The iconic Empire State Building that has crowned Midtown Manhattan since the early 1930s is now a game changer in American architecture in a different way: by becoming completely powered with renewable energy. The Hill reports: Announced on Wednesday, Empire State Realty Trust (ESRT) confirmed that it struck a three-year contract with Green Mountain Energy to power its entire commercial real…
Tag: environmentally friendly
Biofuel-Powered Rocket Makes Historic Launch in Maine
Despite bad weather and early technical difficulties, employee-owned bluShift Aerospace “made history Sunday afternoon when it launched its prototype rocket, Stardust 1.0,” reports Maine’s Portland Press Herald:
The company became the first in Maine to launch a commercial rocket and the first in the world to launch a rocket using bio-derived fuel… It carried three payloads, two commercial and one, free of…
How Amazon Wins: By Steamrolling Rivals and Partners
The Wall Street Journal: To keep customers happy, which Mr. Bezos has long said is Amazon’s fixation and growth strategy, executives behind the scenes have methodically waged targeted campaigns against rivals and partners alike — an approach that has changed little through the years, from diapers to footwear. No competitor is too small to draw Amazon’s sights. It cloned a line…
Satellites to track trains and promote rail safety
Trains in Italy will be tracked and controlled via space to ensure they run in a safe, punctual and environmentally friendly way. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-11-satellites-track-rail-safety.html…
Britain Is Getting Ready for Its Space Race
Spurred by Brexit, London is backing companies that will build satellites and haul them into orbit. From a report: Cornwall, in England’s far southwest, is known for antique fishing villages and snug, cliff-lined beaches. Soon it may be the scene of something very different: a small but growing space industry. One day in a year or two, a modified Boeing 747…
Airbus Reveals Plans For Zero-Emission Aircraft Fueled By Hydrogen
Airbus has announced plans for the world’s first zero-emission commercial aircraft models that run on hydrogen and could take to the skies by 2035. The Guardian reports: The European aersospace company revealed three different aircraft concepts that would be put through their paces to find the most efficient way to travel long distances by plane without producing the greenhouse gas emissions…
New design principles for spin-based quantum materials
As our lives become increasingly intertwined with technology—whether supporting communication while working remotely or streaming our favorite show—so too does our reliance on the data these devices create. Data centers supporting these technology ecosystems produce a significant carbon footprint—and consume 200 terawatt hours of energy each year, greater than the annual energy consumption of Iran. To balance ecological concerns yet meet…
Fabric repels both oil and water thanks to clever silicone coating
By studying a fabric’s weave, it’s possible to design an environmentally friendly silicone coating for the individual fibres that makes the material oil and water-repellent Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2251388-fabric-repels-both-oil-and-water-thanks-to-clever-silicone-coating/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
KFC Tests 3D-Printed Chicken Nuggets In Russia
KFC announced that it will test chicken nuggets made with 3D bioprinting technology in Moscow, Russia, this fall. Business Insider reports: The chicken chain has partnered with 3D Bioprinting Solutions to create a chicken nugget made in a lab with chicken and plant cells using bioprinting. Bioprinting, which uses 3D-printing techniques to combine biological material, is used in medicine to create…
Lithium Can Be Extracted From Groundwater At Geothermal Installations
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CleanTechnica: Scientists at the KIT Energy Center at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology say there is enough lithium dissolved in the groundwater extracted by German geothermal heating and electricity installations to meet the needs of most if not all of the battery manufacturers in the country. “As far as we know, there can be…