The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced the successful completion of the Long Duration Storage Shot program. Announced in 2021, the program was created for the Biden administration's goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2035 from the electric grid and economy-wide in 2050 by reducing the storage costs of electricity by 90% when storing energy for at least 10 hours. Long-duration storage of electricity and energy has been a long-sought-after technological accomplishment due to both the massive benefits of the consistency and reliability of renewable energy, and thus also improving the United States' energy independence, as the demand for fossil fuel by power plants is expected to be greatly reduced. The newly completed storage system primarily utilizes sodium-ion batteries, but is supplemented by the previously ubiquitous lithium-ion batteries that many are familiar with. Previously, the United States' grid energy storage was primarily based on Pumped-Storage h...
Inheriting a Lost Legacy Located in Little Palestine, just southwest of Chicago, is a pastry shop continuing a legacy that began back in 1896. Knafa Kataifi prepares several types of Knafeh from scratch, but is most famous for their Knafeh Nabulseyeh, made with golden brown fine pastry dough, stretchy Nabulsi cheese, and soaked in sweet sugar syrup. However, a recent addition has been added to their menu, Knafa Arabiya, a savory version of Knafeh that substitutes cheese with nuts, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Uncommon even when Gaza still stood, this desert was barely, if at all, affordable for the residents of Gaza, and almost impossible to get through Israel's border restrictions. This recipe was adopted from The Gaza Kitchen: A Palestinian Culinary Journey , as a form of remembrance of one of the most famous Gaza sweets shop, Abu Al Saoud, or Saqallah's sweet shop, whose family home was bombed by an Israeli air raid in 2023 ju...