Meta-Materials Mega-Thread

The phrase "metallic-organic framework" (MOF) has been appearing in headlines with more frequency, seemingly out of nowhere. Then again, when the material science revolution is fully underway, we will also wonder where the heck it came from. 

MOFs fall into the same general category as meta-materials, related to nano-this and graphene-that. These articles are a reminder that we're in for a whole new world. Kind of like what plastic did for the post-war world we live in today, or the synthetic chemical revolution of the late 1800's that gave our world "colors". 

Image credit: Metal Organic Framework by Mike Gipple at NETL

Programmable synthetic materials

Aug 2020, phys.org

https://phys.org/news/2020-08-programmable-synthetic-materials.html

In the future, MOFs could form the basis of programmable chemical molecules: for instance, an MOF could be programmed to introduce an active pharmaceutical ingredient into the body to target infected cells and then break down the active ingredient into harmless substances once it is no longer needed. Or MOFs could be programmed to release different drugs at different times.

via University of California Berkeley: Sequencing of metals in multivariate metal-organic frameworks, Science (2020). DOI: 10.1126/science.aaz4304 

Breakthrough technology purifies water using the power of sunlight

Aug 2020, phys.org

https://techxplore.com/news/2020-08-breakthrough-technology-purifies-power-sunlight.html

Metal-organic frameworks are a class of compounds consisting of metal ions that form a crystalline material with the largest surface area of any material known. In fact, MOFs are so porous that they can fit the entire surface of a football field in a teaspoon.

via Monash University: A sunlight-responsive metal–organic framework system for sustainable water desalination, Nature Sustainability (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41893-020-0590-x

Study shows promising material can store solar energy for months or years

Dec 2020, phys.org

https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-material-solar-energy-months-years.html

In tests, the researchers exposed the material to UV light, which causes the azobenzene molecules to change shape to a strained configuration inside the MOF pores. This process stores the energy in a similar way to the potential energy of a bent spring. Importantly, the narrow MOF pores trap the azobenzene molecules in their strained shape, meaning that the potential energy can be stored for long periods of time at room temperature.

The energy is released again when external heat is applied as a trigger to 'switch' its state, and this release can be very quick—a bit like a spring snapping back straight. This provides a heat boost which could be used to warm other materials of devices.

Further tests showed the material was able to store the energy for at least four months. This is an exciting aspect of the discovery as many light-responsive materials switch back within hours or a few days. The long duration of the stored energy opens up possibilities for cross-seasonal storage.

via by Lancaster University: Kieran Griffiths et al, Long-Term Solar Energy Storage under Ambient Conditions in a MOF-Based Solid–Solid Phase-Change Material, Chemistry of Materials (2020). DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.0c02708

Physicists create tunable superconductivity in twisted graphene 'nanosandwich'

Feb 2021, phys.org

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-physicists-tunable-superconductivity-graphene-nanosandwich.html

Come on with that name though.

via Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Tunable strongly coupled superconductivity in magic-angle twisted trilayer graphene, Nature (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03192-0

Flash graphene rocks strategy for plastic waste

Oct 2020, phys.org

https://phys.org/news/2020-10-graphene-strategy-plastic.html

It's called flashing -- expose plastic waste to eight seconds of high-intensity alternating current, followed by the DC jolt. You'll get turbostratic graphene. Yes, graphene from garbage. $125 of electricity turns a ton of plastic into a ton of graphene.

via Rice University: Wala A. Algozeeb et al, Flash Graphene from Plastic Waste, ACS Nano (2020). DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.0c06328

Researchers use origami to solve space travel challenge

Dec 2020, phys.org

https://phys.org/news/2020-12-origami-space.html

Origami bellow-bag fuel storage containers.

via Washington State University: Kjell Westra et al, Compliant Polymer Origami Bellows in Cryogenics, Cryogenics (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.cryogenics.2020.103226

DNA origami enables fabricating superconducting nanowires

Jan 2021, phys.org

https://phys.org/news/2021-01-dna-origami-enables-fabricating-superconducting.html

 

via the American Institute of Physics: "DNA origami-based superconducting nanowires" AIP Advances, aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/5.0029781

Researchers turn coal powder into graphite in microwave oven

Jan 2021, phys.org

https://phys.org/news/2021-01-coal-powder-graphite-microwave-oven.html

Using copper foil, glass containers and a conventional household microwave oven, University of Wyoming researchers have demonstrated that pulverized coal powder can be converted into higher-value nano-graphite.

"By cutting the copper foil into a fork shape, the sparks were induced by the microwave radiation, generating an extremely high temperature of more than 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit within a few seconds," says Masi, lead author of the paper. "This is why you shouldn't place a metal fork inside a microwave oven."

via University of Wyoming: Christoffer A. Masi et al, Converting raw coal powder into polycrystalline nano-graphite by metal-assisted microwave treatment. Nano-Structures & Nano-Objects Volume 25, 2021, 100660, ISSN 2352-507X, doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoso.2020.100660

'Magnetic graphene' forms a new kind of magnetism

Feb 2021, phys.org

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-magnetic-graphene-kind-magnetism.html

via University of Cambridge: Matthew J. Coak et al. 'Emergent Magnetic Phases in Pressure-Tuned van der Waals Antiferromagnet FePS3.' Physical Review X (2021). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevX.11.011024

A new way to make wood transparent, stronger and lighter than glass

Feb 2021, phys.org

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-wood-transparent-stronger-lighter-glass.html

The conventional method for making wood transparent involves using chemicals to remove the lignin—a process that takes a long time, produces a lot of liquid waste and results in weaker wood. In this new effort, the researchers have found a way to make wood transparent without having to remove the lignin.

The process involved changing the lignin rather than removing it. The researchers removed lignin molecules that are involved in producing wood color. First, they applied hydrogen peroxide to the wood surface and then exposed the treated wood to UV light (or natural sunlight). The wood was then soaked in ethanol to further clean it. Next, they filled in the pores with clear epoxy to make the wood smooth.

via University of Maryland: Qinqin Xia et al. Solar-assisted fabrication of large-scale, patternable transparent wood, Science Advances (2021). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abd7342

Japan developing wooden satellites to cut space junk

Dec 2020, BBC News

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-55463366

Just Lévy Things

Lévy patterns are one of the craziest things there is; proof that free will is an illusion, and one of those typically invisible patterns that can be used to predict our behavior (and to mimic our behavior, for those of us making artificial humans).

It happens all over the place, from the way animals forage, to the way our eyes move across a computer screen. It's one of those universal laws that happens in biology and in physics too (called Brownian walk, or Brownian motion). But you might remember it more easily by calling it simply "foraging behavior", a mixture of small random movements with less frequent larger movements.

It's no secret that we do this; our eyes get mapped when we look at websites to figure out how to make us click-buy uncontrollably. Hidden cameras in retail shops do the same thing. Pedestrian traffic, vehicle traffic, pandemics even, you name it. 

What we don't know is the full "why" of Lévy walks. Why use such a chaotic approach; wouldn't a more rational approach get better results? Researchers at RIKEN made a simulation that found Lévy patterns popping up spontaneously at critical moments such as the edge between Exploitation vs Exploration -- for example when an animal has to decide whether to exploit areas that are already known to be beneficial, versus exploring for new areas.

You know exploit/explore, it's how you decide where to eat dinner -- on those nights when Old Trusty just isn't cutting it, then it's time to explore. But at the same time, you can't "explore" every night, or going out to eat would be exhausting, and less rewarding in general. So the next time you're at that critical juncture, just let the chaos take over. Or, soon enough, let the Lévy algorithm do it for you.

 

Chaotic Lévy walks are a good strategy for animals

Sep 2020, phys.org

https://phys.org/news/2020-09-chaotic-lvy-good-strategy-animals.html

via the RIKEN Center: Masato S. Abe. Functional advantages of Lévy walks emerging near a critical point, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2020). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2001548117

See Also:

Pedestrians at crosswalks found to follow the Lévy walk process

Apr 2019, phys.org

https://phys.org/news/2019-04-pedestrians-crosswalks-levy.html

Musical melodies obey same laws as foraging animals

Jan 2016, phys.org

http://phys.org/news/2016-01-musical-melodies-laws-foraging-animals.html

Post Script:

When you see RIKEN Center being involved, you know you're in for some cool stuff. 

Anthromimesis at the Crossroads

It's all coming together, anthropogenic planets, anthromimetic algorithms and of course extraterrestrials. 

Image credit: Mandelbox in the Box, Krzysztof Marczak

The science-fiction scenario of an artificial planet is already here

Feb 2021, phys.org

https://sciencex.com/news/2021-02-science-fiction-scenario-artificial-planet.html

"The global mass produced by man exceeds all living biomass. We find that Earth is exactly at the crossover point; in the year 2020 (±6), the anthropogenic mass, which has recently doubled roughly every 20 years, will surpass all global living biomass."

via the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel: Emily Elhacham et al. Global human-made mass exceeds all living biomass, Nature (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-3010-5

Teaching AI agents to communicate and act in fantasy worlds

Nov 2020, phys.org

https://techxplore.com/news/2020-11-ai-agents-fantasy-worlds.html

They're called Agents. And they live in simulated realities. One day they'll invite us over for dinner.

"Researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology and Facebook AI Research have recently explored the possibility of equipping goal-driven agents with NLP [natural language processing] capabilities so that they can speak with other characters and complete desirable actions within fantasy game environments."

Ammanabrolu et al., How to motivate your dragon: teaching goal-driven agents to speak and act in fantasy worlds. arXiv:2010.00685 [cs.CL]. arxiv.org/abs/2010.00685

Using game-theory to look for extraterrestrial intelligence

Oct 2020, phys.org

https://phys.org/news/2020-10-game-theory-extraterrestrial-intelligence.html

The SETI paradox says that we haven't discovered signals from aliens because they're afraid it might draw the attention of adversaries. But game theory says that the one who has the least to lose signals first. Or in other words, the one who has more access to information signals first. 

Unbelievably, this narrows the search down to just one exoplanet: K2-155d. It's suggested that because it's more visible to us than the other way around, that we be the first to send a signal.

Eamonn Kerins. Mutual detectability: a targeted SETI strategy that avoids the SETI Paradox, arXiv:2010.04089 [astro-ph.EP] , arxiv.org/abs/2010.04089

Partially related, my theory for world peace is to unite the world against the probability of an alien race attacking Earth. I take this idea from the book Three Body Problem where they spend hundreds of years preparing for the arrival of an alien race that may or may not destroy them. All the resources of the entire population of Earth are brought together to solve this problem.

There can't be world peace without a world enemy. So we should create one. Or rather, the probability of one. Which shouldn't be too hard. What's the chances, and how far away are they, and so how long would it take for them to get to us. Now we work backwards, and set a long term plan to solve the problem, together. 

Don't Look Now

Private-equity firm revives zombie fossil-fuel power plant to mine bitcoin

May 2021, Ars Technica

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/05/private-equity-firm-revives-zombie-fossil-fuel-power-plant-to-mine-bitcoin/

Can't beat that headline though.

Image credit: A picture of a crypto mining farm in Nadvoitsy Russia, stolen from the internet.

This is now the first example of a power plant, coal or otherwise, that's dedicated exclusively to mining. Consider that the choke point for mining coin is ultimately the cost of electricity, and if you're generating your own electricity, well then you've got a good deal going on. The upstate New York power plant, called Greenridge, will produce 500 MW of mining capacity by 2025, and last year they mined 1,186 bitcoin at a cost of $2,869 per coin. 

People are so busy talking trash about this, they haven't had time to recognize it's actually an improvement in efficiency, since the power isn't being transported anywhere. 

I thought I had something to say about the relative climate impact of crypto, until I asked some very rudimentary questions. Here's some answers:

A person in the United States is consuming somewhere around 30 kilowatt hours per day.

The Gaza Strip is at the bottom of the list at 0.0002 kWh per person per day.

Somalia, currently in famine, is at 0.05 kWh.

Guatemala, just chosen at random, is at 6.7 kWh.

Kazakhstan, where much of the Chinese mining has moved since the crackdown, at 13.5 kWh.

-wiki

A bitcoin transaction, on the other hand is worth about 1,500 kWh.

-cnet

To Synchronize is Human

aka Sync or Swarm

aka Sync and Share

To synchronize is only human. No need to resist. The meatnet is our future.

Robot swarms follow instructions to create art

Oct 2020, phys.org

https://techxplore.com/news/2020-10-robot-swarms-art.html

One of those things that I should be really excited about but I'm not because I thought we were doing this like ten years ago: "This system could allow artists to control the robot swarm as it creates the artwork in real time". Now if we got swarms of artists to control swarms of robots in real time?

Image credit: I had to take this picture of synchronized fireflies from the New York Times, because this article just came out. 

How you and your friends can play a video game together using only your minds

July 2019, University of Washington News

https://www.washington.edu/news/2019/07/01/play-a-video-game-using-only-your-mind/

A University of Washington team is doing telepathic collective problem-solving. It's called BrainNet. Three people play a Tetris by talking to each other with their brain waves and wireless signal. I don't know why this doesn't freak me out as much as the networked monkey brains. 

Playing Tetris by committee

May 2019, BBC

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/technology-48282532

Similar to the above article, this one from UC Davis -- The Octopad it's called. It's a single button controller where each player can only do one movement in the game, forcing consensus between players.

Shared control allows a robot to use two hands working together to complete tasks

May 2019, phys.org

https://techxplore.com/news/2019-05-robot-tasks.html

Bimanual robot manipulation by sharing control with a human being. "A more fully capable augmented assistant".

Spontaneous robot dances highlight a new kind of order in active matter

Jan 2021, phys.org

https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-spontaneous-robot-highlight-kind.html

This article has it all: microrobotic swarms, active matter, metamaterials and smarticles. The scientists propose a new principle where active matter systems spontaneously order. Something about "low rattling" states.

Fish-inspired robots coordinate movements without any outside control

Jan 2021, phys.org

https://techxplore.com/news/2021-01-fish-inspired-robots-movements.html

From the lab that brought you the 1,000-robot Kilobot swarm and the termite-inspired robotic construction crew.

Researchers develop a mathematical model to explain the complex architecture of termite mounds

Jan 2021, phys.org

https://phys.org/news/2021-01-mathematical-complex-architecture-termite-mounds.html

"Here is an example where we see that the usual division between the study of nonliving matter and living matter breaks down," said Mahadevan. "The insects create a micro-environment, a niche, in response to pheromone concentrations. This change in the physical environment changes the flow of pheromones, which then changes the termite behaviors, linking physics and biology through a dynamic architecture that modulates and is modulated by behavior."

Valve’s Gabe Newell imagines “editing” personalities with future headsets

Jan 2021, Ars Technica

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/01/valves-gabe-newell-imagines-editing-personalities-with-future-headsets/

"Russian forest". Video game makers are thinking about virtual reality. But they're also thinking about controlling your brain with a computer, or vice versa. 

Scientists create new class of “Turing patterns” in colonies of E. coli

Feb 2021, Ars Technica

https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/02/scientists-create-new-class-of-turing-patterns-in-colonies-of-e-coli/

Some sci fi shit right here. It might not seem like a synchronization thing at first, but it will be. Keep an eye out for the activator-inhibitor morphogens that make leopard spots and tiger stripes, because they will also me making decisions for you in the future. 

Scientists prove Turing patterns manifest at nanoscale

Jul 2021, phys.org

https://phys.org/news/2021-07-scientists-turing-patterns-manifest-nanoscale.html

It's algorithms all the way down -- these patterns are found in the positions of individual atoms. But what's more: "The finding of the mysterious Bi stripes was serendipitous".

Implanted wireless device triggers mice to form instant bond

May 2021, phys.org

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-05-implanted-wireless-device-triggers-mice.html

GTFO. First of all, "remote-control social interactions among pairs or groups of mice". Actually, that's all. 

For the first time ever, Northwestern engineers and neurobiologists have wirelessly programmed—and then deprogrammed—mice to socially interact with one another in real time. The advancement is thanks to a first-of-its-kind ultraminiature, wireless, battery-free and fully implantable device that uses light to activate neurons.

via Northwestern University: Wireless multilateral devices for optogenetic studies of individual and social behaviors, Nature Neuroscience (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41593-021-00849-x

Post Script:

Women's menstrual cycles temporarily synchronize with moon cycles

Jan 2021, phys.org

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-01-women-menstrual-temporarily-synchronize-moon.html

Also:

Sync or Swarm, Network Address, 2012

Artificial Influence

AI can now learn to manipulate human behavior

Feb 2021, phys.org

https://sciencex.com/news/2021-02-ai-human-behavior.html

Three different experiments -- one where the AI learned the human "choice patterns" and then used that info to influence future choices (70% effective), another where they arranged a particular sequence to get the participants to make mistakes (25% increase in mistakes), and another where the player is manipulated on how to invest money, and it could either maximize the amount invested, or fairly distribute it ("highly successful" at both). Did someone mention high frequency trading?

via CSIRO's Data61 in Australia: Amir Dezfouli et al. Adversarial vulnerabilities of human decision-making, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2020). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2016921117

Robots can use eye contact to draw out reluctant participants in group interactions

Mar 2021, phys.org

https://techxplore.com/news/2021-03-robots-eye-contact-reluctant-group.html

You should be a little creeped out by this: "By redirecting its gaze to less proficient players, a robot can elicit involvement from even the most reluctant participants." Also sounds like an inevitable Zoom update for online learning.

via KTH Royal Institute of Technology: Robot Gaze Can Mediate Participation Imbalance in Groups with Different Skill Levels, ACM Digital Library, DOI: 10.1145/3434073.3444670

Using AI to gauge the emotional state of cows and pigs

May 2021, phys.org

https://phys.org/news/2021-04-ai-gauge-emotional-state-cows.html

And it works on humans too, unless you don't consider Uyghurs human:

AI emotion-detection software tested on Uyghurs

May 2021, BBC News

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-57101248

MeowTalk: Alexa developer’s app to translate cat’s miaow

Nov 2020, BBC News

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-54991693

You won't call it animal telepathy when it comes out, but if you were able to explain it to somebody from the 19th century, that's what they would call it.

Natural language processing helps identify patients with chronic cough

Feb 2021, phys.org

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-02-natural-language-patients-chronic.html

Chronic cough is hard to identify from electronic health records because it doesn't have a diagnostic code. 

This is a great example of how we're at the tipping point in the computer paradigm. Diagnostic codes are a way for us to leverage traditional computer technology. We have to make our data machine-readable for the computers to use it. Like a form of pre-digestion, we chew the food before we give it to them.

But now, the computer is the one who digests the data, and then gives it to us. It's the paradigm in reverse. "Unstructured data?" No problem. Our baby Babbages are all grown up now. 

via Regenstrief Institute, Indiana University School of Medicine and Merck & Co: Michael Weiner et al. Identifying and characterizing a chronic cough cohort through electronic health records, Chest (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.chest.2020.12.011

Measure This

I studied sustainable design in graduate school. By the end of my courses, before I even graduated, I was already disillusioned. The moment came during my last final exam. I was asked to run a carbon footprint calculator, inputting variables as close as possible to my living conditions, get the verdict on my contribution to the climate apocalypse (I think we were still calling it global warming at that time), and then give a critical opinion on the utility of such a thing as a carbon calculator. 

Image credit: Calculator, Encyclopedia Britannica

The purpose of the carbon calculator is to give you an idea about how "sustainable" your life is, and as a by-product, to give you some insight into how you can reduce your footprint. (And as I have now come to understand, the real reason for such a thing, by our own deception of course, is to deflect and divert the blame and the responsibility for this mess from consolidated corporate entities to private individuals, like me and you.)

They ask you questions about the square footage of your dwelling, number of windows, wall thickness and insulation values, and a million other things. I ran my numbers, got my expected dose of existential guilt, and proceeded to bash the buttons out of this carbon calculator with my recently-acquired knowledge of building performance, environmental control systems, and life cycle assessments of building materials. 

The calculator had good intentions, but I was just finishing a graduate program -- 7 years of studying how buildings use energy -- and I was not impressed.

For one, the calculator was asking the thickness of my walls and the insulation value (these are the number one variable in your energy usage*), but I was living in a basement at the time, so my walls were half buried in the ground, surrounded by the most insulating thing there is -- year-round 55-degree earth. They asked about square footage, but my ceiling was 12 inches lower than usual, because I was in a basement, which makes the volume of the room that needs to be heated/cooled substantially smaller; no metrics for ceiling height in the calculator. But that was just the beginning. They were asking questions about appliances and Energy Star ratings; I didn't even have a full-sized refrigerator, or a freezer, as a single adult, which is unusual to say the least. There was no option for "no freezer".

They never even got into food or food miles; 75% of my food at the time was coming from the bakery in town and the farm a half mile from my house. You eat a lot of food, which takes lots of energy, but the outsized bulk of that energy comes from moving it from the ground where it's grown to your mouth. I'm writing this from the New York metropolitan area; think how far that is from California, and how many miles per gallon, per pound of food you eat from Trader Joe's, and put that in your carbon calculator.

We had chickens; we fed them grain and they gave us eggs (and eventually chicken soup). Because so much of my food did not come from a supermarket, I had little garbage, and whatever garbage I had was composted or recycled; I didn't use the municipal garbage truck for 7 years. That wasn't measured in the calculator either. I rode my bike to get around as much as I could, and when I couldn't, I was driving a Honda Civic, one of the most fuel-efficient vehicles at the time. When I went on vacation, I took the bus instead of an airplane across the country. No vacation plans in the carbon calculator.  

I was into the challenge. I had joined together the nature-worshipping simplicity of Bodhi Thoreau with the science-based carbon accounting of the 21st century environmentalist movement. This wasn't just about buying an Energy Star refrigerator, this was about a way of life. I had rearranged in intricate detail myriad aspects of my life to lower my carbon impact, and yet my score on this calculator was pretty average.

I was pissed. And then I graduated. And then the American housing market collapsed, taking the world's economy with it, so I never did get a job as a sustainable architect. I survived nonetheless, and over the following decade, my unusual, low-impact, transcendental lifestyle changed by shades until I was putting ice cubes in my water (BTU points) and buying furniture from a store and not a garage sale (embodied energy points). I even had to start using an air conditioner because I moved out of the basement, and it got too hot sometimes, because you know, the climate apocalypse. 

I didn't give up on sustainability, but I did come to a realization about the individual approach to saving the planet -- it all evens out, and you're not making much of a difference. I'm not saying what you do has no effect, but I'll bet you don't realize that for just about every energy-saving task you commit yourself to, there's an energy-wasting by-product attached to that task on the other end that you don't even realize is there. You can't escape it; it's physics. The carbon calculator in the front of your mind is balanced by the calorie calculator in the back.

Just like the planet, we have limits too. And although we often ignore those limits, it doesn't make them go away. Keep filling that Solo cup at the backyard bbq, you know what I mean. Everything has to even out in the end. This report from the University of Geneva agrees:

Mental accounting is impacting sustainable behavior

Oct 2020, phys.org

https://phys.org/news/2020-10-mental-accounting-impacting-sustainable-behavior.html

"Human beings tend to create separate mental budget compartments where specific acts of consumption and payments are linked."

Hanging your clothes out to dry means you might be less likely to separate your recycling; your "sustainability budget" has been all used up. You just bought a brand new super-efficient air conditioner, so you're leaving all the windows open in the house, thinking you can afford a bit more waste now, with all that Energy Star bling.

They call it mental accounting in this report, but it's actually your subliminal physiological calorie counter that's running in the background of your front-end carbon calculator. "Being sustainable" takes energy, both mental and physical. Where do you think single-serving silverware came from?

The point here is to take it easy. I mean, the planet it is going to kill us for sure, but you're not going to stop it on your own by becoming a low-impact warrior. An electric car might help, maybe a weekday vegetarian? But to sacrifice your way of life at the altar of sustainability is not going to do what you think it's going to do. Carbon in, carbon out.

*Solar geometry is actually the most important of all, but it's too unlikely that you won't be able to do anything about. If you can, put the long side facing the south, with awnings angled to block the sun in the summer but allow it in the winter, i.e., solar geometry. 

Just the Gulf of Mexico, on fire. July 2021.

Notes:

via University of Geneva: Ulf J. J. Hahnel et al. Mental accounting mechanisms in energy decision-making and behaviour, Nature Energy (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41560-020-00704-6

Post Script, on equilibrium and sociothermodynamics:

If you change the order of the questions on a survey, respondents will change their answer, BUT when compiling all the answers, they will always cancel out; ALWAYS, an absolute measure that is almost never seen in social science research: Quantum Question Equality, Network Address, 2014.

Mostly unrelated post script:

Lots of people think astrology and astronomy are the same thing: Astronomological, Network Address, 2014.