Category Archives: Futurism

In Brief Industry leaders have estimated that the cost of producing energy using wind farms has dropped to around $100 per megawatt hour, making the energy source as cost effective as coal and nuclear energy. The Plummeting Price of Wind Energy

Bent Christensen, who is responsible for cost projection for Siemenss wind power division, has estimated that Europes offshore wind industry has reached a milestone three to four years ahead of schedule: achieving wind energy at 100 ($113) per megawatt hour (MWh). This means that offshore wind farms could be built without government subsidy because they are economically viable without additional support.

In wind energy, there has been a fast reduction in price over the last three years, falling 27 percent since 2014. According to a Lazard survey in 2016, this means that the energy source has become either cheaper or equal to coal-fired generators, nuclear reactors, and rooftop solar arrays.

Some even predict a further reduction in price estimating that in the future it will be possible to deliver wind energy at 75 ($84) and 62 ($70) MWh. But this hopeful advancement depends on turbine, cable, and converter technology developing much further. Siemens Gamesa and MHI Vestas Offshore Wind plan to have such technology in place in time for the 2024-2025 North Sea projects completion.

Wind powers fall in price marks a major victory for renewable energy because it makes the power source attractive economically as well as environmentally, which is crucial for its widespread adoption. Other promising news that could advance the trend for adopting wind-power is Denmark providing all their power for a day using the source, and the development of record-breaking turbines capable of producing 216,000 kWh of energy in a 24 hour period.

The decreasing price of renewable energy, however, is not just reserved for wind-power: similar victories are also taking place in the solar energy sector. A recent report by Bloomberg has estimated that in four years solar will be cheaper than coal worldwide, having dropped in price by 58 percent within the last five years.

It is unlikely that our world will use less power as populations increase and industry hasto keep up. Therefore, in order to save our planet from pollution and the progression of climate change,we must tinker with the other side of the formula making the energy we use cleaner and greener. Advances in wind and solar power, in particular, are especiallypromising, as they lay the path for renewables creating both individual and collective gain.

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Wind Energy Has Officially Become Cheaper Than Fossil Fuels - Futurism

In Brief A federal grant has enabled researchers to investigate what makes the Brangus cow so effective at body temperature regulation. Due to climate change, high temperatures have made trouble for cows, leading to decreased efficiency and quality in agriculture. Can Cows Take the Heat?

The University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) has proposed a plan to make cowsmore resistant to the temperature increase caused by global warming. The proposal has received a three-year, $733,000 federal grant.

The scientists plan aimsto retain the quality meat cows provide whileincreasing the efficiency of the process in spite of a changing climate. The first step is conducting research on cows that already handle the heat pretty well. By studying theBrangus cow, researchers hope to identify how it regulates its body temperature, which allows it thrive in hotter climates. Once identified, researchers could usea gene editing tooltogive thatability to other breeds.

Dr Rachel Mateescu, associate professor in the UF/IFAS department of animal sciences, told Digital Trends:

Heat stress is a principal factor limiting production of animal protein and negatively affecting health and welfare of cattle in subtropical and tropical regions, and its impact is expected to increase dramatically due to climate change [] the ability to cope with heat stress is imperative to enhance productivity of the U.S. livestock industry and secure global food supplies.

That a venture like this received funding is a sign of two things that many in the scientific community have been well aware of, but that they may not have yet connected:the rate at which the climate is changing, and the potential of gene editing software.

Climate change isfundamentally changing our world.Its even changingthe genetics of several species including humans as well as altering the function of entire ecosystems.

As funding for this research is contingent on viability, its also a chance to demonstratethe rapid progress made in gene editing software, which has been catalyzed by CRISPR. Since its first demonstration in 2013,an enormous amount of research has been conducted using it. The future of gene editing with CRISPRs help looks bright, too: manytrials have or are set to beginthis year, including attempts to modify viruses to killantibiotic resistant bacteria andrevive extinct species.

While it seems more logical to reduce global warming rather than try to deal with its consequences, should the preventative method fail, the only solutions that we could turn to are those previously reserved for the realms of science fiction, like changing ourgenetic makeup or migrating to another planet.

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Scientists Want to Genetically Engineer Heat-Resistant Cows to Survive Climate Change - Futurism

In BriefA new report has found that the cost of solar energy isdropping at a staggering rate of 4.4 percent worldwide each year.However, it cites some worrying causes as to why the power sourcehas become so cheap. The Solar Price Slump

Solar energy is becoming much cheaper all over the world according to a GTM Researchstudy by solar analyst Ben Gallagher. He predicts that the price of constructing solar power technologywill decrease by 4.4 percent each year, meaning that by 2022 the price of projects will have dropped by 27 percent. This decrease in cost is causing more countries to adopt solar power as a viable means of supplying energy.

Gallagher attributes the falling price to the globalization of the tools and resources needed to construct the systems like the investors, labor cost, modules, and trackers which has meant that regional hardware pricing [has] been eroded by market forces, he wrote in the study.

The leader in this global price decrease is India which, according to the report, can produce solar energy at 65 cents per watt. This is the lowest price of solar energy that the world has ever recorded, in any region.

Japan had the highest construction cost worldwide, although its costs are still falling overall, with each watt of energy costing around $2. The price of construction for Japan, therefore, is roughly double the U.S.s $1.10 and the U.K.s $1, which was the lowest priced solar power in western Europe.

On one hand, a decrease in the price of solar energy and that of other renewable sourceslike wind energy is a positive,because environmentally friendly options are unlikely to be accepted into general use unless they are also economically attractive. The lower cost means that both the environment and society benefit mutually, and that we can maintain our current standard of living without relying on fuels that cause severe damage to the planet.

However, on the other hand, this decrease in the price of solar energy may not be as promising as it first seems, as it may be caused by unethically cutting corners during construction. Gallagher claims in the report that the high level of market competition has lead to suspicion that many of the new solar tech, in India particularly, were hastily constructed using poor-quality components. In addition, the low cost may be due to paying workers very little.

Mark Twain once wrote, There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics we must be careful that we are not seduced by attractive figures without digging into the reasons and causes behind them. If we are to succeed in making the planet greener, we must ensure it is due to technological innovation rather than unethical manipulation of humans and poor construction.

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The Cost of Solar Will Drop Another 25% by 2022 - Futurism

In Brief Dubai is set to shake up the taxi and travel sector at the end of the year by introducing an autonomous airborne taxi service that will transport passengers along set routes. Given the growing population, innovative transportation solutions like Dubai's will be an integral part of future society.

As part of Dubais bid to be a city of the future, they plan to have 25 percent of their public transport autonomously controlled by 2030. An exciting aspect of this is the autonomous aerial taxi (AAT) service they announced in February.

Now, theyve provided an updated timeline for the services implementation, announcing that testing will begin toward the end of this year. It will continue for approximately five years until legislation is in place to facilitate a larger expansion.

The goal of the AAT is to eliminate the growing problem of traffic within the city. The service was due to launch at the end of Julywith the single-seater EHang 184, but theplan now it to use the two-seater Volocopter. Implementation has been delayedto ensure the technology is as safe as it possibly can be.

Dubai will be the first city to use air taxis, and its experiment will have a profound effect on the future of transport, as other cities and companies will be judging the applicability of the idea based on Dubais successes or failures. A particularly interested party will be Uber, which is planning to develop an autonomous airborne taxi service of its own.

A key question the transportation industry currently faces is how to deal with the congestion caused by an ever-increasing demand on infrastructure. Although air taxis are one solution, Elon Musk has been boring tunnels under cities, Dubai is developing a hyperloop, and autonomous cars are being programmed specifically to prevent traffic jams.

Whether one of these approaches proves better than the others or we end up using some combination of two or more, well need to be innovative when planning the transportation of the future.

Disclosure: The Dubai Future Foundation works in collaboration with Futurism as a sponsor and does not hold a seat on our editorial board.

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Dubai's Autonomous Flying Taxi Service Will Be Ready for Takeoff This Year - Futurism

In Brief Researchers from Stockholm University have confirmed the existence of water's two liquid forms, one with a low density while the other has a high density. Their insight could help develop better purification and desalination processes. Not One, But Two

Similar to how weve begun to uncover new properties in Hydrogen, the worlds most basic element, scientists are now discovering how complex water really is. Considered to be one of the most fundamental molecules on Earth, water (H2O) may actually have not one, but two distinct liquid phases. The discovery was made by researchers fromStockholm University in Sweden, and the team published their findings in the journal of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

The new remarkable property is that we find that water can exist as two different liquids at low temperatures where ice crystallization is slow, Stockholm University professor and researcher Anders Nilson said in a press release.

Concretely, they saw that liquid water fluctuates between high andlow density forms. X-rays at the Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago found the difference in structures, while the large X-ray laboratory at DESY, a national research center in Hamburg, confirmed that both forms were indeed liquid phases. We have in particular been able to follow the transformation of the sample at low temperatures between the two phases and demonstrated that there is diffusion as is typical for liquids, Fivos Perakis, apostdoctoral researcher at Stockholm University with a background in ultrafast optical spectroscopy, explained.

Its not surprising, really, for water to have such bizarre properties. For one, it already has many other uniquely strange properties that set it apart from other liquids. The new results give very strong support to a picture where water at room temperature cant decide in which of the two forms it should be, high or low density, which results in local fluctuations between the two, researcher Lars G.M. Pettersson said. In a nutshell: Water is not a complicated liquid, but two simple liquids with a complicated relationship.

On a practical level, this understanding of how water behaves at different temperatures and pressures can help researchers to develop better purification and desalination processes. On an even grander scale, however, it could help us to see how water is affected by the salts and biomolecules necessary for life. The strange properties of water become stranger still as these actually make water a prerequisite for life as we know it.

Assuming the same conditions apply in exoplanets, this could help us spot water and potentially life beyond Earth.

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Breaking Discovery: Water Has Two Liquid Phases - Futurism

In Brief The largest coal company in the world has announced that it will be shutting down 37 of its sites. The move is fueled by the increasing affordability of solar power. On its Way Out

Things are not looking good for the coal industry. In the latest blow to this fossil fuel, the world biggest coal company is closing a total of 37 mines. It seems that the rise of solar power is playing a major role in the decline of coal. The company, Coal India, produces 82 percent of Indias coal, according to The Independent. The closings account for nine percent of Coal Indias sites.

The Indian government has recently shifted from coal to cleaner, renewable sources, most notably solar power. Just last week, the government announced that it has abandoned plans for building another coal power station with Chimanbhai Sapariya. T,he countrys energy minister noted that Our focus is now on renewable energy. The government will encourage solar power. The prices of solar power continue to plummet as technology and government incentives work to make renewable energy more attractive.

India is leading the way in a renewable energy revolution. Analyst Tim Buckley said, Measures taken by the Indian government to improve energy efficiency coupled with ambitious renewable energy targets and the plummeting cost of solar has had an impact on existing as well as proposed coal-fired power plants, rendering an increasing number as financially unviable.

A recent story by the New York Timesshowed that Indias air pollution crisis is responsible for the deaths of around 1.1 million people in the country every single year, rivaling China as the deadliest in the world. The decline of coal being burned for power will only improve the air quality, saving more lives as efforts move toward cleaner energy. In another historic move, the country has pledged to ensure that every car sold in India by 2030 will be electric.

This combination will be a one-two punch to the deadly pollution plaguing the country. A new population report from the UN released last week foresees that Indias population will continue to boom and is projected to surpass Chinas 1.4 billionby 2024. That increased population is going to add to the countrys energy needs and we need to be prepared to meet it with clean energy from renewable sources.

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India Has Shut Down 37 of the World's Biggest Coal Company's Mines - Futurism