, 2018Via: New Atlas: Airbus’ Zephyr program has claimed another record, with a production model unmanned solar-powered aircraft touching down after more than 25 days in the air. That voyage is the longest unmanned flight ever made, and was achieved on this particular vehicle’s maiden voyage, no less. Originally built by British defence company Qinetiq and […]
Cost to Dismantle First Nuclear Powered Aircraft Carrier: “Up to $1.5 Billion”
August 12th, 2018Via: Popular Mechanics: Six years after decommissioning USS Enterprise, the world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the U.S. Navy is still figuring out how to safely dismantle the ship. The General Accounting Office estimates the cost of taking apart the vessel and sending the reactors to a nuclear waste storage facility at up to $1.5 billion, […]
Older Americans Increasingly Filing for Bankruptcy
August 6th, 2018Via: SSRN: The social safety net for older Americans has been shrinking for the past couple decades. The risks associated with aging, reduced income, and increased healthcare costs, have been off-loaded onto older individuals. At the same time, older Americans are increasingly likely to file consumer bankruptcy, and their representation among those in bankruptcy has […]
Oil Giant Shell Leads Investment in Startup with ‘Electric Cars for Everyone’ Goal
August 6th, 2018Via: Electrek: Shell, the major British–Dutch multinational oil and gas company, has been leading several efforts having to do electric cars as it sees the auto industry transition to electric propulsion affecting its business. Now the oil giant Shell is leading an investment in a startup with the goal to make ‘Electric Cars for Everyone’ […]
Tesla Gigafactory 1 Battery Production at ‘~20 GWh’ – More Than All Other Carmakers Combined
August 2nd, 2018Via: Electrek: Tesla Gigafactory 1, the Tesla/Panasonic battery factory in Nevada, is starting to reach some impressive levels of production. The automaker has now confirmed Gigafactory 1 battery production is now at ‘~20 GWh’, which it claims is “more than all other carmakers combined.” We have previously estimated that battery production had already reached 20 […]
The $3 Billion Plan to Turn Hoover Dam Into a Giant Battery
July 29th, 2018Via: New York Times: Hoover Dam helped transform the American West, harnessing the force of the Colorado River — along with millions of cubic feet of concrete and tens of millions of pounds of steel — to power millions of homes and businesses. It was one of the great engineering feats of the 20th century. […]
Trump, Tesla and the X-Technology Secret
July 28th, 2018Trump’s uncle and Nikola Tesla. Guy Banister… UFO investigator?! Nixon and Trump. JFK and UFOs. Masons. Lots of Masons. Via: Dark Journalist:
New Way to Recycle Lithium-Ion Batteries
July 20th, 2018Cobalt has been a very well known choke-point in lithium based energy storage systems for many years. Tesla, for example, has been reducing its dependence on cobalt and will go cobalt free for its next generation of cells. Although, what that means, in terms of an ETA, isn’t clear. The point is that the largest […]
