Science
From mathematics and AI to medicine and psychology, The Optimist Daily features the latest news on discoveries, technological advances, and breakthroughs in the world of science. Our Science section is here to engage and enlighten you.
Iran approves $3 billion worth of foreign renewable energy investments
Iran’s Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian said earlier this week that the Finance Ministry had approved foreign investments in the country’s renewable energy industry worth $3 billion. “Iran intends to launch a large-scale project to construct renewable energy power plants over the Read More...
Renewable energy continues to beat fossil fuels
Clean energy grew at a record pace as the United States added 22GW of capacity — the equivalent of 11 Hoover Dams — to the grid from renewable sources Read More...
Plug Power fuel cell engines power FedEx
Plug Power has shipped the first production ProGen fuel cell engines for use in electric delivery vehicles. The ProGen engines in this deal are destined for courier service company FedEx Freight delivery vans in the greater Los Angeles area and will more than double the fleet’s range of Read More...
Taiwanese farmers turn their damaged fields into solar farms
Across the world, farmers are discovering a new "crop" they can cultivate on their fields: solar panels and windmills to generate electricity. In Taiwan, many farmers are dealing with changing soil conditions that have rendered entire fields of soil useless. That's why they are leasing their land Read More...
Nigeria is tackling election fraud with this solar-powered voting device
A new solar-powered hand-held voting machine should help prevent election fraud in Nigeria. The device uses biometrics such as facial recognition and thumbprint scans to register the voter into the system, and then stores the results in the cloud to keep track of any attempts to manipulate the Read More...
New Honda fuel-cell car, Clarity, lands in Bay Area
Heather Mc Laughlin’s new car sprang to life Monday with a gentle whoosh, followed by a quiet electric whine. A few drops of water trickled out the back and puddled on Dublin Honda’s showroom floor. “You can drink that,” said Honda spokeswoman Natalie Kumaratne. The car, a Read More...
The world could reach peak oil in three years, thanks to cheap renewables
The world could reach peak oil and coal in as little as three years—not because either is close to running out, but because of the falling cost of solar power and electric cars and stronger climate policy. A new report from the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London and the Carbon Read More...
Honda and Hitachi are forming an electric vehicle motor company
Honda Motor and Hitachi's auto parts subsidiary plan to form a joint venture to develop, produce and sell motors for electric vehicles (EV), joining forces to better compete in the highly specialized "green" car segment. Automakers are increasingly teaming up with parts suppliers to build Read More...
Ireland looks to become first country to completely divest from fossil fuels
There have been universities and companies that have completely divested from fossil fuels, but so far no country has done it. Ireland may soon be the first after a bill was passed to halt all public funding of coal, oil, and gas companies. The bill would require the nation’s massive Strategic Read More...
U.S. solar sees 25 percent jump in jobs created last year
Although president Trump may advocate coal as a means for creating U.S. jobs, it’s the solar industry that’s employing the most U.S. workers. In fact, jobs in the solar industry grew 25 percent last year to include more than 260,000 workers. The solar industry hopes the new data on job growth Read More...