Contents this week: what is the potential impact of solar flares on Earth, the new CEO of Volkswagen believes more in “renewable” synthetic e-fuel than electric – we tell you everything we know about this fuel presented as an alternative to electric. There is also Bill Gates who is interested in a new type of air conditioning to save the planet, and finally the latest Netflix scam to avoid at all costs.
What are the risks associated with solar flares?
A new solar flare hit the Earth during the day of August 3, 2022. The sun experiences cyclical peaks of activity, like right now. The Earth is well armed against these ejections of ionizing charged particles thanks to its magnetic field. Human infrastructure, a little less: in the event of a particularly massive solar flare, the interaction between these flares and the magnetic field can even damage certain portions of the electrical and communications networks, damage satellites such as those of Starlink, even certain devices electronics.
Volkswagen relaunches the debate on synthetic and “renewable” e-fuel
The CEO of Porsche changes creamery to become number 1 of Volkswagen. He carries with him a credo that is quite new in the automotive sector: rather than just pursuing the electrification of ranges, Olivier Blume firmly believes in a new fuel that would offer the same ease of use as current gasoline and diesel. , while being synthetic and – at least on paper – renewable. This “e-fuel” is concocted from hydrogen and CO2. The problem is that for the moment most of the production of hydrogen depends on the extraction of fossil fuels… and producing hydrogen by hydrolysis remains particularly inefficient.
Why Bill Gates is investing heavily in this air conditioning of the future
Bill Gates has just invested $20 million in Blue Frontier, a Miami-based startup that is developing new, more eco-responsible air conditioning technology. Out of 1,950 million tonnes of CO2 released by systems around the world, 531 million would be used to cool the air while 599 million would only be used to restore heat… a waste that Blue Frontier claims to be able to reduce.
Beware of the (expensive) Netflix scam going around right now
A Netflix-themed scam is circulating via text message right now – it’s actually a dreadful phishing attempt with the ultimate goal of obtaining your credit card number. However, the SMS seems to come from “Netflix” which makes this scam particularly dangerous.
That’s all for today. Find next week a new Lemon-pressed to stay connected to the news that should not be missed!
