The $1.5 Billion Mammoth Solar Farm Will Be the Largest in the US

An Israeli firm, Doral Renewables, has started work on the U.S.&#8217;s largest solar energy farm, dubbed Mammoth Solar, which will cover approximately 13,000 acres (5,261 hectares), a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-middle-east-israel-indiana-40b7973eee9d10ae6e07d2d53b985deb" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">report from AP News</a> reveals.
The new solar farm, which is expected to be fully operational by 2024, will span two northern Indiana counties, and the project will have a total cost of approximately $1.5 billion.
<h2>&#8216;An electrifying day&#8217;</h2>
The Mammoth Solar farm will be built across Starke and Pulaski&#8217;s county lines, and the initial construction site will be in a rural area about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southwest of South Bend. Doral Renewables is building the solar farm as part of an agreement with American Electric Power that will see it improve the Columbus, Ohio-based utility company&#8217;s renewable energy capacity.
The State of Indiana Government held a ceremony to commemorate the opening of the new construction site, with Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb and other local officials attending. According to <a href="https://events.in.gov/event/iedc_israeli_energy_company_chooses_indiana_for_largest_us_solar_farm_major_investment_in_increased_energy_innovation" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">a press statement</a>, the construction project will create 500 jobs, and that the finished, fully operational solar farm will create at least 50 new, full-time jobs. &#8220;It’s an incredibly electrifying day for the state of Indiana as we celebrate Doral Renewables&#8217; significant investment in the future of energy generation and the state of Indiana,&#8221; said Gov. Holcomb.
<h2>Solar farms will get larger and larger in the coming years</h2>
The 13,000-acre Mammoth Solar farm will become partially operational by mid-2023 and it will start off producing 400 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 75,000 households. As a point of reference, the world&#8217;s largest solar panel farm currently is the <a href="https://interestingengineering.com/one-farm-to-rule-them-all-the-worlds-largest-solar-farms" target="_blank" rel="dofollow">2.245-GW Bhadla Solar Park</a> in India, at 5,700 hectares (14,000 acres). However, Australian firm Sun Cable is building a <a href="https://interestingengineering.com/worlds-largest-clean-energy-infrastructure-from-singapore-to-australia" rel="dofollow">massive infrastructure project</a>, spanning roughly 12,000 hectares (29,652 acres), which will send power to Singapore using an undersea cable. 
The Mammoth Solar farm, which will have a total of 2.85 million solar panels, is expected to be fully operational by 2024, at which point it will generate a total of 1.65 gigawatts of electricity. With the IPCC&#8217;s <a href="https://interestingengineering.com/earths-heat-breaking-125000-year-records" rel="dofollow">latest alarming report</a> on climate change, and the COP26 conference this month, more and more large renewable infrastructure projects are likely to be greenlit, meaning the title of the world&#8217;s largest solar farm will likely change hands several times in the coming years.

Its built-in AI enables the robot to &#8220;learn new tasks on the fly&#8221; via verbal commands and visual imitation.

&#8216;I have arrived&#8217;: Israel unveils headless humanoid robot Menteebot

Screenshot from a promotional video of Menteebot.

Israel&#8217;s Mentee Robotics has just unveiled its artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled household chore robot, Menteebot. After two years of research and development, the new robot certainly looks impressive.



Developed by Amnon Shashau (the former founder of Mobileye), Professor Shai Shalev-Shwartz, and Professor Lior Wolf, the new robot is gearing up for official orders in the first<a href="https://www.ynetnews.com/business/article/by19utmz0" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"> quarter of 2025</a>. The unit&#8217;s price is still a mystery, but it is being marketed as &#8220;affordable.&#8221; 



&#8220;We are on the cusp of a convergence of computer vision, natural language understanding, strong and detailed simulators, and methodologies for transferring from simulation to the real world,&#8221; explains Mentee Robotics. 



&#8220;Menteebot represents a significant leap forward in humanoid robotics, designed for comprehensive functionality across diverse environments,&#8221; <a href="https://www.menteebot.com/bot/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Mentee Robotics </a>explains in a promotional video on LinkedIn. 



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-israel-s-first-ai-enabled-house-helper-robot">Israel&#8217;s first AI-enabled house helper robot</h3>



The robot is designed for corporate and domestic use, and if the promotional video is any indication, it appears to be highly capable. According to the company&#8217;s website, the Menteebot &#8220;domestic assistant&#8221; is designed to easily navigate your home and perform essential duties like table setting, cleaning, and laundry handling.



Its built-in AI enables the robot to &#8220;learn new tasks on the fly&#8221; via verbal commands and visual imitation. For commercial settings, like a warehouse, Menteebot is claimed to readily work as an automation robot. 



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Menteebot by Mentee Robotics performing a complex end-to-end task" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Z3T9S1Arbdk?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></figure>



To this end, Mentee Robotics claims the robot can efficiently locate, retrieve, and transport items up to 55 pounds (25 kilograms) in weight. The robot can operate non-stop for up to 5 hours before requiring a full recharge. 



&#8220;Menteebot&#8217;s advanced dexterity allows it to perform a wide range of tasks with precision, making it adaptable to both household and industrial warehouse settings. This innovation signifies a pivotal step towards a future where robots seamlessly integrate into our lives, enhancing efficiency and streamlining processes in various domains,&#8221; the company adds. 



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-menteebot-is-packed-with-features">Menteebot is packed with features</h3>



The robot has various other interesting innovations, such as self-made actuators fully integrated into on-board sensors and drivers. Menteebot also has a suite of bespoke electronics and communication systems.



It is 5.74 feet (175 cm) tall and weighs 154 pounds (70 kg) gross unladen. It can &#8220;walk&#8221; at 3.4 mph (1.5 meters per second). Unlike many of its contempoaries, Menteebot is distinctive in that it lacks a distinguishable “head,” but this adds a certain charm that potential furure owners are bound to love.



Menteebot looks a little ungainly on first appearance, but this belies the robot’s very sophisticted electronics, mechanical parts, and other fancy gubbins. While few other concrete information is currently available, it is clear Menteebot will certainly turn heads when it finally hits the market.



So, if you are on the lookout for a potential <a href="https://interestingenginee" ring.com/innovation/robots-for-household-chores-less-than-10-years-away-expert" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">robotic house helper </a>in the future, keep your eyes and ears open for the coming of Menteebot. &#8211;



&#8220;AI is embedded at every level, enabling dynamic interaction with the world. Menteebot integrates cutting-edge Sim2Real learning for lifelike gait and hand movement, NeRF-based real-time 3D mapping and localization, dynamic navigation in complex environments, and Large Language Models to build a cognitive map of the world and advanced task execution,&#8221; Mentee Robotics explains.

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It could capture nearly 100 percent of carbon dioxide emissions generated during cement clinker production.

World&#8217;s first carbon-neutral cement plant swaps pure O2 for ambient air

Image depicts pollution emitted from refinery

In a new technological initiative, experts at Thyssenkrupp Decarbon Technologies, an international industrial and technology firm, have developed a “pure oxyfuel&#8221; technology to transform sustainable cement production. 



According to <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/solving-cements-massive-carbon-problem/#:~:text=The%20chemical%20reactions%20involved%20produce,all%20human%20CO2%20emissions." target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Scientific American</a>, every year, cement and concrete production generates as much as nine percent of all human CO2 emissions worldwide.



As such, this technology addressing the need for a more sustainable alternative has come with a new methodology. 



The technology will utilize pure oxygen in the combustion process, replacing ambient air. 



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-capturing-100-co-2-emissions">Capturing 100% CO2 emissions</h3>



As a result, this would facilitate the capture of almost 100 percent carbon emissions from <a href="https://interestingengineering.com/science/carbon-eating-blocks-climate-solution" target="_blank" rel="dofollow">cement clinker production</a>, the firm noted.&nbsp;



On April 23, 2024, Thyssenkrupp officially commenced the construction of the “world’s first carbon-neutral cement plants” as part of its lighthouse project.



This technology enables the capture and reuse of CO2 emissions, paving the way for carbon-neutral cement production and marking a significant step forward in the fight against climate change.



“The cement industry faces a particularly huge challenge when it comes to decarbonization,” voiced Robert Habeck, Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister for Economic Affairs.



“The plant here in Lägerdorf demonstrates how it is possible to decarbonize production and boldly implement climate-neutral manufacturing of cement and concrete.&#8221;



&#8220;The fact that carbon dioxide can not only be captured but also reused as a raw material is a prime example of the green transformation,” he emphasized.



Daniel Günther, Minister-President of Schleswig-Holstein, stated that today, the firm is launching another innovative German industrial project. 



With this beginning, the prototype aiming to decarbonize the cement industry is being built at an industrial level in Lägerdorf. 



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-alternative-for-an-indispensable-building-material">Alternative for an indispensable building material</h3>



“That shows once again that the future is climate-neutral. And this future begins here in Schleswig-Holstein, the number one state for the energy transition,” he said.&nbsp;



The company noted in a statement that the cement industry typically produces roughly 830 kilograms (1830 pounds) of CO2 per ton of cement.



In fact, in 2019, 17 percent of industrial emissions in Germany solely came from 20 million tons of CO2 in cement production. <a href="https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/photocatalytic-concrete-roads-air-pollution" target="_blank" rel="dofollow">Cement</a> clinker production seems to be the principal emitter of CO2. 



“Cement is an indispensable building material. However, cement production is responsible for around seven percent of global carbon emissions. It’s therefore vital to switch to climate-friendly processes,” stated Dr. Cetin Nazikkol, Chief Strategy Officer at ThyssenKrupp Decarbon Technologies. 



“By enriching CO2 by means of the ‘pure oxyfuel’ technology we’ve developed, we help our customers capture almost all of the CO2 arising in the production process, and so reuse it in a sustainable manner,” he added. 



He further emphasized that since global cement production makes up over four billion tons annually, the firm is optimistic about the growth potential for the new pure oxyfuel technology.



Now, the company is supplying its equipment and services to approximately one-third of cement plants across the globe. 



The fundamental concept behind &#8220;pure oxyfuel&#8221; involves removing CO2 from the exhaust gases ejected from cement factories within a kiln system. 



This prevents the release of CO2 into the atmosphere as the ambient air is substituted with pure oxygen in the combustion process. 



The gas comprising CO2 is then refined into a high-purity form, making it suitable for various applications, including the chemical industry. 



Executing this process at the new Holcim plant in Lägerdorf is projected to reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 1.2 million tons annually. The plant has been scheduled for commission in 2028.

<ul>
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&nbsp;

Scientists in China have developed a test that detects three types of cancers with just one spot of dried blood.

AI-powered tool detects cancer in minutes with one drop of blood

Scientists in China created a test that needs less than 0.05 millimeters of dried blood to diagnose cancer.



Screening for specific blood biomarkers is seen as a possible method to detect cancer at earlier stages. But cancers like pancreatic, colorectal, and gastric cancers lack precise blood tests for diagnosis. As stated in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-024-01323-9.epdf?sharing_token=zAXZ4LZYA602_vlCSyeP1tRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0Nf4wE2i40BBVdHbQ9vzPGvNgPhRK46NxikoXdvfJfW-pll-J68cefI84AEYZOfbFHoZryBL8LFC0M8oCOeETQMC0Y30LvWCQIjQV_Pv_WUAOBcNIwNtAMT6DB3Bx7Ks_lpZJC54hIK6kzIBvOfpplPx35X3z6j-amvDWn00Tuktg%3D%3D&amp;tracking_referrer=www.ft.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">the study</a>, over a billion people across the world experience a high rate of missed disease diagnosis. There is an urgent need for diagnostic tools that have high accuracy and affordability. Can this new test help?  



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-makes-it-different">What makes it different?</h3>



According to the researchers, the test could identify when a patient had cancer around 82% to 100% of the time. In just a few minutes, this test showed a difference between patients with diagnosed cancer and people without cancer.  Their focus was on pancreatic, gastric, or colorectal cancer.



They tested the model and how effectively this can make a difference between blood donors with and without cancer. They compared it with traditional liquid blood-based tests. The results they got showed them that the dried blood spots were also very effective in diagnosis. In the case of pancreatic cancer, they were able to detect 81.2% of cases. When it comes to liquid blood samples that was 76.8% percent.



Their assessment showed that the implementation of this tool in less-developed regions could reduce the estimated proportion of undiagnosed cases of cancers. For example, this method for population-level cancer screening in rural China could reduce undiagnosed cases by 20% to 50%. Especially when it comes to colorectal, gastric, and colorectal cancers.



This cancer test won&#8217;t enter use for a long time, <a href="https://www.livescience.com/health/cancer/detecting-cancer-in-minutes-possible-with-just-a-drop-of-dried-blood-and-new-test-study-hints" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">said</a> Chaoyuan Kuang who was not involved in the study. According to him, we are still years away from being able to offer this test to patients.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Rural China</h3>



In a study from<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8931518/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"> 2022,</a> scientists included 1,570 cancer survivors from three urban districts and five rural counties. &nbsp;The results showed that 84.1% were diagnosed with cancer after developing symptoms. Compared with urban cancer patients, rural ones were more likely to be diagnosed with cancer after developing symptoms. Also, they were less likely to visit more than one hospital. This means that rural cancer patients had fewer screenings and treatments than urban ones.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">What is behind it?</h3>



Dried serum spots (DSS) are small samples of serum that have been dried. When it dries it is stored for later analysis, usually used in different diagnostic <a href="https://interestingengineering.com/health/groundbreaking-immunotherapy-shrinks-aggressive-brain-tumor-in-new-trial" target="_blank" rel="dofollow">tests</a>. In the case of cancer diagnosis, the use of dried blood spots can be a challenge. The reason is in the degradation of sensitive biomarkers and the often inadequate amount of blood for reliable results. 



So the researchers propose the use of inorganic nanoparticles to improve cancer diagnostics. In particular, the focus is on enhanced mass spectrometry (NPELDI MS), which provides reliable results with better sensitivity. It involves the application of inorganic nanoparticles to enhance selectively concentrate and enrich metabolic compounds from samples.” However, the adaptation of NPELDI MS to dried spot analysis has not been validated,” they noted. &nbsp;That is an obstacle that needs to be solved. Due to need necessity of standardized work procedures to enable reliability in all laboratories.



Based on a machine learning model they created, they found that these DSS samples preserved important biological markers. That is crucial for improving diagnostic accuracy. Those machine models are a form of artificial intelligence that uses algorithms, for example, for the diagnosis of cancer.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">What is the catch?</h3>



This is a &#8220;great start,&#8221; Kuang said, but more testing is needed, due to many reasons. For example, they only tested a few hundred samples, and also they tested the machine learning model on people who were already known to have cancer.&nbsp; Meaning that it has to be confirmed how it works as a real diagnostic tool.&nbsp;



A blood test like this would need to go through &#8220;extensive clinical trials&#8221;. That includes thousands of patients and regulatory review, Dr. Michael Cecchini told <a href="https://www.livescience.com/health/cancer/detecting-cancer-in-minutes-possible-with-just-a-drop-of-dried-blood-and-new-test-study-hints" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Live Science</a>.

<blockquote>
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NASA engineers rebooted and reprogramed Voyager 1 after they detected a technical problem.

Voyager 1 phones home: NASA re-establishes contact after 5 months

An artist's illustration of Voyager 1 travelling through interstellar space

Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 just beamed home for the first time in 5 months — &#8220;Hi, it&#8217;s me.&#8221; Voyager 1 has not sent back any useful scientific information yet, but it can communicate, indicating that it is still operational.



Voyager 1 is the first human-made object to reach interstellar space though it took 35 years to cross that boundary after collecting data from <a href="https://interestingengineering.com/space/nasa-juno-jupiter-volcanic-moon" target="_blank" rel="dofollow">Jupiter</a> and Saturn. Its sibling Voyager 2 took off before the 1st 47 years ago but crossed into interstellar space six years after Voyager 1 (2018) after investigating Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-voyager-1-and-2-took-off-47-years-ago">Voyager 1 and 2 took off 47 years ago</h3>



<a href="https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/scientists-reveal-the-best-possible-route-to-exit-our-solar-system" target="_blank" rel="dofollow">These Voyagers</a> are currently tens of billions of miles away from Earth. 



A feat of computer programming and engineering, they power themselves with radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) which convert heat into electricity from decaying plutonium. But that decay means that the generator loses power over time. Moreover, both have experienced communication issues over the years.



When Voyager 1 went dark in November 2023, NASA could tell that the interstellar explorer was operating normally. It received the commands but only sent back garbled patterns of code that NASA could not read. They had to assess what went wrong in lines of indecipherable code.



Finally, in early March, the mission team finally decoded information from one section of the flight data system (FTS), one of three onboard computers responsible for processing science and engineering data to send back to Earth. It turned out, in a series of zeros and ones, that a single chip malfunctioned, so it could not report back on the status of its health. 



Not able to repair the chip that stores a portion of the FDS memory, NASA had to move the code to another area though no location could hold the entirety of it. They divided it up and stored it in different places. That required them to tweak the codes in subsections, so Voyager 1 would still function overall.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Time to reboot Voyager 1 </h3>



That’s all NASA could do — billions of miles away. They sent a signal up to Voyager 1 to reboot and reroute since it’s just a program responding to commands. And it takes about 22.5 hours for Voyager 1 to receive a signal from Earth.



NASA awaited with bated breath. However, NASA finally got a reply on April 12. They can now check on Voyager 1’s health and operational systems.



 “Today was a great day for Voyager 1,” <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/22/world/voyager-1-communication-issue-cause-fix-scn/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">said Linda Spilker</a>, Voyager project scientist at JPL, in a statement. “We’re back in communication with the spacecraft. And we look forward to getting science data back.”



As for Voyager 2, it continues to operate without a hitch.

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A 1:10 scale prototype was tested back in 2020 and now the company is ready to test the OceanX platform at its original scale.

‘World&#8217;s largest’ twin-rotor floating wind platform launched by Chinese firm

The OceanX platform being assembled at MingYang's facility in China. 

Mingyang Group, the Chinese manufacturer of the world&#8217;s biggest wind turbines, has launched a floating platform, dubbed OceanX, capable of hosting two turbine rotors. 



Even after placing rotors of relatively lower power ratings, the platform&#8217;s dual hosting capability makes it the world&#8217;s largest platform by capacity, the company said in a social media post. 



Zhongshan-headquartered Mingyang Smart Energy Group needs no introduction. Last year, the company set a global record by recording sales of over&nbsp;<a href="https://interestingengineering.com/energy/chinese-wind-turbine-orders" rel="dofollow">100 gigawatts of wind turbines</a>. But it is more than absolute sales where the company is way ahead of other original equipment manufacturers.&nbsp;



In December 2023, the company unveiled the world&#8217;s first <a href="https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/18-mw-turbine-works-in-typhoons" target="_blank" rel="dofollow">typhoon-proof wind turbine</a> with a power rating of 18 MW. 



While it might be a few years before the turbine that sweeps an area of nine soccer fields is actually deployed at sea, it shows the company&#8217;s intent to innovate in the area, and the OceanX floating platform is yet another example of what the company is capable of. 



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">What we know about OceanX</h3>



The twin-rotor floating platform has a V-shaped tower to which two turbine rotors can be affixed. MingYang has equipped the platform with its MySE8.3-180 semi-direct-drive offshore wind turbines. 



Individually, these turbine rotors have a far lower power rating of 8.3 MW than other Mingyang offerings, but when combined, they can deliver an output of 16.6 MW. 



&#8220;Innovative V-shaped tower with long and elliptical cross-sections provides additional yawing power, enhancing production efficiency and reducing ultimate load, especially in extreme typhoon conditions,&#8221; the company said in its social media post.&nbsp;



The images shared by the company are from the Huangchuan Wharf in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, where the platform was assembled. 



As per the company, the platform will soon be towed out to sea and installed off the coast of Qingzhou, Yangjiang, in Guangdong Province, a process estimated to take about two months. 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1278" height="821" src="https://cms.interestingengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/iStock-1162866632.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-60440" srcset="https://cms.interestingengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/iStock-1162866632.jpg 1278w, https://cms.interestingengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/iStock-1162866632.jpg?resize=300,193 300w, https://cms.interestingengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/iStock-1162866632.jpg?resize=768,493 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1278px) 100vw, 1278px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Can Mingyang&#8217;s new platform design draw the sunset on the such offshore wind farms? Representational stock image from <a href="https://www.istockphoto.com/portfolio/TebNad?mediatype=photography" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">TebNad/iStock</a></figcaption></figure>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-can-twin-tower-platforms-work">Can twin-tower platforms work? </h3>



With rising energy demands, countries seek more efficient renewable energy sources to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels. 



With wind turbines, equipment manufacturers have found greater power generation potential in larger turbines, but having already crossed the height of the Eiffel Tower, wind turbines are approaching a limit to how big they can be made. 



Interesting Engineering has reported other wind turbine designs that do not follow the tri-blade pattern that we have seen so far. The two-rotor platform design is a mid-step between a radical design and what is currently working. 



According to Recharge&#8217;s report, a 1:10 prototype of the two-headed turbine platform was trialed in Germany nearly four years ago, with operations in the Baltic Sea also part of the test. 



During this period, the platform faced wind speeds of 236 feet (72 m) per second and wave heights equivalent to nearly 100 feet (30 m). 



When the platform is at a certain angle with the blowing wind, the wind-affected area increases and provides additional yawing power to the platform, thereby increasing the energy utilization efficiency, the <a href="https://www.rechargenews.com/wind/mingyang-launches-worlds-largest-twin-rotor-floating-wind-platform/2-1-1630614" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Recharge report</a> added. 



Under extreme typhoon conditions, the platform is designed to follow the wind, reduce yawing, and reduce load on the platform. 



The pre-tensioned guy ropes on the platform share the gravity load, making the tower lightweight. Mingyang has provided both lifts and stairs inside the platform for easy access, the <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mingyangsmartenergy_oceanx-innovatecleanenergyforall-activity-7186937424550289408-SmS0?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">social media post</a> added.&nbsp;

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Israel reportedly fired a Rampage missile against Iran, which had previously penetrated the S-300 system in Syria.

Satellite spots burn marks of &#8216;Israeli strikes&#8217; on Iran&#8217;s defense system

Representational image of a S-400 defense system. 

Israel&#8217;s recent air attack reportedly hit a Russian-made air defense system in Iran&#8217;s Isfahan province, according to recent satellite images taken by Planet Labs PBC on Monday. However, officials in Tehran denied any damage from the assault. According to the satellite images acquired by the Associated Press (AP), the S-300 anti-ballistic missile defense system is absent in the area of attack. Although the extent of the damage is unconfirmed, the strikes appeared to be a clear indication to Tehran that Israel could bypass its <a href="https://interestingengineering.com/military/israel-iran-attack-isfahan" rel="dofollow">defense system</a>.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-burn-marks-spotted">Burn marks spotted</h3>



The satellite images taken on Monday morning near Isfahan&#8217;s dual-use airport and air base, some 320 kilometers (200 miles) south of Tehran, showed an area nearby that served as a deployment point for the air defense system. Burn marks surround what analysts, including Chris Biggers, a consultant former government imagery analyst, previously identified as a &#8220;flap-lid&#8221; radar system used for the S-300, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-israel-s300-radar-hit-isfahan-attack-ce6719d3df8ebf5af08b035427ee215c" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">reported</a> the AP. Images taken on Friday also show burn marks in the area, but the less-detailed images fail to specify what was at the site. &#8220;Umbra synthetic aperture radar imagery showed evidence of damage to the Iranian S-300 strategic surface-to-air missile battery in Isfahan,&#8221; Biggers wrote on Twitter.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-system-components-removed-from-the-site">System components removed from the site</h3>



&#8220;A probable damaged target engagement radar was visible in imagery still on the radar hardstand. Other battery system components, however, have been withdrawn from the site,&#8221; added Biggers. &#8220;Their status and location is currently unclear. According to senior U.S. military sources speaking to FOX News: The Israelis hit what they intended to strike,&#8221; he further added.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">Here&#39;s something that&#39;s been on deck for a bit. Seems likely the Iranians were expecting the Israelis to hit Kashan given the use of one way attack UAVs on the night of 13 April. While that didn&#39;t happen, the dispersion was still very interesting to see. <a href="https://t.co/GMcXlOsHhy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">pic.twitter.com/GMcXlOsHhy</a>&mdash; Chris Biggers (@CSBiggers) <a href="https://twitter.com/CSBiggers/status/1782171781450580216?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">April 21, 2024</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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It&#8217;s believed that the air defense system was placed at the site to give defensive cover to the underground Natanz nuclear enrichment facility. Iran has been downplaying the attack, which forced the Islamic Republic to ground commercial flights across much of the country. The officials have called it a series of small drones flying through the sky. &#8220;What happened last night was not a strike. They were more like toys that our children play with – not drones,&#8221; Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian told <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/iranian-foreign-minister-says-weapons-used-israeli-attack-toys-childre-rcna148568" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">NBC News</a> on Saturday.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-can-missiles-evade-the-s-300-defense-system-easily">Can missiles evade the S-300 defense system easily?</h3>



During its recent assault against Iran, Israel reportedly used the Rampage missile, which previously bypassed the S-300 system in Syria in 2019. The missiles hit a rocket production and storage facility in Masyaf, which S-300 protected. The attack suggested that Israeli-made precision-guided missiles successfully evaded the defense system. Russia gave Iran its powerful defense system to Iran in 2016 after the country agreed to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Tehran had signed an $800 million deal with Russia to acquire the system in 2007, but it was delayed due to pressure from the U.S. and Israel. Iran is believed to have received four sets of S-300 mobile surface-to-air missile systems, which can counter multiple aircraft at a range of 195 kilometers and ballistic missiles at a range of up to 50 kilometers.

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Using smoke in this manner is a very old tactic, and is an interesting turn of events in a war that is increasingly reliant on drones.

Russia uses massive smokescreens to avoid wrath of Ukrainian drones

Stock: British Challenger 2 tank deploying a smokescreen.

Russian forces have reportedly deployed the largest smokescreen so far in the war to hide from Ukrainian drones. Deployed in the western Luhansk Oblast, this age-old battle tactic also helps obscure valuable assets from the artillery.



The smokescreen, revealed from footage posted by the Russian The Wrong Side Telegram channel, was deployed to mask Russian advances in Bilohorivka.



According to The Wrong Side, chemists from Russia&#8217;s Southern Group of Forces are actively supporting the assault units&#8217; offensive actions. This time, aerosol camouflage prevented the <a href="https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/ukraine-drones-foil-mini-robot-tank-attack" target="_blank" rel="dofollow">Ukrainian Armed Forces</a> from deploying aerial surveillance to detect the forces&#8217; movement.



Within the 34-second-long clip, specialist Russian vehicles can be seen deploying trails of white smoke. These trails eventually combine to form a larger blanket of smoke, effectively obscuring the vehicles. 



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-using-smoke-to-hide-from-drones">Using smoke to hide from drones</h3>



From any footage, it is not entirely clear exactly what smoke substance is being deployed by the Russians.



However, the tactic worked, and “as a result, our units managed to occupy several enemy strongholds on the approaches to the populated area,”&nbsp;The Wrong Side&nbsp;explained the apparent success.



Deploying smoke to hide military maneuvers is an ageless tactic that is thought to have&nbsp;been developed&nbsp;thousands of years ago. The first documented use was around 2,000 BC, during ancient battles in India.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">Russian Army used an aerosol curtain to protect military equipment from Ukrainian FPV drones during an assault near Bilohorivka, Luhansk region. <a href="https://t.co/nDPmkwsOpn" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">pic.twitter.com/nDPmkwsOpn</a>&mdash; Clash Report (@clashreport) <a href="https://twitter.com/clashreport/status/1782321770999042327?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">April 22, 2024</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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Today, it is a common tactic used by naval and land forces. Most modern armored fighting vehicles and tanks have some form of smokescreen technology mounted on the vehicle&#8217;s hull. 



Smoke can be deployed using purpose-built generators or specialist munitions like grenades or shells.



Russia has been seen using smoke in recent times, especially in its efforts to protect the Kerch Bridge. This $4 billion span connects Russia with the Crimean peninsula, which it occupied in 2014 and is considered Vladimir Putin&#8217;s prized possession. 



Ukraine has attacked the bridge twice, once in October 2022 and again in July 2023.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-likely-the-tda-3">Likely the TDA-3</h3>



According to <a href="https://www.twz.com/news-features/russian-troops-deploy-huge-smokescreen-to-hide-from-marauding-drones" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">The War Zone</a>, the smoke generators could be Russia&#8217;s latest TDA-3 smoke-generating vehicles. These are fixed systems mounted to 6&#215;6 drive trucks. Unlike its <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2021/12/17/to-hide-from-ukraines-drones-russian-troops-could-lay-smoke-screens/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">TDA-2 predecessor</a>, this newer machine only requires a team of two to operate. 



It&#8217;s not uncommon for Russians to use smokescreens to avoid detection by First Person View (FPV) drones and spotters for artillery. 



These drones have been a problem for both sides, but the Russians have now conducted their largest operation.



For example, Russian MT-LBs have previously been seen deploying a smokescreen to counter an attack by a Ukrainian FPV drone. 



By using smoke to obscure their movements, the advancing forces are hidden from view, making it difficult for FPV drones to target them and spotter drones to locate them for artillery strikes.



Ukraine has also been <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2023/10/04/ukraines-diy-fighting-vehicle-spews-toxic-smoke/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">using smokescreens</a> in its battlefield tactics, including the canisters that were dispensed from US-donated Bradley Fighting Vehicles. 



However, these applications are less extensive than the smoke cover that Russia has laid down in its latest advance in the Luhansk Oblast.

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Researchers confirmed that strontium gas is a superfluid, lacking viscosity—a key quantum phase of matter.

World’s only quantum-gas microscope imaging strontium’s individual atoms

An image of the glass cell with the strontium gas cloud in the middle.

High-precision sensing methods are necessary for quantum physics to investigate the microscopic characteristics of materials.



Aiming to advance the technology in this domain, Spanish researchers have developed a quantum-gas microscope &#8211; named QUIONE, after the Greek goddess of snow.



The group&#8217;s quantum-gas microscope is the first of its kind in Spain and the only one in the world capable of photographing individual strontium quantum gasses.



QUIONE aims beyond merely capturing impactful images where individual atoms are discernible; its objective lies in quantum simulation. 



According to researchers, quantum simulation enables us to distill highly complex systems into more manageable models, tackling unanswered questions that elude conventional computation.



The ICFO-The Institute of Photonic Sciences team&#8217;s <a href="https://journals.aps.org/prxquantum/abstract/10.1103/PRXQuantum.5.020316" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">research</a> details were published in the journal PRX Quantum.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-use-of-strontium">The use of Strontium</h3>



Quantum-gas microscopes have been shown to be effective instruments for comprehending quantum systems at the atomic level, derived from the analog quantum processors that have lately surfaced. 



These gadgets enable the detection of individual atoms in the extremely high-resolution photographs of quantum gasses.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1920" height="1080" src="https://cms.interestingengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Untitled-design-2024-04-23T124743.238.jpg" alt="The ICFO team of researchers at the lab. " class="wp-image-60370" srcset="https://cms.interestingengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Untitled-design-2024-04-23T124743.238.jpg 1920w, https://cms.interestingengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Untitled-design-2024-04-23T124743.238.jpg?resize=300,169 300w, https://cms.interestingengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Untitled-design-2024-04-23T124743.238.jpg?resize=768,432 768w, https://cms.interestingengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Untitled-design-2024-04-23T124743.238.jpg?resize=1536,864 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The ICFO team of researchers at the lab.</figcaption></figure>



Until now, alkaline atoms such as potassium and lithium were used in these microscopy setups. These atoms have simpler optical spectrum features than alkaline-earth atoms like strontium. This indicates that strontium provides additional materials for these investigations to work with.



Due to its unique features, strontium has become particularly attractive for applications in quantum computing and quantum simulation in recent years. 



An atomic quantum processor, for instance, may be created from a cloud of strontium atoms to solve issues beyond the scope of today&#8217;s classical computers.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Unlocking quantum phenomena</h3>



The team started their efforts by reducing the temperature of strontium gas in order to achieve the objective. Atoms can move very slowly or not at all by applying the force of several laser beams, which can lower their temperature to nearly absolute zero in a matter of milliseconds. 



In this realm, the behaviors of atoms are governed by the laws of quantum mechanics, revealing novel characteristics such as quantum superposition and entanglement.



Subsequently, the scientists used specialized <a href="https://interestingengineering.com/military/supersonic-submarines-laser-propulsion-china" target="_blank" rel="dofollow">lasers</a> to turn on the optical lattice, which maintains the atoms&#8217; grid-like arrangement throughout space. Researchers activated the optical lattice, which keeps the atoms arranged in a grid along space.



“You can imagine it like an egg carton, where the individual sites are actually where you put the eggs. But instead of eggs we have atoms and instead of a carton we have the optical lattice,” said Sandra Buob, a researcher at ICFO and the first author of the study, in a <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1042049" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">statement</a>.



Once the gas and optical lattice were prepared, researchers used the microscope to capture images of the <a href="https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/optical-clock-accurate-billions-of-years" target="_blank" rel="dofollow">strontium</a> quantum gas, atom by atom. Although this marked the success of QUIONE&#8217;s construction, the creators sought to push its capabilities further.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Strontium gas superfluid</h3>



The team recorded videos of the atoms and noticed unexpected movements. Despite supposed stillness during imaging, atoms occasionally leaped to neighboring lattice sites, a phenomenon attributed to quantum tunneling.



Using their <a href="https://interestingengineering.com/science/researchers-overcome-the-resolution-limit-with-quantum-physics" target="_blank" rel="dofollow">quantum</a>-gas microscope, the researchers verified that the strontium gas was a superfluid—a quantum phase of matter that moves without viscosity.



&nbsp;“We suddenly switched off the lattice laser so that the atoms could expand in space and interfere with each other. This generated an interference pattern due to the wave-particle duality of the atoms in the superfluid. When our equipment captured it, we verified the presence of superfluidity in the sample,” Antonio Rubio-Abadal, a researcher at ICFO, said in a statement. 



With strontium included in their arsenal of quantum-gas microscopes, the researchers anticipate the potential to simulate increasingly intricate and exotic materials, thus predicting the emergence of novel phases of matter.



Furthermore, the team foresees harnessing substantially greater computational power to leverage these machines as analog quantum computers.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Abstract</h3>



The development of quantum-gas microscopes has brought novel ways of probing quantum degenerate many-body systems at the single-atom level. Until now, most of these setups have focused on alkali atoms. 



Expanding quantum-gas microscopy to alkaline-earth elements will provide new tools, such as SU(N)-symmetric fermionic isotopes or ultranarrow optical transitions, to the field of quantum simulation. 



Here, we demonstrate the site-resolved imaging of an 84Sr bosonic quantum gas in a Hubbard-regime optical lattice. The quantum gas is confined by a two-dimensional in-plane lattice and a light-sheet potential, which operate at the strontium clock-magic wavelength of 813.4 nm. We realize fluorescence imaging using the broad 461-nm transition, which provides high spatial resolution. 



Simultaneously, we perform attractive Sisyphus cooling with the narrow 689-nm intercombination line. We reconstruct the atomic occupation from the fluorescence images, obtaining imaging fidelities above 94%. 



Finally, we realize an 84Sr superfluid in the Bose-Hubbard regime. We observe its interference pattern upon expansion, a probe of phase coherence, with single-atom resolution. Our strontium quantum-gas microscope provides a new platform to study dissipative Hubbard models, quantum optics in atomic arrays, and SU(N) fermions at the microscopic level.

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The metal alloy is composed of niobium, tantalum, titanium, and hafnium.

Super alloy’s stamina to bear extreme heat and cold shocks scientists

A map of the crystal structure of the alloy made with electron backscatter diffraction in a scanning electron microscope.

Researchers have uncovered a new remarkable metal alloy that doesn’t crack at extreme temperatures due to kinking, or bending, of crystals in the alloy at the atomic level.&nbsp;



Unlike most materials, the new alloy displays impressive strength and toughness at extremely hot and cold temperatures, a combination that seemed nearly impossible to achieve until now.



Researchers say the alloy’s resilience to bending and fracture across an enormous range of conditions could open the door to a novel class of materials for next-generation engines that can operate at higher efficiencies.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-perfect-crack-resistant-metal-alloy">Perfect crack-resistant metal alloy</h3>



The research was carried out by a team led by Robert Ritchie at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and UC Berkeley, in collaboration with the groups led by professors Diran Apelian at UC Irvine and Enrique Lavernia at Texas A&amp;M University.



The metal alloy is composed of niobium, tantalum, titanium, and hafnium.



In these terms, strength is defined as how much force a material can withstand before it is permanently deformed from its original shape, and toughness is its resistance to fracturing (cracking).



The team discovered the alloy’s surprising properties and then figured out how they arise from interactions in the atomic structure.



As per the team of researchers, the alloy is from a new class of <a href="https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/metals-have-an-natural-ability-to-heal-themselves" target="_blank" rel="dofollow">metals</a> known as refractory high or medium entropy alloys (RHEAs/RMEAs).



Majority of the metals used in commercial or industrial applications are made by mixing one main metal with small quantities of other elements.



However, RHEAs or RMEAs are made by mixing near-equal quantities of metallic elements with very high melting temperatures, which gives them unique properties.



The team has investigated these alloys for several years because of their potential for high-temperature applications.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-shocked-at-exceptionally-high-toughness">&#8216;Shocked&#8217; at exceptionally high toughness</h3>



“The efficiency of converting heat to electricity or thrust is determined by the temperature at which fuel is burned – the hotter, the better. However, the operating temperature is limited by the structural materials which must withstand it,” <a href="https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2024/04/22/this-alloy-is-kinky/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">said</a> first author David Cook, a PhD student in Ritchie’s lab.&nbsp;



He added that the ability to optimize further the materials we currently use at high temperatures has been exhausted. Therefore, there’s a need for “novel metallic materials. That’s what this alloy shows promise in.”



Co-corresponding author Punit Kumar, a postdoctoral researcher in the group, said that their earlier research on other RHEAs or RMEAs had shown they were very strong but possessed extremely low fracture toughness.



“Which is why we were shocked when this alloy displayed exceptionally high toughness,” Kumar said.



According to Cook, most RMEAs have a fracture toughness less than 10 MPa√m. The best cryogenic steels, specially engineered to resist fracture, are about 20 times tougher than these materials.



However, this new alloy beat even the cryogenic steel, clocking in at over 25 times tougher than typical RMEAs at room temperature.



The scientists also evaluated strength and toughness at five temperatures total: &#8211; -320.8°Fahrenheit (196°C) (the temperature of liquid nitrogen), 77°Fahrenheit (25°C) (room temperature), 1472°Fahrenheit (800°C), 1742°Fahrenheit (950°C), and 2192°Fahrenheit (1200°C). The last temperature is about 1/5 the surface temperature of the sun.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-engines-of-the-future">Engines of the future?</h3>



The electron microscopy data revealed that the alloy’s unusual toughness comes from an unexpected side effect of a rare defect called a kink band.



Kink bands form in a crystal when an applied force causes strips of the crystal to collapse on themselves and abruptly bend.



“We show, for the first time, that in the presence of a sharp crack between atoms, kink bands actually resist the propagation of a crack by distributing damage away from it, preventing fracture and leading to extraordinarily high fracture toughness,” said Cook.



The alloy will undergo a lot of testing and research before anything like a jet plane turbine or SpaceX rocket nozzle is made from it.



However, this study indicates that the metal has potential to build the engines of the future.&nbsp;

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The simulation findings showed that the orbital properties of Neptune-crossing objects closely matched those predicted by a model that included Planet 9.

Planet 9 could be lurking behind Neptune, study finds strong evidence

Artist's concept of a hypothetical planet orbiting far from the Sun.

Researchers may have found the “strongest statistical evidence” yet of Planet 9 (also called Planet X)&#8217;s existence. 



For years, astronomers have been on the hunt for a mysterious planet that could be lurking in the farthest reaches of our solar system.&nbsp;



Its existence has been proposed based on observations of distant objects beyond Neptune, which appear to be influenced by the gravitational pull of a large, yet unseen, celestial body.



In 2015, Caltech astronomers Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown (well known for reclassifying Pluto) presented compelling evidence for the existence of this hypothetical planet. They proposed that Planet 9 likely follows an unusually elongated orbit in the outer solar system.



Now, in a new study, they&#8217;ve strengthened their case even further.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-computer-simulations-to-understand-presence">Computer simulations to understand presence</h3>



Previous studies have shown how Planet 9’s gravitational impact could explain the strange orbits of objects in the outer solar system.&nbsp;



“In this work, we shift the focus toward a more conventional class of TNOs [trans-Neptunian objects], and consider the observed census of long-period, nearly planar, Neptune-crossing objects as a hitherto-unexplored probe of the Planet 9 hypothesis,” the astronomers mention in the study, which is accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.



This study examined the movement of unstable TNOs, which was most likely caused by their interaction with Neptune&#8217;s orbit. This instability has been difficult to understand hence it was often excluded from the earlier analysis of finding <a href="https://interestingengineering.com/science/everything-you-need-to-know-about-planet-x-the-mysterious-9th-planet" target="_blank" rel="dofollow">Planet 9</a>. 



The researchers ran computational simulations that included gravitational interactions with all large planets, the Galactic tide, and even passing stars. They also incorporated initial conditions reflecting the migration of giant planets and the early evolution of the Sun within a star cluster.



The simulation findings showed that the orbital properties of these Neptune-crossing objects closely matched those predicted by a model that included Planet Nine.



“Our results reveal that the orbital architecture of this group of objects aligns closely with the predictions of the P9-inclusive model,” noted the study paper.



While the exact location of Planet Nine remains unknown, the upcoming operations of the Vera Rubin Observatory promise to shed light on this mystery.



“Fortunately, with the expected commencement of operations by the Vera Rubin Observatory, the orbital distribution of the class of objects considered here will come into much sharper focus,” the paper stated.&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-planet-9-could-be-the-size-of-uranus">Planet 9 could be the size of Uranus</h3>



Caltech experts earlier predicted that this proposed planet might have a mass roughly ten times that of Earth and be similar in size to Uranus or Neptune. 



Moreover, the hypothetical planet may be around 20 times further from the Sun than Neptune. Due to this huge distance, it may take as many as 10,000 to 20,000 Earth years to complete one full orbit around the Sun.



Interestingly, finding planets orbiting other stars is often simpler than locating them in our <a href="https://interestingengineering.com/science/ninth-planet-lurking-in-solar-system-we-finally-know-where-it-is" target="_blank" rel="dofollow">solar system</a>. Astronomers use the transit method or observe a star&#8217;s wobble to identify planets in star systems other than ours. 



Meanwhile, the hunt for the mysterious Planet 9 continues.



The study paper is currently uploaded on the pre-print server <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/2404.11594.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">arXiv.</a>

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The solar balcony generates only a tenth of the power output of a rooftop solution, but it is portable if the homeowner wishes to relocate.

400,000 ‘solar balconies’ boost German home energy harvesting capacity

Image of a balcony installed with solar panels. 

Plug-in solar systems on balconies are becoming increasingly popular among Germans living in smaller apartments. So far, more than 400,000 such systems have been installed, with over 50,000 units sold in the first quarter of this year alone. But other European countries don&#8217;t have the same enthusiasm for these kits. Here&#8217;s everything we know.



The country has a strong solar culture. People want to be part of the energy transition that the world is focused on to reduce global emissions. When rooftop solar first arrived in the 2000s, the government encouraged its adoption by allowing it to feed extra energy into the grid and offering it a fixed price.



Subsidies continue to be offered on solar products to this date. The option to sell extra power to the grid means the equipment will pay for itself in the subsequent years. This has been the case with rooftop solar, but the solar balcony option is even simpler.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-is-a-solar-balcony">What is a solar balcony?</h3>



The solar balcony solution is similar to a rooftop solar system but much smaller. Instead of an array of panels, it consists of a maximum of two panels and connects directly to an electrical socket. The system&#8217;s energy output is a tenth of what a rooftop solution can produce, but the greatest advantage for users is the ease of use.



Unlike a rooftop system that requires professionals for installation, a balcony solar system consists of panels and a mounting structure, and the assembly can be completed by anyone using the instructions provided.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1920" height="1080" src="https://cms.interestingengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/SB1.jpg?w=1920" alt="Solar panels installed on balconies" class="wp-image-60057" srcset="https://cms.interestingengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/SB1.jpg 1920w, https://cms.interestingengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/SB1.jpg?resize=300,169 300w, https://cms.interestingengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/SB1.jpg?resize=768,432 768w, https://cms.interestingengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/SB1.jpg?resize=1536,864 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Sample image of a balcony installed with solar panels. </figcaption></figure>



Houses that could not take the solar route due to heritage protection or shading issues can take the solar balcony route to generate their power. Even people who do not own the house can adopt the solution since its cost is subsidized, and they can take it with them when they move to another house.



Apartment buildings have yet to figure out how to distribute energy and benefits from a pooled rooftop solution, but the balcony solar solution addresses this issue, too. As balconies get bigger, Germany is now considering allowing four-panel units.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Where the rest of Europe stumbled</h3>



The European Union encourages this new technology, but the member countries have responded differently to this push. Austria, France, Italy, and Poland are keen to adopt the solution. Still, countries like Belgium fear the impact of so many energy feeders on the grid. It prefers greater control over who supplies the power and when to avoid a grid collapse due to excessive electrical input.



Germany, on the other hand, isn&#8217;t so bothered. Experts told <a href="https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/04/21/solar-balconies-are-booming-in-germany-heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-popular-home-" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Euronews</a> that the output from these systems was so little that its impact on the grid would be negligible.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1920" height="1080" src="https://cms.interestingengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/SB3.jpg" alt="Solar balconies" class="wp-image-60061" srcset="https://cms.interestingengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/SB3.jpg 1920w, https://cms.interestingengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/SB3.jpg?resize=300,169 300w, https://cms.interestingengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/SB3.jpg?resize=768,432 768w, https://cms.interestingengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/SB3.jpg?resize=1536,864 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Solar panels installed in a balcony in Germany. Image credit: <a href="https://www.ertex-solar.at/en/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Ertex Solar</a></figcaption></figure>



Interestingly, the balcony solar solutions also have a storage option for those who do not wish to feed the electricity into the grid but use it themselves. Small families working during the day can monitor energy generation through an app and use it at night to reduce energy bills.



A note of caution, though. While touted as a do-it-yourself- solution, the panels weigh over 50 pounds and must be mounted securely to avoid mishaps.



But <a href="https://interestingengineering.com/science/most-innovative-technologies-in-renewable-energy" target="_blank" rel="dofollow">going green</a> is getting easier by the day, and Germany is showing us how it can be done.

<ul>
 	<li><a href="https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/solar-system-smarter-reduce-power-bills">How to make your home solar system smarter and reduce power bills</a></li>
 	<li><a href="https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/ukrainian-vertical-solar-panels-balconies">A Ukrainian entrepreneur built vertical solar panels for balconies</a></li>
 	<li><a href="https://interestingengineering.com/video/a-how-to-man-stored-solar-power-on-his-roof-with-a-water-battery">A DIY Man Stored Solar Power on His Roof. With a Water Battery?</a></li>
</ul>

Despite the growing adoption of lithium-ion battery technology for storage, the risk of electrical fires hampers scalability. Yet, researchers and companies are striving for safer alternatives.

Charging ahead: The quest for clean energy and safer battery storage

The future of high-energy lithium-ion batteries.

<ul>
<li>Climate change is driving the transition toward clean energy and storage.</li>



<li>Lithium-ion battery technology, while promising, suffers from some issues.</li>



<li>Developers are working on solutions and alternatives to ensure that lithium-ion energy and storage is safe and effective.</li>
</ul>



Average global surface temperatures rose by an estimated <a href="https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-global-temperature" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">1.07 °C</a> (2.01 °F) between 2011 and 2020, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report (AR6).



This was the direct result of growing greenhouse gas emissions driven by fossil fuel consumption, which grew by roughly 10 percent during that same period (from <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/fossil-fuels" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">124,558 to 137,237 TWh</a>).



The ecological impacts of this change are seen everywhere in the form of increased drought, extreme weather, coastal flooding, wildfires, ocean acidification, and biodiversity loss. 



Another key finding in the AR6 was that global temperatures could increase by <a href="https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/resources/impacts-degrees-warming/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">1.5 to 2 °C</a> (2.7 to 3.6 °F) in the coming decades, depending on whether we can achieve net zero emissions before 2050.



In the former scenario, the ecological impacts will be significant but sustainable with the proper mitigation and adaptation strategies. In the latter, life will become untenable for many parts of the planet. 



Unfortunately, data from the past year indicates that emissions continue to grow. According to the <a href="https://globalcarbonbudget.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">2023 Global Carbon Budget</a> (GCB), emissions in 2023 continued to rise by 1.1 percent compared to 2022.



One of the most important and time-sensitive solutions is to transition to clean, renewable energy sources that are sustainable and carbon-neutral. 



This transition is underway, but several barriers must first be overcome for widespread adoption that can lead to net zero emissions. Not the least is the need for safe and effective energy storage.



Some energy companies are turning to lithium-ion battery technology to improve energy storage. However, this promising and established technology has a flaw.



If and when a cell becomes overheated or damaged, it can trigger electrical fires that grow and consume other cells in their vicinity. 



This makes scaling lithium-ion technology to create power and storage stations rather difficult. Luckily, many companies and researchers are investigating solutions and alternatives.



Two shining examples are <a href="https://viridiparente.com/about/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Viridi </a><a href="https://ponycommunications.mxspruce.com/LjRPFnFSg7cqbZMR9/l/7OXDRviKq64ty4Hz3?messageId=HATERPz8O6O1wu6mQ&amp;rn=iMXbhlGbsl2VgcXZoRHdh1kI&amp;re=ISYj5ybvhWY5B0ctFWasxWa3Z2blNXdvhmI&amp;sc=false" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Parente</a> Inc., a leading developer of fail-safe commercial-scale lithium-ion battery technology, and researchers from the <a href="https://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">University of Tokyo</a> and the <a href="https://www.denso.com/us-ca/en/about-us/corporate-info/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Denso Corporation</a> (a Japanese automaker), who have developed a new non-flammable solid-state lithium-ion battery.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-changing-times">Changing times</h3>



Between <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/renewable-energy" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">2000 and 2020</a>, the portion of the energy market occupied by renewable sources more than doubled (from 2864 to 5,838.5 TWh).



Wind power accounted for the largest share of this growth, going from 1 percent of the renewable energy market to about 25 percent (31.22 to 2,098.46 TWh) of the renewables market. 



Solar was a relatively close second, increasing from 1.08 TWh to 1,310 TWh, or 0.001275 percent of the renewable energy market to about 15.5 percent.



This was facilitated by a substantial drop in wind and solar power costs per watt ($/w). For solar panels, the price went from <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/solar-pv-prices" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">6.17 $/w in 2000 to 0.26 $/w in 2022</a>, a factor of almost 24. According to the <a href="https://www.irena.org/-/media/Files/IRENA/Agency/Publication/2022/Jul/IRENA_Power_Generation_Costs_2021.pdf?rev=34c22a4b244d434da0accde7de7c73d8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">2021 report</a> by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the average cost of onshore wind power similarly declined between 2009 and 2019, from <a href="https://www.irena.org/-/media/Files/IRENA/Agency/Publication/2022/Jul/IRENA_Power_Generation_Costs_2021.pdf?rev=34c22a4b244d434da0accde7de7c73d8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">$102 per megawatt-hour (MWh) to $33 per MWh</a>. Between 2010 and 2021, the cost of offshore wind power dropped from <a href="https://www.irena.org/-/media/Files/IRENA/Agency/Publication/2022/Jul/IRENA_Power_Generation_Costs_2021.pdf?rev=34c22a4b244d434da0accde7de7c73d8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">$188/MWh to $75/MWh</a>.



As of 2021, the nations that are leading <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_renewable_electricity_production" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">the world in terms of renewable energy use</a> are China (2.44 million TWh), the U.S. (0.8 million TWh), Brazil (0.5 million TWh), Canada (0.4 million TWh) and India (0.3 million TWh). What is driving this change?



In addition to rising concerns about Climate Change in the world&#8217;s industrialized nations, the mass manufacturing of photovoltaic (PV) cells and wind turbines has also led to a price drop.



China has led the world in this trend in recent decades, which is projected to continue into the foreseeable future.



While the cost of manufacturing, installing, and running renewable energy systems has dropped substantially (thus speeding adoption), fossil fuels still account for over 60 percent (~ 63-67 percent) of the world&#8217;s power consumption. 



The main reason is intermittency since solar and wind power are subject to seasonal changes, weather patterns, and (in solar&#8217;s case) the diurnal cycle. This issue can be mitigated by improving our energy infrastructure, including high-capacity storage facilities.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-solutions">Solutions</h3>



Since they were first introduced to the commercial market in 1991, lithium-ion batteries have become ubiquitous, powering everything from mobile phones and devices to laptops and electric cars. 



They&#8217;ve also been used significantly for military and aerospace applications and grid-scale energy storage. 



The impact of this technology has been so significant that John B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2019 for their role in its development.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1920" height="1080" src="https://cms.interestingengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Interesting-Engineering_video-1344-x-1080-px-214.jpg?w=1920" alt="Airbus on a missions to expanding global network with new electric air vehicles" class="wp-image-47662" srcset="https://cms.interestingengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Interesting-Engineering_video-1344-x-1080-px-214.jpg 1920w, https://cms.interestingengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Interesting-Engineering_video-1344-x-1080-px-214.jpg?resize=300,169 300w, https://cms.interestingengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Interesting-Engineering_video-1344-x-1080-px-214.jpg?resize=768,432 768w, https://cms.interestingengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Interesting-Engineering_video-1344-x-1080-px-214.jpg?resize=1536,864 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Airbus is on a mission to expanding global network with new electric air vehicles. Credit: <a href="https://www.aerospacemanufacturinganddesign.com/news/cityairbus-nextgen-makes-its-debut/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Airbus</a></figcaption></figure>



This is why companies like Viridi Parente, who are partnered with DOE’s <a href="https://www.ornl.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Oak Ridge National Lab</a>, are working to develop failsafe lithium-ion technology and energy storage systems.



As Viridi CEO <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-m-williams-1b741123a/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Jon M. Williams</a> told Interesting Engineering via Zoom, lithium-ion technology is one of the most promising ways to transition from fossil fuels:



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
&#8220;[I]n storage technology, you want energy density. You [also] want the cell not to have a memory. So if you use 10 percent of it, from 100 percent to 90 percent for two years, and then on the last day of the year, you go down to zero, lithium-ion chemistry will allow you to do that. It&#8217;s defined at this point for manufacturing, and that&#8217;s the real reason lithium-ion is the best chemistry today: we know how to manufacture it. When you go to a giga-factory, they&#8217;re making a cell about every 30 cells a second.



&#8220;So to manufacture at that scale, which is really what you need, if we&#8217;re going to move the needle on fossil [fuels], you have to have a defined chemistry. Lithium-ion allows you to do that. And at this point in our development as a battery industry, we know how to make lithium-ion NMC chemistries. That is a very well-defined manufacturing process. And we can make it at a one in 40 million defect rate.&#8221;
</blockquote>



Alas, there&#8217;s the aforementioned snag. Part of what makes lithium-ion batteries so effective at holding a charge is the flammable electrolyte they contain. 



This can pose a fire hazard if the battery becomes overheated or damaged. The former phenomenon is known in industrial circles as &#8220;thermal runaway.&#8221; 



While manufacturers employ safety devices in their batteries to offset this hazard &#8211; such as <a href="https://www.enegitech.com/pages/what-is-current-interruption-devices-or-cids-and-how-its-work" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">current interrupt</a> (CID) and <a href="https://eepower.com/resistor-guide/resistor-types/ptc-thermistor/#" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">positive temperature coefficient</a> (PTC) devices &#8211; it remains a stumbling block to developing large-scale storage facilities.



According to Williams, part of the issue is the production rate. Lithium-ion batteries have a very well-defined manufacturing process and can be manufactured at a one in forty million defect rate. However, the failure rate becomes greater when large-scale developers manufacture that many lithium-ion cells a day. While thermal failure in a single cell is not a major concern, it becomes a potentially catastrophic danger when millions of cells are grouped together. As Williams explained, this is where Viridi&#8217;s approach begins:



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
&#8220;We came back to the individual cell and said, can we manage that risk at the cell level? And when it happens at the cell level, can we stop it and prevent it from cascading into everything around? So the only way we could do that really is material science. So as we build our pack, we put specific materials around the cell in the modules and allow a thermal runaway in an individual cell to happen. We contain the energy very quickly and then we give it a place to vent pressure and any off gas to inside the pack.



&#8220;And thermal runaway is not [the real] problem. Propagation is the problem. We can handle one cell, let it go. We can handle two cells, let it go. We can&#8217;t handle 5,000 cells. So that&#8217;s what we did. And once we had that, we then went to detection devices and other technology that would allow us to prevent that safety system from being engaged in a normal failure.



&#8220;The interesting thing is, once it goes, you only need to control the energy for roughly half a second. Because it releases energy so quickly that it can&#8217;t do it for very long. So if you can control the energy coming from that single cell and prevent it from propagating or chain reacting into the one next to it, you solve for propagation.&#8221;
</blockquote>



Viridi recently partnered with <a href="https://ponycommunications.mxspruce.com/LjRPFnFSg7cqbZMR9/l/7aRn0Q4VxJNPyINRz?messageId=HATERPz8O6O1wu6mQ&amp;rn=iMXbhlGbsl2VgcXZoRHdh1kI&amp;re=ISYj5ybvhWY5B0ctFWasxWa3Z2blNXdvhmI&amp;sc=false" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Bright Machines</a> &#8211; an innovator in intelligent, software-defined manufacturing. Their aim is to digitally transform Viridi&#8217;s U.S. electric battery manufacturing facility, bringing them closer to their goal of building lithium-ion energy and storage facilities at scale.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1920" height="1080" src="https://cms.interestingengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/An-illustration-of-solid-state-battery.jpg?w=1920" alt="" class="wp-image-44990" srcset="https://cms.interestingengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/An-illustration-of-solid-state-battery.jpg 1920w, https://cms.interestingengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/An-illustration-of-solid-state-battery.jpg?resize=300,169 300w, https://cms.interestingengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/An-illustration-of-solid-state-battery.jpg?resize=768,432 768w, https://cms.interestingengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/An-illustration-of-solid-state-battery.jpg?resize=1536,864 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">An illustration of solid-state battery. Credit: <a href="https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/solid-state-battery-for-ev-electric-vehicle-new-research-and-development-batteries-gm1437406220-478214095" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Just_Super/iStock</a></figcaption></figure>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-alternatives">Alternatives</h3>



As noted, there are also alternatives, like the solid-state lithium-ion battery developed by researchers from the University of Tokyo and the Denso Corporation. 



These batteries have shown considerable promise in recent years because they are non-flammable, have higher energy density, and have higher levels of transference than those with liquid electrolytes.



They are expected to take a share of the market currently occupied by conventional liquid electrolyte Li-ion batteries (such as electric vehicles).



Despite these advantages, solid electrolytes have lower lithium-ion conductivity than conventional ones and experience problems with adequate electrode-solid electrolyte contact. 



While scientists have had some success with sulfide-based solid electrolytes, which are quite conductive, these give rise to hydrogen disulfide (a toxic compound) when they interact with moisture. 



The need for non-sulfide solid electrolytes that are both conductive and stable is paramount.



In a recent study published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.3c03288" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Chemistry of Materials</a>, a research team led by Professor Kenjiro Fujimoto, Professor Akihisa Aimi (Tokyo University of Science), and Dr. Shuhei Yoshida (Denso Corporation) announced the discovery of a stable and highly conductive lithium-ion conductor. It was in the form of a pyrochlore-type oxyfluoride. Prof. Fujimoto said in a <a href="https://www.tus.ac.jp/en/mediarelations/archive/20240402_1224.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">press release</a>:



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
&#8220;Making all-solid-state lithium-ion secondary batteries has been a long-held dream of many battery researchers. We have discovered an oxide solid electrolyte that is a key component of all-solid-state lithium-ion batteries, which have both high energy density and safety. In addition to being stable in air, the material exhibits higher ionic conductivity than previously reported oxide solid electrolytes.&#8221;
</blockquote>



The research team subjected their battery design to structural and compositional analysis using X-ray diffraction, Rietveld analysis, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry, and selected-area electron diffraction. 



Based on their analysis, their battery has an extremely low activation energy and one of the highest levels of ionic conductivity at low temperatures compared to known solid electrolytes, including sulfide-based materials.



In addition, unlike existing lithium-ion batteries, oxide-based all-solid-state batteries have no risk of electrolyte leakage due to damage. 



Given this level of performance, the team&#8217;s innovation is anticipated to lead future research. As Prof. Fujimoto indicated:



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
&#8220;The newly discovered material is safe and exhibits higher ionic conductivity than previously reported oxide-based solid electrolytes. The application of this material is promising for the development of revolutionary batteries that can operate in a wide range of temperatures, from low to high. We believe that the performance required for the application of solid electrolytes for electric vehicles is satisfied.&#8221;
</blockquote>



While the need for clean energy and storage has been self-evident for decades, issues of cost, efficiency, and storage have kept the transition from happening quickly.



The first two issues have been largely overcome thanks to the mass production of solar cells and turbines and advances in materials science. 



With the development of safer lithium-ion battery technology, a corresponding shift is now taking place on the storage end.



This will speed the transition away from fossil fuels and allow the world&#8217;s governments to reach their goal of achieving net zero carbon emissions before mid-century before it is too late.

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Barcelona&#8217;s residents are facing the worst drought on record. Officials believe a floating desalinator is a &#8220;more economical and environmentally sustainable solution&#8221; than shipping in water.

Floating drought fighter: Barcelona to get desalination plant off coast

A desalination plant (Representative image)

Barcelona leans on Europe&#8217;s largest desalination plant for domestic use named the Llobregat, but that is not enough. Catalonia is facing the worst drought on record, so floating desalination plants are part of the solution.



David Mascort, Minister of Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda, <a href="https://www.iagua.es/noticias/generalitat-catalunya/cataluna-garantizara-agua-poblacion-restricciones-gracias-13-nuevas" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">said </a>that floating desalinator is a &#8220;more economical and environmentally sustainable solution.&#8221;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-13-floating-desalinators">13 floating desalinators</h3>



The Catalan government will install a floating desalination plant in the port of Barcelona.  As explained, it will come into operation if Catalonia&#8217;s Ter-Llobregat catchment system enters the Emergency II phase of the drought. That is not expected before October.  Phase II of the Emergency status is when reserves go below 10.95% for the catchment. In that case, water consumption would be restricted to 180 liters per inhabitant per day.  That is controlled at the municipal level.



As explained floating desalinators are equipped with the all necessary technology. In total, it is planned to install 13 mobile desaliners. 12 small ones will be installed in the northern Costa Brava region and, a large in the city of Barcelona.



The floating desalination plant will produce about 6% of the consumption of the Barcelona metropolitan area. In numbers that is about 14 hm3 of water per year. The produced water will be stored in the reservoir before being released into the distribution network. &#8220;Transporting water by ship from outside Catalonia is no longer an option as now have better alternatives,&#8221; Patrícia Plaja <a href="https://www.iagua.es/noticias/generalitat-catalunya/cataluna-garantizara-agua-poblacion-restricciones-gracias-13-nuevas" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">said.</a> &nbsp;



For the Costa Brava region, the 12 mobile desalination plants will cost around 10 million euros. &nbsp;It can satisfy around 35% of the water demand of the supply area of the northern Costa Brava. 



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">5 year long benefits</h3>



As the Mascort explained the purchase of the desalination plant has been calculated based on a usage lifetime of five years. The period of five years aligns well with the period needed for other key infrastructure works related to water resources.



The desalination plant has no mooring costs and does not impact maritime traffic. As said during the conference the floating desalinator produces about 40,000 m3/day.&nbsp; Compared to the average 25,000 m3/day that can be transported with ships that means up to 50% more water. When it comes to prices the cost of producing water through a floating desalination plant is much cheaper. For example, the cost will be around €6/m³, while with ships it rises to €10/m³.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">More than 1,000 days of drought</h3>



Earlier this year after more than 1,000 days of drought, the Catalan government announced a state of emergency. The water restrictions affect something six million people in Barcelona and 200 towns. Meaning a lot more than half of the region’s population. Barcelona&#8217;s residents currently use 160 liters of water per resident per day.



Two months ago Catalan president, Pere Aragonès, said that Catalan budget 2024 foresees over €1bn in spending to face extreme drought. Last year the<a href="https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/a-new-greenhouse-in-spain-can-generate-solar-power-with-no-harmful-gases" target="_blank" rel="dofollow"> Spanish</a> government approved a €2.2bn plan to help farmers and consumers cope with an enduring drought. 



The <a href="https://climate.copernicus.eu/esotc/2023" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">new Copernicus report</a> confirms that Europe suffered a near-record hot year in 2023 with severe wildfires and heatwaves. Temperatures in Europe were above average for 11 months of the year. While heat-related deaths are estimated to have increased in 94% of the European regions monitored.

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Oncologist says, ‘40% of daily exposure by people in Lebanon to airborne carcinogens comes from one source: diesel generators.&#8217;

Beirut residents face cancer risk amid city&#8217;s diesel-filled smog

A picture taken from Dbayeh north of Beirut on June 7, 2019, shows the skyline of the Lebanese capital covered in smog at sunset.

Could have imagined pollution killing a massive population of an entire city. Unfortunately, this problem is currently prevailing in Beirut, the capital city of <a href="https://interestingengineering.com/health/tons-of-dead-fish-engulf-lebanese-village-in-pungent-odor" target="_blank" rel="dofollow">Lebanon</a>, which is also the largest city in the country.



The city&#8217;s inhabitants are constantly faced with persistent smog, evidence of which is brown-hued clouds dimming the city’s skyline. 



The Guardian reported that roughly 8,000 diesel generators have been powering Lebanon&#8217;s cities since the nation’s economic collapse in 2019. These generators can even be heard, smelled, and spotted on the streets. 



Now, the inhabitants are forced to breathe the air polluted by these unsustainable machines.



Scientists at the American University of Beirut (AUB) have discovered, in yet-to-be-published research, that Beirut’s overdependency on diesel-based generators in the past five years has increased the risk of developing cancer by twofold. 



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-alarming-increase-in-rates-of-positive-diagnoses">Alarming increase in rates of positive diagnoses</h3>



Oncologists said that the rates of positive diagnoses are shooting up. “The results are alarming,” stated Najat Saliba, an atmospheric chemist and leader of the study.&nbsp;



The issue primarily affects Beirut, especially in densely populated areas like Makassed. 



The levels of pollution from fine particles are usually less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter (PM2.5), reaching 60 micrograms per cubic meter, as per The Guardian. 



This amount is four times higher than the World Health Organization’s recommended limit of 15mcg/m³, further emphasizing that people shouldn’t be exposed to this level for no more than three to four days a year.



Apparently, the situation became critical after the <a href="https://interestingengineering.com/science/the-beirut-explosions-atmospheric-wave-shook-the-ionosphere" target="_blank" rel="dofollow">catastrophic explosion</a> in August 2020, which further weakened the country.&nbsp;



Lebanon&#8217;s economic collapse led to a near-collapse of the state energy grid, forcing an elevated use of diesel generators. 



This, combined with political paralysis, corruption, and lack of investment in infrastructure, has led to a vicious cycle where the generators continue to pollute the air, exacerbating health issues, including cancer.



The generators emit carcinogenic pollutants into the atmosphere, significantly increasing cancer risks for the population. 



As per AUB’s measurements, the carcinogenic pollutants have doubled in primarily three areas of the capital city. 



Evaluation proposed that cancer risk will have risen by roughly 50 percent, stated Saliba.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cancer-risk-based-on-the-carcinogen-materials">Cancer risk based on the carcinogen materials</h3>



“It’s directly related,” she told The Guardian. “We calculate the cancer risk based on the carcinogen materials emitted from diesel generators, some of which are classified as category 1A carcinogens.”



Before the economic collapse in 2019, generators were employed to supplement the national grid for three hours. 



However, the economic challenges led to the near collapse of the state’s energy grid, making diesel generators a primary source of power.



Tumor specialists in Beirut informally observed a significant rise in cancer rates, suggesting an approximate rise of 30 percent each year since 2020.&nbsp;



Furthermore, they noted a common trend: patients are becoming younger while the tumors they develop are more aggressive. This data, however, has not been attested. 



Saliba says that the country is riddled with a “big vicious cycle.”



“We are a very poor country now, so we keep asking for all this money. But the trend across all sectors – and everything the government has handled over the past 10 years – is to take the money, install what needs installing, and then leave it without operating costs or any willingness to put the effort in to keep it running.”



While international donors have contributed billions of dollars to initiate improved infrastructure projects, the most basic problems have yet to be addressed.&nbsp;



“There is still no clean air, water, or soil. There is nothing to show for any of it,” added Saliba.



Dr. Fadlo Khuri, the president of AUB and an oncologist specializing in lung and neck cancer who addressed the issue, told The Guardian that Beirut is experiencing “a confluence of circumstances.”



“The AUB did measurements and mathematic modeling and found that 40 percent of daily exposure by people in Lebanon to airborne carcinogens comes from one source: diesel generators,” Khuri says.&nbsp;



“You’re not going to see the impact of that on lung and neck and bladder cancer rates for years because these are diseases which take years of chronic exposure.”

<a href="https://interestingengineering.com/health/tons-of-dead-fish-engulf-lebanese-village-in-pungent-odor">Tons of Dead Fish Engulf Lebanese Village in a Pungent Odor</a>
<a href="https://interestingengineering.com/science/the-beirut-explosions-atmospheric-wave-shook-the-ionosphere">The Beirut Explosion’s Atmospheric Wave Shook the Ionosphere</a>
<a href="https://interestingengineering.com/culture/physicist-estimates-the-energy-of-the-beirut-explosion">Physicist Estimates the Energy of the Beirut Explosion</a>
&nbsp;

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