http://mobile.businessweek.com/articles/2013-06-21/gone-in-90-seconds-teslas-battery-swapping-magic
Friday, June 21, 2013
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
The Supermaterial That Could Make Plastic Obsolete Is... Mushrooms?
http://gizmodo.com/the-futuristic-material-that-will-replace-plastic-is-511544462
Fungus
is, almost universally, not a good thing to have in your walls or
personal belongings. And normally, selling certain strains could lead to
federal charges. But a company called Ecovative
is violating both of those rules, creating packaging and building
materials from fungus—and they’re being lauded as visionaries for it.
Ecovative
was founded by Eben Bayer and Gavin McIntyre, who started experimenting
with fungus as part of a school project. Today, they employ 60 people
and maintain a massive facility in upstate New York, where they farm
mycelium, the root-like threads that form the basis for fungus. Mycelium
is like a glue: it latches onto whatever it finds around it—usually,
low-value organic matter like plant stalks or cotton hulls—to create a
super-dense network of threads. Ecovative grows it in dark cartons for
three to five days, after which they use extreme heat to stop it from
blossoming spores. “Spores come from the fruiting body or mushroom,”
explains Ecovative’s Sam Harrington. “Since we don't grow the mycelium
for long enough to 'fruit' to form a mushroom, there are never any
spores or allergen concerns with our process."
Expand
Ecovative's
process is transformative in two ways. First, there's the unique
biological properties of Mycelium, which can grow miles of thread-like
roots in days. It's an incredibly speedy organism, which makes it ideal
for manufacturing. Then there's the fact that it grows to fit any mold,
almost like a dense foam. Ecovative grows everything from finely
detailed packaging for laptops, to wide panels of insulation for homes.
They're also able to control the density of each product, simply by
stopping the growth process sooner or later. Their latest experiment?
Growing Mycelium architecture. This month, they unveiled what they call Mushroom Tiny House,
a small gabled cabin whose interior walls are packed with Mycelium
insulation. “We see a future where Mushroom Materials are found in the
bumper of your car, the walls of your home, and inside your desk,” says
Harrington.
The biggest
challenge with scaling their burgeoning fungus operation is likely the
public perception of its products. Organically-grown packaging is
usually seen as coup for companies’ marketing teams, but it’s less so
for those on the logistics side of things. Still, that’s rapidly
changing. This year, Ecovative is partnering with Sealed Air
Corporation, the 50-year-old company that invented bubble wrap, to open a
factory in Iowa where they'll scale their packaging output. They’re
also in talks with several electronics makers to grow Mycelium packaging
for laptops and tablets. "We have tested these materials in
environmental chambers under extreme conditions as well as several years
of shipping packaging and we have not found mold to be an issue at
all," says Harrington.
Expand
Harrington,
tellingly, situates Ecovative as the latest in a long line of great
American chemical and materials giants. “Dow and Dupont spent the last
100 years turning petroleum and natural gas into all sorts of amazing
plastics and materials,” he says. “[But] usually with not so amazing
environmental consequences. We aim to be this centuries leader in
sustainable materials.” Companies like Dow and Dupont have past hundred
years developing chemicals to prevent mold. Now, Ecovative is poised to
spend the next hundred years encouraging it.
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Massive Energy Skyscraper Proposed On U.S.-Mexico Border
From the Article:
A Maryland energy company is planning to deliver 500 megawatts of power to the electrical grid from a giant hollow tower on the Arizona-Mexico border that would be the second-tallest structure ever built.
(...)
The project does seem farfetched, and the company’s stock is trading at a penny a share, down from a high of 32 cents two years ago. But Sharon Williams, the director of development services for the city of San Luis, said the company’s professionalism bespoke a certain seriousness.
Massive Energy Skyscraper Proposed On U.S.-Mexico Border http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidferris/2013/03/26/massive-energy-skyscraper-proposed-on-u-s-mexico-border/
Follow-up:
Your Energy Skyscraper Questions, Answered
http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidferris/2013/03/26/your-energy-skyscraper-questions-answered/
A Maryland energy company is planning to deliver 500 megawatts of power to the electrical grid from a giant hollow tower on the Arizona-Mexico border that would be the second-tallest structure ever built.
(...)
The project does seem farfetched, and the company’s stock is trading at a penny a share, down from a high of 32 cents two years ago. But Sharon Williams, the director of development services for the city of San Luis, said the company’s professionalism bespoke a certain seriousness.
Massive Energy Skyscraper Proposed On U.S.-Mexico Border http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidferris/2013/03/26/massive-energy-skyscraper-proposed-on-u-s-mexico-border/
Follow-up:
Your Energy Skyscraper Questions, Answered
http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidferris/2013/03/26/your-energy-skyscraper-questions-answered/
Saturday, June 1, 2013
Generating Power from Old Automotive Batteries
By David Greenfield, Director of Content (of automationworld.com)
Automation industry shows are rarely lacking in cool, new technologies to showcase. And while several intriguing new products were on display in Orlando, Fla., at ABB’s Automation & Power World 2013, one of the displays I found most interesting was at the ABB Energy Storage Module (ESM) booth.
ESM was presenting a community energy storage (CES) system comprised of two enclosures that separately house the ABB ESI-S inverter and five GM Chevy Volt batteries. The batteries, which have been in use in the Volt for 8 to 10 years, are capable of holding only 70 percent of their full charge, thereby making them less viable for automotive use. But that remaining capacity, which can discharge power over the span of several hours, has definite benefits as a stationary storage application.
http://www.automationworld.com/industry-business/generating-power-old-automotive-batteries
Scientific Reports: Peel-and-Stick: Fabricating Thin Film Solar Cell on Universal Substrates
http://www.nature.com/srep/2012/121220/srep01000/full/srep01000.html
Fabrication of thin-film solar cells (TFSCs) on substrates other than Si and glass has been challenging because these nonconventional substrates are not suitable for the current TFSC fabrication processes due to poor surface flatness and low tolerance to high temperature and chemical processing. Here, we report a new peel-and-stick process that circumvents these fabrication challenges by peeling off the fully fabricated TFSCs from the original Si wafer and attaching TFSCs to virtually any substrates regardless of materials, flatness and rigidness. With the peel-and-stick process, we integrated hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) TFSCs on paper, plastics, cell phone and building windows while maintaining the original 7.5% efficiency. The new peel-and-stick process enables further reduction of the cost and weight for TFSCs and endows TFSCs with flexibility and attachability for broader application areas. We believe that the peel-and-stick process can be applied to thin film electronics as well.
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