energy conversion
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Staggering Quantities of Valuable Metals Are Winding Up in the Garbage Bin
To build all of the solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicle batteries, and other technologies necessary to fight climate change, we’re going to need a lot more metals. Mining those metals from the Earth creates damage and pollution that threaten ecosystems and communities. But there’s another potential source of the copper, nickel, aluminum, and rare-earth…
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This Steam Bike Hit 180MPH and Was Designed in a Shed
Remember roughly 150 years ago when steam trains were the fastest way to get around? No? You weren’t alive? Right, well, anyway, the coal-fired behemoths used the power of boiling water to turn their enormous wheels and pull coach loads of people all across America. Steam power is still around, but not much for trains anymore; some…
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New Tower in China Brings Us a Step Closer to Space-Based Solar Power
Researchers at China’s Xidian University are claiming to have completed testing and inspection of a ground array that could pave the way to space-based solar power — a concept long heralded as a potential solution to our energy woes.
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MIT’s ‘Sun-in-a-Box’ Uses Light as an Efficient Form of Energy
Researchers at MIT have built a highly efficient thermophotovoltaic cell that, when paired with renewable resources, efficiently converts incoming photons — particles of light — to electricity. It’s an achievement that could inspire new ways of supplying the world with energy.