Applied Technology Review : News

Due to improvements in surveillance technology, Ocean industry practices are under scrutiny, and the industry holds accountability for how their activities affect the ocean’s health. Many ocean industries have existed for centuries far from land, out of sight, and usually out of mind. High-resolution satellite imagery, drones, tracking systems, and a global call for accountability are beginning to lift the veil on industrial ocean practices. While the ocean industries have little control over surveillance technologies, they can directly contribute to the movement towards greater transparency by taking an active role in data sharing. This increases not only operational accountability, but also public trust, profitability, and even operational efficiency and sustainability. Human well-being and the global economy are dependent on the ocean's sustainable utilization. To ensure such utilization, companies engaged in ocean-based economic activities must be transparent in their operations to owners, customers, and society as a whole. This transparency is demanded mainly from owners and finance as they require direct insight into long-term ocean operations in order to reduce financial risk and comply with both investment policy and their own environmental profiles. Owners will be able to exercise responsible ownership more easily if they have constant access to information. Examples of owners and financial institutions requesting this can be witnessed as Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) has stated unequivocally that it expects the companies in which it has invested to share both sustainability strategies and the impact of their operations on the oceans. Another example is the Poseidon Principles, which several ship financing banks have agreed to follow in order to promote international shipping's decarbonization for creating a framework for incorporating climate considerations into lending decisions. Furthermore, Customers are pushing from the bottom up for transparency. Customers' operational and market risks are inseparably linked to how they source their goods and services, and thus to their environmental profile and future earnings. The Vanora – C4IR Ocean cargo chartering solution will demonstrate this as a charterer will be able to compare vessel efficiency and CO2 emission estimates from the various vessel and route options, thus directly addressing the environmental impact of the operations. Therefore, data sharing directly allows market forces to intervene and drive change. Parallels with John Maynard Keynes' concept of user cost can be drawn in this light. Initially, Keynes saw this as a situation in which entrepreneurs sacrifice future profits by investing in capital equipment today ...Read more

Underwater observatory technologies offer the most permanent way of studying the deep sea.  For most of human history, the vast watery abode sea, which covers 70 percent of the earth's surface, remained unexplored. But in recent years, technology has started to give a glimpse of the deep-sea landscape. Traditionally, explorers have investigated the ocean from ships on its surface, but today the status of sea exploration is changing drastically. Here are some of the technologies which make the transition a reality. Fluorescence Detection Cameras One of the biggest discoveries made in the field of ocean exploration is the proliferation of biofluorescence in the darkest parts of the sea. Realms that appear pitch black to naked eyes are actually filled with more than 250 species of fish. To detect them, researchers built a camera that filters out specific wavelengths of light like the shark's eye does. Coupled with artificial blue light to improve the fluorescent color, this equipment enables scientists to record the light show. Soft Grippers Collecting specimens at the bottom of the ocean is not an easy task. Researchers can't just step out of their submersible to pick up a specimen from the seabed. The only way to retrieve a sample at such depths is through a machine. So, soft grippers are a clever option to consider here. It evenly distributes the force around the creature being handled and keeps the fingers from spreading when they inflate with water. The mechanism is also sturdy enough to work at depths reaching 1000 feet. Aquatic Drones A remotely operated vehicle can explore the tight, crushing pockets of the ocean that human divers cannot reach. This technology is often costly and limited to research teams with massive budgets. New companies are aiming to make underwater  drones  more accessible to explorers. Satellite Imaging Sometimes the easiest method for underwater scientists to get a view of the bottom of the ocean is by sending devices to space. Satellites can estimate measurements of the peaks and valleys shaping the seabed by beaming radar pulses towards the earth and find the time it takes to bounce back. While this method doesn't offer an accurate map of the ocean floor, it can be used to measure depths in even the most remote areas.   ...Read more

Solar energy can increase a country's energy security by providing a renewable, indigenous, and self-sufficient energy source while reducing pollution, enhancing sustainability, mitigating the effects of global warming, and keeping fossil fuel prices low. There has been a growing trend in the solar cell business and the manufacturing of highly efficient solar panels and solar cells in recent years. However, the present technology is inefficient, and manufacturing solar cells for large-scale electricity generation is prohibitively expensive. On the contrary, there have been possible breakthroughs in technology that could enable the production of more cost-effective and efficient solar cells. Additionally, quantum dots have the potential to revolutionize the solar cell sector. While nanotechnology can increase the efficiency of solar cells, the most exciting application of nanotechnology in the solar cell sector is the significant cost reduction. Photovoltaic cells based on CdTe, CuInGaSe (CIGS), CuInSe (CIS), and a variety of organic materials are being developed rapidly to lower the cost and increase the amount of energy generated. Thus, the application of nanotechnology in the design and fabrication of low-cost solar cells may undoubtedly contribute to environmental preservation. The Benefits of Nanostructured Photovoltaic Cells Nanoparticles can be used as nanostructured layers coated on thin-film solar cells due to their enhanced and promoted physicochemical qualities and high surface to area ratio. This results in three significant advantages. First, the effective optical path for light absorption is substantially more significant than the actual film thickness because of many reflections. Second, light-generated electrons and holes must be delivered over a significantly shorter path to reduce recombination loss significantly. As a result, the absorption layer of solar cells using nanostructured thin films can be as thin as roughly 150 nanometers, compared to several micrometers in conventional thin-film solar cells. As a third and final advantage, various layers of energy band gap can be produced based on desired applications by varying the size of nanoparticles. Other advantages may accrue from nanomaterials in the fabrication of solar cells. It is possible to significantly minimize installation costs by producing flexible rolls rather than rigid crystalline panels. Currently, nanotechnology-based solar cells are not as efficient as conventional solar cells, but they are more affordable. Over time, nanomaterial-based solar cells may become more affordable, and if quantum dots are integrated into the manufacturing process, better efficiencies may also be achieved. It is a truth that the world now requires more renewable, sustainable, and clean energy than ever before to phase out the use of fossil fuels, which contribute substantial amounts of pollution to the atmosphere and to meet rising energy demand patterns. Numerous studies must be conducted to develop the most efficient platforms for converting solar energy to electricity. With their fascinating features and enhanced surface area for trapping large amounts of photons, nanomaterials can play a critical role in constructing solar cells and harnessing the Sun's enormous amount of heat and energy. ...Read more