Wind power
The final update of the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) of 2012 global wind power installation numbers has recently been published. Now Clean Technica has updated the “Top Wind Power Countries” lists. They are all about looking at relative rankings (or creating them when they don’t yet exist). That simply tells us much more about who the true clean energy leaders are than looking at total installation numbers.
Continue reading… “Top wind power countries in the world”
Vertical Harvest’s three-storey-tall hydroponic greenhouse.
By 2050, there will be billions more hungry people in the world. Growing our food on vertical farms or under radical new lighting systems may be key to ensuring they have enough to eat. (Pics)
Continue reading… “Can urban farms feed a hungry world?”
Labor’s share of the world’s income is plunging, and the technology boom is to blame.
For the past thirty years, wages have evaporated as a share of the economy. Meanwhile, the proportion of national income consumed by profits, dividends, and capital gains has steadily grown. Capital 1, Labor 0.
Continue reading… “Robots are already stealing our paychecks”
China’s economy is undergoing a structural slowdown.
China has been way out front as the world’s most important source of economic growth for years. China has the world’s second largest economy and it continues to grow at a rapid clip but it is cooling as other enormous economies heat up.
Continue reading… “China is no longer the world’s most important source of growth”
Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan during the Global Alcohol Policy Symposium.
A couple months ago, Philip Howard, a professor at the University of Washington and the Central European University, was walking past Gezi Park with a Turkish friend at dusk. He had just joined Philip from prayers and asked him what he thought about the brewing debate over the park’s future. Like most Turkish voters, he is a fan of the country’s prime minister, Erdogan. Like most of the country’s voters, his friend easily integrates his faith with his daily routines. But he said simply “Istanbul doesn’t need another Mosque.” He started pointing off in different directions. “There’s one there, there and there. And there and there and there. Istanbul needs a park.”
Continue reading… “Why governments use broadcast TV and push dissidents to use Twitter”
Insects may be the food of the future.
In Western societies, eating insects is considered disgusting or even primitive. But 2 billion people elsewhere consume insects on a regular basis. According to a report released last month by the UN, the benefits of using insects as food is so great that it is high time we convert the other 5 billion people into insect-eaters.
Continue reading… “Insect-eating is the future of food”
Job quality is worsening around the globe, even where the unemployment rate is falling.
The “World of Work” annual report has been released by the UN’s International Labor Organization, and boy the results are depressing.
Continue reading… “Wealthy countries are creating more jobs by creating worse jobs”
The most important reason why we rank so poorly is the increase in single mothers who face an extraordinary burden relative to their overseas counterparts.
If you listen to the leaders in the United States this is the greatest country in the history of everything. But, if you read international surveys the U.S. is a disgrace among developed countries. The health care system is famously expensive and inaccessible. The education system is broken. And the income inequality, it’s just famous.
Continue reading… “How did the work-life balance get so awful in America?”
The rich got richer, and the poor kept on getting poorer.
In 2010, Zero Hedge started an annual series looking at the (re)distribution in the wealth of nations and social classes. What they found then (and what the media keeps rediscovering year after year to its great surprise) is that as a result of global central bank policy, the rich got richer, and the poor kept on getting poorer, even though as they predicted the global political powers would, at least superficially, seek to enforce policies that aimed to reverse this wealth redistribution from the poor to the rich (a doomed policy as the world’s legislative powers are largely in the lobby pocket of the world’s wealthiest who needless to say are less then willing to enact laws that reduce their wealth and leverage).
Continue reading… “The 0.6% world: Who owns what of the $223 trillion in gobal wealth”
Bangkok, Thailand
Bangkok is now the most visited city in the world by international tourists, according to the new Global Destination City Index, eking out London by less than one percent. But foreign visitors still spend more in New York than any other city by a wide margin.
Continue reading… “Bangkok is the #1 tourist destination in the world”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6WzyUgbT5A[/youtube]
Anjan Contractor’s 3D food printer might remind you of the “replicator” popularized in Star Trek where Captain Picard was constantly interrupting himself to order tea. Contractor’s company, Systems & Materials Research Corporation, just got a six month, $125,000 grant from NASA to create a prototype of his universal food synthesizer.
Continue reading… “The plan to end world hunger with 3D printed food”
The Internet of Things is nothing simpler than objects being connected to the internet.
Six billion objects in the world will be connected to the internet by 2015. The internet of things is nothing simpler, and more stunning, than objects being connected to the internet. At its most mind-blowing, these objects are learning and adapting to the behavior of the user. (Videos)
Continue reading… “The Internet of Things in action”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.