World’s Largest Rooftop Solar Array Goes Up in Norway

6,400

The largest rooftop vertical solar array just went up in Tromsø, a city north of the Arctic Circle, with 6,400 panels. The installation consists of 1,600 vertical photovoltaic units with a total capacity of 320 kilowatts at its peak. The panels are mounted vertically, which is ideal for northern latitudes given the low sun angle. It also prevents snow from accumulating on the panels. The system is located on the roof of Tromsøterminalen AS, the region’s largest cold storage facility, and will help power it while reducing reliance on more expensive and less environmentally friendly energy sources.
Source: Interesting Engineering

DECONTAMINATION, SUPERCHARGED

A team of researchers have developed an artificial plant that can remove radioactive waste from soil. Much like a real plant, the device is powered by sunlight, using a stem-like structure to draw cesium-contaminated water up into its “leaves.” The water evaporates while the radioactive cesium stays behind, and the leaves can be replaced once they’re full. In a 20-day test, the device successfully reduced cesium concentration in soil by more than 95 percent.
Source: Interesting Engineering

$8M

That’s the amount that Doorstep recently raised in a seed round as it seeks to help find missing food deliveries. The company’s technology works by using phone sensors to detect exactly where a delivery driver is once they enter a building to make their delivery. The platform integrates with existing delivery platforms like Uber Eats to share this information, automating proof of delivery and dispute resolution when the customer can’t
find their food.
Source: TechCrunch

LUNAR NUCLEAR

NASA is exploring the possibility of building a nuclear reactor on the moon. It’s not a new idea, but there’s a renewed push to try to get something up there by the end of this decade. The agency would like to put a 100-kilowatt microreactor on the lunar surface in the next five years, which would be a significant step toward fueling industrial-scale work in space.
Source: Engadget