Group items tagged

"Donald Sadoway: The missing link to renewable energy Tweet this talk! (we'll add the headline and the URL) Post to: Share on Twitter Email This Favorite Download inShare Share on StumbleUpon Share on Reddit Share on Facebook TED Conversations Got an idea, question, or debate inspired by this talk? Start a TED Conversation, or join one of these: Green Home Energy=Hydrogen Generators-alternative sources Started by Kathleen Gilligan-Smith 1 Comment What is the real missing link in renewable energy? Started by Enrico Petrucco 8 Comments Comment on this Talk 60 total comments Sign in to add comments or Join (It's free and fast!) Sort By: smily raichel 0 Reply Less than 5 minutes ago: Nice smily raichel 0 Reply Less than 5 minutes ago: Good David Mackey 0 Reply 3 hours ago: Superb invention, but I would suggest one more standard mantra that they should move on from and that is the idea of power being supplied by a centralised grid. This technology seems to me to be much more beneficial on a local scale, what if every home had its own battery, then home power generation becomes economically more viable for everyone. If you could show that a system like this could pay for itself in say 5 years then every home would want one. Plus for this to be implemented on a large scale requires massive investment that could be decades away. Share the technology and lets get it in homes by next year. Great ted talk. Jon Senior 0 Reply 1 hour ago: I agree 100%. Localised energy production would also make energy consumers more conscious of their consumption and encourage efforts to reduce it. We can invent and invent all we want, but the fast solution to allowing renewable energies to take centre stage is to reduce the base energy draw. With lower baseline consumption, smaller "always on" generators are required to keep the grid operational. Town and house-l

""On a fundamental basis, at the moment, the market is still extremely well supplied with material," Matthew Wonnacott, a senior consultant at CRU Group in London, said in a telephone interview. "There's really no reason why anybody should need to withdraw material from an exchange for consumption. Demand in the market is just disappointing this year. It's not just China, in general demand is poor.""

Despite a slowdown in the global economy and a softening in demand for aluminium rolled products in some regions, JSE-listed aluminium reroller Hulamin expected global demand to increase this year. CEO Alan Fourie on Tuesday commented that the company, which exported about 70% of its products, had seen some softening in demand for aluminium rolled products in some regions, but added that demand for these products was expected to grow by between 5% and 7% this year. "Obviously the slowdown of the [global] economy puts pressure on margins, it is an economic consequence, but we are still selling into a growing international market," he said. Locally, however, the softening economic climate was expected to impact on sales volumes for the second half of the year. However, Hulamin expected these high-value products to continue growing as a percentage of its sales in the next few years. Fourie noted that five years ago, these products equated to just over 50% of its sales volumes, while their contribution was just below 60% in 2007. They now comprised about 64% of its total sales volumes. Meanwhile, Hulamin stated that its costs had increased by 16%, influenced by a 58% increase in energy costs, increasing alloying costs caused by magnesium prices rising from $2 000/t to $4 500/t, and increases in other metals. Excluding the cost of increasing energy and metals prices, the company's costs had increased by 6%. Fourie noted that while the rising aluminium costs did not affect its profitability, it did have an effect on its working capital. "We hold aluminium in our working capital. So when the aluminium price increases, the cash tied up in working capital increases and we have seen a significant increase in working capital during this period, because the rand price of aluminium has increased by close to 40% in the last six months," he explained. Further, Fourie did not expect the increasing electricity prices to have too great an impact on its futu

Dave has vowed to par down his belongings and live with just 100 things by November 12, 2008 and carry on this way for a year. This is an awesome and inspiring project- and based on the internet buzz, including coverage in Time Magazine , hundreds of people agree. It seems this guy, Dave has become a bit of a hero.

"We have to think again about transportation. We cannot just continue down a dead end (cul de sac) just because it's convenient and avoids disruption"

According to this (marketing) conference, we will all be flying around in personal drones by 2025. Let's wait and see :-). One thing is sure: lots of change in the transport sector.

""We have developed several new solutions, which can provide clear weight and cost saving opportunities to manufacturers of such commercial vehicles as trucks, buses as well as agricultural, industrial and construction equipment", stated Dr Andreas Brand, member of Leoni AG's Management Board with responsibility for the Wiring Systems Division. "We are confident that we will grow our business with the CV industry by more than five per cent per year until 2025." Alternative conductors save weight and cost In terms of weight optimisation, Leoni can reduce the harnesses' weight by replacing conventional wires. Alongside copper wires with smaller cross-sections, the Company provides the CV market with a range of wires made of aluminium for the power segment, i.e. with a cross-section between 10 mm2 and 110 mm2 and even larger. Although the aluminium conductors have a larger cross-section in order to deliver the same electrical conductivity, aluminium technology results in a noticeable weight reduction. On its booth, Leoni will show its busbar, a solid aluminium conductor, which can be bent in three dimensions and weighs only about half as much as the conventional copper component. Leoni will also show various conductor solutions based on copper. These can be used where mechanical strength as well as electrical conductivity is required. For example, a copper wire with a cross-section of 0.75 mm² could potentially be replaced by a smaller wire cross section, such as a 0.50 mm² or a 0.35 mm². Thanks to the use of less conductor material, Leoni's customers can not just reduce the weight of their vehicles, but also benefit in terms of cost savings."

"The ISA has just published a Report on the Development of a Regulatory Framework for Mineral exploitation. This is an important step along the way to commercial mining in the Area Wylie Spicer Q.C. Counsel at McInnes Cooper isa.org.jm isa.org.jm isa.org.jm"

"No, EVs Won't Use Up the World's Copper. Just Ask Elon."

ECO-CYCOLOGY mentality is more than a just brand-led phenomenon; realizing its importance, various cities or states in US (San Diego, Seattle and San Francisco to name a few) have enacted their own mandatory recycling laws. Likewise, The European Parliament has voted for tougher regulations on the disposal of electronic trash, requiring each country to collect 4 kilos of e-waste per citizen by 2012, and to process 85% of all its electronic waste by 2016.

Carrots are more appealing than sticks - and sometimes just as effective. That, at least, is the message that Europe's big telecoms operators have successfully delivered to European policy makers in Brussels. Late last week, Neelie Kroes, EU telecoms commissioner, backed down on her threat to make owners of old-style copper networks - the likes of France Telecom or Telefónica - lower the price at which they grant access to smaller rivals unless investment in high-speed fibre networks is stepped up. Instead, the Dutch politician, who estimates EU broadband investment needs at €270bn, promised regulatory "stability and consistency". True, she plans stricter rules to ensure equal access to networks. But for incumbent telcos, that is like being poked by a twig compared with the big baton of lower access charges.

After over a year of discussions, the final roadmap for the development of the domestic electric vehicle and hybrid vehicle (xEV) industry is likely to be unveiled by the Government in April, just missing the Budget.

""You open your trunk and you see a lot of space is taken by your batteries. If you can just use some of the cables along the length of your car, you don't need any of that space for batteries," Thomas said."

"Although medium and heavy duty vehicles represent just a fraction of all vehicles on roadways today, they contribute significantly to road transportation sector fuel consumption and carbon emissions. "

""Our goal is to build rocket engine parts up to 10 times faster and reduce cost by more than 50 percent," said Marshall propulsion engineer and project leader Chris Protz. "We are not trying to just make and test one part. We are developing a repeatable process that industry can adopt to manufacture engine parts with advanced designs. The ultimate goal is to make building rocket engines more affordable for everyone.""

"That's according to energy policy group REN21's just-released Renewables 2015 Global Status Report, which attributes this stabilization to "increased penetration of renewable energy and to improvements in energy efficiency.""

"SHANGHAI, Aug. 11 (SMM) - There is huge market potential to replace copper with aluminum in China's cable industry, cableabc.com reported. Market value of China's aluminum alloy cable approached 13 million yuan ($2.1 million) in 2014. However, China's rate of substituting aluminum alloy for copper in cable is just 3%-5% at present, well below 55% in Japan. Currently, the rate of using aluminum alloy and Al-Mg-Si alloy to replace copper cable has reached 70%-75% in the US, cableabc.com added, quoting data from Research and Markets. "