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Kenya launches Africa's largest wind farm
Lake Turkana Wind Power is expected to produce enough electricity to power 330,000 local homes.

- The new wind farm is located in a remote part of Kenya with strong winds.
- Kenya is leading Africa in terms of renewable energy and hopes to soon cease its reliance on fossil fuels altogether.
- Globally, China represents the biggest market for wind power.
Kenya has launched Africa's largest wind farm, a move that should bring the nation closer to its ambitious goal of 100 percent green energy by 2020.
Lake Turkana Wind Power includes 365 turbines in northern Kenya near Lake Turkana, a remote area with strong winds. It's estimated to produce about 310 megawatts — or enough electricity to power about 330,000 local homes — contributing approximately 15 percent of the nation's total power supply.
"Today, we again raised the bar for the continent as we unveil Africa's single largest wind farm," said Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta. "Kenya is without doubt on course to be a global leader in renewable energy."
One major benefit of Lake Turkana Wind Power is that it's expected to lower costs of electricity for many of the nation's 52 million people. That's mainly because the wind farm will sell electricity to Kenya Power & Lighting Company Ltd — the nation's biggest utility company — at a fixed price. Lake Turkana Wind Power cost about $700 million to develop, and was paid for by an international consortium of lenders and producers, including the Danish Climate Investment Fund, which was established to invest in renewable energy projects in developing nations.
Carlo van Wageningen, co-founder and board member of Lake Turkana Wind Power, said the new wind farm is a "perfect example of a PPP, which is a private-public partnership."
The beautiful sights and sounds of Africa’s largest wind energy power plant, generating 310MW at full capacity & co… https://t.co/ev05mPxYBz— Nzioka Waita (@Nzioka Waita)1563546688.0
Kenya's renewable energy sector is by far the strongest in Africa. The nation currently generates about 70 percent of its electricity from renewable sources, primarily hydropower and geothermal. Kenya ranks 9th in the world for its geothermal power generating capacity of up to 700 megawatts, according to the Renewables 2018 Global Status report. Lake Turkana Wind Power isn't the continent's only wind farm — other large-scale farms are currently operating in Morocco, Ethiopia and South Africa.
Globally, China is leading the way in wind power. In 2018, the nation "installed an additional capacity of 21 Gigawatt and has become the first country with an installed wind power capacity of more than 200 Gigawatt," reads a report from the World Wind Energy Association (WWEA). "It has re-taken the growth path after a not-so-strong year in 2017 when a comparatively modest 19 Gigawatt were installed. China continues its undisputed position as the world's wind power leader, with an accumulated wind capacity of 217Gigawatt."
The U.S. has the second largest wind power market, and soon will likely become the second nation to reach an installed capacity of more than 100 Gigawatts, according to the WWEA.
What early US presidents looked like, according to AI-generated images
"Deepfakes" and "cheap fakes" are becoming strikingly convincing — even ones generated on freely available apps.
Abraham Lincoln, George Washington
- A writer named Magdalene Visaggio recently used FaceApp and Airbrush to generate convincing portraits of early U.S. presidents.
- "Deepfake" technology has improved drastically in recent years, and some countries are already experiencing how it can weaponized for political purposes.
- It's currently unknown whether it'll be possible to develop technology that can quickly and accurately determine whether a given video is real or fake.
The future of deepfakes
<p>In 2018, Gabon's president Ali Bongo had been out of the country for months receiving medical treatment. After Bongo hadn't been seen in public for months, rumors began swirling about his condition. Some suggested Bongo might even be dead. In response, Bongo's administration released a video that seemed to show the president addressing the nation.</p><p>But the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=324528215059254" target="_blank">video</a> is strange, appearing choppy and blurry in parts. After political opponents declared the video to be a deepfake, Gabon's military attempted an unsuccessful coup. What's striking about the story is that, to this day, experts in the field of deepfakes can't conclusively verify whether the video was real. </p><p>The uncertainty and confusion generated by deepfakes poses a "global problem," according to a <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/is-seeing-still-believing-the-deepfake-challenge-to-truth-in-politics/#cancel" target="_blank">2020 report from The Brookings Institution</a>. In 2018, the U.S. Department of Defense released some of the first tools able to successfully detect deepfake videos. The problem, however, is that deepfake technology keeps improving, meaning forensic approaches may forever be one step behind the most sophisticated forms of deepfakes. </p><p>As the 2020 report noted, even if the private sector or governments create technology to identify deepfakes, they will:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"...operate more slowly than the generation of these fakes, allowing false representations to dominate the media landscape for days or even weeks. "A lie can go halfway around the world before the truth can get its shoes on," warns David Doermann, the director of the Artificial Intelligence Institute at the University of Buffalo. And if defensive methods yield results short of certainty, as many will, technology companies will be hesitant to label the likely misrepresentations as fakes."</p>The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced a number of new behaviours into daily routines, like physical distancing, mask-wearing and hand sanitizing. Meanwhile, many old behaviours such as attending events, eating out and seeing friends have been put on hold.
VR experiments manipulate how people feel about coffee
A new study looks at how images of coffee's origins affect the perception of its premiumness and quality.
Expert drinking coffee while wearing a VR headset.
- Images can affect how people perceive the quality of a product.
- In a new study, researchers show using virtual reality that images of farms positively influence the subjects' experience of coffee.
- The results provide insights on the psychology and power of marketing.
Is empathy always good?
Research has shown how important empathy is to relationships, but there are limits to its power.
