This is a close-up of a piece of bark. It’s quite thin, and won’t be used to produce high-quality natural cork. But now there are also technical corks, made up of small pieces of cork fused together, which means that more of the cork bark is suitable for producing wine bottle closures.
– How cork is made: an illustrated guide
Cork is something you don’t really think about, but the process is fascinating.
We don’t get to use the really fast airplanes. We’re actually flying slower than we were 50 years ago.
It turns out we’re just too cheap to fly faster.
We had our chance. For almost 30 years there was a really fast way to fly, but we didn’t buy enough Concorde tickets to keep it going.
– You’re Too Cheap to Fly Faster — Lift and Drag — Medium.
The idea is to place the island a few kilometers off shore near a wind farm, according to Vande Lanotte’s office. When the wind farm produces excess energy for the local electricity grid, such as off-peak times in the overnight hours, the island will store the energy and release it later during peak times.
It would use the oldest and most cost-effective bulk energy storage there is: pumped hydro. During off-peak times, power from the turbines would pump water up 15 meters to a reservoir. To generate electricity during peak times, the water is released to turn a generator, according to a representative.
– A Manmade Island to Store Wind Energy | MIT Technology Review
Sounds crazy, but a neat idea.
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