SAN MATEO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 7, 2023--

If you name your company "Be Quiet," your PC cases had better be extra hushed-up.

Engineers have figured out how to repurpose disused wind turbine blades to serve as bridges capable of supporting up to 30 tonnes of weight. Turbine blades have a lifespan of around 20 to 25 years, meaning hundreds of wind farms set up at the start of the century are now being upgraded. Decommissioned blades are typically sent to landfill or incinerated, with the thousands of non-biodegradable units now posing a major environmental challenge. In an effort to address the issue, five universities and research institutes in Ireland, Northern Ireland and the US set up the Re-Wind Network, which has come up with several ways the blades can be recycled. Potential solutions include bus shelters, street furniture and telecommunications towers, however bridges already offer a practical way to repurpose the blades, with two footbridges successfully built in Draperstown and Cork. “With so many of these blades due to reach the end of their lifespan, we need to find ways to transform them into something useful,” said Jennifer McKinley, a professor at Queen’s University Belfast’s School of Natural and Built Environment. “I am delighted that by working together we’ve been able to find a way to repurpose wind turbine blades. This can only be a good thing, as without intervention they would end up in landfill or they would have to be incinerated.” A third bridge is set to be built in Atlanta, Georgia, before the research team turn their focus towards increasing the length and size of the bridges. The researchers estimate that there will be around 8.6 million tonnes of scrapped wind turbine blades within the next 20 years, though the glass fibre reinforced polymer material could prove useful for building a huge range of objects, like motorway noise barriers and playground equipment. Three of the engineers from the Re-Wind Network project have also formed a spin-out startup called BladeBridge that will look to commercialise the idea, while also looking for new ways to reuse old turbine blades. “We are partnering with well-known designers here in Ireland to create a portfolio of durable and sustainable products, such as greenway furniture and bridges,” said BladeBridge co-founder Dr Angie Nagle. Read More Fossil fuels ‘becoming obsolete’ as solar panel prices plummet Fossil fuels ‘becoming obsolete’ as solar panel prices plummet Solar panel breakthrough could supercharge ‘miracle material’ production Scientists invent solar panels that work in a snow blizzard

GRAPEVINE, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 5, 2023--

The Apex Legends Death Dynasty Collection Event starts on Tuesday, Aug. 8 and features a new Revenant Heirloom, as well as Legendary skins for Catalyst and Loba.

LAUSANNE, Switzerland & NEWARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 31, 2023--

Indonesia opened its first carbon exchange as part of a bid to cap emissions and reap the benefits

Large parts of Germany will be hotter than normal through this week, driving up energy demand for cooling

Rivian Automotive on Monday announced the launch of leasing for its R1T electric pickup truck for customers in

HEFEI, China--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 16, 2023--

Scientists have been forced to change their understanding of the inside of Mars after a major new breakthrough. Research looking at seismic waves that were generated when Mars was hit by a meteorite impact suggests that it has a previously unknown layer in its deep interior. Those waves were picked up by Nasa’s InSight lander, which was sent to Mars to better understand its seismic activity. The waves that the lander picked up can be used to get a picture of the anatomy of the planet, by watching how they travel around. The new data indicates the presence of a hitherto unknown layer of molten rock surrounding a liquid metallic core - the planet’s innermost component - that is smaller and denser than previously estimated, researchers said on Wednesday. Waves generated by quakes - including those caused by meteorite impacts - vary in speed and shape when journeying through different material inside a planet. Data from InSight’s seismometer instrument has enabled the planet’s internal structure to come into focus. The meteorite impact that occurred in a Martian highland region called Tempe Terra on Sept. 18, 2021, triggered a magnitude 4.2 quake and left a crater about 425 feet (130 meters) wide. It occurred on the opposite side of Mars from InSight’s location in a plains region called Elysium Planitia. “The importance of the far side impact was to produce seismic waves that traversed the deep interior of the planet, including the core. Previously, we had not observed any seismic waves that had transited the core. We had only seen reflections from the top of the core,” said planetary scientist Amir Khan of ETH Zurich in Switzerland, lead author of one of two scientific papers on the new findings published in the journal Nature. The behavior of the waves indicated that previous assessments of the Martian interior were missing something - the presence of a molten silicate layer about 90 miles (150 km) thick surrounding the core. This molten region sits at the bottom of the interior portion of the planet called the mantle. The researchers also recalculated the size of the core, finding that it has a diameter of about 2,080 miles (3,350 km), with a volume about 30% smaller than previously thought. The researchers said the mantle - a rocky layer sandwiched between the planet’s outermost crust and core - extends about 1,055 miles (1,700 km) below the surface. Unlike Mars, Earth has no molten layer around its core. One of the two studies published on Wednesday indicates this layer is fully molten, with the other indicating that most of it is fully molten, with the top portion partially molten. “The molten and partially molten layer is essentially composed of silicates (rock-forming minerals) that are enriched in iron and in radioactive heat-producing elements compared to the overlying solid mantle,” said Henri Samuel, a planetary scientist with the French national research organization CNRS working at Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris and lead author of the second study. The Martian core is made up mostly of iron and nickel, but also has some lighter elements such as sulfur, oxygen, carbon and hydrogen. The researchers concluded that these lighter elements make up about 9-15% of the core‘s composition by weight, lower than previously estimated. “This amount of light elements is not unlike that of the Earth’s core, which is estimated to be around 10%,” Khan said. Mars, the fourth planet from the sun, has a diameter of about 4,220 miles (6,791 km), compared to Earth’s diameter of about 7,926 miles (12,755 km). Earth is almost seven times larger in total volume. NASA retired InSight in 2022 after four years of operations. “We have learned a lot about Mars by studying the unique seismic record provided by the InSight mission,” Samuel said. “Planets are rich and complex systems because they are a place where many different types of processes coexist and act on various spatial and temporal scales, and Mars is no exception.” Additional reporting by Reuters Read More ‘Crystals brought back by Apollo astronauts indicate true age of the Moon’ Researchers reveal source of largest ever Mars quake Scientists investigate after huge shaking seen across Mars Scientists see huge explosion in space – and it could explain life Massive space explosion observed creating elements needed for life Tim Peake: Possibility of all-UK space mission a ‘very exciting development’

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