electricity

Now there are giant comets generating electricity from heaven

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The West Coast of Ireland, as green as steep by the wind, has become the test bench of A novel idea: Replace wind turbines with giant comets. Generate electricity from the sky. Willing to find a Alternative to terrestrial wind turbinesResearchers at the University of Delft chose May County, in Ireland, to test a system called Kitepower. Instead of wind turbines, Kitepower generates electricity by 60 square meter comets that rise to 425 meters from the ground. Why Ireland. To put the invention to the limit. “The wind conditions on the west coast of Ireland allow us to exceed the limits of our system, to make it more robust and reliable,” Andrei Luca explained to RTEChief of Operations of Kitepower. “If it has worked in Ireland, it will probably work around the world.” This is how the May County, to the west of the country, has become the first air -transported energy test site in the world, which those responsible for Kitepower describe as a potential “change of play” in the sector. How it works. With an ingenious “Yoy effect”. The kite, subject to a cable rolled in a drum, ascends by drawing an eight in the sky for 45 seconds. This flight pattern, inspired by a kitesurf candle, maximizes wind traction, generating a force between 2.5 and 4 tons. This force rotates the drum, which in turn is connected to a generator on land, producing electricity that is stored in a battery system. Once the 45 seconds have elapsed, the kite is leveled to minimize wind resistance, which allows the cable to be collected using only a fraction of the energy generated. The cycle is repeated again and again, generating a net renewable energy gain. The system, which combines the KITESURF movements with a GPS guidance system, is capable of producing up to 30 kilowatts of electricity per hour for each kite. What improves wind turbines. According to Kitepower, his comets are twice as efficient that wind turbines when capturing wind energy, because they take advantage The winds of great altitudeinaccessible for conventional wind turbines. But the truly interesting thing is that the whole system fits in a six -meter container, which makes it a portable system that can be deployed anywhere accessible by a truck, without the need for heavy foundations or towers. Islands and remote places. After the tests in Ireland, Kitepower has launched A pilot project in the Netherlands with the construction company Dur Vermeer, where the system is being used to load excavators and electric trucks in an infrastructure project. The objective of the company is to bring technology to remote communities and the islands of the European Union, many of which depend on the importation of diesel, with the cost that that entails. The comets deployed in Ireland have shown that airborne wind energy could be a cheap, clean and renewable alternative. Image | Kitepower In Xataka | A comet for large ships: This is how this company projects to save 20% fuel and emissions on your trips

will pause its AI during heat waves to relieve the electricity grid

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Google has announced A pioneering agreement with two of the main electrical companies in the United States to reduce the consumption of their data centers during energy demand peaks. In other words, Google will pause its artificial intelligence during heat waves. AI is hungry. It is no secret that generative artificial intelligence has a voracious energy appetite. Train and execute the huge models that drive from the summaries in the Google search engine to the youtube folded videos requires dozens or hundreds of megawatts of power continuously. This massive consumption, concentrated in huge data centers, has become a growing concern for electricity companies, which see how energy demand triggers at a rate that the current infrastructure is not prepared to support. An unthinkable movement. Until now, the main concern was to add enough power to the network, with solutions that go From reopening abandoned nuclear centers until Sign the largest hydroelectric agreement in history. But Google’s last movement proposes an unthinkable solution in the competitive AI industry: instead of just increasing energy supply, managing demand flexibly. The measure, agreed with two of the main electrical companies in the United States (TVA and I & M.), arrives just when both states prepare for an intense heat wave. While millions of homes and companies light their air conditioners, putting the electricity to the limitGoogle has agreed to reduce the consumption of its less urgent tasks to avoid overloads and possible blackouts. Demand flexibility. Google has not invented anything new. This type of Flexible response to network demand It already applies in many industries, usually to pay a lower price for the light. Google itself has used it for a long time to postpone non -essential tasks, such as the processing of YouTube videos, moving them to data centers in other time regions or executing them at night, when the demand for the network is lower. The novelty is that, for the first time, it will apply contractual to automatic learning workloads, the heart of the AI. According to the agreement, if the demand for energy increases dangerously or there is an interruption in the network due to extreme weather conditions, operators can ask Google to reduce their consumption. Google will respond by reprogramming or limiting non -urgent tasks until the network stabilizes. You won’t run out of Google Maps. The company has made it clear that this demand response system has its limits. Critical services that require 100% reliability and constant availability, such as the search engine, Google Maps or cloud services for clients of essential sectors such as health, will not be affected. Flexibility will apply to tasks such as the training of new AI models thanks to advances in techniques such as Checkpointing (which allows you to save the progress of training and resume it later). A model could be trained exclusively at night, when the network capacity is greater, without losing the work already done. What does Google win with this? In addition to relieving the overload of the network and preventing off, the clients of the network will end up reducing the light of the light thanks to this system. Including Google data centers. Image | Pawel Czerwinski in Unspash In Xataka | The AI has disrupted Google’s plans to be sustainable. His plan to remedy it: the “four m”

The renewables were supposed to lower the electricity bill in Spain. At the moment it continues to go up

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Before the blackout of April 28, the numbers in the production of solar energy reached amazing levels: Spain was 100% renewable. After the situation, Spain shines again exceeding 10,500 GWh of generation in July with solar and wind energy. However, not everything is good news because an energy paradox appears to solve: why has electricity not been cheaper? A green record that does not show in the pocket. According to provisional Red Electricity data (REE) published by the energy analyst Pedro Catuelin July more than 10,500 GWH per month were reached combining solar and wind generation. The graph disseminated by Catuel in its social networks makes it clear: Spain is producing more clean energy than ever. But while the sun shines and the wind blows, the cost of electricity rises again. In mid -July, the average price of light stood at € 164.06/MWh, According to Ree figures collected in Xataka. Getting down to € 102.85/MWh the day after that figure, but only for an hour was really affordable. And there is the paradox: with more renewable than ever, The price should lowerbut it doesn’t. If there are more renewable, why do we pay more? The answer is technical, structural and political at the same time. As we have already explained in Xatakaduring the noon – when the solar generation is maximum – there is a surplus of energy and the price collapses. However, when the sun falls and there is still demand, the system needs firm support. And that support today does not give the renewables: gas enters. And with him, the bill was the one who shot the price. To this time dependence is added another problem: the lack of storage. A good part of the renewable energy generated cannot be saved or transferred efficiently and ends up losing. Electric Red has confirmed that in some points of the network up to 30 % of the renewable generation due to infrastructure saturation has been wasted. And as if this were not enough, since January it has re -applied the complete VAT of 21 % to electricity, after years of reduced by the energy crisis. This, added to the increase in natural gas in international markets, has further increased the invoice, As the Nordy marketer has alerted in his analysis of the rise in light in 2025. There is a turn of events. It is true that VAT has risen and there is an obvious lack of storage. However, since July 15, Spain It has been three weeks without generating electricity from coal. It is the first time that happens in more than 140 years, where this source was also functioning as a support element. According to The Energy newspaper has detailedthe latest thermal plants – Boño, Soto de Ribera and Los Barrios, all of EDP – have been out of operation. Only Alcudia (in the Balearic Islands), as a timely reserve. Generation structure with/without CO2 eq emissions. (GWh) | Source: Red Electrica España So will prices go down? The intention is, but the execution encounters politics. Royal Decree-Law 7/2025, which collected key measures to avoid future blackouts and reinforce the network, was rejected in Congress On July 22, with 183 votes against. The standard included self -consumption incentives, more control over electricity and an impulse to energy storage. Without that legal framework, the Spanish electrical system remains vulnerable and rigid. There is a clear saturation: only 1 in 10 new facilities manages to access the network, although there is unused technical capacity. In the medium term, the government expects to launch capacity auctions before the end of the year, to keep gas plants as support as batteries and other technologies. But this, as the employers of the sector warn, will take time. The route map is more than clear. And the road is quite long: more storage, intelligent networks, decentralization, demand management. The challenge is not only to generate more renewable energy, but make it useful when it is most needed. And that requires investment, infrastructure and political decisions. Meanwhile, the paradox continues: we have cheap energy at noon, but we cannot use it at night. The invoice, as always, does not expect. Image | HPGRESEN Xataka | Spain was supposed to have a “antiapagones” plan. It has encountered an insurmountable obstacle: politics

California will test a “co -pilot of AI” at one of the most sensitive points of its electricity grid. Can go very well … or very bad

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There is a less visible part of the electricity grid: the one that goes out on purpose. From time to time, whole teams must disconnect by maintenance. They are routine tasks, but their coordination and validation are decisive so that the system continues to work. In California, that work falls to the California Independent System Operator (Caiso) human team. Now, an artificial intelligence will begin to collaborate with them. Caiso has launched A pilot project with the firm Oati. The objective is to verify how a language model, similar to the one that drives Chatgptcan attend in a critical mission: manage requests – especially the scheduled – that come daily to perform maintenance in the network. Artificial intelligence to attend a task that cannot fail Many of these requests imply, although not always, temporarily disconnect key assets. If the information is incomplete or incorrect, the consequences can be felt in real time: from Network instability even alterations in the electricity market. Therefore, although part of the flow is already automated, the final review remains manual and exhaustive. Between 2020 and 2025, internal graphs show a high volume of applications, with clear spring and autumn peaks, the usual maintenance windows. That seasonality, added to the total number of requests, converts maintenance management into one of the most complex operating challenges in the system. The tool is called Oati Genie and is raised as a co -pilot of AI. Detect anomalies, extract operational information and suggest steps based on previous cases. To achieve this, it combines retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) with a system of multiple agents: operators formulate questions in natural language and receive contextualized answers, with links to documents and records that support them. The operator can, for example, ask what work could affect a certain electric route and obtain a history, procedures and public data such as those of OASIS (Open Access Same-Time Information System), the regulated base that centralizes technical and market information in real time. That consultation, which previously demanded manual searches, now comes with much more agility. The co -pilot does not decide for itself, its role serves to reinforce and expedite the human decision. If everything is going as planned, the tool will enter internal tests before the end of the year. Those who use it may report failures, limitations or improvements and help profile their evolution. It is not an isolated experiment, but part of a broader strategy to Apply to other areas of the system. The plan is underway, but there is still knowing if Oati Genie will fulfill what he promises. It may become a daily ally for operators; Maybe it’s just a step on the road to a smarter network. The only sure thing is that the electricity sector already explores that address. Images | Caiso | Javad Esmaeili In Xataka | Harvest wheat or kilowatts? The new account that many farmers make in Spain

Spain produces more solar energy than ever, but it only gets a cheap time of electricity a day

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In full July, with the air conditioning Working tirelessly and The tuned light billin Spain there is a single moment of the day when electricity consumption does not hurt so much in the pocket. That little energy respite is concentrated at noon, a time strip in which electricity costs half or even less than in the rest of the day, but why is it just time? The fire triggered. On Wednesday, July 16, the average price of electricity had been in the € 164.06/MWh at the regulated rate (PVPC), According to data from Electrica de España. For this Thursday 17, a slight drop is expected to € 102.85/MWh, but that half hides an unequal reality: for much of the day, the cost exceeds 120 euros per megavatio hour, As the Iberian energy market operator has collected (OMIE). Only for a single hour there is a “affordable” price. In just seven hours, electricity will go from relatively affordable to almost double its price. At 15:00, it will cost € 73.00/MWh. At 22:00, it will reach € 129.85/MWh. The explanation is not in a peak of consumption, but in a change of source: the sun is exhausted, the gas enters and the market reacts. Why only in that time strip? The reason is in the sun. From three in the afternoon, the solar production curve increases considerably. The electrical system then enters an overoferta phase: there is more renewable generation than real demand. This surplus translates into an abrupt fall in the price in the wholesale market (‘pool’), which reflects in real time the imbalance between what is produced and what is consumed. The problem is that this surplus cannot be stored properly. Spain still does not have batteries No infrastructure sufficient pumping to save That cheap energy and release it when it is most needed. Thus, the system is forced to sell cheap at noon and buy expensive at dusk. To this lack of storage is added a less visible problem: he Curtailment. Although more renewable than ever, part of that energy is lost due to saturation of the network. According to Red Eléctrica, in some knots of the central-south peninsular-such as Arenas de San Juan or Caroyuelas— It has wasted up to 30 % of the electricity generated due to lack of capacity to evacuate it. Meanwhile, the price of light continues to rise. This schedule imbalance generates what experts call a daily “spread”: a price difference that can exceed € 200/MWh between the cheapest time and the most expensive of the day. It is what makes an invoice shoot although part of electricity is generated almost free. It is not just guilt of the sun. The price of light not only depends solely on solar radiation. From the blackout of April 28, Red Electrica has activated A reinforced operational modewith more weight of the combined gas cycles to stabilize the network. This emergency measure It has become the new normality While structural reforms are implemented that will not be ready until next year. The direct impact on the invoice. Consumers with regulated rate (PVPC) are the most exposed to this volatility. Every day, your bill depends on the price hour by time. But even free market customers are noticing uploads: some electrical companies are transferring the contracts to the contracts, As Facua has warnedwhat could be illegal if it is not foreseen contractually. With this panorama, many consumers try to concentrate the use of appliances such as washing machines, ovens or air conditioners during that cheap time of the day. However, not everyone has room to reorganize their life around a single low cost strip. The solution is more than clear. In this environment we have spoken many times: it goes through More energy storage, greater demand management, More local micro -redes and best interconnections with Europe. The government already has launched Royal Decree-Law 7/2025 To accelerate these changes, and has initiated the creation of a capacity market to guarantee the supply. But none of these measures is immediate. Some have deadlines until September, but others will lengthen until mid -2026. Meanwhile, the gas dependence will continue to mark night prices. A race against clock. Every day, the Spanish electrical system offers a single cheap electricity window. It is the reflection of an energy paradox: there has never been so much renewable energy, and it has never been so difficult to take advantage of it efficiently. As long as storage and flexibility deficiencies are not resolved, the cheap time will be a timely privilege and not a guarantee. In a summer marked by heat waves, the cost of not acting on time will be measured not only in euros, but also in emissions, social vulnerability and energy dependence. Image | Unspash Xataka | Broady in April, more expensive invoice in May: thus has affected the system reinforcement

The electricity network was not prepared for 2025

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Although Bocachancla’s fame has been gained by the fame, Elon Musk can also be hit in his predictions. In mid -2024 predicted that this year we would see failures in the electricity grid because it was not prepared for current demand levels. And so it is being in large part of the world. Musk’s prediction. First, the shortage was from chips. Now, the bottleneck is in the voltage transformers. To the electrification that was already underway, the computing dedicated to the AI has been added, which is multiplied by ten every six months. “I have never seen a technology advance so quickly,” said the businessman in the Bosch Connected World 2024. What sounded to hyperbole has become a tangible problem just 18 months later. The difficulties in connecting new data centers, Light cuts during heat waves and The climbing of the night price of electricity They are already symptoms of an old and inflexible network that falls short for the times. The demand is runaway. In Italy, requests for connection to the network of new data centers They reached 42 gigawatts in March 2025a spectacular leap from the 30 GW registered at the end of last year. This 40% growth in just a quarter shows a voracious energy demand that mainly driven by AI. The energy appetite of generative AI is not a secret in Silicon Valley. Renewable energy has fallen short due to the slow expansion of batteries, and companies such as Microsoft, Amazon and Meta are investing in nuclear reactors To feed your data centers. A summer of blackouts. The summer of 2025 is serving as a hard reminder of the fragility of our electrical networks. On July 1, a heat wave caused a blackout in Florence. The cause: an overload in the network for the demand for air conditioning and overheating underground cables. It was not an isolated case. Countries like Kuwait and Bangladesh They decreed programmed cuts of electricity by heat waves. The networks operate with increasingly narrow margins, as we saw in Spain with the Bru what of April 28. There is no need for a catastrophic event to trigger a collapse: stations that control the tension They are at the limit. The background problem. Electrification, air conditioning and AI explosion is not the root cause of the problem. Neither does the lack of generation or storage. The background problem is the abandonment of infrastructure that connects everything. For every dollar that is invested in generating electricity, 40 cents are barely allocated to the networks, according to the International Energy Agency We are building an energy system of the 21st century on an infrastructure of the twentieth century. The IEA warning is as clear as that of Musk: “Without action, the electrical networks will be the bottleneck of the energy transition.” Elon Musk’s prediction was not a futuristic fantasy; It was a diagnosis of a disease that the electrical system already suffered. Images | Bosch, Dr. Maik Koch In Xataka | A month after the blackout in Spain, we continue to drag the same problem that led us to him: electric networks

Sending electricity without cables seemed to the future. Darpa has done it again, and the test has gone better than expected

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What are 800 watts? More or less what a microwave consumes running at medium power. And 8.6 kilometers? It is an approximate distance between the stations of Atocha and Chamartínin Madrid. It is actually somewhat lower, but it serves to get an idea. That is the scale of Darpa’s last experiment: a system that managed to transmit real energy with a laser, in a straight line, without cables and with a receiver that turns the light into usable electricity. It may seem little, but it is not. The important thing was not the amount, but the test. And it worked. What exactly Darpa has done. The United States Advanced Defense Research Projects (Darpa) has successfully completed The first phase of a program called Power, designed to explore new ways of transmitting long distance energy. In their most recent test, carried out in New Mexico, they managed to send a laser beam that delivered about 800 watts for 30 seconds to a receiver located 8.6 kilometers. The figure is important because it exceeds the previous records: until now, the best documented result was 230 watts at 1.7 kilometers. Although the agency has not revealed how much power it was originally issued, it is known that the system was able to maintain energy flow for periods even longer than those officially reported. According to those responsible for the project, it was not about demonstrating efficiency, but viability. The essential thing was to check if it was possible to build a functional system in a short time. And they did it in just three months, from the initial design to the final execution. The receiver was developed by Technc Technologies and uses commercial solar cells already available in the market. The objective was not to optimize performance to the maximum, but to prove that this technology can be launched with accessible components and without complex manufacturing processes. How this technology works. The idea behind the experiment is simple to understand, although technically complex: send energy through the air with a beam of light, and that when it arrives it can be used as electricity. The DARPA system is based on an infrared laser that points directly to a receiver composed of a conical mirror and solar cells. The mirror captures the ray and redirects it towards the panels, which convert light into electrical energy. Part of the equipment used during the test The interesting thing is that no exotic components or photovoltaic cells were used to measure, as in many laboratories. Commercial cells were used, ready to use, which reinforces the idea that this technology can be viable out of paper. As we say, the performance, for now, was not the priority. Receiver efficiency is around 20 %. The Power Receiver Array Demo system achieved a new record by transmitting laser energy with more power and greater scope than ever During the test, diffractive optics were also used, an unusual resource in this type of transmissions, and an integrated cooling system was implemented directly in the optical parts, manufactured with additive printing techniques. None of these innovations was scheduled at the beginning. They were solutions that arose on the march, as they faced the challenges of the experiment. Why do it with laser and not with radio waves. Transmitting long distance energy is not a new idea. For decades it has been investigated how to do it with radio or microwave waves, but these technologies have physical limitations that include their effectiveness. As IEEE points outto work, they need large antennas and systems of Beamforminga technique that allows the signal to be concentrated in one direction. The longer the distance, the greater the issuer must be, and the more difficult it is to focus the beam with precision. Compared to radio waves, the laser can focus much better: a narrow beam can be created almost without dispersion, at least in ideal conditions, According to Eric YeatmanVice President of the College of Science and Engineering of the University of Glasgow. Of course, not everything is advantages. The lasers also disperse with fog, clouds or dust. In adverse atmospheric conditions, microwaves remain more reliable. But for certain applications, especially if we talk about aerial networks or transmissions in clear environments, the laser is difficult to match. For the Power project leader in Darpa, Paul Jaffe, if it does not work with optics, it will not work in any way. What does this advance mean (and what is not). Darpa’s experiment did not solve all the challenges of wireless energy transmission. Efficiency remains low, the system is not yet prepared to operate in adverse conditions, and the transmitted power, although notable, is far from what a commercial infrastructure would need. But that was not important. The important thing was to demonstrate that technology can work outside the laboratory, with accessible components and in realistic terms. Images | Darpa (the main image shows an earlier test in 2019, at a lesser distance) In Xataka | Antimony under another flag: the Chinese mineral that continues to enter the US disguised for Thai or Mexican export

While France and Switzerland turn off reactors by heat, Spain continues to generate electricity. The difference is in the forecast

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Europe is living Your worst heat wave with temperatures that have exceeded 40 ° C in several countries. The most unheard of, if one can see the situation, is that some European plants have had to close temporarily. An unusual fact. The heat not only feels in the streets: it is also affecting the heart of the European energy system. According to Euronews, This week three nuclear reactors have been disconnected in France and Switzerland for the temperature rise in the rivers they use to cool. In Girfch, to the south of France, one of the reactors stopped as the Garona River approached at 28 ° C. In Switzerland, the Beznau Central did the same: one of the reactors was out of service and the second was operating in half capacity by heat in the Aare River. Preventive measures. The reason behind this temporal closures responds to an environmental regulation that forces to reduce production when river water is excessively heated, since it could affect the ecosystem by being returned even longer, such as have detailed in Euronews. In addition, restrictions or power reductions have been applied in French centrals such as Buity, Blayais and Cruas. The origin of the problem. Water is key in any nuclear power plant. Without it, there is no way to keep the reactor temperature under control. But with increasingly hot rivers, especially during heat wavesthat function begins to fail. The worst thing is that many of these plants were built between 60 and 80, when climate change was not a factor to take into account. Now the consequences are clear: According to The New York TimesFrance could end up losing up to four times more electricity in summer if this type of closures becomes usual. A problem that aggravates. During the heat waves, more electricity is needed to light the air conditioners or fans, so the demand increases at the same time as the generation capacity falls. This has generated a domino effect on the European electricity market. According to the economistthe megavatio hour has come to double in a matter of days in France, affecting countries such as Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium that depend on gala electricity. And in Spain? Despite registering equal or even higher temperatures, Spain has not had to close any heat power plant. As He explained The economist, the key is in infrastructure and design. Unlike France, where many plants depend directly on rivers such as Garona or Rhone, in Spain solutions such as cooling towers have been adopted, which cool the water before returning it to the natural environment. A paradigmatic example is the Trillo plant, whose ability to operate during heat waves is due to this type of system. Also, like We have detailed in this mediumSpanish nuclear power plants are designed with a triple cooling system: a closed primary circuit that contains the fuel bars, a secondary circuit that generates the steam to move the turbines, and a third external circuit that introduces cold water – teacher of rivers, reservoirs or towers – to condense the steam. In addition, after Fukushima, all centrals incorporated portable and self -employment systems, capable of maintaining cooling functions even to climatic emergencies or electrical cuts. More interconnection? The situation that France and Switzerland are going through is not an isolated event, but a symptom of an still fragmented energy Europe. While in southern France reactors by heat go out, Spain keeps its centrals operational and could even contribute more electricity to the continent if there are better interconnections. These situations show the bottleneck that limits the electrical export capacity of the Iberian Peninsula. Spain has a nuclear park adapted to heat and a growing renewable base – specially solar and wind – that could serve as an energy lung for a Europe increasingly affected by extreme events. The energy future of the continent not only goes to adapt to heat, but also by connecting better. Image | Pixabay Xataka | Israel has been bombing the nuclear facilities that build other countries around its surroundings. This is the real risk of collapse

The true bottleneck of AI is not chips but electricity. And there China has a great asset

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Data centers are Electricity devourers. A single training cluster can spend more light than 100,000 houses. And while we become obsessed with the semiconductor war, the main problem is still there, in silence: electricity. Why is it important. Training the most powerful models require superoring workers 24 hours for whole weeks. It doesn’t matter if you have the best chips in the world if you don’t have electricity to feed them. It is like having a Ferrari with hardly any gasoline. In figures: The context. The United States has an still incontestable domain in AI and controls 75% of world computing capacity. But their companies are being delays with years to connect new data centers to the electricity network. Google, Microsoft and Amazon They have to deal with years of delays to connect new data centers to the electricity network. China, on the other hand, can lift and connect plants in a few months. Unidso’s bottleneck is in the slowness to connect new capacity to the network. Between the lines. American chip restrictions have forced China to be more efficient. He Deepseek earthquake At the beginning of the year it was the best test. China is riding its “National Integrated Computer Network”, connecting public and private data centers. Your “East Data, West Computing” plan “ Build eight big hubs in provinces with cheap renewable energy. It is something similar to what we saw at the time with the cryptocurrency mining. The key: China puts the AI ​​where there is electricity. Yes, but. Coal is still 58% of its mix energetic. Although renewables is expanding at a good pace, its current advantage is based partly on fossil fuels. That questions the sustainability of its strategy. And now what. The AI ​​career will be decided both in power plants and in laboratories. China is building the infrastructure to feed gigantic models. The United States has better chips, But worse electrical infrastructure. AI needs two things: Silicon. Electric muscle China is betting very strong for the second and that could be its winning asset. Outstanding image | ダモ リ in Unspash In Xataka | China’s three master moves to “independent” technologically from the West: raw materials, chips, AI

The material created in China that lowers the temperature of the buildings without consuming a single electricity watt

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A world where buildings are not only well isolated from abroad, but cool them as much as an air conditioning, without consuming a single electricity watt. That is what a team of Chinese and Australian scientists promises with their new bioplastic material. Short. Researchers at the University of Zhengzhou and the University of Australia del Sur presented a biodegradable film capable of cooling buildings without using electricity. According to a study published in Cell Reports Physical Sciencethis coating can reduce the temperature of a surface to 9.2 ° C in full sun. 9 degrees less. In the material field tests, carried out on a Zhengzhou roof, east of China, the results were overwhelming. In full sun, during noon, the material reached a cooling peak of 9.2 ° C below the ambient temperature. The average tests was -4.9 ° C during the day and -5.1 ° C during the night, which is equivalent to a cooling power of up to 136 watts per square meter. The film takes advantage of a known phenomenon, “passive radiative cooling” (PRC). In a nutshell, it is a lining designed to do two things: reflect sunlight so as not to heat up, and emit internal heat outwards. But it does it in an extremely efficient way. According to the simulations presented by the researchers, apply this film on the roofs of a city like Lhasa, in the Tibet, would reduce annual cooling consumption up to 20.3%. How it works. The “metaphilm” is made of polyactic acid, better known as Pla plastic; A material derived from plant sources such as corn or sugarcane, so it is biodegradable. The turn is how researchers managed to create a porous and continuous structure through a novel phase separation technique at low temperature. This microstructure has an ultrabaja thermal conductivity (of 0.049 w/m · k) and reflects almost all the solar radiation that affects it (98.7%), avoiding the initial heating and heat transfer to the interior. It also emits heat abroad thanks to its porosity. The manufacturing process is relatively simple: the PL is dissolved in chloroform, crystallizes at -20 ° C and then ethanol is used to induce phase separation before drying the film. This method is suitable for large -scale production, which paves the path for commercialization. More resistant than other attempts. One of the great challenges of previous radiative cooling materialsespecially biodegradables, it was their durability. But this new coating has demonstrated exceptional durability. The researchers submerged him in acid for 120 hours and then exposed him to ultraviolet radiation equivalent to eight months of weathering exposure. Surprisingly, the material not only survived, but maintained a cooling performance between 5 ° C and 6.5 ° C below the ambient temperature after the hard aging process. The team attributes it to its high crystallinity, which gives it a thermal and chemical stability much higher than that of its predecessors. The applications go far beyond the roofs of the buildings. Researchers already explore their use in transport, to cool vehicles, agriculture, to protect crops, electronics and even the biomedical field, to apply to dressings that regulate the temperature. Images | Yangzhe Hou et al. In Xataka | With the electric consumption triggered by the air conditioning, Singapore has had an idea: buildings that “sweat”

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