#solarpunktech

[sprig-story]

“Robot weed killers could create a sustainable future for agriculture” 🤖

Herbicides have a long history of negative consequences. Glyphosate and paraquat, among other pollutants, are extremely harmful to human health and the environment. These pollutants impair soil quality and destroy beneficial organisms such as pollinators. Furthermore, the widespread use of herbicides has resulted in weed resistance, making chemical management less effective.

Kenny Lee, co-founder and CEO of Aigen Robotics, is personally committed to reducing pesticide use. Lee, a glyphosate-related non-Hodgkin lymphoma survivor, has collected $19 million for his startup to produce solar-powered weeding robots. “We’re on a personal mission,” Lee says, emphasizing their dedication to sustainable agriculture.

Robot weed killers could create a sustainable future for agriculture | The Optimist Daily

How autonomous technology can revolutionize agriculture.

[sprig-story]

Hidden Infrared Heating 💡🌡️

When a church was struggling to heat the building, they commissioned the Halo Heritage Heater made by Herschel. It looks like a chandelier, so fits aesthetically with the historic building.

Instead of trying to heat the whole space, they can instead direct the heat directly where they need it. As an added benefit, the church found they are saving more money compared to when they were gas-heated.

Related Posts:

The Historic Concept of Under-Floor Heating

Today, under-floor heating is done with electrical systems or pipes of hot water worked in a pattern under (you guessed it) the floor of the

"How a Sand Battery Could Revolutionize Home Energy Storage" 🌡

Sand. It’s coarse, it's rough, and it can make for a great sand battery. And as weird as that might sound, it’s just one example of the many

Heat Pumps 🏠🌡️

Image Source With people around the world wanting to limit their oil and gas dependency, many are switching to heat pumps. This is especial

[sprig-story]

Sea Dragons (Ocean Energy Kites) 🪁⚡

"The two kites - with a five-metre (16ft) wingspan - move underwater in a figure-of-eight pattern, absorbing energy from the running tide. They are tethered to the fjord seabed by 40-metre metal cables. Their movement is generated by the lift exerted by the water flow - just as a plane flies by the force of air flowing over its wings" BBC

One of these kites generates enough electricity to power 50-70 homes. They have plans for bigger kites, which have the potential to generate more energy per-kite.

I have not seen any information on if the propellers pose a threat to wildlife.

These new underwater kites can create continuous renewable energy by flying around in the ocean. The first one was just deployed in the Faroe Islands, and they are on track to power thousands of homes.

[sprig-story]

Vertical Meadows 🌼🏢

Verticals gardens/living walls are sometimes found in wealthy office buildings, but they do nothing for local eco-systems and are often non-local tropical varieties of plants.

Even for those found outside, the plants are often picked for appearance alone, instead of what would help local biodiversity.

Vertical Meadow (in London, England) is an outdoor vertical garden that uses locally-grown native and seasonal plantlife, ensuring year-round options for wildlife like pollinators and birds.

The goal is to try and mimic the meadows that are lost in urbanization, so sometimes patches of the Vertical Meadow go brown as plants go out of season, but that is natural.

The company offers both temporary (for places like construction sites) and permanent solutions.

As an added benefit, some studies are showing that living walls can reduce a buildings heat loss by 30%, improve air quality, help absorb sounds, and can even reduce a cities temperature.

They are also working with Scarlett Weston of BugLife, who is monitoring bee visits in hopes that the Verticle Meadows can help create stopping points along pollinator routes.

[sprig-story]

The Robot That Talks To Bees 🤖 💬🐝

Image by Tim Landgraf

Bees primarily communicate through movements called the “waggle dance.” This dance gives a very specific location, by telling other bees the direction to go based on the position of the sun, and how far from the hive. This can tell of food, water, and even dangers.

So, using this dance, researcher Tim Landgraf from Berlin wants to create a robot that can redirect bees to safer foraging grounds.

[sprig-story]

Students Build World’s First Off-Road Solar-Powered SUV–and Drive it Across Morocco

Students in The Netherlands have designed a solar-powered SUV that doubles as a small camper van to produce the ultimate concept car for off-grid adventure in sunny climes.

Driving it 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) across Morocco, the Stella Terra as it’s called showed a wide variety of advantages over existing electric SUVs.

Students Build World's First Off-Road Solar-Powered SUV–and Drive it Across Morocco

The roof has inbuilt solar panels that charge the electric battery while driving, allowing a savings of weight in the battery pack.

[sprig-story]

Chain Mail Inspired Fabric that Stiffens on Demand 🛡👚🏰

Alright, this is pretty cool.

A team created a medieval chain mail inspired fabric. Regularly, it is flexible as fabric and can be worked into any shape, but when it is compressed, it becomes a material so hard and strong, that it could be used for construction.

This could dramatically change both casts and braces, as well as construction. As mentioned in the video, it could even be used for emergency situations; such as for creating a bridge in a matter of minutes.

As of right now, it is just at a prototype stage, but now that they have a design that works, they just have to change the material to something that response to a specific stimuli.

It does still look much like medieval chain mail, but instead of rings, it appears they took triangles (which are a stronger shape), and made them into diamonds that are interlocked.

Left: medieval chainmail | Right: the prototype

[sprig-story]

Scientists Discover Metals That Can Heal Themselves 🩹⛓️

“Absolutely Stunning” – Scientists Discover Metals That Can Heal Themselves

Microscopic cracks vanish in experiments, revealing possibility of self-healing machines. In a groundbreaking discovery, scientists have for

“In a groundbreaking discovery, scientists have for the first time observed metal spontaneously healing its microscopic cracks, upending traditional material theories. This observation could lead to self-healing machines, significantly enhancing their safety and lifespan. The phenomenon, confirming a theory proposed in 2013, may pave the way for an engineering revolution, though further research is necessary to fully understand its practical applicability.”