Six unexpected sources of renewable energy

By Cat DiStasio

When it comes to discussions about renewable energy, solar and wind power often take center stage. To a lesser degree, other forms like geothermal energy and hydropower also get some attention. But many people may not be aware that there are many other sources of renewable energy currently in use around the world, all helping to counterbalance the enormous carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels. Small projects are turning to dirt and microbes, underground stores of liquid magma and even pedestrian footsteps to harvest energy that would otherwise be wasted. While none of these efforts alone can save the planet, the continued research and development to increase their efficacy may eventually help entire communities eschew fossil fuels without sacrificing much-needed electricity for light, safety, warmth and medical care.

Underground liquid magma

In Iceland, one of the world’s most ambitious (and outlandish) renewable energy projects is now underway. The tiny northern nation is taking geothermal energy to a new level by tapping into liquid magma deep under the Earth’s surface, where temperatures can reach 1,000 degrees Celsius. The hot magma is thought to be capable of producing 10 times more electricity than typical geothermal sources, so the cost-benefit is in favor of the Iceland Deep Drilling Project, which will source liquid magma from five kilometers below the surface using an enormous drill nicknamed “Thor.”

Wind energy from trees

Sourcing wind energy from trees doesn’t make much sense at first, until you learn how it works. The secret energy-generating power comes from the way trees sway in high winds. Earlier this year, researchers published the results of a study that showed how the vibrations of tree movement could be successfully converted into useable energy. The proof of concept was demonstrated on tiny tree-like L-shaped steel beams wrapped with polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), a piezoelectric material. Although the amount of electricity produced was small — around two volts — the output would be magnified if a life-size piezoelectric array could be built to work with full-grown trees in natural forests.

Bacteria and dirt batteries

Taking a cue from energy-producing bacteria, scientists at Harvard University built a battery that’s essentially powered by dirt. The creation of the microbial fuel cell (MFC) batteries is an energy storage breakthrough primed to aid residents of countries with absent or unstable power grids, such as regions of Africa where many people still live off the grid. MFC batteries are notoriously low in cost and can be constructed from local resources that look nothing like the batteries in your flashlight or cell phone. Instead, an MFC battery is built inside of a five-gallon bucket, which is filled with saltwater and holds a graphite-cloth anode, a chicken-wire cathode, mud, manure and a layer of sand to act as an ion barrier in the salty electrolyte solution.

Swedish trash

As the world’s human population continues to increase, so too does our waste production, creating a double-edged challenge to urban planners who are looking for renewable energy sources as well as efficient waste management processes. In Sweden, those two efforts are being combined and the nation is already successfully diverting 99 percent of its garbage from landfills and sending much of it to waste-to-energy (WTE) plants that turn it into electricity. Fully half of Sweden’s annual 4.4 million tons of household waste goes through the WTE process, which burns waste and harvests energy from the resulting steam. Sweden’s processes are so efficient that the nation actually imports 800,000 tons of trash from nearby countries to its 32 WTE plants, keeping even more garbage out of landfills.

Living Bricks

Could your house be an energy-generating machine? These Living Bricks take advantage of the metabolic power of microbes to convert sunlight, wastewater and air into clean energy. Similar to Harvard’s microbial fuel cell (MFC) battery made from dirt, these living bricks would put natural processes to work in order to benefit human lives. The early prototypes generate small amounts of electricity, but it’s enough to power an LED lamp or another small device. Someday, the inventors hope to develop the technology to a point where entire structures can be built from “bioreactor walls” that could which could theoretically be constructed to emit their own light.

Las Vegas kinetic streetlights

Millions of people walk the sidewalks of Las Vegas each year, and now some of those footsteps are generating clean renewable electricity. New York-based EnGoPLANET is harvesting energy typically lost to the ether by installing special streetlights powered by kinetic energy pads embedded in the walkways. These smart street lights are a world’s first, proving that even small measures can help combat climate change by reducing dependence on fossil fuel forms of energy. The solar-kinetic streetlights are one element in the broader plan to make Las Vegas a net-zero emissions city powered completely by renewable energy.

‘TouchSwitcher’ and ‘Rocket’ Apps Let You Switch and Launch Apps From the Touch Bar

Two free third-party Touch Bar apps have been making the rounds this week that may be of interest to some owners of new MacBook Pros. The apps essentially offer alternative ways of accessing pre-existing macOS functions.

TouchSwitcher adds an icon to the right side of the Touch Bar that when tapped brings up a list of currently running apps for quick app switching, similar to the Command + Tab keyboard shortcut.

One limitation of the Touch Bar discovered by TouchSwitcher’s developer is that only one non-system control can be displayed in the right-hand strip, meaning other Apple apps compete for the same space.

iTunes for example overrides TouchSwitcher when music is played, and the TouchSwitcher app must be restarted to make it re-appear in the control strip. To manually regain access to the default media control button, users can long press on the TouchSwitcher app icon to quit it.

Another new app called Rocket lets users launch apps from the Touch Bar. Rather than live in the system control strip on the right though, Rocket is a standalone app that can be invoked using a keyboard shortcut, whereupon it displays a list of app icons along the left side of the Touch Bar.

TouchSwitcher and Rocket (listed as a beta) can be downloaded for free directly from the developers’ websites.

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Sphero’s Force Band can now control your home over IFTTT

Sphero’s motion-tracking Force Band can now control more than a tiny (and utterly adorable) BB-8 droid. The company has teamed up with If This Then That (IFTT) to integrate the “force” with countless apps and smart home devices. IFTTT, if you need a reminder, is a service that lets you automate pretty much anything with “triggers” and “actions.” You can use it to turn on your Hue lights as soon as you walk through the front door, or tweet your Instagrams as native photos on Twitter. With the Force Band, you can now activate these same actions with a force push, pull or stop.

Sphero has posted some basic “applet” recipes on the Star Wars Force Band IFTTT page. You can play The Imperial March with a push, or pull to “post your Jedi wisdom to Twitter.” They’re simple suggestions, admittedly, but ones that should appeal to new and lapsed IFTTT users. As Sphero’s video shows, you’ll soon be wandering around the house and waving your arms to activate the coffee machine. (Personally, I would love one to flick through playlists or open my front door for friends.) Will this new functionality be actually useful? Debatable, but it creates extra value for what is otherwise an expensive ($79.99) BB-8 remote control.

Via: Gizmodo

Source: Star Wars Force Band (IFTTT)

Xiaomi focusing on ‘recurring revenue streams,’ isn’t worried about shrinking phone sales

Xiaomi is looking to the smart home segment for profits.

Xiaomi isn’t worried about shrinking sales in China affecting the company’s long-term profit growth. That’s according to global VP Hugo Barra, who revealed in an interview with Reuters that the focus is instead on creating “recurring revenue streams:”

Basically we’re giving [handsets] to you without making any money… we care about the recurring revenue streams over many years.

We could sell 10 billion smartphones and we wouldn’t make a single dime in profits.

Xiaomi’s global sales are down 12%, with Q3 sales in China declining by 45%, according to the IDC. Xiaomi’s business model relies on selling phones at manufacturing cost, with the devices acting as gateways to the company’s ecosystem. The brand has ventured into the lifestyle category, rolling out robot vacuum cleaners, air purifiers, smart rice cookers, and more under the Mi Ecosystem label.

Flagging sales may not hurt Xiaomi’s bottom line in the short term, but if the brand is unable to sell its most popular product — phones — it will be an uphill battle to convince people to buy into its ecosystem of connected devices.

For what it’s worth, the company is doing remarkably well in the Indian market, where the budget Redmi Note 3 is one of the best-selling phones of the year. The entry-level Redmi 3S also did extremely well in the $100 segment. Xiaomi launched its air purifier in the country earlier this year, and is set to launch several connected home products next year.

Back in its home market, Xiaomi is looking to regain lost ground with the launch of three phones in the high-end segment in recent months: the Mi 5s, the Mi Note 2 (which has global LTE bands), and the futuristic Mi Mix. The Mi 5s is available for $319 from third-party sellers, but the Mi Note 2 and Mi Mix are being sold in limited quantities.

Although we haven’t heard anything tangible regarding Xiaomi’s U.S. plans, the company is all set to unveil a “global product” early next month at CES.

Japan wants the world’s fastest supercomputer by 2018

Our world is in transition, with automation and digitization edging-out more humane forms of industrial labor. Some countries are actively pushing against that, but others, like Japan, are running head-first towards the future. The nation is believed to be pushing to build the world’s fastest supercomputer in an attempt to revitalize its recent malaise. Reuters is reporting that officials will spend $173 million on a machine capable of achieving 130 petaflops and besting current world number one, China’s Sunway TaihuLight.

Japan’s not had a great time of it recently, with an aging workforce and a slow-growing economy that generates plenty of comment. Historically, it’s been the center of the technology world, but South Korea and China have both supplanted the nation in the field of consumer electronics. The last time that Japan was king of the supercomputing hill was way back in 2011 when Fujitsu’s K Computer (pictured) topped the world rankings at 10.5 petaflops.

The country has asked various companies to bid for the honor of actually building the machine, codenamed ABCI (AI Bridging Cloud Infrastructure). The winner will be announced after December 8th, and will expected to come online in 2018, at least according to anonymous sources. When operational, Japan will rent out time on the platform to companies who currently utilize Google and Microsoft services in an attempt to win back home crowds. It remains to be seen if it’ll be successful, but it’ll be worth the wait to watch it unfold.

Source: Reuters

GoPro has a voice-controlled remote for its voice-controlled cameras

One of the reasons we gave both of GoPro’s new cameras — the Hero5 Black and Hero Session — good scores is that they both allow you to use voice control to do things like start and stop recording, take photo bursts, set a highlight tag, shoot pictures, change modes and switch the camera off. In our tests, we found that the feature works well, although on blustery days wind noise can prevent the camera’s microphones from picking up the sound of your voice. In part to address that sort of problem, GoPro just unveiled the Remo, a voice-controlled remote meant to be used with its new voice-controlled cameras. Like the Hero5 Black itself, the clip-on remote is waterproof, albeit to 16 feet here instead of 33. It also responds to the same commands as the two cameras, in 10 languages.

In addition to controlling for wind noise, you might clip it to pets or small children and start a recording from afar. In that use case, the voice commands will work with in a 33-foot range. The remote is available now for $80, with both clip and wrist housings included in the box. That’s a reasonable price for a stocking stuffer (no coincidence GoPro announced this on Black Friday, right?), but hopefully Engadget can test one soon so that we can actually vouch for it.

Source: GoPro (1), (2)