Off-grid solar
The off-grid clean energy market is booming. Sub-Saharan Africa is seeing 300 percent compound annual growth in off-grid lighting; Bangladesh is putting up 30,000 to 40,000 solar home systems every month; and d.light, a for-profit seller of solar lights, recently reached its1 millionth customer. (Video)
Continue reading… “Off-grid solar is the next big market in clean energy”
Putting a baby and a 4-year-old into a child care center cost more than the annual median rent in every single state.
It is no surprise to parents that child care costs are getting costlier and costlier, according to a new report. It costs families more to put an infant in a child care center than to cover tuition and fees at a public college in more than half of the states, according to a new analysis by Child Care Aware of America, a nonprofit advocacy group focused on child care access.
Imagine a world filled with hyperlinked smart objects that are constantly interacting over a network to improve user experience IRL. The ‘Internet of Things’ is perhaps the buzzwordiest buzzword in all of the tech sector right now, as it promises to produce a sleek, futuristic, friction-free—and lucrative—environment for all of us to live and consume products in. Which is probably why it’s relentlessly being heralded as the next big thing in consumer electronics: Recent projections from some of the industry’s biggest players say the IoT could be a $15 trillion market in just six years.
Continue reading… “Internet of Things will be the ‘biggest business in the history of electronics’”
ULTra PRT transport pod.
Chances are if you have been to London’s Heathrow Airport you have probably caught a glimpse of something called an ULTra PRT transport pod. These driverless pods have been shuttling travelers from terminal to terminal at the massive airport sonce 2011. That’s all well and good, but now these driverless robo-cars are breaking free of their confines and heading out into the city streets. (Video)
Continue reading… “Driverless cars to be launched on UK streets by 2015”
Futurist Thomas Frey: It’s easy to spot signs of desperation in people’s eyes. With unemployment rates at persistently high levels and young people unable to find jobs from one year to the next, we have become a society seething with anxiety.
Too much texting can disconnect couples.
Two researchers who study the societal effects of text messages, Lori Schade and Jonathan Sandberg of Brigham Young University, just released a new study claiming that too much texting can disconnect couples. Their research, published behind a paywall in the Journal of Couple and Relationship Therapy, links too much texting to the stripping of nuance from a relationship.
Continue reading… “Couples who text together don’t stay together: Study”
What are energy CEO’s thinking?
Grid-Scale Energy Storage in North America 2013: Applications, Technologies, and Suppliers, author Chet Lyons spoke with dozens of energy storage CEOs and summarized their thoughts in a recent report. Below is an excerpt of his 311-page report, highlighting eleven common threads shared by energy storage executives.
Continue reading… “11 major trends in mass energy storage”
Individual airlines still have to prove to the FDA that in-air electronics during takeoff and landing are safe for their fleet.
The Federal Aviation Administration has finally relaxed the restrictions on in-flight electronics usage. New regulations allow passengers to use e-book readers, play games, and watch videos on devices as long as they are in airplane mode.
Continue reading… “FAA approves using electronics throughout your entire flight”
The government CIO role is increasingly under pressure due to the development and implementation of digital government strategies, leading to the creation of new roles, according to Gartner, Inc. Gartner predicts that by 2014, more than 10 percent of government organizations will have appointed a chief data officer and over 20 percent will have appointed a chief digital officer.
An electric car charging station.
Electric cars and hybrid cars have gone pretty mainstream. But is the charging infrastructure keeping pace? Especially since there are lots of proposals for how we could transition away from the gas station model.
Continue reading… “The rapid growth of electric car charging stations (Infographic)”
Floridians working at a variety of mostly small manufacturers make everything from bottle caps and handmade knives to fishing reels and personal submarines. (Photos)
Continue reading… “Made in Florida”
Wind power could generate as much as 18 percent of global electricity by 2050.
Wind energy only accounts for a small percentage of global electricity production even though we have seen more wind farms popping up over the last few years. Wind power generates only 2.6 percent of the world’s electricity, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency, but that number is expected to grow significantly over the next few decades.
Continue reading… “Global wind power capacity expected to skyrocket”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.