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Treasures of Lake Kivu

05.12.2010

The large African Lake Kivu, lying on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, hides in its depths a real energy treasure. At a depth of 300-500 meters, methane is dissolved in lake water - as much as 65 cubic kilometers of natural gas.

Rwanda has recently begun to develop these reserves by placing in its waters a floating platform of the type used for the extraction of gas and oil in the seas. From a depth of 320 meters, a thousand cubic meters of gas are pumped out every hour. It operates a 30-megawatt thermal power plant located nearby. It is planned to increase its capacity to 2013 megawatts by 200 in order to supply electricity to neighboring countries. Gas reserves will last at least a hundred years.

Where does the methane in the lake come from? It has accumulated over millennia thanks to the activity of bacteria that decompose the remains of dead plants and animals that sink to the bottom. But with this gas, the content of which in the lake has increased by 30% over the past 20 years, there may be a danger associated.

Lake Kivu lies on a large geological fault; craters of several extinct volcanoes have been found at its bottom. If they wake up, disaster for the entire region is guaranteed.

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50-megapixel Samsung ISOCELL GN1 sensor 24.05.2020

The family of Samsung ISOCELL photosensors for smartphone cameras has been replenished with another novelty - a model called ISOCELL GN1 with an optical format of 1/1,31". , which supports both Dual Pixel and Tetracell technologies.

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