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Submission Summary: 0 pending, 50 declined, 15 accepted (65 total, 23.08% accepted)

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Submission + - Tesla Model 3 Outselling Small And Midsize Luxury Cars In U.S (forbes.com)

Submitted by WindBourne
WindBourne writes: In the second quarter of 2018, Tesla produced just over 53,000 vehicles, doubling its output compared to the same quarter last year. For the first time, Model 3 production (28,578) exceeded combined Model S and X production (24,761) with deliveries to customers totaling 40,740 for the quarter. The ramp up in Model 3 production is enabling it to outsell small and midsize luxury car sales in the U.S., according to some number crunching by CleanTechnica's Zachary Shahan.

Submission + - Bloomberg is now tracking Model 3 production (bloomberg.com)

Submitted by WindBourne
WindBourne writes: Tesla is producing their model 3, but is apparently tried of answering critics about production.
So, they quit telling.
Now, bloomberg has an active tracker that shows the total production and delivered, along with the production per week, which is probably more important.
In fact, they are now up to 1025 model 3s / week, and it is apparent that Tesla is growing by leaps and bounds on this as parts of the manufacturing line is converted to full robotics.

Submission + - Google is going into Geo-thermal HVAC. (cnn.com)

Submitted by WindBourne
WindBourne writes: Just as Tesla is hard at work lowering the costs of Solar PV, Google is now making geo-thermal HVAC cheap to install. Initially, it will be 25K and under, but prices will drop in the future.
And as long as these stay above the water tables, this will be an extremely cheap form of HVAC.

Submission + - OCO2's 1st map of CO2 output (livescience.com)

Submitted by WindBourne
WindBourne writes:

This past summer, NASA launched its first satellite devoted to measuring atmospheric carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping gas that is driving global warming.

.... scientists with the space agency unveiled the first carbon maps obtained by the spacecraft, named the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2, or OCO-2.

This map is little bit more than a month's worth of data.
Note that the large CO2 emissions in the southern hemisphere is due to Ag with a temporary burns, while the emissions in the north are basically at its lowest points. Also note the CO2 to the east of China over the Pacific.

Submission + - SolarCity to be panel maker in America. (forbes.com)

Submitted by WindBourne
WindBourne writes: Following the Elon Musk recipe, Solar City has been using solar panels from China making them the largest importers of panels from China.
As of today, they have bought Silevo, a panel maker. In addition, they are announcing that they will build a new GW factory in Buffalo New York, with replication of that factory to follow.

Submission + - Branson wants to work with USA on IFR (guardian.co.uk)

Submitted by WindBourne
WindBourne writes: British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson has written to President Barack Obama seeking help commercializing an alternative type of nuclear reactor known as an Integral Fast Reactor. This contrast with Bill Gates who is approaching China to share American technology with them.
China

Submission + - China 'has up to 3,000 nuclear weapons hidden in t (dailymail.co.uk)

Submitted by WindBourne
WindBourne writes: China may be using thousands of miles of underground tunnels to hide a nuclear missile arsenal that is far bigger than current estimates, according to researchers.


They spent three years translating secret military documents, scouring the internet and studying satellite images for clues – and concluded that China may have as many as 3,000 missiles, compared with general estimates of between 80 and 400.

Submission + - China says Space Weapons are inevitable. (yahoo.com)

Submitted by WindBourne
WindBourne writes: According to China's air force top commander Xu Qiliang, As far as the revolution in military affairs is concerned, the competition between military forces is moving towards outer space... this is a historical inevitability and a development that cannot be turned back. The PLA air force must establish in a timely manner the concepts of space security, space interests and space development. We must build an outer space force that conforms with the needs of our nation's development (and) the demands of the development of the space age."
This comes with China having announced last year a soon to be coming new series of military only space stations, as well as develops and test a satellite killer.
NASA

Submission + - Bigelow Aerospace pushes "Orion Lite" conc (businessweek.com)

Submitted by WindBourne
WindBourne writes: The print issue of Space News this week has an interesting article about a proposal that Bigelow Aerospace has presented to the Augustine panel. They propose that a simplified "stripped down" version of the Orion capsule could be developed and flown on an Atlas V by 2013. Of course, the real question is, no matter what Augustine picks, what will Obama and Congress fund?
Space

Submission + - Orion to shrink in crew size (aviationweek.com)

Submitted by WindBourne
WindBourne writes: Due to Ares I's payload limits, it appears that Orion is about to reduce to a crew of 4 rather than 6 for LEO. Nothing is being said about Moon access which was expected to be 4. Even though the ISS is about to jump to 6 crewmen, this will have no impact since it is expected that Soyuz will be there as well. But will it have an impact on Congress's mind set? With yesterday's news about Ares V slipping, is this the opening that Direct is looking for?
Earth

Submission + - Cap and Trade or VAT

Submitted by WindBourne
WindBourne writes: Regardless if you believe in Global Warming or Not, it appears that the US is about to join the rest of the west in combating CO2 output. At this time, Obama and the Dem's are pushing cap and trade. This approach was developed by Bush I as a means of dealing with SINGLE point of pollution emissions. That approach makes sense for a LIMITED number of emitters. But CO2 is dominantly from our autos, power plants, and manufacturing. In addition, China has moved to be the largest emitter of CO2 (as well as pollutions). This is in large part due to companies moving manufacturing bases there, while the Chinese gov has ignored the pollution problems. Since Kyoto, China has promised to address CO2 if US joined in.
Now, china has changed its tune. In particular, it is claiming that it and other developing countries should not have to control CO2 for anything that is to be exported, while insisting that they west, particularly the US, uphold the current Kyoto. Of course, under cap and trade that will encourage more commerce to shift elsewhere, while ignoring the real issue; solving the CO2, and perhaps pollution issues.
Since Kyoto, the nations involved have been shown to be cheating at all aspects of it. Basically, all the participating countries have tried to argue that their cap is much higher, so that it does not harm their industry. IOW, it should be seen that Cap/Trade does not really cut production since all knows that it will in fact, put the country at a disadvantage. It seems that the ONLY way to do this, is to shift the Kyoto protocols from cap/trade to a time incrementally increasing VAT on all goods (those produced locally as well as imported) applied based on where the good came from and how much emissions from there (ideally, including pollution). That would give an advantage to countries such as Japan and France who have moved heavily towards nuke power and encourage AE. In addition, it would encourage ALL countries to lower emissions.
My question is, does something like this violate trade agreements? This is not a tariff, but a VAT that would be applied on all goods. Why do many of the Kyoto protocol countries, and now the US, seem to be preferring the cap/trade over a VAT (or a "sin" tax)? This appears to be the only way to level the playing field and get all nations to solve this problem.
Space

Submission + - China's new military space stations coming soon (space.com)

Submitted by WindBourne
WindBourne writes: China will be launching 2 news space stations this next year. One is for their civil program as ran by the military, while the second is openly for the military. It appears that their will be multiples of the military version to be launched in 2010. It appears that they are developing the same U.S. Air Force Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) that was canceled in 1969. In addition, it appears that China is accelerating their timelines on a number of the earlier space announcements.

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