A Laboratory of the Future Human Experience
“SchwarmStrom” (literally, “swarm power”)
An ambitious project was unveiled in Germany on Wednesday to install mini gas-fired power plants in people’s basements and produce as much electricity as two nuclear reactors within a year.
Continue reading… “Germany Unveils Home Power Plants Project”
Electronics such as phones and laptops may start shedding their power cords within a year.
That’s the prediction of Eric Giler, CEO of WiTricity, a company that’s able to power light bulbs using wireless electricity that travels several feet from a power socket.
Nano-ink could replace standard method of manufacturing solar cells
This is one powerful idea that would do away with massive solar panels. Solar cells could soon be spray painted onto the sides of buildings or rooftops with nanoparticles.
Continue reading… “Nano-Ink: Spray-on Solar Cells To Harvest The Sun”
A single superconducting cable (shown in blue) could one day replace a dozen traditional copper cables (shown in red)
Barring the occasional thunderstorm, most Americans take the electric current behind their power buttons for granted, and assume the juice will be there when they’re ready to fire up an appliance or favorite tech toy. Little do most know, the strain on our electric grid – which has led to rolling brownouts and the massive 2003 blackout that left 40 million people across the Northeast in the dark – will only intensify in coming years.
Continue reading… “Powering American Cities This Century”
Wind farm
Aggressive investments in 2008 helped the United States surpass Germany to become the world’s leader in wind power, according to a report recently released by the U.S. Department of Energy.
Continue reading… “U.S. Fastest Growing Wind Power Market In The World”
A project is taking shape that could offer an affordable means of reaching billions of tons of deep-lying coal deposits without causing irreparable harm to the environment.
Coal has become the ugly sister of power sources, condemned as old-fashioned, ultra-polluting and excessively costly to mine, given that we have exhausted the most easily accessible supplies.
Continue reading… “‘Flash-Frying’ Coal Underground To Provide A Green Source Of Energy”
Oxford scientists have created a transparent form of aluminium by bombarding the metal with the world’s most powerful soft X-ray laser. ‘Transparent aluminium’ previously only existed in science fiction, featuring in the movie Star Trek IV, but the real material is an exotic new state of matter with implications for planetary science and nuclear fusion.
Continue reading… “Transparent Aluminum Is ‘New State Of Matter’”
Mobile Operator Tata Teleservices is testing technology that allows farmers to use their mobile phones to remotely monitor and switch on irrigation pump sets in far flung locations.
Continue reading… “Indian Farmers Control Irrigation With Mobile Phones”
A prototype of a Stirling engine that’s powered by a solar water heater.
Cool Energy, a startup based in Boulder, CO, is developing a system that produces heat and electricity from the sun. It could help make solar energy competitive with conventional sources of energy in relatively dark and cold climates, such as the northern half of the United States and countries such as Canada and Germany.
Continue reading… “Solar Technology For Dark Climates”
Forget the notion of a reverent nature photographer tiptoeing through the woods, camera slung over one shoulder, patiently looking for perfect light. Robert Buelteman works indoors in total darkness, forsaking cameras, lenses, and computers for jumper cables, fiber optics, and 80,000 volts of electricity. This bizarre union of Dr. Frankenstein and Georgia O’Keeffe spawns photos that seem to portray the life force of his subjects as the very process destroys them.
Continue reading… “Electrifying Photography”
A new type of nuclear reactor that is designed to be manufactured in a factory rather than built at a power plant could cut construction times for nuclear power plants almost in half and make them cheaper to build. That, in turn, could make it possible for more utilities to build nuclear power plants, especially those in poor countries. The design comes from Babcock and Wilcox, a company based in Lynchburg, VA, that has made nuclear reactors for the United States Navy ships for about 50 years.
Continue reading… “New Design Makes Nuclear Reactors Cheaper and Faster To Build”
Instead of hiding your outlets behind furniture and worrying about the mess of wires tangled behind your entertainment center, consider making an entire wall that’s nothing but outlets. Then you can artfully plug in your appliances wherever the cords look pleasing to you.
Continue reading… “The Outlet Wall”
