Can solar power transform the electricity market as much as shale did for oil and gas? This question has been posed in a new study by Wood MacKenzie, an international energy research and consulting company. Continue reading… “Can solar be the next shale?”
Last year, First Solar set a world record for conversion efficiency mark for cadmium telluride at 20.4 percent. A year later and that figure has now been easily passed with a new record of 21.5 percent, and with that, First Solar anticipates to exceed 22 percent in 2015. Continue reading… “Conversion efficiency record crushed by First Solar at 21.5%”
Based on printing technologies, VTT Technical Centre of Finland has developed and utilized a mass production method allowing the manufacturing of decorative, organic solar panels. Freedom of design increases the range of panel applications on the surfaces of interior and exterior building spaces.
Continue reading… “Roll to roll manufactured decorative solar panels to be 10 times cheaper”
GTM Research’s solar analysts release every quarter, the most important data and findings from the past three months. The most important charts from the Q4 2014 Solar Executive Briefing follow. Continue reading… “8 Solar trends for 2015 to follow”
Dutch company harnessing electricity from living plants.
The Dutch company Plant-e, is using living plants to power more than 300 streetlights, WiFi hotspots, and cell phone chargers. The “Starry Sky” project started in November 2014 by Plant-e near Amsterdam in an old ammunition site called HAMburg.
Continue reading… “Dutch company using living plants to power streetlights”
San Francisco to Los Angeles in 35 minutes flat—that was the dream of the Hyperloop.
Back in 2013, Elon Musk introduced the world to this dream with a 60-page white paper. The paper caused a stir. The idea—a levitating, solar-power, supersonic train—was both pure geek porn and a transportation revolution in the making. It definitely captured people’s imagination.
Continue reading… “How Elon Musk’s Hyperloop will Change Transportation”
Get your toilet humor and poop puns ready – it’s time for another edition of “What do astronauts do with all that doo-doo?” NASA recently asked researchers to come up with a way to use all of the human waste expected to pile up when it builds a moon base. The best answer was to use it to fuel spacecrafts on their trips back to Earth.
Continue reading… “Human Waste can be used as Fuel in Space”
Audi’s new Tesla Model S rival will offer a
280-mile all-electric range with room for a whole family
Audi has revealed that an all-new, all-electric family car with a 280-mile range is currently under development. Technical development boss at Audi, Prof. Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg revealed that the model, which is set to rival the Tesla Model S, will arrive in 2017.
Continue reading… “Audi to come out with an Electric Car that Rivals Tesla”
Venture capitalists invested a record amount in agriculture and food startups in the third quarter this year, totaling $269 million across 41 deals. Conservis, for example, raised $10 million to offer farmers a real-time view of operations. FarmLogs raised $4 million to deliver apps that help farmers increase their productivity and profitability by identifying the crops most likely to sell. In November, Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors and Flextronics Lab IX launched Farm2050, a collective to support “ag-tech” startups whose solutions boost global food production.
Continue reading… “Internet of Things Innovations in Agriculture”
Robin Speronis lives off the grid in Florida, completely independent of the city’s water and electric system. A few weeks ago, officials ruled her off-grid home illegal. Officials cited the International Property Maintenance Code, which mandates that homes be connected to an electricity grid and a running water source.
That’s like saying our dependency on corporations isn’t even a choice. The choice to live without most utilities has been ongoing for Robin, the self-sufficient woman has lived for more than a year and a half using solar energy, a propane camping stove and rain water.
In the end, she was found not guilty of not having a proper sewer or electrical system; but was guilty of not being hooked up to an approved water supply.
Continue reading… “It’s Illegal to Live off the Grid in the State of Florida”
For many more people than realize it, electric cars are already adequate for their needs and better than a gasmobile for their bank account and quality of life. However, it often isn’t good enough for disruptive technology to be better than the incumbents. It has to be much better. The target for electric cars, in order to meet that challenge, is a very long-range and affordable electric car. That would bring electric car convenience to another level, and leave gasmobiles with not a single actual advantage over electric cars, compared to nearly 10 for electric cars.
Continue reading… “Nissan’s New Electric Car will go farther than ever”
The articles posted on the Impact Lab represent an unusual mix, all of which are oriented around future trends, future thinking, or recent innovations that may more may not alter the course of history.
With that in mind, here are the posts that caught most people’s attention over 2014.
Continue reading… “Top 10 Articles on ImpactLab.net”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.