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September
2018, Volume 19
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With the US Dept. of Transportation, in
cooperation with the US EPA and DOE, releasing a “Draft Environmental
Impact Statement” of 500 pages, the
White House admits there will be a four (4) degree C
increase in temperature and a doubling of the CO2 (to 800 ppm) by
2100 but only an 8 billion ton increase in atmospheric carbon
with the new fuel standards by 2100. The strategy apparently puts
the blame on the whole world and its need to make enormous cuts
in emissions to avert catastrophic warming but that “would
require substantial increases in technology innovation and
adoption compared to today’s levels and would require the economy
and the vehicle fleet to move away from the use of fossil fuels,
which is not currently technologically feasible or economically
practicable.” (Sections 5.4.1.1 and 5.4.2.1) Such nihilism is a
new future energy twist for the administration at the same time
that the Washington Post reports that the Esieh Lake (20 football
fields) in Alaska is
outgassing as if it is “boiling,” with
large bubbles “some as big as grapefruits” of a large amount of
the powerful greenhouse gas methane, “that could pose a
significant threat if lakes like this one turn out to be common.
On a positive note, the IEEE Magnetics Society
Summer School is offering free room and board with reimbursement
for transportation June 2-7, 2019. The Magnetics Society Summer
School is held annually during (northern hemisphere) summer
holidays. The school is designed for about 85 graduate students
from all parts of the world studying magnetism and related areas.
It consists of lectures by international experts and includes
poster presentations by participating graduate students. The
program covers fundamentals and advanced topics in magnetism.
Click here for The online
application
Our first Story offers great promise for the
future of energy production since researchers at Hokkaido
University in Japan have claimed to reach 85 percent efficiency
for the conversion of solar energy by adding gold nanoparticles
on the surface of solar panels and a layer of gold on the other
side of a 30 nm layer of titanium dioxide. This technique has
created a light trap which increases the light conversion
efficiency 11 times compared to the PV panels on the market
today.
Story #2 adds one more car manufacturer to the
electric vehicle list with Audi’s mass production of all-electric
SUVs. Unveiled in Germany and this month in San Francisco CA, the
5-seater e-tron SUV will have a 310 mile (500 km) range, which is
quite impressive, along with a fast charge capability. Sales of
the Volkswagen owned product line are expected by the end of this
year.
Story #3 offers a new look at the electric
clothes of the future. Improving on a dress that has 72 flexible
solar cells on the front designed by Van Dongen “Wearable Solar”,
a Japanese researcher at the University of Tokyo has developed a
water resistant version that is integrated into the clothing. It
was reported in Nature Energy scientific journal.
Story #4 recalls our Future Energy eNews from Jan.
7 2006 that described the simple electrodes
needed out in nature to generate electricity from a tree. Now the
AIP Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy reports the
results of a study on the size of the electrodes as a key factor
to determine the voltage of tree-based electricity, which is
exciting for those DIY energy folks who like to keep things
simple.
Story #5 is the result of a postdoc researcher who
has found that a large scale wind and solar farming of the Sahara
Desert will have additional benefits. The study, reported in
the journal Science, is among the first to model the climate
effects of wind and solar installations while taking into account
how vegetation responds to changes in heat and precipitation.
This has shown to result in an increase of rain and vegetation
for the area, which could reverse the 10,000 year old trend
toward desertification.
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1) 85% Solar Power Efficiency using Gold
Nanoparticles
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Solar
energy has enormous potential to power our future. Each hour, the
sun sends more energy to the Earth than we use during an entire
year. The challenge has always been to convert the energy from
the sun into electricity. Photovoltaic (PV) solar panels on most
residential homes are about 15% efficient. The newest commercial
PV designs are reaching 20 to 25 percent, while expensive
military and space application PV cells can reach 30 percent
efficiency or slightly higher. So when researchers at Hokkaido University
in Japan claimed to reach 85 percent efficiency for the
conversion of solar energy, people took notice
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2) Audi Starts Mass Production of All Electric SUVs
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Audi began
production of its first all-electric SUV on Monday, three years
after the German automaker unveiled a concept version of the
vehicle at the International Motor Show in Frankfurt. The company
won’t reveal the production-version of the Audi e-tron SUV until
Sept. 17, in a what promises to be a splashy event in San Francisco.
Audi, which is owned by Volkswagen Group, has been working towards
mass production of the e-tron quattro for years now, offering
periodic updates and teasers on the pricing, range, and interior
design. The Audi e-tron is being produced at Audi’s factory in
Brussels, which has been undergoing an extensive renovation since
2016 to prepare for the new vehicle. The Brussels factor has
become the cornerstone of Volkswagen Group’s electric vehicle
plans.
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3) Solar Cells that can be Weaved into Wearables that
are Water-resistant
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To bring
the sun’s power to wearables requires a new kind of solar cell, one
that’s lightweight and water-resistant. As researchers at the
University of Tokyo and Japan’s RIKEN research institute describe
Monday in the scientific journal Nature Energy, their newly created
cell could be just what’s needed.
“Our
devices will be able to be integrated onto the clothing, attached
onto the shoulders or backsides, or onto our hats,” RIKEN researcher
Kenjiro Fukuda tells Inverse. “And these power sources can supply
enough electrical powers to [Internet of Things] devices such as
sensors, or maybe iPhone or smartphone systems to supply charge to
the smart devices.”
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4) Effects of Electrode Size on the Voltage of
Tree-Based Energy Generator
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Trees can generate energy
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A standing
tree and its surrounding soil form a sustainable energy generator, which
is expected to decrease the need for in-the-field battery changes of
low-power sensors used in forests, thereby enhancing forest
monitoring technologies. Although various tree-powered circuits and
sensors have already been invented, the low voltage of such a
generator still causes great difficulty in energy harvesting and
utilization. Hence, a key issue that must be addressed is the
increasing voltage level. A larger electrode may generate a higher
voltage level.
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5) Large Wind & Solar Farms in Sahara would
Increase Rain, Heat and Vegetation
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Wind and
solar farms are known to have local effects on heat, humidity and
other factors that may be beneficial—or detrimental—to the regions
in which they are situated. A new climate-modeling study finds that
a massive wind and solar installation in the Sahara Desert and
neighboring Sahel would increase local temperature, precipitation
and vegetation. Overall, the researchers report, the effects would
likely benefit the region.
The study,
reported in the journal Science, is among the first to model the
climate effects of wind and solar installations while taking into
account how vegetation responds to changes in heat and
precipitation, said lead author Yan Li, a postdoctoral researcher in
natural resources and environmental sciences at the University of
Illinois
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