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Sailing seas of data: Autonomous Saildrone vessel to study Earth’s oceans, weather and marine life

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A startup company called Saildrone says its uncrewed vehicles are helping to study Earth’s weather, marine life, the ocean floor and much more.

The startup’s nautical data collection technology has tracked hurricanes up close in the North Atlantic, discovered a 3,200-foot underwater mountain in the Pacific Ocean and begun to help map the entirety of the world’s ocean floor.

Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, the company develops autonomous uncrewed surface vehicles (USVs) that carry a wide range of sensors. [Read more…] about Sailing seas of data: Autonomous Saildrone vessel to study Earth’s oceans, weather and marine life

3M highlights major global trends in materials science and charts its own way ahead

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3M Forward is a program that highlights how materials science-based innovation at scale can help society progress amid three unstoppable forces shaping our planet: climate change and resource scarcity, shifting demographics and social change and convergence of the physical and digital worlds. As part of 3M Forward, 3M scientists, engineers and experts share how their solutions are helping to build a brighter future.

Mark Copman, 3M senior vice president, new growth ventures, says: “The global forces highlighted within 3M Forward are disruptive in nature, but we see them as catalysts for new advances in science and positive societal impact.

“Science has the potential to solve the toughest global challenges, and 3M’s diverse global portfolio and vast expertise make us optimally positioned to imagine what’s possible and build what’s next.”  [Read more…] about 3M highlights major global trends in materials science and charts its own way ahead

Can robotics improve the environment?

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Although conversations about the impact of robots on society more often than not focus on the negative aspects of automation – such as the number of jobs that might be threatened by the rise of AI and robotics – there is also a very real possibility that new technologies like robots can be used to help tackle some of the world’s most pressing problems.

Nowhere is this possibility truer than in relation to climate change, which is undoubtedly the most pressing problem of our time. But what exactly is the scope of the environmental problem we face and how can robots be used to tackle it? [Read more…] about Can robotics improve the environment?

Hannover Messe: Connectivity and climate neutrality

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The list of challenges facing industry is long: climate change, energy shortages, disrupted supply chains and a shortage of skilled labor. The solution to these challenges lies in the targeted use of technology.

At the same time, governments need to get their economic policy right. Hannover Messe 2023 covers not only technologies for connected, climate-neutral industry, but also provides a forum for a global policy discussion among industry, government, science and social representatives.

Dr Jochen Köckler, chairman of the Deutsche Messe group of companies, says: “Carbon-neutral production, artificial intelligence, hydrogen technologies, energy management and Industrie 4.0 – those are the overarching themes of Hannover Messe 2023. [Read more…] about Hannover Messe: Connectivity and climate neutrality

DuPont commits to using renewable energy across all its global operations

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Industrial giant DuPont, which specializes in developing novel materials such as Kevlar, says it is committed to using renewable energy across all its operations worldwide.

As a step towards that goal, DuPont has joined RE100, a global environmental initiative led by the Climate Group in partnership with CDP, which brings together companies committed to shifting the electricity used globally in its operations to 100 percent renewable energy.

Joining RE100 underscores DuPont’s commitment to its global Acting on Climate sustainability goal, which aims to source at least 60 percent of its electricity from renewable energy by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. DuPont is also committing to address market and policy barriers to sourcing renewables alongside member companies. [Read more…] about DuPont commits to using renewable energy across all its global operations

Financial analyst Cowen teams up with MassRobotics to examine robotics and climate change

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Investment research company Cowen and startup incubator MassRobotics announced a groundbreaking research report on the increasing role robotics is playing in helping companies achieve climate goals.

Joe Giordano, CFA, Cowen’s diversified industrials, automation and robotics analyst, led the Ahead Of The Curve Series report, which incorporated a survey from MassRobotics that polled manufacturers and end-users to understand where robotics is positioned within their climate toolkit.

Joe Giordano, says: “The robotic technologies we explore in this report are maximizing the output (GDP) per unit of carbon and minimizing the carbon needed to achieve a targeted level of activity. [Read more…] about Financial analyst Cowen teams up with MassRobotics to examine robotics and climate change

Airbus boss backs hydrogen airplanes as the ‘ultimate solution’

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The CEO of Airbus, currently the largest aircraft manufacturer in the world, says he believes hydrogen-powered airplanes are the “ultimate solution” to the unfair criticism of the aerospace industry as a planet-polluting monster.

The World Wildlife Fund says the aviation industry is “one of the fastest-growing sources of the greenhouse gas emissions driving global climate change”, adding that air travel is “currently the most carbon intensive activity an individual can make”.

These things have been true for many decades, but with completely crazy extreme weather systems attacking different parts of the world on an almost weekly basis over the past couple of years, the search for sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) has taken on a new urgency. [Read more…] about Airbus boss backs hydrogen airplanes as the ‘ultimate solution’

Continental claims all its production runs on ‘100 percent green electricity’

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Continental, one of the world’s largest suppliers of vehicle tyres and automotive components and systems, claims that all of its production has been running on “100 percent green electricity’ for the past couple of years at least.

Continental claims to have been procuring all of the electricity for its production sites from renewable energy sources as of fiscal 2020. The company says this is the “clear conclusion” reached in a report by auditor KPMG.

By purchasing approximately 4 million megawatt-hours (MWh) of green energy, Continental reduced its own direct and indirect global CO2 emissions by 70 percent from around 3.2 million metric tons in 2019 to 0.99 million metric tons in 2020. [Read more…] about Continental claims all its production runs on ‘100 percent green electricity’

Companies and Climate Change: The Interrelation

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Globalization has brought in a drastic shift in the preferences, choices, and tastes of the people. With a vast range of options available in almost every sector of society, people have an option to pick and choose according to their convenience.

However, amidst all these progressions and advancements, it is imperative to remember that all the goods and resources that we use in our daily lives are a product of different manufacturing industries.

Since the demands and expectations from the market have grown, industry and company owners have also equipped themselves with high functioning and reliable technologies that produce optimum results in a minimum span of time. On the other hand, our world is being extremely ignorant of a looming threat that will eventually affect our ecosystem in more ways than one. [Read more…] about Companies and Climate Change: The Interrelation

Robot designed by WHOI to explore underwater glacial walls to monitor climate change

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It’s the front line of climate change and could hold the key to predicting global sea level rise, but what goes on at the underwater face of Greenland’s glaciers is a mystery to science.

That could change in 2023 with a bold new mission led by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin that will explore three of Greenland’s glaciers with a submersible robot.

The voyage will be the first time Greenland’s glaciers – which make up the world’s second-largest ice sheet – will be seen up close underwater. [Read more…] about Robot designed by WHOI to explore underwater glacial walls to monitor climate change