Tag Archives: future
The Entangled Pavilion by Michael Jantzen
The Entangled Pavilion is one in a series of my design studies that explore new ways in which architecture can be reinvented in order to become more responsive to the people who use it. This is a design study for a new kind of interactive architecture. The structure consists of a large steel support frame [...]
NASA’s 13,000 Foot Solar Sail
NASA is preparing to test a massive solar sail called the Sunjammer in space. The sail, developed by California company L’Garde, will be launched into space folded up into a square the size of a dishwasher before unfurling to 13,000 square feet. “NASA has experimented with smaller solar sails in the past,” said spokesman David [...]
3-D Printing and Energy Efficiency
3-D printing, also known by its technical name of “additive manufacturing,” is a concept that makes tech-heads and entrepreneurs bubble with excitement. President Obama even gave 3-D printing a shout-out in his recent State of the Union address, talking about a government-sponsored lab in Ohio for testing and scaling new technologies: “There’s no reason this [...]
FUTUREWATCH: Solar Panels That Dissolve in Water
As the solar industry has been growing, so has its hazardous waste because of chemicals that are integral to making solar panels. But researchers have discovered a process that could change all this – at end of life, solar panels could simply be dissolved in water! That’s because they have found a way to replace [...]
Nanowires: Making Quantum Dot Solar Cells Better
While potentially much more efficient, than conventional photovoltaic systems, quantum dot solar cells are still at a pre-commercialization stage. In a new paper, to be published in the journal Advanced Materials, researchers propose to improve quantum dot solar cell design with nanowires. To put it simply, quantum dot is a portion of matter that has [...]
HiFlex Researchers Develop Flexible Organic Solar for Mobile
A technology developed by the HiFlex research project promises flexible, lightweight, on-the-go charging for mobile electronics and remote applications. New organic photovoltaic module (OPV) is relatively cheap and can effectively function under various light conditions. The project—a collaboration between ECN, Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE), TNO / Holst Centre, Technical University of Denmark [...]
In Focus: Hydrogen-Fuel Cell Cars
Vehicles that are powered by alternative energy sources have been around for a while now, and they should eventually replace all the gasoline-powered vehicles and become a normal thing, instead of being something extraordinary that only the environmentally-aware or those who can afford it choose to buy. Most common alternative fuels include biofuels, natural gas, [...]
Why The Future of the Golf Ball is Green
Modern golf balls have certainly come a long way from the original hard wooden balls of the 17th century or the featherie and guttie balls (made from leather wrapped feathers and tree sap, respectively). They fly farther, truer, and hit better than any ball before them, but they do suffer from one design flaw these [...]
FUTUREWATCH: Heliostats On Buildings
You never know when one technology can be used for something else. In this case, heliostats, those mirrors used in concentrating solar plants, might prove just as useful attached to buildings. They maximize solar efficiency by moving along with the sun and smaller versions could be used to heat buildings as well as increase daylighting inside. In [...]