Wood drying

• We have developed the world’s first rollable and fully printable solar cell made from
  perovskite, a material that is much less expensive to produce than silicon.
• The silicon solar cells that are so recognisable to us have a significant limitation.
• In research labs, using highly controlled production methods in environments where oxygen and water are completely removed, perovskite solar cells can now match the electricity generation of silicon solar cells.
• But cheap perovskite solar cells that do away with silicon have yet to be manufactured on a commercial scale.

How our solar cell works

• In the past, this had been achieved by heating gold in a vacuum until it evaporated, and catching the vapour on the perovskite solar cell to form electrodes.
• The result is large volumes of flexible, rollable solar cells that come out of the printing press ready to generate power.

More work needed

• The 10% power conversion efficiency achieved by these rollable printed cells is useful, and higher than the first commercial silicon panels.
• There is an engineering challenge to overcome in order that high-volume, commercially produced perovskite solar panels can match the energy generation of silicon.
• But the possibility of producing hundreds of thousands of square metres of flexible perovskite solar cells is now a step closer.

• Walker & Dunlop, Inc. issued two reports today, the Multifamily Outlook (MFO) and the Alliant Strategic Investments (ASI) Impact Report.
• Walker & Dunlop’s semi-annual Multifamily Outlook provides insightful commentaries on current market trends with a spotlight in this issue on the Los Angeles real estate market.
• Walker & Dunlop demonstrates how affordable housing investment makes good financial sense while doing good for our communities.
• The highly anticipated annual ASI Impact Report highlights the efforts of ASI, a Walker & Dunlop company, to preserve affordable housing communities across the U.S.

• Since mid-March, the global average sea surface temperature is over 21℃ – the highest since satellite records began.
• Climate change is the big picture – nine-tenths of all heat trapped by greenhouse gases goes into the oceans.
• During this cycle, cooler water from deep in the ocean upwells to the surface.
• If El Niño develops, climatologists estimate it could add an extra 0.2℃ to global temperatures, which would nudge some areas past 1.5℃ of warming for the first time.

What are we seeing?

• These winds have stopped the upwelling of deep colder waters from cooling the surface.
• Read more:
  Shifting ocean currents are pushing more and more heat into the Southern Hemisphere’s cooler waters

Why do the oceans matter so much?

• At the poles, it’s easier for sunlight to glance off, which is why they are colder.
• But the equator gets the full force of the sun, heating up air and water.
• A startling study suggests the earth system trapped roughly 380 zettajoules of extra heat from 1971-2020 – with the oceans taking up 90% of that.
• Our research has found warmer currents – where heat is concentrated – are pushing further south, towards Antarctica.

Is that why my ocean swims are so warm this month?

• In Sydney, many people have been surprised by how warm the water has felt when they dare a dip this month.
• That warm Sydney dip is due to the oceans holding their heat from summer and autumn.
• For a person swimming the contrast makes the ocean feel warm compared to the air, particularly if a breeze is blowing.
• Read more:
  El Niño is coming, and ocean temps are already at record highs – that can spell disaster for fish and corals

$586 million Western Union settlement: Be careful about the company your company keeps

• According to the lawsuit, the company’s own in-house data documented that.  For example, between 2004 and 2015, Western Union received 146,909 complaints about bogus online purchases, totaling at least $187 million in losses.
• Fraudulent lotteries accounted for another 75,543 complaints, totaling $86 million in losses.
• Of Western Union’s total network of 515,000 agents, the FTC says a small number account for the vast majority of consumer complaints.
• In 2012, Mexico had 17,710 Western Union agent locations, but 137 – less than 1% of them – accounted for more than 80% of the reported fraud.
• In certain countries where Western Union was at a particularly high risk for use by criminals – Nigeria, for example – Western Union had rarely, if ever, terminated an agent for fraud as of October 2015.