energy – Page 5 – Impact Lab

3D Printer, Analysis, Business, Energy, Great Videos, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News, Solar Power

The sky’s the limit for 3D printing solar panels

September 16, 2014

Solar cell printers.

We’ve come a long way from the solar-powered calculator to waiting to see when innovators are going to give us solar-powered smartphones, where most of our calculators are these days. While the average energy consumer is busy worrying about such everyday concerns, scientists at the Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consortium (VICOSC) are wondering how to power entire buildings, and pretty much the whole planet, as the technology they are creating will be easily transferred inexpensively to developing and third-world areas, thanks to 3D printing and design. (Video)

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Analysis, Science & Technology News

How will wearables be powered in the future?

September 11, 2014

Neil Harbisson

When it comes to wearables, nightly charging might not be convenient and in some cases, it might not even be possible. Here’s a round-up of the latest science on how to harvest ambient energy to continuously power our gadgets.

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Business, Energy, Science & Technology News, Solar Power

Japan to build the world’s largest floating solar power plants

September 8, 2014

One of Kyocera’s existing solar power plants in Japan, which has 70 MW of power capacity.

Being short on free land space is not stopping Japan from investing in renewable energy. Solar panel company Kyocera Corp, Century Tokyo Leasing Corp and Ciel Terre have announced that they’re teaming up to create two huge floating solar power plants which will be up and running by April next year.

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Analysis, Breakthrough Thinking, People Making a Difference, Science & Technology News

The Sahara Forest Project will turn the desert into a source of food, water, and energy

September 4, 2014

The Sahara Forest Project

The Sahara Forest Project is the brainchild of three entrepreneurs, Charlie Paton, Michael Pawlyn and Bill Watts. The project turns the Sahara desert into a source for food, water, and energy. The Sahara Forest Project is a solution that combines seemingly disparate technologies – Concentrated solar power and Seawater Greenhouses – and turns them into a mean, green super-massive biomachine. The elegant system could potentially produce enough energy for all of Africa and Europe while turning one of the world’s most inhospitable regions into a flourishing oasis.

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Analysis, Business, Energy, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News, Wind Power

New offshore wind energy and transnational grid projects will boost use of submarine power cables

August 19, 2014

The worldwide market for submarine electrical cables has surged over the past decade.

Eighty wind turbines are now under construction in the German North Sea. They will eventually generate enough power for some 400,000 homes. That power will travel via advanced cables buried along several miles of ocean floor, part of a growing move toward undersea transmission of electricity.

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Energy, Great New Product, New Inventions, People Making a Difference, Science & Technology News

17 year-old student invents device that produces clean energy and fresh water

August 15, 2014

Cynthia Sin Nga Lam and the H2Pro

The lineup of finalists in this year’s Google Science Fair is impressive. Among the 15 inventions designed to make the world a better place, Cynthia Sin Nga Lam’s submission is definitely a major standout. Concerned about the millions of people living without energy and water, the 17-year-old student scientist from Australia built H2Pro – a Portable Photocatalytic Electricity Generation and Water Purification Unit that produces both clean energy and fresh water at the same time.

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Analysis, Energy, Globalism, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

China and India race to fully harness thorium for nuclear power

July 24, 2014

Thorium is an alternative to uranium as a way of doing nuclear fission.

Although the chemical element thorium sounds like the kind of material used as a plot device in a comic book blockbuster, it could solve the fuel crisis in the real world.

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Analysis, Energy, New Discoveries, Science & Technology News

Generating electricity from jumping water droplets

July 21, 2014

This process can generate small amounts of electricity.

Last year, MIT researchers discovered that when water droplets spontaneously jump away from superhydrophobic (water-repelling) surfaces during condensation, the droplets can gain electric charge in the process.

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Analysis, Business, Energy, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

Project proposals nearly double California’s energy storage target

July 21, 2014

Energy storage

On paper, California’s push to transform the market for grid-scale energy storage is working even better than expected.

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Analysis, Energy, Great Videos, Science & Technology News

Electric life forms that live on pure energy are unlike any other life on Earth

July 18, 2014

Geobacter is one type of ‘electric bacteria.’

‘Electric bacteria’ are unlike any other life on Earth, these extraordinary bacteria use energy in its purest form – they eat and breathe electrons – and they are everywhere. (Video)

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Analysis, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News, top 10

Top 10 ways technology will change the world by 2025

July 7, 2014

By 2025 electric vehicles will take over traditional vehicles.

Technology is changing the way we live our day-to-day lives. It’s exciting to imagine what the future will bring. We may like to imagine one day living on Mars with technology that lets us teleport our toothpaste from CVS and the ability to apparate like Harry Potter.

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Analysis, Energy, Science & Technology News

Tesla’s vision for wireless power transmission is reborn

July 7, 2014

Tesla Tower Prototype

One of the greatest visionaries of the early 20th century was Nikola Tesla. His work to help develop the AC power system we all use to this day was crucial, but his personal goal was to develop a way to wirelessly transmit electrical power. He got as far as building a huge tower for transatlantic wireless power demonstrations, but the system was never completed. Now a group of Russian engineers want to complete Tesla’s work, and have launched a funding campaign to build a working prototype of Tesla’s wireless power system.

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