Technology Trending: CarbonEnfo startup, ChatGPT ambassador, graphene nanotube facility

New blockchain startup CarbonEnfo hits the market running, the ChatGPT fusion ‘ambassador’ and a graphene nanotube facility in development in Europe for EV batteries are on the week’s technology radar.

New blockchain startup hits the market running

CarbonEnfo, a subsidiary of the Atlanta, Georgia-based energy management and consulting company Empower Energy Technology, is in the process of developing a range of enterprise and consumer-facing blockchain-driven solutions for the US market. To support it along the way, it has joined up as a validator to the Energy Web ecosystem.

CarbonEnfo, which started incubating in February, is the brainchild of Thatcher Young, who has a background in the delivery of solar solutions for homes and businesses and also was involved in developing Empower’s PowerEnfo building energy management platform.

“We’re very interested in driving trust and transparency across the supply chain,” he said of the association to Energy Web.

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In the US utility-scale solar installations are on the up, having rebounded from earlier supply chain issues and in 2022 a record 750,000 homeowners installed rooftop solar systems, marking a 40% jump from 2021, according to Solar Energy Industries Association data.

Initially, CarbonEnfo is focused on developing a consumer-friendly marketplace for the buying and selling of solar renewable energy certificates.

According to Allied Market Research data quoted by CarbonEnfo, the solar renewable energy certificate market is projected to hit $100 billion by 2030.

The ChatGPT fusion ‘ambassador’

The concept of nuclear fusion, with its many different, can be complicated to explain to outsiders and apparently also to some within the industry.

This was the experience of the Colorado-based Electric Fusion Systems, which is developing a ‘light element electric fusion’ (LEEF) technology, and has responded with an ‘AI Ambassador’ powered by ChatGPT-4.

According to Electric Fusion Systems in a statement, the AI Ambassador is grounded in peer-reviewed scientific research, particularly focusing on the intricacies of the LEEF technology, drawing from a database currently encompassing around 70 research papers and continuously being enhanced.

In broad terms, the LEEF approach, which is patent-pending, utilises a so-called Rydberg matter ultra-dense lithium ammonia liquid metal fuel that when triggered with an electrical arc results in fusion occurring.

As such the fusion thresholds for temperature, time and density are reduced and it is radiation-free, offering the potential for small-scale portable and low-cost fusion, with Electric Fusion Systems targeting $5/MWh.

But when discussing the topic with fusion subject matter experts, questions arise such as “what is Rydberg matter?”, says CEO Ryan Wood – and this was the driving force in developing the AI Ambassador, “aiming to facilitate comprehension of Electric Fusion Systems ‘s technology from a scientific lens”.

Graphene nanotube facility for EVs in development in Europe

Global nanotech company OCSiAl has been granted permission for the construction of a graphene nanotube hub near Belgrade in Serbia to synthesise the technology and other nanotube solutions for high-performance electric vehicle (EV) batteries.

Graphene nanotubes are single wall carbon (graphene) sheets rolled into a tube with a range of unique physical properties including high conductivity, high thermal stability and extreme strength, 100 times stronger than steel. While they have been found to occur in nature, their wider use has been restricted by the absence of technology for mass production and thus high price.

But that is changing with OCSiAI’s development of the declared first industrial-scale production.

The company’s new nanotube synthesis plant, which will be launched in 2024 and powered by 100% green energy, will have an initial annual capacity of 60t of graphene nanotubes, ramping up to 120t over the following two years.

In addition to synthesising the nanotubes, the facility will manufacture nanotube suspensions for lithium-ion battery manufacturers, with the production destined to customers in Europe, the US and Asia.

Graphene nanotubes enable new battery technologies, including high-silicon content anodes, thick lithium iron phosphate cathodes and fast-charging graphite anodes. They can be applied in both conventional and emerging battery tech, such as a dry battery electrode coating process and solid-state batteries.