RoboGroMo

joined 1 year ago
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1
DIY Supermaterial Could Save You From Heatstroke: Salt based PCMs (www.youtube.com)
 

A simple mix of two cheap salts, Sodium Sulfate and Table Salt (Sodium Chloride) dissolved in boiling water can create a really useful Phase Change Material that has a melting point of 18c (65f) which allows it to be recharged back into it's cooling state simply by putting it in a basement and can then be used as a cooling blanket, back rest, neck pillow, etc to help keep you cool in hot weather. Longer lasting and less energy intensive to charge than an ice-pack.

In the video he talks about the potential for using a similar higher temp PCM behind solar panels to reduce efficiency loss or damage from over heating. It could also be a really interesting thing to use for transporting heat from where it's unwanted to where it's needed.

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Why you should Trespass - The Right To Roam in ENGLAND (www.youtube.com)
Using OpenStreetMap to play the game in any location in c/[email protected]
[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago

This is really cool, I've been mapping my area and thinking about making a game that does a similar thing, nothing special just thought it'd be fun to make something that tries to generate levels using map data. I've got plenty of other stuff to get on with and mapping is addictive enough on it's own so i might just try this instead.

Chart of the Day: California surges beyond 100 pct renewables in c/[email protected]
[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 months ago

that's a great graph, really looking forward to seeing those times where renewables exceed demand get more common then all flatten out as systems designed to use excess power are added - pumped storage for example and desalination can be scaled to match the excess.

Basically you have a desalination plant near your solar or wind and any excess power gets diverted there, fresh water is then pumped into lakes and reservoirs which can either be converted back into power via hydro or used in agriculture, industry and homes as needed.

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Plans announced for the first tidal energy plant in Southeast Asia (www.inyangamarine.com)
 

The 1MW project, which is expected to deploy in late 2025, will use Inyanga’s innovative HydroWing tidal stream technology.

The HydroWing tidal stream turbines will be connected to the electrical network of Capul, an off-grid island currently relying on a 750 kW diesel power plant. The first stage of the project consists of a 1MW tidal power plant, to be connected into a microgrid network coupled with Solar PV and energy storage, delivering a reliable, sustainable, and cost-competitive alternative to fossil-based power generation.

Here's the diesel power plant that it's replacing https://maps.app.goo.gl/bfUhRTxcTLGRJ21d9

There's been a huge push for large scale tidal projects recently with proposals for several in big rivers in the UK but I think these smaller projects are really interesting too, replacing the islands diesel generator means they won't need regular diesel deliveries and so not only will have far more reliable power but also one less dirty cargo ship polluting the area - hopefully the limited amount of vehicles on the island can be replaced with electric especially ebikes and electric outboards so that they never need any fuel delivered - and when all the islands start doing it the boat delivering fossil fuels will no long be required and the port it sails from can clean up a bit without all the oil based products, maybe even remove the pipeline feeding it entirely if the demand for boat fuel has decreased enough due to cheap electrical prices.

It's a relatively small project but filling an important niche, will be really interesting to see how it works out.

UK starts early trials of World's first pothole preventing robot in c/[email protected]
[–] [email protected] 43 points 5 months ago (3 children)

tarmacking is a horrible job especially at night, personally I'd rather reduce the cost of infrastructure maintenance using automation and then pay people a living wage to do nicer jobs.

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UK starts early trials of World's first pothole preventing robot (www.youtube.com)
 

Driverless vehicle that uses sensors to measure road surface quality and repair small cracks to stop them turning into potholes and hopefully decreasing the cost of road maintenance while improving average surface quality.

EU fossil fuel CO2 emissions hit 60-year low | Fossil emissions ‘finally back to 1960s levels’, say analysts, but they warn levels are still falling too slowly in c/[email protected]
[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

This is really positive news especially as most the efficiency savings come from things that are only at the start of their roll-out, a lot of the infrastructure development for solar and wind is already in place with construction already in progress for huge amounts of generation. It likely also that the lower demand for electricity comes in part due to more efficient devices gaining market share; better water heaters, heat-pumps, LED lighting, etc combined with better insulation and more focus on efficiency - plus of course home solar or similar, an increasing amount of people are at least partly off-grid and use home generated power which reduces demand on the power grid.

We also have some really useful new tech starting to reach market like tidal generation, tandem solar cells, Perovskite (which we've been hearing about for ages but they're actually starting to build factories), e-fuels (again long heralded but actually starting to move into commercial production), and various new electric planes, boats, charging technologies, energy storage mediums, and etc all of which will help increase the rate of adoption and help decrease carbon emissions.