#solar lego array

[tacktime]

#tbt #Solar #array #lego https://www.instagram.com/p/B0V0Z1Zn9kX/?igshid=3nmysga1jng5

[chooseterri]

10283 nasa space shuttle discovery

The set has been added to the LEGO 2021 checklist. Hubble is definitely the highlight of my career.’ ‘Looking at the model, it was great to reminisce about my experiences in space launching the telescope for the first time. Now you can mark this grand accomplishment of space exploration by building an incredibly detailed LEGO version of the iconic shuttle, complete with the Hubble. ‘I was thrilled to see the space shuttle in LEGO form, and was very impressed by the amount of intricate detail they have managed to recreate from the module where we used to sleep and eat through to what we called the “milk stalls” on the telescope,’ said former astronaut Dr. This was without a doubt the most challenging part of this model – trying to couple the front and main landing gear without removing any space from the payload bay and without compromising the structure of the model.’ Add functional landing gear and you have a real puzzle. Additionally, the scale has increased considerably following previous Space Shuttle designs, reaching 54cm in length and therefore integrating greater detail than before. ‘Generally, in a LEGO model we can rely on the size to accommodate the structure that holds the whole set together, but on the Discovery Space Shuttle we needed to create a smooth exterior and an interior capable of holding the payload. 10283 NASA Space Shuttle Discovery combines these important aspects of LEGO design, achieving impressive authenticity and incorporating various functions. In the real vehicle every inch of space is used in ingenious ways,’ said LEGO Model Designer Milan Madge. ‘The Space Shuttle is the most complex vehicle ever made, so as you can imagine, translating this into LEGO was an exciting challenge. It can be stowed in the payload bay ready for builders to recreate its deployment. The set also builds the Hubble Space Telescope, with its hinged mirror housing and new gold foil solar arrays. Inside there is a crew cabin with the five seats for the astronauts, the flight and robotic arm (Remote Manipulator System) control panels and the space shuttle’s storage lockers. Other authentic touched include the engines, with three main engines for launch and smaller engines that are used for in-orbit manoeuvres. The model includes functional landing gear, payload bay doors and reflective stickers depict the cooling radiators.

[davidstortebeker]

Building Homes out of Shipping Containers

Not long ago I saw this house being constructed, which got me excited about a frequently mentioned use of old shipping containers: building homes out of them. This picture speaks volumes of not just the material but the type of structures you can make out of containers.

Natural Building? DIY Houses? Or Just More Commercial Industrial Stuff?

At this point I really should address these different categories that alternative buildings tend to be placed in, because the lines tend to get blurry, especially when you get into using shipping containers. First of all, it has nothing to do with natural material (though of course even Plutonium is natural, if you want to go that way). However, since most often we're talking about decommissioned containers repurposed for shelters, it does fall into the recycled category, which has its ethical aspects. Still, it's a hunk of steel that gets recycled, which is not like a mountain of tires, otherwise destined to  get burned or dumped into the ocean. I'm sure it's much easier to recycle containers for the steel, so it's not really that big of a problem issue. Still, it's worth a proud tap on one's shoulder...

Apart from that, what really speaks for using containers to build your house, is the fact that it already is a fairly sturdy box, more or less about the size of a room, and also, depending on where you live, it can be shipped to your place relatively cheaply. All you need are some leveled concrete bases where it can be plopped down on, and you're ready to move in. Of course at that point it is barely more than a shed: no windows, no electricity, no plumbing, but at least a very basic form of shelter. Also, it's a place that can be locked right away, which can be an important factor when you're just moving onto the land, and thus need to leave occasionally.

Things to Keep in Mind

The most exciting thing about building with shipping containers is that even that primitive structure can be improved immediately. Wiring may be the easiest part to install, and with a nice solar array you could be off grid right away. Installing a faucet and a sink requires a bit more work, but it's also quite straight forward. And since the space is a bit limited, I don't think you'd want to waste it on a bathroom with a flush toilet. Temperature control is a bit more tricky, but using numerous tricks, you can create a well ventilated, passively heated / cooled space. You can berm up the shady side, grow some plants on the sunny side, wrap the entire thing in an insulation layer (which may be better on the outside so it won't reduce the already limited space inside). And as for vents and windows, you can just simply cut them out of the steel walls.

This is where the enthusiastic owner-builder may fall into the trap of going overboard, forgetting that the container was made to ship goods efficiently, and not designed as a modular home! In other words, by cutting out too many windows, you'd compromise the structural integrity of the building, necessitating structural reinforcement. At that point you may as well skip the container entirely. Also, though the containers were made to be stackable, and thus support the weight of other containers placed on top of it, it was never meant to hold up loads of snow! Looking at the example I saw, it seems like all these things have been considered, using slanted roofs on both sides, as well as the center module. Also the entire building has a serious concrete foundation, raising the question how much better this is than a conventional home?

Our Imagination is the Limit

Having said all this, there are some highly exciting examples of what kind of houses can be built out of containers. In a way they are like Lego blocks, so you can arrange them (almost) any way you like. The modules can be combined into a bigger space, or used as rooms, patios, stacked high, or side-by-side, creating interesting spaces. Doing a search on shipping container houses will bring up a plethora of interesting images, some of my favorites I'd like to share here. In some cases, however, it really looks like the container has been modified so much, that they may just as well have built without it.

image source

A surprisingly good looking structure in Waco, Texas. I like how the containers sit right on top of each other, as intended, so (presumably) no additional reinforcement is needed.

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This two-story house only hints at the fact that they had once been shipping containers. Litchfield, Australia (not sure which state).

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Allegedly a luxury home - though you'd still be living in a box - in Bundeena, somewhere in Australia.

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Minimal and practical looking container home in San José, Costa Rica. I like the concrete stilts, and the simple one-story design.

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My favorite container house in Mahakirau, New Zealand. Simplistic, yet fully off-grid home.

[yesterdaysdreams]

Ponds, reservoirs could host floating solar in space-constrained Massachusetts

By Sarah Shemkus, Energy News Network

A new joint venture between Boston-based BlueWave Solar and European photovoltaics firm Ciel et Terre is poised to bring floating solar panels to the ponds and reservoirs of Massachusetts for the first time. Supporters say the plan has the potential to mitigate ongoing concerns about finding enough space for clean energy development.

“This is an opportunity to site solar a lot more responsibly going forward,” said Mike Marsch, principal and head of solar development at BlueWave. “We think it’s an incredibly elegant and responsible way to use land.”

BlueWave has a history of building community solar projects and so-called “dual-use” installations, in which solar panels sit over active agricultural fields. Ciel et Terre, based in France, is a pioneer in the floating solar sector. The company introduced Hydrelio, a modular floating photovoltaic system, in 2012. In 2017, it launched a U.S.-based development arm, Laketricity.

Together they intend to develop floating solar projects atop human-made bodies of water such as storage ponds, water treatment plants, quarries, and reservoirs in Massachusetts and, eventually, the entire Northeast. Laketricity will contribute technology and on-the-ground experience, while BlueWave will share its extensive knowledge of the Massachusetts clean energy market and the Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target program (SMART), which provides incentives to encourage solar development.

“It’s great to have a local expert who’s familiar with the SMART program,” said George Wissing, senior project developer for Laketricity. “It helps us to scale.”

The Hydrelio system consists of photovoltaic panels mounted on floating bases that can essentially be snapped together. The array is then anchored to the shore of the pond or reservoir it is located on.

“The panels are put together like a big LEGO set,” Wissing said. “You basically build a floating solar island a row at a time.”

The plastics used have been certified drinking-water safe in the United Kingdom, so they will not contaminate the water on which they float. At the same time, the water helps cool the panels, increasing their efficiency by as much as 10%, Wissing said. 

The partners have identified locations with strong potential for floating solar. The best sites, Wissing said, are at least four acres, are not currently used for any swimming or boating, and have access to three-phase electric power.

The companies have begun the process of reaching out to the owners of these sites, both private and public, about possible development. They are not yet ready to release any details about these locations, but could be ready to begin construction within two years, Marsch estimated. 

Existing projects suggest there is promise in floating solar. In California, the town of Windsor worked with Laketricity to install a 1.8-megawatt system on top of a recycled water storage pool. The panels generate power for the town’s wastewater reclamation plant and have been a success so far, said Garrett Broughton, an associate civil engineer for the town. 

“We do not regret it,” he said. “It probably already paid for itself within the first year.”

The Windsor project is one of few floating solar arrays that have been deployed in the United States. However, these systems, sometimes referred to as “floatovoltaics,” have been much more widely adopted in Asia, where population density and mountainous terrain leave scarce land for solar installations.

Massachusetts has also had issues with limitations on buildable land, which has given rise to ongoing debate over how best to site projects. Environmental groups have expressed concern about using previously undeveloped land, known as “greenfields,” for solar installations, which means cutting down trees and disrupting existing open spaces. At the same time, residents living near proposed solar sites often object to the aesthetic and environmental impacts of replacing trees with solar panels. Recently, the state modified its incentives to reduce the financial benefits for projects built on greenfields.

Some in the industry, however, have argued the state will never reach its clean energy goals without developing these areas. Though rooftops and previously used land can be developed into solar projects, these sites can come with added costs and are rarely big enough to host arrays that can serve large numbers of customers, they contend. At the same time, the change in the incentives could be enough to make larger greenfield developments financially unfeasible, they say.

Both the new venture and outside experts contend that floating solar offers a chance to ease this tension by adding clean energy capacity without using any land at all. A 2018 study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory found that installing floating solar on the country’s more than 24,000 human-made reservoirs could save 2.1 million hectares of land and meet some 10% of the country’s annual electricity needs.

“In space-constrained places, it’s a way to just get more photovoltaics on the grid,” Marsch said.

Though there is always the possibility of anti-solar opposition, Wissing said, floating solar may also face fewer objections from concerned neighbors. The bodies of water targeted for floating solar are generally very large public waters or privately owned, often commercial, properties. 

“Lakes with residential homes — and usually boat docks — are not the target,” Wissing said.

Massachusetts is also an appealing place to pursue floating solar developments because the SMART program already includes incentives for this form of solar (though no projects have yet taken advantage of that provision). The incentives pay the owners of solar systems a base rate of anywhere from 9 cents to 39 cents, depending on location and when the project is built, per kilowatt-hour of energy generated. Developments can increase the compensation rate by including features the state wishes to encourage, like building on a landfill or a rooftop. Floating solar panels on a human-made body of water adds 3 cents to the rate, upping the payback for system owners.

Cranberry farms are a property that could benefit from the technology, Wissing said. Massachusetts is the country’s second-largest producer of cranberries, with some 375 farms statewide. Some cranberry growers store water for flooding their bogs in separate reservoirs that could, Wissing said, be excellent candidates for floating solar. 

The panels would create an additional income stream for growers, who often face financial uncertainty due to market fluctuations. Furthermore, because the panels and floats would cover some of the surface, less water would evaporate from the reservoir in dry times. 

Many interested growers, however, may not qualify for the additional incentive money, said Iain Ward, a veteran Massachusetts cranberry farmer and solar consultant. Because many cranberry reservoirs were originally natural wetlands that have been reinforced and shaped into their current form, they do not qualify as human-made under the incentive regulations. Still, Ward said, growers interested in solar should still consider floating panels. 

“There’s less money there, but it’s land that is not making anyone any money right now,” he said. “It’s an exceptionally good thing as an add-on to a project that’s going forward.”

If floating solar is as successful in Massachusetts as BlueWave and Laketricity believe it could be, it could end up influencing policy in other states as well, Marsch said. 

“Massachusetts has been kind of this laboratory to develop these policies that end up getting propagated out to the rest of the country,” he said.

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[thelifeandtimesofacomicgeek]

A design I've tinkered with for a while. In legends continuity there were mentions of TIE fighter boats and watercraft. I thought I'd have a go at designing my own. A single person watercraft used by the Galactic Empire on water based worlds. TIE Skimmers have been seen patrolling the waterways of Theed and other settlements on Naboo. They have also seen usage on the subjugation of Mon Cala and the Imperial occupation of M'Bardi. The TIE Skimmer boasts an incredibly advanced twin ion engine system, far larger than the standard TIE fighter engine. The wings and hydrofoil system consist of an advanced solar collector array that helps to power the vessel. TIE Skimmers carry the standard laser weaponry used in most TIE fighters. However some are known to have been modified with Depth charges, torpedo launchers and a recon droid container. #Lego #legoart #legodesign #ldd #tiefighter #legostarwars #starwars #vehicledesign #watercraft

[turbos-posts]

Reconfigurable Educational Robots Segmentation, Demand and Supply2021-2028

This report contains market size and forecasts of Reconfigurable Educational Robots in global, including the following market information:

ALSO READ : http://www.marketwatch.com/story/reconfigurable-educational-robots-market-research-report-with-size-share-value-cagr-outlook-analysis-latest-updates-data-and-news-2020-2026-2021-06-25

Global Reconfigurable Educational Robots Market Revenue, 2016-2021, 2022-2027, ($ millions)

Global Reconfigurable Educational Robots Market Sales, 2016-2021, 2022-2027, (Units)

Global top five Reconfigurable Educational Robots companies in 2020 (%)

ALSO READ : http://www.marketwatch.com/story/all-flash-array-market-research-report-with-size-share-value-cagr-outlook-analysis-latest-updates-data-and-news-2020-2027-2021-06-24

The global Reconfigurable Educational Robots market was valued at 32 million in 2020 and is projected to reach US$ 86 million by 2027, at a CAGR of 28.2% during the forecast period.

ALSO READ : http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ice-cream-market-research-report-with-size-share-value-cagr-outlook-analysis-latest-updates-data-and-news-2020-2027-2021-06-28

MARKET MONITOR GLOBAL, INC (MMG) has surveyed the Reconfigurable Educational Robots manufacturers, suppliers, distributors and industry experts on this industry, involving the sales, revenue, demand, price change, product type, recent development and plan, industry trends, drivers, challenges, obstacles, and potential risks.

Total Market by Segment:

Global Reconfigurable Educational Robots Market, By Type, 2016-2021, 2022-2027 ($ Millions) & (Units)

Global Reconfigurable Educational Robots Market Segment Percentages, By Type, 2020 (%)

Wheeled Robots

Humanoid Robots

ALSO READ : http://www.marketwatch.com/story/air-diffusers-market-research-report-with-size-share-value-cagr-outlook-analysis-latest-updates-data-and-news-2021-2028-2021-06-29

Global Reconfigurable Educational Robots Market, By Application, 2016-2021, 2022-2027 ($ Millions) & (Units)

Global Reconfigurable Educational Robots Market Segment Percentages, By Application, 2020 (%)

Primary School

Secondary School

Others

 Global Reconfigurable Educational Robots Market, By Region and Country, 2016-2021, 2022-2027 ($ Millions) & (Units)

Global Reconfigurable Educational Robots Market Segment Percentages, By Region and Country, 2020 (%)

North America

US

Canada

Mexico

Europe

Germany

France

U.K.

Italy

Russia

Nordic Countries

Benelux

Rest of Europe

Asia

China

Japan

South Korea

Southeast Asia

India

Rest of Asia

South America

Brazil

Argentina

Rest of South America

Middle East & Africa

Turkey

Israel

Saudi Arabia

UAE

Rest of Middle East & Africa

 Competitor Analysis

The report also provides analysis of leading market participants including:

Key companies Reconfigurable Educational Robots revenues in global market, 2016-2021 (Estimated), ($ millions)

Key companies Reconfigurable Educational Robots revenues share in global market, 2020 (%)

Key companies Reconfigurable Educational Robots sales in global market, 2016-2021 (Estimated), (Units)

Key companies Reconfigurable Educational Robots sales share in global market, 2020 (%)

Further, the report presents profiles of competitors in the market, key players include:

Lego

Makeblock

Fischertechnik

Modular Robotics

Innovation First International

Robotis

Pitsco

Evollve

Parallax

Cytron Technologies

Wonder Workshop

Table of Contents

1 Introduction to Research & Analysis Reports

1.1 Reconfigurable Educational Robots Market Definition

1.2 Market Segments

1.2.1 Market by Type

1.2.2 Market by Application

1.3 Global Reconfigurable Educational Robots Market Overview

1.4 Features & Benefits of This Report

1.5 Methodology & Sources of Information

1.5.1 Research Methodology

1.5.2 Research Process

1.5.3 Base Year

1.5.4 Report Assumptions & Caveats

ALSO READ : http://www.marketwatch.com/story/solar-micro-inverters-market-research-report-with-size-share-value-cagr-outlook-analysis-latest-updates-data-and-news-2020-2027-2021-06-29

2 Global Reconfigurable Educational Robots Overall Market Size

2.1 Global Reconfigurable Educational Robots Market Size: 2021 VS 2027

2.2 Global Reconfigurable Educational Robots Revenue, Prospects & Forecasts: 2016-2027

2.3 Global Reconfigurable Educational Robots Sales (Consumption): 2016-2027

3 Company Landscape

3.1 Top Reconfigurable Educational Robots Players in Global Market

3.2 Top Global Reconfigurable Educational Robots Companies Ranked by Revenue

3.3 Global Reconfigurable Educational Robots Revenue by Companies

3.4 Global Reconfigurable Educational Robots Sales by Companies

3.5 Global Reconfigurable Educational Robots Price by Manufacturer (2016-2021)

3.6 Top 3 and Top 5 Reconfigurable Educational Robots Companies in Global Market, by Revenue in 2020

3.7 Global Manufacturers Reconfigurable Educational Robots Product Type

3.8 Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 Reconfigurable Educational Robots Players in Global Market

3.8.1 List of Global Tier 1 Reconfigurable Educational Robots Companies

3.8.2 List of Global Tier 2 and Tier 3 Reconfigurable Educational Robots Companies

4 Sights by Product

4.1 Overview

4.1.1 By Type - Global Reconfigurable Educational Robots Market Size Markets, 2021 & 2027

4.1.2 Wheeled Robots

4.1.3 Humanoid Robots

4.2 By Type - Global Reconfigurable Educational Robots Revenue & Forecasts

4.2.1 By Type - Global Reconfigurable Educational Robots Revenue, 2016-2021

4.2.2 By Type - Global Reconfigurable Educational Robots Revenue, 2022-2027

4.2.3 By Type - Global Reconfigurable Educational Robots Revenue Market Share, 2016-2027

4.3 By Type - Global Reconfigurable Educational Robots Sales & Forecasts

4.3.1 By Type - Global Reconfigurable Educational Robots Sales, 2016-2021

4.3.2 By Type - Global Reconfigurable Educational Robots Sales, 2022-2027

4.3.3 By Type - Global Reconfigurable Educational Robots Sales Market Share, 2016-2027

4.4 By Type - Global Reconfigurable Educational Robots Price (Manufacturers Selling Prices), 2016-2027

5 Sights by Application

5.1 Overview

....continued

CONTACT DETAILS :

sales@wiseguyreports.com

+44 203 500 2763

+1 62 825 80070

971 0503084105

[un-enfant-immature]

Dynetics has built a full-scale test version of its lunar human lander for NASA

One of the three companies chosen by NASA to create a Human Landing System (HLS) for NASA has completed a key step by building a full-scale test article of its lander for its team and NASA to evaluate and review. The Dynetics HLS is roughly the size of the Apollo Moon lander, but it’s laid out very differently, as you can see in the image above.

Dynetics provided a brief overview of the test article and its purpose in a video introduction on Tuesday. As you can see in the walkthrough below, it’s essentially a true-to-size 3D model that includes modular, re-arrangeable components. These don’t include actual working electronics or anything – they’re more like lego blocks that NASA and the Dynetics engineers working on the product can use together to ensure that the HLS design works well ergonomically and functionally for the astronauts who will eventually be using it to make the trip down to the lunar surface.

Blue Origin’s human lunar lander team delivers full-scale engineering mock-up to NASA

The components of this test article include the crew module where astronauts will be living and working during their stay at the Moon, as well as the tanks that will hold the propellant fo r the ascent and descent phases of its flight, a autonomous cargo platform, and the tall solar arrays that will help power the spacecraft. Dynetics and its subcontractor LSINC created the mock vehicle in just three months after being awarded the contract by NASA.

The goal for Dynetics, as well as for Blue Origin and SpaceX, is to compete with one another for the initial contract to take humans to the surface of the Moon for NASA’s initial human landing as part of its Artemis program, currently scheduled for 2024. Earlier this week, Blue Origin announced that it had passed a critical initial design requirements review, and Dynetics says it has accomplished the same. Blue Origin also delivered a full scale test article of its own to NASA back in August.

[sciencespies]

Can science break its plastic addiction?

https://sciencespies.com/environment/can-science-break-its-plastic-addiction/

Can science break its plastic addiction?

© Daniel Stier at Twenty Twenty and Miren Marañón at East Photographic for Mosaic

More

Lucy Gilliam has an infectious passion for environmental action. Today, she works in Brussels on environmental transport policy. But in the early 2000s, she was a molecular microbiologist in Hertfordshire. Like many in her field, Gilliam got through a lot of disposable plastics. It had become a normal part of 21st-century science, as everyday as coffee and overtime.

Gilliam was, in her words, a “super high user” of the sort of plastic, ultra-sterilized filter pipettes that could only be used once. Just as so many of us do in our domestic lives, she found she was working with what anti-pollution campaigners call a “produce, use, discard” model. The pipettes would pile up, and all that plastic waste just seemed wrong to her.

Science’s environmental impact had begun to worry her. It wasn’t just a matter of plastics. She also wanted to know why there weren’t solar panels on the roof of the new lab building, for example, and why flying to conferences was seen more as a perk than a problem. “I used to bitch about it over coffee all the time,” Gilliam tells me. “How can it be that we’re researching climate science, and people are flying all over the place? We should be a beacon.”

She tried to initiate recycling programs, with some success. She invited the suppliers in to discuss the issue, and worked out ways the research teams could at least return the boxes pipettes came in for re-use, even if the pipettes themselves would still be used and discarded. It felt like a battle, though. Sensing that progress was likely to be slow, she started to ask herself where exactly she could make change happen, and moved to work in environmental policy.

Scientific research is one of the more hidden users of disposable plastics, with the biomedical sciences a particularly high-volume offender. Plastic petri dishes, bottles of various shapes and sizes, several types of glove, a dizzying array of pipettes and pipette tips, a hoard of sample tubes and vials. They have all become an everyday part of scientific research. Most of us will never even see such equipment, but we all still rely on it. Without it, we wouldn’t have the knowledge, technologies, products and medicines we all use. It is vital to 21st-century lives, but it is also extremely polluting.

In 2015, researchers at the University of Exeter weighed up their bioscience department’s annual plastic waste, and extrapolated that biomedical and agricultural labs worldwide could be responsible for 5.5 million tonnes of lab plastic waste a year. To put that in context, they pointed out it’s equal to 83 percent of the plastic recycled worldwide in 2012.

The problem with plastic is that it is so durable; it won’t decompose. We throw it in the rubbish, it stays there. It is thought that there may now be more Lego people on Earth than actual people, and these minifigs will outlive us all. When plastic products like these minifigs—or pipettes, bottles or drinking straws—do eventually break down, they stick around as small, almost invisible fragments called microplastics, which also come from cosmetics and clothing fibers. A 2017 study found microplastics in 81 percent of tap water samples globally. In the past few years, in mountain ranges in the U.S. and France, researchers even found microplastics in rain. They have recently been found in the Arctic, too.

Modern science has grown up with disposable plastics, but times are changing. This autumn, the first wave of young people to follow the Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and go on “school strike for the climate” started undergraduate degrees. Universities can expect these young people to bring fresh and sometimes challenging questions about how scientific research is conducted. At the same time, many of those from Generation Z (those born from the mid-1990s onwards) are now starting Ph.D.s, and millennials (born from the early 1980s) are leading more and more labs. As more universities challenge themselves to eradicate disposable plastics, as well as to go zero-carbon, in the next few years or decades, scientific waste is increasingly being put under the microscope.

In a sign of how far things have moved on since Gilliam left her career in research, last November the University of Leeds pledged to go single-use-plastic-free by 2023. Recently, UCL has announced it will follow suit, with the only slightly less ambitious target of 2024. These new policies won’t just banish disposable coffee cups from campus, but a lot of everyday scientific equipment too.

Lucy Stuart, sustainability project officer at Leeds, says that reaction among researchers has been mixed, but they are gradually making progress. “For us, as a university, we are here to inspire the next generation,” she says. “Also, we are a research-based institution that is creating groundbreaking innovation every day, so we didn’t want to say the solutions aren’t possible, because we are the people that help create those solutions.”

The ambitious target has helped focus everyone’s attention, as has the clear sign that it has support all the way through the institution from the top of university management down. However, “We don’t want to implement top-down policies,” Stuart emphasizes. “We want individual researchers and employees to take ownership and look at the problem within their area, and then make a change.”

Elsewhere, many scientists are already pushing ahead on their own initiative. When David Kuntin, a biomedical researcher at the University of York, was discussing plastic waste with his lab mates, he soon found he wasn’t the only one who had noticed how much they were getting through.

“Using plastics on a daily basis—in science, it is kind of impossible to avoid nowadays. And someone just said, ‘Oh, we could fill a room after a week!’ and it got us discussing what we could do.”

One reason lab plastics are such a sticky problem is that they can get contaminated with the biological or chemical matter being researched; you can’t simply put them in the campus recycling bins with your coffee cup. Usually, lab waste plastics are bagged and autoclaved—an energy- and water-hungry sterilization process—before being sent to landfill. But, Kuntin says, not all plastic waste is too contaminated to recycle. Rather than simply classing everything as hazardous, straight off, he and his colleagues did an audit of the plastic they used, to see what they could decontaminate.

“The contamination we deal with is probably less dangerous than a moldy tin of beans you might have in your recycling after a few weeks,” Kuntin says. So, just as the team had learned that they had to wash their tins of beans before they put them in the council recycling bin, they learned ways to decontaminate their lab waste, too.

They developed a “decontamination station” with a 24-hour soak in a high-level disinfectant, followed by a rinse for chemical decontamination. They also looked at the plastics they were buying, to pick ones that would be easier to recycle. As a result of these measures, they’ve reduced the plastic they were previously sending to landfill by about a tonne a year.

“That’s 20 workers, 20 of us,” he says, sounding as if he still doesn’t quite believe that so few researchers could pile up so much waste. “We used a tonne of plastic that we can recycle.” They worked out it was enough to fill 110 bathtubs. And because they have also cut down how much equipment has to be autoclaved, they are saving energy and water, too.

“I think as scientists, we need to be responsible about what we’re doing,” Kuntin tells me. Not least, he says, because it is public money they are spending. “You can’t, with a clean conscience, just be using a tonne of plastic.”

At the University of Bristol, technicians Georgina Mortimer and Saranna Chipper-Keating have also set up schemes for sorting and recycling lab waste. “The waste in the lab was very easy for people to see. They were like, ‘I do this at home,'” says Mortimer.

They have been trialling glove and ice pack recycling through a company that specializes in hard-to-recycle waste, including contact lenses, crisp packets and cigarette butts as well as the sorts of plastics that come out of labs. They are keen to think more about re-use and reduction, too, knowing that recycling can only take them so far. They have worked out how they can bulk buy whenever possible, to cut down on packaging waste, for example.

Plastics is only part of the sustainable lab puzzle for them. “We have a lot of ULT freezers, ultra-low temperature freezers,” Mortimer says. The freezers “have thousands, thousands of samples going back more than 20 years”. And they are all stored at minus 80ºC. Or at least they used to be. Anna Lewis, sustainable science manager at Bristol, showed them some research from the University of Colorado Boulder, demonstrating that most samples can be safely stored at minus 70, saving up to a third of the energy. They have now raised the temperature of their ULT freezers.

The Bristol technicians have also been thinking about what they’re storing in these freezers, how, and whether it needs to be there. “There are samples that have just been left there for years,” says Mortimer. We’ve been discovering what these actually are, if they’re still usable, consolidating the space.” This hasn’t just saved energy and money, it’s also made working with the freezers more manageable. It’s simply easier to find things.

Martin Farley held the first lab sustainability post in the UK, at the University of Edinburgh back in 2013. He now specializes in ways research labs can become more sustainable, working in a similar role to Lewis at a couple of London universities. He first got into the issue because of plastics, but quickly found a whole range of issues to work on.

Farley points out that these ULT freezers can use as much energy as a house. So if you’re worried about energy use in the houses in your street, you should be worried about it in the fridges in your university too. Ultimately, as the climate emergency intensifies, Farley argues, “every facet of society needs to change”.

Labs might not be a “behemoth” like the oil and gas industry, he says, but they have a significant and often ignored environmental impact. In a research-intensive university, Farley reckons the labs will account for about two-thirds of the energy bill. If a university is looking to reduce its energy use, research sciences are a good place to start.

“We have people recycling at home, and doing nothing in their labs. I did a rough back-of-the-envelope calculation,” he tells me, and, depending on your research area, “your impact on the environment is 100–125 times more than at home.”

Tracing back through the history of science, it’s hard to tell exactly when disposable plastics arrived in labs. “That’s a job of work to be done, to figure out when plastic starts to get used in scientific instruments, scientific material culture, and how, and how it changes,” says Simon Werrett, a historian at UCL who specializes in the materials of science. He says that there’s plastic in a lot of historical scientific objects, but because museums don’t catalog items in those terms, it’s hard to date it exactly. Still, he suspects science’s plastic problem followed everyone else’s.

Production of the thing we call plastic started in the late 19th century. Today, we’re increasingly used to seeing plastic as a threat to wildlife, but back then, if anything synthetic products saved nature from being chewed up by human consumption. As the game of billiards became popular, manufacturers looked for a way to produce the balls from something more reliable than the trade in ivory. One firm launched a $10,000 competition to find an alternative material, which led to the patenting of celluloid (a mix of camphor and gun cotton) by American inventor John Wesley Hyatt in 1870.

Hyatt formed the Celluloid Manufacturing Company with his brother Isaiah, and developed a process of “blow molding”, which allowed them to produce hollow tubes of celluloid, paving the way for mass production of cheap toys and ornaments. One of the advantages of celluloid was that it could be mixed with dyes, including mottled shades, allowing the Hyatts to produce not just artificial ivory but coral and tortoizeshell too.

At the turn of the century, the ever-expanding electrical industry was running low on shellac, a resin secreted by the female lac bug which could be used as an insulating material. Spotting a market, Leo Baekeland patented an artificial alternative in 1909, which he named Bakelite. This was marketed in the 1920s as “the material of a thousand uses”, soon joined by a host of new plastics throughout the 1930s and 1940s too. Nylon, invented in 1935, offered a sort of synthetic silk, useful for parachutes and also stockings. Plexiglass was helpful in the burgeoning aviation industry. Wartime R&D put rocket boosters on plastic innovation, and just as plastic products speedily started to fill up the postwar home, a plethora of plastic goods entered the postwar lab, too.

Werrett emphasizes that today’s problems are a product not just of plastics but of the emergence of cultures of disposability. We didn’t used to throw stuff away. Disposability predates plastics slightly. Machines of the late industrial revolution, around the middle of the 19th century, made cloth and paper much easier to produce. At the same time, people were becoming more and more aware, and worried, about the existence of germs—for example, after John Snow identified the Broad Street water pump as the source of a cholera outbreak in Soho, London, in 1854. Just as Joseph Lister pioneered the use of antiseptics in medicine from the 1860s onwards, disposable dressings gradually became the norm. “So you have things like cotton buds, and condoms and tampons, and sticking plasters,” Werrett explains, as well as paper napkins and paper cups. As mass production advanced, it soon became cheaper and easier to throw things away than to clean and re-use them—or pay someone else to.

Cloth- and paper-based disposable products arrived over a relatively short period, but the new throwaway culture they instigated paved the ground for the plastic problem we have today. Paper cups and straws soon became plastic ones, and the idea of “produce, use, discard” became normal.

Still, the introduction of disposable plastics in postwar science and medicine wasn’t necessarily simple. Looking at medical journals from the 1950s and 1960s, Werrett has found a few complaints.

“There’s a tradition that surgeons have a pair of gloves, and they use that for their whole career,” he explains. These gloves would have been rubber—first introduced by William Stewart Halsted at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland in the 1890s—but designed to last, boiled for sterilization and repaired rather than disposed of in favor of a new pair. “By the end of their career, they’ve got repairs and stains,” Werrett says, “and that’s a sign or mark of your experience as a surgeon.” Then disposable gloves came in, and not everyone was happy to leave these marks of experience behind.

Nurses had to be taught to throw things away, rather than keep them, he notes. “It wasn’t self-evident that disposability was a valuable thing. If anything, the default is to re-use things. You have to train people to see disposability as a valuable practice.”

For those looking for a plastic-free future for science, a technological fix could well be found in the history. Back in Bristol, Georgina Mortimer has been eyeing up the old glass cabinets. “We’re trying to get back into glassware, trying to make it cool again within our department,” she says, smiling.

In Brussels, Lucy Gilliam tells me about her grandmother, who worked in a hospital lab, and all the dishwashing assistance she had to support their use of glassware. “And now we do it all by ourselves. We’re like little research islands. And you know, plastic—and single-use disposable things—is filling the gap of people.

“There was a time when we were doing really advanced science without using plastics. And it’s not to say that all of the science that we do now can be done without plastics. But there is science that we were doing back then, and that we’re still doing now, that could be done without plastics.”

Plastic has become apparently indispensable for modern science. It can keep materials protected, even when we transport them. It keeps us out of them (for materials we don’t want to contaminate) and them out of us (for hazardous materials that might hurt us). It can be molded into a range of shapes. Some areas of science—not least DNA research—have grown up in an era of disposable plastics.

In some cases, though, a return to glass might be the answer. “Use glassware—it’s there, it’s available, it’s sterilised,” Mortimer enthuses. “All the universities will have a glass room just full to the ceilings of stuff that we can be using rather than plastics.” Along with Saranna Chipper-Keating, she has been tasked with producing a whole-life costing exercise on glass versus plastics. In theory, it should be cheaper to re-use glass than to buy plastics again and again, especially as there are often costs associated with dumping these plastics.

But re-using glass means it must be washed and sterilized, and that takes resources, too. This is a concern for Lucy Stuart in Leeds; they don’t want their plastic-free pledge to simply replace one environmental problem with another.

In York, David Kuntin is also concerned about the knock-on effects of switching back to glass. “Every day, we use reagents like cell culture media, a nutrient broth that cells thrive in,” he tells me. These broths have been developed for decades, and since most cells are grown on plastic, that’s what the reagents have been optimized for.

On top of this, researchers like Kuntin are interested in the finest details of cell behavior—and what they’re grown on could have an influence. “We know that cells are very responsive to their environment, and they can sense things like the roughness or stiffness of the surface they grow on,” he explains. Unexpected changes in behavior could be misinterpreted as a consequence of an experiment, when really it’s just that the cells are behaving differently on glass.

Another problem is how much time re-using glass could take. Disposable pipette tips are just quicker. And time, along with water and heat, could cost the lab money. Ultimately, though, they don’t know until they do a full analysis. “We could do a whole-life costing exercise, and it may well be that plastics are so much cheaper,” Anna Lewis says. “In which case, we would need subsidies.”

Lewis argues that any real change will require a change in how science is funded, with universities ideally needing to demonstrate some level of sustainability before they could apply for certain grant schemes. There is only so far they can go working with the goodwill and interest of a few enthusiasts. She sees scope to address this, if not in the next Research Excellence Framework (for assessing the quality of research in the UK) in 2021, then in the one after that. Whether the ecological crisis can wait for us to slowly negotiate yet another decade of science policy is another matter.

Martin Farley certainly sees a stronger appetite for change from the scientific community, compared to when he first started greening labs, back in 2013. “Five or six years ago, when I told my lab mates I was doing this, people laughed. There was a little bit of interest, like ‘Sure, I’ll recycle more’, and some jokes. Now, I get emails on almost a weekly basis. People out of the blue that are saying, ‘How can I do something? I want to do more.'”

The University of Leeds is keen to link with other organizations, too. They’ve created a network around Leeds, including other universities, the Yorkshire Ambulance Service, the city council, and Yorkshire Water. They are also in discussions with one of the national research councils. Stuart says these sorts of collaborations are essential if they want to address disposable plastics on campus, because everything that comes in is part of the broader local economy. But it’s also part of the whole point of the project, seeing themselves as “a civic university”, ensuring that their research and innovation is used in a way that benefits the local area.

For researchers wanting to dive into the problem of plastic waste on their own, though, Gilliam has some simple advice: “First of all, see if you can get some buddies. Send out a note and convene a little meeting. Say, ‘I’ve seen these things, I’m concerned about it, does anybody have any ideas?'” In the event that no one will engage with you, she suggests you just start segregating some of your plastic anyway, putting it in a box and sending it back, sharing a photo on social media as you go. You might well find comrades in other labs if not your own.

“Start by doing something different, even if it feels like it’s really small and really pointless. Even small actions like that can have a ripple effect.”

Explore further

Scientists, here’s how to use less plastic

Provided by Mosaic

This article first appeared on Mosaic and is republished here under a Creative Commons licence.

Citation: Can science break its plastic addiction? (2019, November 8) retrieved 8 November 2019 from https://phys.org/news/2019-11-science-plastic-addiction.html

This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

#Environment

[actionfigureinsider]

21321 International Space Station

Ages 16+. 864 pieces

US $69.99 – CA $99.99 – DE €69.99 – UK £64.99 – FR €59.99 – DK 549DKK

*Euro pricing varies by country.  Please visit shop.LEGO.com for regional pricing.

  Build and display this spectacular LEGO® Ideas 21321 ISS (International Space Station). Packed with authentic ISS details, including a posable Canadarm2 and 2 rotating joints that coincide with 8 adjustable ‘solar panels’, this 864-piece set is a wonderful gift idea for space enthusiasts, adult LEGO fans or any experienced builder.

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Beautiful centerpiece

This awesome LEGO spaceship model comes with a display stand, a buildable mini NASA space shuttle and 3 mini cargo spacecrafts, plus 2 astronaut microfigures to create a striking centerpiece in any room. Illustrated instructions are included, plus a 148-page booklet with fascinating ISS facts and information about the LEGO fan who created this space model kit and its LEGO designer.

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Amazing ideas!

The infinitely diverse array of LEGO Ideas sets are all created by LEGO fans and voted for by LEGO fans. Inspired by real life, action heroes, iconic movies, popular TV series or totally original concepts, there is something to delight all ages.

  Challenge your construction skills with this LEGO® Ideas ISS (21321) display model, featuring 2 rotating joints with 8 adjustable ‘solar panels’, posable Canadarm2 and other authentic details to discover as you build.

This ISS model comes with a stand, 2 astronaut microfigures, a brick-built mini NASA space shuttle and 3 mini cargo spacecrafts to create a spectacular display and rekindle nostalgic memories of childhood LEGO® projects.

Also includes a 148-page booklet featuring fascinating facts about the International Space Station, the spaceship model’s fan creator and LEGO® designer, and a celebration of the LEGO Ideas theme’s 10th anniversary.

A super treat for yourself, birthday present or holiday gift idea for space fans, adults aged 16+ or any experienced LEGO® builder, this 882-piece set offers hours of creative fun, whether built solo or with friends.

This ISS (International Space Station) toy building kit for adults, measuring over 7” (20cm) high, 12” (31cm) long and 19” (49cm) wide, makes a beautiful display model that will catch the eye of every passerby.

This battery-free building set offers a stress-relieving, immersive and fun creative experience. So zone out, find your building zen and enjoy some me-time constructing a wonderful display model!

Thinking of buying this International Space Station model for a newcomer to LEGO® sets? No worries. It comes with step-by-step instructions so they can take on this challenging build with confidence.

LEGO® Ideas sets are created by LEGO fans and voted for by LEGO fans. Adults and children will be delighted by the infinitely diverse array of collectible construction toys for display and creative play.

LEGO® building bricks meet the highest industry standards, so you can be assured that they are consistent, compatible and connect and pull apart easily every time.

LEGO® bricks and pieces are dropped, heated, crushed, twisted and analyzed to ensure that this LEGO Ideas building kit for adults meets the highest global safety standards.

    Available directly from LEGO Stores & LEGO.com from 1st February, 2020

  US Contact Center                                                                                                             1-800-453-4652

CA (English) Contact Center                                                                                           1-800-453-4652

CA (French) Contact Center                                                                                           1-877-518-5346

European Contact Center                                                                                          00-800-5346-1111

  LEGO, the LEGO logo and the Minifigure are trademarks of the LEGO Group. ©2019 The LEGO Group. All rights reserved.

Stunning LEGO® brick International Space Station for display 21321 International Space Station Ages 16+. 864 pieces US $69.99 – CA $99.99 – DE €69.99 – UK £64.99 – FR €59.99 – DK 549DKK…

[dizzedcom]

Lego is releasing an official International Space Station kit, which includes a scale model of the orbital platform, along with a miniature dockable Space Shuttle, a deployable satellite and two astronaut minifigurines. The kit is made up of 864 pieces, and celebrates the science station’s over 20 years in operation. It was originally suggested through Lego’s Ideas platform, which crowdsources ideas from the Lego fan community.

The new kit will be available starting in February, and will retail for $69.99. It looks like a fairly involved kit, and that’s backed up by the recommended age for the assembly being pegged at 16+. The station is presented in al its glory, including its large, fan-like solar power arrays, as well as its docking station, which works with both the Space Shuttle mini model and a cargo capsule that’s also included as part of the set.

As mentioned, there’s also a satellite as part of the kit, and you can make use of the robotic Canadarm that’s also part of the station model to deploy the satellite. Meanwhile, should the ISS require any servicing, two included astronaut minifigs can be tasked with any repairs or upgrades – just like those provided by actual astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir this week to upgrade the lab’s on-board battery systems.

The real ISS, a collaborative effort between NASA, Russia’s Roscosmos, Europe’s ESA and Canada’s CSA, was first launched in 1998, and has been operating continuously with people on board for just over 19 years (its official 20th ‘operational’ anniversary is this November. The station has exceeded its original intended mission lifespan, but it’s expected to continue serving as an orbital science facility until at least 2030 thanks to mission expansions.

Lego made an International Space Station kit, including Space Shuttle and robotic arm Lego is releasing an official International Space Station kit, which includes a scale model of the orbital platform, along with a miniature dockable Space…

[dorcasrempel]

Assembler robots make large structures from little pieces

Today’s commercial aircraft are typically manufactured in sections, often in different locations — wings at one factory, fuselage sections at another, tail components somewhere else — and then flown to a central plant in huge cargo planes for final assembly.

But what if the final assembly was the only assembly, with the whole plane built out of a large array of tiny identical pieces, all put together by an army of tiny robots?

That’s the vision that graduate student Benjamin Jenett, working with Professor Neil Gershenfeld in MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms (CBA), has been pursuing as his doctoral thesis work. It’s now reached the point that prototype versions of such robots can assemble small structures and even work together as a team to build up a larger assemblies.

The new work appears in the October issue of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, in a paper by Jenett, Gershenfeld, fellow graduate student Amira Abdel-Rahman, and CBA alumnus Kenneth Cheung SM ’07, PhD ’12, who is now at NASA’s Ames Research Center, where he leads the ARMADAS project to design a lunar base that could be built with robotic assembly.

“This paper is a treat,” says Aaron Becker, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Houston, who was not associated with this work. “It combines top-notch mechanical design with jaw-dropping demonstrations, new robotic hardware, and a simulation suite with over 100,000 elements,” he says.

“What’s at the heart of this is a new kind of robotics, that we call relative robots,” Gershenfeld says. Historically, he explains, there have been two broad categories of robotics — ones made out of expensive custom components that are carefully optimized for particular applications such as factory assembly, and ones made from inexpensive mass-produced modules with much lower performance. The new robots, however, are an alternative to both. They’re much simpler than the former, while much more capable than the latter, and they have the potential to revolutionize the production of large-scale systems, from airplanes to bridges to entire buildings.

According to Gershenfeld, the key difference lies in the relationship between the robotic device and the materials that it is handling and manipulating. With these new kinds of robots, “you can’t separate the robot from the structure — they work together as a system,” he says. For example, while most mobile robots require highly precise navigation systems to keep track of their position, the new assembler robots only need to keep track of where they are in relation to the small subunits, called voxels, that they are currently working on. Every time the robot takes a step onto the next voxel, it readjusts its sense of position, always in relation to the specific components that it is standing on at the moment.

The underlying vision is that just as the most complex of images can be reproduced by using an array of pixels on a screen, virtually any physical object can be recreated as an array of smaller three-dimensional pieces, or voxels, which can themselves be made up of simple struts and nodes. The team has shown that these simple components can be arranged to distribute loads efficiently; they are largely made up of open space so that the overall weight of the structure is minimized. The units can be picked up and placed in position next to one another by the simple assemblers, and then fastened together using latching systems built into each voxel.

The robots themselves resemble a small arm, with two long segments that are hinged in the middle, and devices for clamping onto the voxel structures on each end. The simple devices move around like inchworms, advancing along a row of voxels by repeatedly opening and closing their V-shaped bodies to move from one to the next. Jenett has dubbed the little robots BILL-E (a nod to the movie robot WALL-E), which stands for Bipedal Isotropic Lattice Locomoting Explorer.

Computer simulation shows a group of four assembler robots at work on building a three-dimensional structure. Whole swarms of such robots could be unleashed to create large structures such as airplane wings or space habitats. Illustration courtesy of the researchers

Jenett has built several versions of the assemblers as proof-of-concept designs, along with corresponding voxel designs featuring latching mechanisms to easily attach or detach each one from its neighbors. He has used these prototypes to demonstrate the assembly of the blocks into linear, two-dimensional, and three-dimensional structures. “We’re not putting the precision in the robot; the precision comes from the structure” as it gradually takes shape, Jenett says. “That’s different from all other robots. It just needs to know where its next step is.”

As it works on assembling the pieces, each of the tiny robots can count its steps over the structure, says Gershenfeld, who is the director of CBA. Along with navigation, this lets the robots correct errors at each step, eliminating most of the complexity of typical robotic systems, he says. “It’s missing most of the usual control systems, but as long as it doesn’t miss a step, it knows where it is.” For practical assembly applications, swarms of such units could be working together to speed up the process, thanks to control software developed by Abdel-Rahman that can allow the robots to coordinate their work and avoid getting in each other’s way.

This kind of assembly of large structures from identical subunits using a simple robotic system, much like a child assembling a large castle out of LEGO blocks, has already attracted the interest of some major potential users, including NASA, MIT’s collaborator on this research, and the European aerospace company Airbus SE, which also helped to sponsor the study.

One advantage of such assembly is that repairs and maintenance can be handled easily by the same kind of robotic process as the initial assembly. Damaged sections can be disassembled from the structure and replaced with new ones, producing a structure that is just as robust as the original. “Unbuilding is as important as building,” Gershenfeld says, and this process can also be used to make modifications or improvements to the system over time.

“For a space station or a lunar habitat, these robots would live on the structure, continuously maintaining and repairing it,” says Jenett.

Ultimately, such systems could be used to construct entire buildings, especially in difficult environments such as in space, or on the moon or Mars, Gershenfeld says. This could eliminate the need to ship large preassembled structures all the way from Earth. Instead it could be possible to send large batches of the tiny subunits — or form them from local materials using systems that could crank out these subunits at their final destination point. “If you can make a jumbo jet, you can make a building,” Gershenfeld says.

Sandor Fekete, director of the Institute of Operating Systems and Computer Networks at the Technical University of Braunschweig, in Germany, who was not involved in this work, says “Ultralight, digital materials such as [these] open amazing perspectives for constructing efficient, complex, large-scale structures, which are of vital importance in aerospace applications.”

But assembling such systems is a challenge, says Fekete, who plans to join the research team for further development of the control systems. “This is where the use of small and simple robots promises to provide the next breakthrough: Robots don’t get tired or bored, and using many miniature robots seems like the only way to get this critical job done. This extremely original and clever work by Ben Jennet and collaborators makes a giant leap towards the construction of dynamically adjustable airplane wings, enormous solar sails or even reconfigurable space habitats.”

In the process, Gershenfeld says, “we feel like we’re uncovering a new field of hybrid material-robot systems.”

Assembler robots make large structures from little pieces syndicated from https://osmowaterfilters.blogspot.com/

[inerginc]

Ciel & Terre and the Town of Windsor officials said they started construction of what will be the largest floating solar power system in the state of California.

The floating solar array will be installed on the Town’s largest recycled water storage pond and is expected to meet 90 percent of the Town’s water treatment and pump facilities’ energy needs.

The Ciel et Terre solar installation will consist of 4,959 (360W) high-output solar panels mounted atop the company’s patented Hydrelio floating solar racking system. The 1.78-MW system will generate power for the Windsor Wastewater Reclamation Facility, Public Works Corporation Yard, and the Geysers pump station, delivering approximately 90 percent of the water reclamation facilities’ power requirements while saving about 30 percent of the electricity cost based on the facilities’ existing grid service.

The array will be floated in the pond and tethered to the shore, making it resistant to wind and seismic loads.

The project is being developed and construction financed by Ciel et Terre, which has entered into a 25-year lease and power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Town of Windsor to provide discounted clean energy. The floating solar system will allow Windsor to better control its electrical costs in the face of rising utility prices.

“By entering into a PPA, the Town can substantially reduce its energy overhead without any investment,” said Eva Pauly-Bowles, Representative Director for Ciel & Terre USA, Inc. “Floating solar is becoming an attractive energy alternative for municipalities seeking to reduce operating costs and preserve valuable land for other developments.”

“Our water reclamation and corporation yard facilities currently account for 40 percent of the Town’s greenhouse gas emissions,” said Toni Bertolero, Town of Windsor Public Works Director. “Installation of this new floating solar array will reduce our reliance on energy-polluting sources by an estimated 350 metric tons of CO2 per year, a significant step to achieve our Climate Action Plan emission reduction goals.”

The floating solar project will cover only 22 percent of the available water surface area of the pond. It will have no impact on the biology of the pond and will reduce water loss from evaporation and inhibit algae growth. The state-of-the-art floating solar design can be expanded for extra capacity and will not affect plant operations while it is being installed.

Ciel & Terre is partnering with local union contractor, Collins Electrical Company, for installation. “Installing a Ciel et Terre floating solar system is like assembling a giant Lego structure. The floating frame snaps together and most of the assembly is done on shore so it is safe and relatively easy,” said Craig Gini, vice president and Renewables general manager for Collins Electrical Company Inc. “Floating solar is an excellent alternative to conventional solar arrays and it’s simpler and faster to install. We expect more of our California customers will be installing floating solar systems in the coming months.”

Using man-made bodies of water to host floating solar systems provides more efficient energy production due to its cooling effect on the system, while eliminating the need to use expensive real estate. The floating array also reduces water movement to minimize erosion and reduce evaporation.

The National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) estimates that floating solar systems could meet 10 percent of the United States electricity needs.

This story first appeared on our sister-site, Renewable Energy World.

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

[buynsellsolar-blog]

Ciel & Terre developing 1.78-MW California floating solar array The state's largest floating solar array

New Post published on http://roofnrays.com/ciel-terre-developing-1-78-mw-california-floating-solar-array-the-states-largest-floating-solar-array/

Ciel & Terre developing 1.78-MW California floating solar array The state's largest floating solar array

Floating solar power systems providers Ciel & Terre USA and officials from Windsor, California, have started construction of what will be the largest floating solar power system in the state. The floating array will be installed on the town’s largest recycled water storage pond and is expected to meet 90% of the water treatment and pump facilities’ energy needs.

The Ciel & Terre solar installation will consist of 4,959 (360 watts) high-output solar panels mounted atop the company’s patented Hydrelio floating solar racking system. The 1.78-MW system will generate power for the Windsor Wastewater Reclamation Facility, Public Works Corporation Yard and the Geysers pump station, saving about 30% of the electricity cost based on the facilities’ existing grid service. The array will be floated in the pond and tethered to the shore, making it resistant to wind and seismic loads.

With help from a local electrical union, Ciel & Terre is developing a 1.78-MW floating solar array in Windsor, California. The PV system is poised to be the state’s largest floating solar array. Ciel & Terre

Project financing is development is being handled by Ciel & Terre, which has entered into a 25-year lease and power purchase agreement (PPA) with Windsor to provide discounted clean energy. The floating solar system will let Windsor better control its electrical costs in the face of rising utility prices.

“By entering into a PPA, the town can substantially reduce its energy overhead without any investment,” said Eva Pauly-Bowles, representative director for Ciel & Terre USA. “Floating solar is becoming an attractive energy alternative for municipalities seeking to reduce operating costs and preserve valuable land for other developments.”

The floating solar project will cover 22% of the available water surface area of the pond. It will have no impact on the biology of the pond and will reduce water loss from evaporation and inhibit algae growth, the company said. The floating solar design can be expanded for extra capacity and will not affect plant operations while it is being installed.

“Our water reclamation and corporation yard facilities currently account for 40% of the town’s greenhouse gas emissions,” said Toni Bertolero, Windsor’s public works director. “Installation of this new floating solar array will reduce our reliance on energy-polluting…a significant step to achieve our Climate Action Plan emission reduction goals.”

Ciel & Terre is partnering with a local union contractor, Collins Electrical Company, for installation.

“Installing a Ciel & Terre floating solar system is like assembling a giant Lego structure. The floating frame snaps together and most of the assembly is done on shore so it is safe and relatively easy,” said Craig Gini, VP and renewables general manager for Collins Electrical Company. “Floating solar is an excellent alternative to conventional solar arrays and it’s simpler and faster to install. We expect more of our California customers will be installing floating solar systems in the coming months.”

Using manmade bodies of water provides more efficient energy production due to their cooling effect on the system while eliminating the need to use expensive real estate. The floating array also reduces water movement to minimize erosion and reduce evaporation, the company said.

The National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) released a report estimating that floating solar systems could meet 10% of the United States electricity needs.

News item from Ciel & Terre

[hollywood-vintageita]

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They liked owning their own personal spot to sit, and they're foam so I haven't got to worry about her slipping off an receiving hurt. Probably the greatest provides by far! Also textbooks are often great. 4

That is my normal very first Bday current it started out when my daughter turned 1 and i bought her violet! She loves it even given that birthday gifts for girls she's two and also a 50 percent she loves The truth that it says her name! This is a really fair priced toy likewise i get them from Walmart for around twenty bucks! :)

You already know your sister very well. Use your imagination to choose a present your sister will seriously recognize.

Apart from becoming compact along with the occasional piece ending up inside the vacuum, our little girls have relished Legos for hrs at a time. When our 6-12 months-outdated was requested to pick a toy established out from a list, she went with the rehearsal phase set.

Welcome to Yvette’s Treasures. I’m generally known as Twinkle Toes (don’t ask LOL!) I am a mommy blogger who enjoys obtaining gifts for others. I often try and match up the identity Using the present which i’m obtaining. Seize a cuppa, pull up a chair and enjoy browsing! More about me. Best man gift ideas

Make the tiny Lady you adore smile brighter in comparison to the Solar with Unique birthday gifts for girls which includes a customized stuffed animal, cozy and colourful pillow, or sweetly intended backpack that she will be able to haul all of her school essentials in.

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Lego made an International Space Station kit, including Space Shuttle and robotic arm

Lego is releasing an official International Space Station kit, which includes a scale model of the orbital platform, along with a miniature dockable Space Shuttle, a deployable satellite and two astronaut minifigurines. The kit is made up of 864 pieces, and celebrates the science station’s over 20 years in operation. It was originally suggested through Lego’s Ideas platform, which crowdsources ideas from the Lego fan community.

The new kit will be available starting in February, and will retail for $69.99. It looks like a fairly involved kit, and that’s backed up by the recommended age for the assembly being pegged at 16+. The station is presented in al its glory, including its large, fan-like solar power arrays, as well as its docking station, which works with both the Space Shuttle mini model and a cargo capsule that’s also included as part of the set.

As mentioned, there’s also a satellite as part of the kit, and you can make use of the robotic Canadarm that’s also part of the station model to deploy the satellite. Meanwhile, should the ISS require any servicing, two included astronaut minifigs can be tasked with any repairs or upgrades – just like those provided by actual astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir this week to upgrade the lab’s on-board battery systems.

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The real ISS, a collaborative effort between NASA, Russia’s Roscosmos, Europe’s ESA and Canada’s CSA, was first launched in 1998, and has been operating continuously with people on board for just over 19 years (its official 20th ‘operational’ anniversary is this November. The station has exceeded its original intended mission lifespan, but it’s expected to continue serving as an orbital science facility until at least 2030 thanks to mission expansions.