Solarpunk technology

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!

I first thought about posting this in [email protected], but then I remembered that salt removal is not only beneficial in hydro gardening, but also done worldwide to get access to drinking water. To survive.

I'm mainly looking for ways to get pure water (without, or at least with less than before, dissolved salts), because the tap water is very hard where I live.
But, I think most methods that remove "my" salts (around 300 ppm of stuff like calcium, carbonates, etc.) could also remove salt from sea water to make it drinkable.

Right now, I can think of those few options:

• Reverse Osmosis: this is the method I currently use, and which is also industrially used everywhere, including sea water purification. It's pretty great.

Problem: a big part is very salty waste water, which is usually pumped right back into the sea, which creates oversalty dead zones, or, in my case, over 5 parts "waste" water per 1 part pure water.

I have a hard time using all this (still clean and perfectly usable) water. Currently, I just flush my toilet with it, but it's still kinda annoying.

• Rainwater collection: not technically salt removal, but more of a way to get already pure water. I do that in summer, but now, in winter, that's not feasible. Also, there's dirt in it.

• Distillation: extremely energy intensive on larger scales, and with smaller passive ways (e.g. foil tents that collect condensates) it's very ineffective.

• Boiling it: I do that too sometimes. Boiling removes carbonates, and makes some minerals precipitate out of solution. But that isn't proper salt removal, it's just better than nothing for me.

• Freezing it: in the lab, many chemicals are recrystallized after synthesis to purify them, because molecules like to link to each other, and then "push out" any impurities from the crystals. If I just take a bucket of tap water, put it out overnight at negative degrees, and then melt the ice crust above, is the surface ice theoretically pure water?

What other ideas do you have?

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

For centuries, many cultures have used heated tables for thermal comfort in cold weather. Examples are the “kotatsu” in Japan, the “korsi” in the Middle East, and the “brasero de picon” in Spain. A heat source goes under a table, a blanket goes over it, and people slide their legs underneath. The micro-climate under the blanket keeps you comfortable, even though the space in which you find yourself is cold.

The heated table is an excellent example of our ancestors’ energy-efficient way of warming: heating people, not spaces.

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/17632856

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

TLDR:

Until the end of this decade, China and Chinese manufacturers will retain some domination over the global solar PV chain. However, the global solar PV supply chain is becoming more robust thanks to the diversification of crystalline silicon modules manufacturing capacity in the United States, Europe, Southeast Asia, and India, according to a report by Japan's Renewable Energy Institute.

In the 2030s, improvements in solar PV recycling and the widespread adoption of new technologies like perovskite cells, which development is led by China (glass substrate) and Japan (film substrate), will provide new opportunities to further diversify the global solar PV supply chain.

This progress will strengthen worldwide energy security and facilitate the much-needed acceleration of the energy transition.

Geographic concentration of the global solar supply chain exposes the supply chain to some drawbacks, the report finds. The potential disruption risks associated with this type of concentration include natural hazards such as earthquakes and fires, and extreme weather events such as drought and flooding. "For instance, in 2020 and 2022, the global production of polysilicon was reduced because of flooding and fire issues at a handful of Chinese plants," the study says.

The report also mentions both the situation in China's Xinjiang region and Uyghur forced labour as well as China's coal intensity as concerns with China's dominance of global solar supply chain as main drivers of diversification. While citing "human rights violations, unfair trade practices, and environmental pollution," the study criticizes that "the lack of transparency [across supply chains within China] has made it increasingly difficult to verify whether supply chains are free from risk of Uyghur forced labor and reduces trust in the solar industry."

Key Findings:

• As of September 2024, 99% of the world’s solar PV modules manufacturing capacity was based on crystalline silicon because this technology is inexpensive, performant, and durable. Approximately three-fourths of the economic value of crystalline silicon modules come from four minerals: silicon, silver, aluminum, and copper, which productions are generally not excessively geographically concentrated.

• Throughout the entire solar PV supply chain (i.e., polysilicon, ingots, wafers, cells, and modules), the shares of China and Chinese manufacturers often largely exceeded 80% and they were sometimes close to 100%. It is undesirable for any supply chain to be so dependent on a single country. This is the reason why diversification efforts are led across the world (e.g., United States, Europe, Japan, Southeast Asia and India).

• The Chinese industry dominates the solar PV supply chain because it has managed to maximize economies of scale and because it is well-organized around vertically integrated companies. Moreover, the Chinese solar PV industry is innovative and effectively supported by its government. Also, it benefits from affordable electricity prices, which is critical as solar PV manufacturing is electricity intensive.

• The Chinese solar PV industry is confronted with harsh criticisms due to human rights violations, unfair trade practices, and environmental pollution due to its reliance on coal power. Furthermore, China’s aggressive export strategy is blamed for solar PV products oversupply resulting in rock-bottom prices and economic losses.

• In the United States, a combination of subsidies (i.e., tax credits) and protectionist measures have been implemented. Many new projects have been announced, they now need to be realized.

• Europe tries to balance its own interests between increasing its manufacturing capacity and taking advantage of cheap Chinese imports. So far, priority has been given to demand over domestic supply as reducing electricity prices and greenhouse gas emissions are deemed more urgent issues.

• Japan puts the emphasis on perovskite cells, a promising technology that is not fully ready for commercial deployment yet. This strategy should, however, not be used as an excuse for not more proactively installing crystalline silicon. Affordable and rapid decarbonization does not need to wait for perovskite to become mainstream.

• Despite catching less attention, Southeast Asia and India significantly contribute to the diversification of the solar PV supply chain. In Southeast Asia, labor costs are low, and energy is subsidized. In India domestic-content requirements and customs duties have been implemented.

• In addition to these efforts, solar PV recycling and new technologies, like perovskite, hold the potential to be alternatives to Chinese crystalline silicon modules in the 2030s. To take off, these solutions need more governmental support.

Currently, talking to a face is the ultimate guarantee that you are communicating with a human (and on a subconscious level makes you try to relate, empathise, etc.). If humanoid robot technology eventually surpasses the Uncanny Valley, discovering that I'm talking to a humanoid with an LLM and that my intuitions had been betrayed would undermine the instinctive trust I give to the other party when I see a human face. This would degrade my social interactions across the board, because I'd live in constant suspicion that the humans I was talking to weren't actually human.

It is for this reason I think it should be the law that humanoid robots must be clearly differentiated from humans. Or at least that people should have the right to opt out from encountering realistic-looking humanoids.

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.

A more advanced version of this concept that could work in any humidity (the clay designs only function in dry, non-humid regions) was seemingly in development by a company called Coolar, but haven't updated anything since they released this presentation. But that design certainly wouldn't be within the grasp of the people who most need it, compared to the clay designs.

EDIT: After a bit more investigation, the upright fridge design by Mitt is indeed pretty lame. It can cool interior temperatures down by 8 degrees C compared to ambient, which is about 14 degrees Fahrenheit lower.

In comparison, the pot-in-pot 'Zeer' design can reduce internal temperatures by up to 22 Celsius, or 40 degrees Fahrenheit. So... I'm starting to think this upright 'fridge' is more of a novelty than it is practical.

So if you're curious about these, live in a climate where it is usable, and want to try building one, here's some instructions on building the Zeer design instead.

Healthcare is solarpunk.

Hi all!

I’m new here. I represent a little movement out of Africa, but I am myself Scandinavian.

Currently I’m working on a video exploring the role of technology in shaping a radically different society aligned much more broadly with solarpunk ideas. I’m specifically interested in how blockchain, DAOs and AI could potentially revolutionize the future of consensus making, but I’m also acutely aware that this is a polarizing issue. What are your views on this?

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.

China, India, and Russia provide high purity quartz as well, but what’s mined there does not match the quality or quantity of what lies beneath the Blue Ridge Mountains. With Spruce Pine among the scores of Appalachian communities reeling from Hurricane Helene, the sudden closure of quartz mines that have supplied chip manufacturers for decades has rattled the global tech industry. But this quartz is vital to the solar industry too. And while industry experts expect companies to withstand the temporary closure of the town’s two mines, it highlights the precarity of a clean energy economy that relies on materials produced at a single location — especially in a world of increasingly ferocious natural disasters.

Helene’s impact on Spruce Pine “absolutely lays bare the danger of having a monopoly in any part of the supply chain,” said Debra DeShong, head of corporate communications at solar manufacturer QCells North America. QCells, which manufactures photovoltaic panels in Georgia and is building an additional facility that will manufacture the components needed to assemble them, is evaluating whether the Spruce Pine mine closures will impact it.

Just to be clear, the noise and air pollution that a switch to drone shows away from fireworks shows would save, would be incredibly significant. I don't think the cost makes it viable yet, but it's something to aim for.