The Ultimate Driving Machine
pv magazine: Qcells to deploy Lumet’s fine-line metallization tech
Qcells says it will use Lumet’s fine-line metallization technology for its solar cells, for higher efficiency and lower production costs.
Qcells has agreed to deploy Israel-headquartered Lumet’s ultrafine-line metallization technology for its solar cell line.
The metallization step, which screen-prints conductive silver fingers onto the surface of solar cells, is widely considered the biggest cost in cell production. Efforts to reduce finger widths from the industry standard of 20 microns are aimed at cutting silver consumption, costs, and light shading, while also increasing efficiency.
This should result in significant cost savings.
The Nation: The Canadian Wildfires Are Once Again Sounding the Alarm About What’s to Come
Following the last Canadian wildfire season, as I watched smoke from hundreds of miles away blow over my home city of New York and turn the sky orange, I wrote for The Nation about the importance of learning from the precarious reality these fires reflected and of the imminent need for governments to promote serious climate policies. Today, I am astounded to see how governments learned nothing from that crisis. Having failed to agree to phase out fossil fuels at COP28, nations continue to lag behind on—and even outright contradict—their espoused climate goals.
via @Denny
TorStar: Grassy Narrows sues Canada, Ontario over mercury pollution
Grassy Narrows First Nation is suing the federal and provincial governments, alleging Canadian and Ontarian officials have consistently put the profits of industry ahead of an Indigenous community poisoned by dumped mercury waste.
The lawsuit accuses the governments of allowing the Wabigoon River to be polluted, then neglecting to remediate it, while simultaneously authorizing industrial production and prospecting. In doing so, Canada and Ontario violated their treaty obligations by failing to ensure the Indigenous community could safely practice its right to fish, the lawsuit alleges.
“Time and again the government has chosen to prioritize corporate profits at our expense. Our mercury nightmare should have ended long ago, but it has been longer and worse because of the government’s failure to live up to its obligations,” said Grassy Narrows Chief Rudy Turtle.
Guardian: ‘Enormous potential’: weight-loss drugs cut cancer risk by a fifth, research shows
Blockbuster injections such as Wegovy have revolutionised the treatment of obesity, and recently been approved for use in other areas of medicine, including reducing the risk of heart attacks, strokes and cardiovascular-related deaths.
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A study presented at the world’s largest cancer conference found patients taking the drugs were 19% less likely to develop 13 obesity-related cancers, including ovarian, liver, colorectal, pancreatic, bowel and breast cancer.
The research involving 34,000 people, led by the Case Western Reserve University in Ohio, also found patients were half as likely to die over 15 years compared with patients not taking the jabs, also known as GLP-1 receptor agonists (RA).
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A study published last December showed they were associated with a 50% reduced risk of bowel cancer in people with type 2 diabetes. “Individuals with diabetes who were prescribed a GLP-1 RA had a lower risk of colorectal cancer as compared with individuals who were not prescribed one of these drugs,” Ligibel said.
Reuters: Canada says online streaming services must hand over 5% of their domestic revenues
Major online streaming services operating in Canada will be required to contribute 5% of their Canadian revenues to support the domestic broadcasting system, the country’s telecoms regulator said on Tuesday.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) said the money would be used to boost funding for local and aboriginal broadcasting. The measure would raise roughly C$200 million ($146 million) a year, they said.
Electrek: BYD opens shop in Caribbean with 10 new markets coming soon
BYD’s Seagull (Dolphin Mini) is expected to launch in Europe next year as one of the most affordable EVs on the market.
Despite potential tariffs, BYD still expects the low-cost EV to start at less than 20,000 euros ($21,500), still thousands lower than its rivals. With two plants planned in the region, BYD doesn’t expect any significant impacts from the potential tariffs on EVs made in China.
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According to CarNewsChina, BYD plans to expand to 10 more countries by the end of 2024. BYD plans to open shops in Jamaica, Barbados, and the Cayman Islands.
MIT Technology Review: Making an image with generative AI uses as much energy as charging your phone
In fact, generating an image using a powerful AI model takes as much energy as fully charging your smartphone, according to a new study by researchers at the AI startup Hugging Face and Carnegie Mellon University. However, they found that using an AI model to generate text is significantly less energy-intensive. Creating text 1,000 times only uses as much energy as 16% of a full smartphone charge.
DoublePulsar (Kevin Beaumont): Stealing everything you’ve ever typed or viewed on your own Windows PC is now possible with two lines of code — inside the Copilot+ Recall disaster.
Q. Did Microsoft mislead the BBC about the security of Copilot?
A. Yes.
Q. Have Microsoft misled customers about the security of Copilot?
A. Yes. For example, they describe it as an optional experience — but it is enabled by default and people can optionally disable it. That’s wordsmithing.
Last Updated: 04.Jun.2024 21:05 EDT
