Pennsylvania state lawmaker offers bill
to save nuclear power plants
Nuclear power plants are zero-carbon energy producers.
Pennsylvania state Representative Tom Mehaffie said the typical residential power customer’s bill would only increase by $1.77 per month under his bill versus $2.39 if the reactors close.
Mehaffie said the bill would cost about $500 million, which he said would be much less than the $4.6 billion it would cost the state in higher electric bills and lost jobs, tax revenue and other costs if the reactors were allowed to close.
Pennsylvania’s five nuclear plants account for nearly 16,000 jobs and provide $69 million in net state tax revenues annually, Mehaffie said.
Nationally, nuclear power in the United States is provided by 99 commercial reactors with a net summer capacity of 100,350 megawatts (MW), 65 pressurized water reactors and 34 boiling water reactors. In 2016 they produced a total of 805.3 terawatt-hours of electricity, which accounted for 19.7% of the nation’s total electric energy generation. In 2016, nuclear energy comprised nearly 60 percent of U.S. emission-free generation.
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Print transistors on paper
Cambridge engineers have developed a high-performance printed transistor with flexibility for use in wearable and implantable electronics.
The researchers’ inkjet-printed transistor is sensitive enough to accurately detect electrophysiological signals from the skin.
It is possible to fabricate a whole circuit using just a single, highly affordable, inkjet printing tool that puts a fabrication plant within reach of most university departments. It can achieve a low power, high signal resolution analogue sensor interface using low-cost, simplistic printing technologies.
Info: shpr.fyi/2TwSAZz
Fast, flexible ionic transistors for bioelectronic devices
Many major advances in medicine, especially in neurology, have been sparked by recent advances in electronic systems that can acquire, process, and interact with biological substrates. These bioelectronic systems, which are increasingly used to understand dynamic living organisms and to treat human disease, require devices that can record body signals, process them, detect patterns, and deliver electrical or chemical stimulation to address problems.
A team at Columbia Engineering has developed the first biocompatible ion driven transistor that is fast enough to enable real-time signal sensing and stimulation of brain signals.
Info: shpr.fyi/2Ht16Sk
Machine Learning boosts effectiveness of wind power.
Machine Learning teaches wind machines to accurately predict output increasing efficiency of power grid planning.
Wind’s unwanted feature of unpredictability has hampered outlooks on wind as an alternative energy source.
If energy sources can be scheduled to deliver a set amount of electricity at a set time, they are often more valuable to the grid.
Info: shpr.fyi/2CewPmQ
Scientists turn carbon dioxide back into coal
Researchers have used liquid metals to turn carbon dioxide back into solid coal, in a world-first breakthrough that could transform our approach to carbon capture and storage.
The research team led by RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, have developed a new technique that can efficiently convert CO2 from a gas into solid particles of carbon.
The research offers an alternative pathway for safely and permanently removing the greenhouse gas from our atmosphere.
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Big Battle Against Huawei Chinese 5G networking
A large portion of digital equipment sold and used worldwide, including in the US, is made by or contains chips made by Huawei, a huge Chinese manufacturer. Such equipment includes computers, phones, tablets, routers and, most importantly, the servers, the big computers than run the internet.
Huawei’s devices are often only tiny, almost microscopic, integrated circuits inserted into larger circuits during manufacture by manufacturers including such as Microsoft, Apple, Cisco. As a real example the 22-core Xeon Broadwell-E5 CPU from Intel packs 16 million transistors into each square millimeter.
US intelligence officials strongly suspect that much, perhaps most, digital equipment made in China includes “back doors” by which the Chinese could take over control of these devices. The Chinese deny these claims.
The heads of six major US intelligence agencies have warned that American citizens shouldn’t use products and services made by Chinese tech giants Huawei and ZTE. The intelligence chiefs made the recommendation during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Feb. 12, 2018. The group included the heads of the FBI, the CIA, the NSA, and the director of national intelligence.
FBI Director Chris Wray said the government was “deeply concerned about the risks of allowing any company or entity that is beholden to foreign governments that don’t share our values to gain positions of power inside our telecommunications networks.”
Huawei racked up a slew of deals to sell 5G equipment at the world’s top mobile fair in Spain despite Washington’s campaign to convince its allies to bar the firm from their next-generation wireless networks. Huawei’s success there likely means they will henceforth dominate worldwide 5G networks including in the US.
The US claims that Huawei’s cheap equipment used in telecommunications infrastructure across the globe is a Trojan horse for potential Chinese state spying and sabotage.
Info: shpr.fyi/2NZVvUX
Why It’s Almost Impossible to
Extract Huawei From Telecom Networks
Allies are under U.S. pressure to shun Huawei. But the company’s prevalence in existing telecom networks and dominance in 5G technology make that nearly impossible.
Watch this good 20-minute Wall Street Journal video to understand.
Info: shpr.fyi/2HAglZV