Solarpunk technology

The European Solar Manufacturing Council (ESMC) has submitted its official feedback to the European Commission regarding three critical aspects of the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA): the regulations on renewable energy auctions, the selection criteria for net-zero strategic projects, and the list of essential components for net-zero technologies. ESMC strongly supports the ambition of the NZIA to strengthen European clean energy manufacturing but urges improvements to ensure the effectiveness and resilience of the policy framework.

Cross posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/2019930

Here is the link to the study.

This article has some more details.

About three years ago I bought a new otoscope and ophthalmoscope set from Welch Allyn. (An otoscope is the thing doctors and other healthcare workers use to look in your ears, and an ophthalmoscope is the same but for eyes.) They're fairly simple devices conceptually, just a light source plus various lenses and filters. Welch Allyn is probably the best-known manufacturer of these and generally considered a reliable brand. You'll find their diagnostic sets on the walls of many hospitals. Like most reputable medical manufacturers they charge a premium price; I think my set cost about $600 Australian dollars, and it was one of the cheapest available.

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Yeah, I think massive chemical batteries for storing excess electricity to facilitate a contrived green energy market is a bad idea.

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/18000578

Here we have a fully 3D printed low-cost optical microscope using both a 3D printed chassis and ..yes.. 3D printed illumination and imaging optics too!

I just saw this presentation at the Chaos Computer Club conference, for an “Ethical Hardware Kit with a PCB microcontroller made of wild clay retrieved from the forest in Austria and fired on a bonfire. Our conductive tracks use urban-mined silver and all components are re-used from old electronic devices”. It was part of the feminist hardware strand!

This manual explains how to assemble an electrically heated and insulated table that keeps you toasty warm in a cold space.

Study download: Progress in Diversifying the Global Solar PV Supply Chain (pdf)

The design on this seems less than ideal, as I imagine the clear plastic door reduces the efficiency somewhat, and it's much more complicated and costly to make compared to a traditional Pot-in-pot design, which uses the same principle.

The design on this seems less than ideal, as I imagine the clear plastic door reduces the efficiency somewhat, and it's much more complicated to make and costly compared to a traditional Pot-in-pot design, which uses the same principle, but can be produced much easier and cheaper.

Healthcare is solarpunk.

Due to a quirk of geology, the purest quartz in all the world comes from the picturesque town of Spruce Pine, North Carolina. The mineral, created deep within the earth when silicon-rich magmas cooled and crystallized some 370 million years ago, is essential to the production of computer chips and solar panels.

Tricks from the oil industry have produced a hot-rocks breakthrough

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Example: where wet bulb temperatures are the new normal, air conditioning is as vital as air and water because you will literally die without cooling. “You can buy all the electricity you can afford” is not good enough.

Little interview sfstandard.com/…/holden-karau-fight-health-insura…

Could a 3D-robotic loom be the answer to making fast fashion faster and more sustainable? Unspun’s patented loom (so proprietary that we had to blur it for the video) can create clothing that fits you seamlessly every time, with just a scan of your phone, and far less waste than other clothing production methods.

There’s plenty of research around translating non-human communication into human language (arstechnica.com/…/do-sperm-whale-calls-share-feat…), but what about translating human language into non-human speech? This is a fun little project from an interesting blog.

This is not just a "happy birthday" post for Linux, but also a reminder that despite it becoming big and professional, the freedom to tinker with Linux remains accessible.

An Indian entrepreneur is using sugar, cellulose, and corn fibers to make a plastic-like carrier bag for small Indian businesses.

So I enjoyed this. This is the kinda stuff that no one ever needs until they need, but it was insightful and so I thought worth a share.

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.

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Didn't know the blades couldn't be reused.

"To help feed the country’s population, an inventor, Toufic Hamdan, created a commercial bakery to bake bread in solar ovens. The startup “Partners With Sun” has installed a solar convection oven on the bakery’s roof. The Solar Oven uses large silver mirrors to capture and magnify the sun’s rays to build heat. The heat is transported by a transfer fluid which is then used to help operate a convection oven, allowing it to reach a baking temperature of between 300 and 400 Celsius. The heat is used directly in food and beverage production. " Baking Bread in a Solar Oven | Happy Eco News

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cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/22143150

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I wanted to park my bikes - or depending on the Season - my Renault Twizy somewhat protected and easy accessible.

I feel this is a bit disingenuous. Especially as Michelin are working on airless tires. We all know that tires as we know them have planned obsolescence as a fundamental part of their design. They're already a blight on our environment, the only good thing to do now is to ensure that as few new tires are needed as possible, not for them to be green washed.

🤖 I'm a bot that provides automatic summaries for articles: Click here to see the summaryThis is the best summary I could come up with: Cody Armstrong, a sugarmaker, volunteered at the event to connect with students he could hire as seasonal workers, during the busy late winter/early spring sugaring period. “The technology wasn’t specifically generated to counter the impacts of climate change,” explained Eric Sorkin, the owner and producer at Runamok Maple. As Vermont warms and hardier species can spread and dominate forests, the cold-adapted sugar maples may lose out in competition for sunlight, nutrients and growing space. But improving forest health today can insulate the trees from the worst of these future conditions, says Mark Isselhardt, the University of Vermont extension maple specialist and another key organizer of the student event. Maintaining a healthy and diverse sugarbush might not only help maple weather a changing climate, but it can also contribute to broader environmental health; the forests store carbon and provide a rich habitat for wildlife, especially migrating birds. He likes learning all the new technology, things about process.” He brought a similar openness to the competition, helping other students fill out their scantrons as they took tests to demonstrate their maple knowledge. The original article contains 1,255 words, the summary contains 180 words. Saved 86%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/261388

A friend worked on that subject and I found it pretty cool:

🤖 I'm a bot that provides automatic summaries for articles: Click here to see the summaryThis is the best summary I could come up with: Researchers at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in Australia have developed special “energy-smart bricks” that can be made by mixing clay with glass waste and coal ash. It mostly contains fine pieces of glass (92 percent) left over from the recycling process, along with ceramic materials, plastic, paper, and ash. Based on bricks produced in their lab, they estimated that “each firing cycle led to a potential value of up to $158,460 through a reduction of 417 tonnes of CO2, resulting from a 9.5 percent reduction in firing temperature.” So basically, if a manufacturer switches from regular clay bricks to energy-smart bricks, it will end up saving thousands of dollars on its power bill, and its kilns will release less CO2 into Earth’s atmosphere. “Bricks characterized by low thermal conductivity contribute to efficient heat storage and absorption, creating a cooler environment during summer and a warmer comfort during winter. This advantage translates into energy savings for air conditioning, benefiting the occupants of the house or building,” the study authors explained. Tests conducted by the researchers suggest that the residents of a single-story house built using energy-smart bricks will save up to 5 percent on their energy bills compared to those living in a house made with regular clay bricks. The original article contains 454 words, the summary contains 211 words. Saved 54%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

Sure, here is a summary of the video A New Innovation in Hot Water Storage | Heat Geek Mini Store: The video discusses the Heat Geek Mini Store, a new innovation in hot water storage designed for homes with heat pumps. Heat pumps are a more efficient way to heat homes than traditional boilers, but they require hot water storage tanks that can be difficult to fit in many homes. The Heat Geek Mini Store is a much smaller hot water storage tank than traditional models. It can be smaller because it heats the water to a higher temperature, allowing it to store more hot water in a smaller space. The video also includes tips on getting the most out of the Heat Geek Mini Store, such as installing air rators to hot water outlets to conserve water and setting the immersion heater to 38°C (100°F) as a boost function if the heat pump is not keeping up with demand. Overall, the Heat Geek Mini Store is a promising new innovation that could help to make heat pumps a more viable option for more homes.