Breaking News
Swap Lines: The Federal Reserve Extends Its Tightrope
The Transgender Mirage Is Cracking
The Collapse of the Saudi-American Alliance?
BREAKING: EPA eliminates rule that limits 'greenhouse gas' emissions from power plants
Top Tech News
Quantum computing may soon become part of the microscope itself.
Volkswagen Just Unveiled The Most Efficient EV Ever Tested
NASA Super Light Solar Sail Project Will Be 12-40 Times Lighter and Faster
Space Telescope Interferometer to Image Exoplanet Continents
Twenty-five years of "temporary": how 9/11 built a surveillance state Americans never vote
I'll Never Buy Another WALMART Battery!
Shoei GT-Air 3 Smart helmet drops with built-in AR for $1,500
AI Whistleblower Tells Tucker How AI Could Kill All Humans by 2040
You Hate Flock? Well There's More...
Will Spiking Diesel Prices Drive Autonomous Trucking?
This Desk-Size Turbine Is Capable Of Powering An Entire Town
As technology advances, devices of all kind tend to get smaller. The desk-size turbine invented by GE Global Research is no exception.
According to MIT Technology Review, the turbine is capable of powering a small town of about 10,000 homes. How is this possible? The prototype is driven by "supercritical carbon dioxide," which is in a state that at a very high pressure and up to 700 °C exists as neither a liquid nor a gas. After the carbon dioxide passes through the turbine, it's cooled and then re-pressurized before returning for another pass.
The unit's makers believe that the turbine could be useful in grid storage. That's because the turbine is compact in size and can turn on and off rapidly. In fact, the invention is projected to be over 5 percent more efficient than steam turbines in the process of converting heat into electricity. Even more promising, the GE prototype is 10 megawatts, but the company would like to scale it up to 33 megawatts.
Said Doug Hofer, the GE engineer in charge of the project:
"The key thing will come down to economics."