ELTON JOHN posted:

take care of the animals that exist (there are plenty to go around)

Cabbages and Kings posted:

Shear Modulus posted:

extinction rebellion, lol

ABC posted:

It may sound like a contradiction in terms, but Australian researchers have made a major breakthrough in "night-time solar" technology.

In what they claim is a world first, a team of researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) has demonstrated that solar power can be generated at night.

"In a sense, we've only been dealing with half of the opportunity, when we use photovoltaic solar cells to collect sunlight [during the day]," project leader Associate Professor Ned Ekins-Daukes tells ABC RN's Drive.

Associate Professor Ned Ekins-Daukes says the technology is in its early days, but could have a big impact in the years ahead.(Supplied)

So, what's behind this unlikely breakthrough?
The technology

After the sun sets and the day darkens, Professor Ekins-Daukes says the potential for solar energy well and truly remains.

"We get energy from the sun — it arrives, it warms up the Earth but then the Earth actually radiates the exact same amount of energy back out into space," he says.

"As the energy flows from the Earth's surface … [there is a] thermal emission out into the universe that we can tap."

Professor Ekins-Daukes and his team contend that if the flow of this radiant heat could be tapped by a power cell device and converted into electricity, there's "a large and unused spectrum of potential power to be exploited."

So, in a new study published in ACS Photonics, the team used a thermoradiative diode (a semiconductor sensor found in existing technologies like night-vision goggles) to capture photons leaving Earth along the infrared spectrum and converted them into electricity.

"What you're doing is interrupting that flow of radiant heat, which is released every night out into the universe anyway, and tapping off a little bit of electricity from that," Professor Ekins-Daukes says.

He says what's "really exciting" is the technology "allows us to generate electricity at night, just from the cold night sky."
What does it mean?

Australia is one of the world's biggest adopters of rooftop solar. Since 2001, the number of customers with solar panels has ballooned to more than 3 million. And in 2021, there was a record uptake of more than 3,000MW of rooftop solar installed by Australian householders.

Professor Ekins-Daukes stresses this new "night-time solar" technology is still very much in its early days.

"We've just demonstrated that this is possible … Right now, the device we've made is relatively low power. [But] this is to be expected when you're at the very early stages," he says.

The amount of energy produced was only extremely small — roughly equivalent to 1/100,000th of a solar powered cell.

But the team argues that it is the "proof of concept that is big."

"The question here for the thermoradiative diode is how can we get from this scientific demonstration, through to scaling the manufacturing to a level where we could get the cost down. And that really depends on how engaged industry can be," Professor Ekins-Daukes says.

"It will take some time … And I have to be honest, we need to find some new materials to achieve [widespread use]."

But he says, in the future it may be possible to combine photovoltaic devices, or the solar panels widely in use today, and the thermoradiative diode for "night-time solar" power.

"You could have a panel that generates power during the day, but then could also power the other items that are still running in your house at night."

Harold Fjord posted:

If we capture energy that is radiating from earth, won't that just add to warming?

Shear Modulus posted:

if someone wants to come up with a solution your limit is as many characters are in the current title plus one

HiHo ChiRho posted:

But bustin makes me feel so good

Raine posted:

lotta morelists itt

shameful

ELTON JOHN posted:

it isnt too complicated. take care of the animals that exist (there are plenty to go around) while not creating demand for new ones to be bred

T-Paine posted:

my gf asked me to take showers more frequently, and I told her I don't really care about rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Time to sever goons?

Oxxidation posted:

An apocalypse does not end so much as uncover. It's an epistemic revelation, a disclosure of secrets, a divine correction manifested in the world. It shocks us into submission, and from here we see how the world as we've imagined it falls away. The end of the world is no more than the end of the world's conforming to our cognizance of it. The apocalypse is the truth in a place that's systemically allergic to the stuff.

Samuel Glompers posted:

quote:

“Glaciers were very, very white back then. And they’re not like that now.”

Mayor Dave posted:

[Ecocide]

mahershalalhashbaz posted:

nonsense. glaciers have always been purple and black

Twigand Berries posted:

I just keep hearing that we're going to run out of coffee, but it certainly looks like we could probably grow coffee in canada pretty soon based on the articles linked here. I don't even care, as long as we don't run out of Rockstar Recovery.

empty whippet box posted:

if I can't slam 300 mg of caffeine into my body every 4 hours I will simply die, this is healthy and sustainable.

Twigand Berries posted:

My body is a temple balanced upon toothpicks and a central pillar consisting of the most enormous marijuana plant you have ever seen

Car Hater posted:

E; wrong thread, sanity collapsing

empty whippet box posted:

if I can't slam 11 million barrels of oil into my civilization every 4 hours I will simply die, this is healthy and sustainable.

T-Paine posted:

https://twitter.com/ECOWARRIORSS/status/1526203708748574722

JeremoudCorbynejad posted:

Lol "permian"

Where have I heard that before hmmm can't put my finger on it

T-Paine posted:

https://twitter.com/ECOWARRIORSS/status/1526203708748574722

JeremoudCorbynejad posted:

quote:

if I can't slam 11 million barrels of oil into my civilization every 4 hours I will simply die, this is healthy and sustainable.

- humanity

pissinthewind posted:

It's ok they turned the superfund in Ruston into a fancy eating and waterfront walking and living if you want to pay top dollar to hang out there

quote:

In 1890 industrialist W.R. Rust established Tacoma Smelting & Refining Company and a company town for his employees, naming the place "Smelter".[5] On October 22, 1906, residents voted to change the name to Ruston, in honor of Mr. Rust.[6]

IAMKOREA posted:

Why don't you just grow outside?

mawarannahr posted:

Vote

Cup Runneth Over posted:

no way. that would be the first one I've fallen for in like, years. gotta give props for that

Fly Molo posted:

don’t worry the NSA is definitely archiving the entire forums in some database, we’re on so many watchlists

kyojin posted:

Biosphailure

Funky See Funky Do posted:

"light libido problem"