California's Largest Battery Energy Storage Facility Has Been Built in Goleta

Goleta is now home to the largest battery energy storage facility in the state of California. GridStor, a battery energy storage company based out of Oregon, developed this new storage facility.

 

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UCSB's Team Klaatu Designs Innovative Farming Robot, Gort

Team Klaatu, a team comprised of students from UCSB and advised by Professors Chandra Krintz and Rich Wolski, recently designed an automated farming robot named Gort. This robot's functions addresses a lot of the obstacles that agriculture sees in digitizing their processes by providing innovative sensor management. Gort is designed to identify, locate and navigate sensors for data extraction and battery charging using computer vision, sensor communication, and power control. This can help farmers make informed decisions and increase productivity.

 

The End of Incandescent Lightbulbs in the U.S.

Associated Press News recently posted an article regarding the Department of Energy's new energy efficiency standards for light bulbs. These new rules prohibit the manufacture, sale, and import of bulbs that are unable to meet the new requirements, such as incandescent and halogen bulbs. Replacing these less efficient bulbs with LED bulbs increases energy efficiency since LED bulbs use up to 90% less energy than incandescent bulbs, and can last up to 25 times longer. Link to the full article below!

TomKat UC Carbon Neutrality Project

UCSB's Institute for Energy Efficiency will lead the TomKat UC Carbon Neutrality Project, in partnership with the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, to develop and deploy solutions to combat climate change. The University of California launched the project with a $300,000 gift from the TomKat foundation, established by Tom Steyer and Kathryn Taylor.