A team of scientists from Imperial College London have proposed a laser model that can could heat materials to temperatures hotter than the center of the Sun in just 20 quadrillionths of a second. That’s 10 million degrees Celsius almost instantaneously.
Engineers have invented a material designed to help cool buildings.
Engineers at Stanford have invented a revolutionary coating material that can help cool buildings, even on sunny days, by radiating heat away from the buildings and sending it directly into space.
Continue reading… “Stanford engineers invent high-tech mirrors to help cool buldings”
We all want to find an alternative to fossil fuels as soon as possible. The most viable answer to the planet’s energy needs is visible to us any time we look upward. The amount of solar energy that hits just 1 square mile of this planet over the course of a year is equal to 4 million barrels of oil, and the energy that hits the Earth in a mere 40 minutes can fuel all of humanity’s energy needs for a year. Isn’t that incredible? (Infographic)
Continue reading… “Could we run the entire world on solar power?”
An asteroid belt around the bright star Vega.
Should you be getting your facts about space from Hollywood? Probably not. Here are ten myths about space you should stop believing.
Continue reading… “Top 10 myths about space we need to stop believing”
The DLS that consists of a carbon foam supporting an exfoliated graphite layer.
MIT has developed a new material structure that generates steam by soaking up the sun. The structure — a layer of graphite flakes and an underlying carbon foam — is a porous, insulating material structure that floats on water. When sunlight hits the structure’s surface, it creates a hotspot in the graphite, drawing water up through the material’s pores, where it evaporates as steam. The brighter the light, the more steam is generated.
Continue reading… “New spongelike material converts solar energy into steam”
Futurist Thomas Frey: Earth’s appetite for power continues to grow. Since the 1960s, power consumption has quadrupled around the globe, with many countries opting to build large oil and coal plants to meet the demand.
Continue reading… “The Next Great Space Race – Space-Based Power Stations”
A nanophotonic solar thermophotovoltaic device.
Traditional photovoltaic solar cells have an inherent limit on the efficiency at which they can convert sunlight into energy. This limit—based on the bandgap of the material used and known as the Shockley-Queisser limit—is about 33.7 percent for standard solar cells. It is essentially due to any material’s inability to respond to all wavelengths of sunlight; so what if there was a way to change the wavelengths that actually reach the cell to those it converts best? MIT researchers have unveiled the best-yet version of that idea, known as solar thermophotovoltaics.
Homeowners who aimed their panels toward the west, instead of the south, generated 2% more electricity over the course of a day.
Solar panels should face in the general direction of the sun. You would think that would be easy to do. But most installers of solar panels, especially the ones for homes, follow conventional wisdom handed down from architects, which holds that in the northern hemisphere, windows and solar panels should face south.
Continue reading… “Most solar panels are facing in the wrong direction: Study”
Solar and wind are much more logical.
Those humming orange lights that illuminate your city streets typically rely on High Pressure Sodium bulbs (HPS)—and longer lasting than other conventional options, sure, but not exactly energy efficient. No worries though, they may soon be obsolete thanks to these LED street lamps powered by the sun and wind…
Continue reading… “Street lights of the future will be powered by the sun and wind”
Sun-powered, sand-fed 3D printer.
Design student Markus Kayser wanted to test his sun-powered, sand-fed 3-D printer, but he knew the gray skies in London wouldn’t do. He decided to ship the 200-plus-pound contraption to Cairo, Egypt, flew there himself, and haggled with officials for two days to get it out of customs. A few small “tips” and 11 hours of driving later, he finally made it to the Sahara. But soon the mercury hit 104 degrees, his components nearly overheated, and he was forced to improvise.
Continue reading… “Solar Sinter – 3D printer uses the sun to create glass objects out of sand”
That’s a net gain 6,700 jobs in one year!
Don’t let the Solyndra talk fool you: The clean energy sector is still booming. And even booming industries — maybe especially booming industries — see a fair share of once-promising companies go belly up. It’s unfortunate that the Obama administration once touted Solyndra as an example of the fast-growing renewable power sector, but its bankruptcy is a poor reflection of the industry’s health as a whole. In fact, renewable energy remains one of the few sectors to see consistent growth over the last couple years.
A new report highlights that health, revealing that the solar industry employs over 100,000 people, and added over 6,700 jobs in the last 12 months alone…
Continue reading… “U.S. Solar Industry now employs 100,000 people, grew 6.8% since August 2010”
Illac Diaz, of non-profit My Shelter Foundation, brought the simple, cheap and innovative technology to the Philippines.
The slums in Manila are being transformed by a new twist on recycling. Plastic bottles are now being viewed as a cheap and sustainable way to light homes instead of trash.
Continue reading… “Solar Bottle Bulb – a cheap and sustainable way to light homes”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.