Tag Archives: future
MIT’s Artificial Leaf Converts Sunlight into Hydrogen
A group of MIT scientists has published a paper that provides in-depth investigation of a system for converting solar energy to hydrogen and of all parameters that could limit the efficiency of such system. The paper lays out a plan for further studies of this system and may point a way to the production of [...]
Light Bulbs: What Does The Future Look Like?
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that you missed a major change in light bulb manufacturing as you danced beneath New Year’s Eve disco balls, toasted each other and sang “Auld Lang Syne.” Nevertheless, the traditional song could have been dedicated to 100-watt incandescent light bulbs. As of January 2013, 100-watt incandescent bulbs can no [...]
The PV Solar Industry in 2016
Four years is a long time in the solar industry. Think about what’s happened in the U.S. industry since 2009: We’ve seen a recession, a massive boom in federal spending, a precipitous drop in solar module prices, a wave of bankruptcies, a nasty trade battle with China, a slowdown in utility-scale projects, a strong gain [...]
In Focus: Urban Buildings of 2050
What will a skyscraper built in 2050 look like? How will it function? Rather than being static as they are today, in the future buildings will produce food, energy and resources. They will be “living buildings” whose intelligent systems adjust to the needs of inhabitats, respond automatically to variations in weather, are reconfigured by robots and produce more resources than [...]
Affordable Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars by 2015?
According to reports flying around in the motor press recently, the race to start mass-producing pollution-free hydrogen fuel cell vehicles is well and truly on. The Sukuki Motor Corporation for example, started a joint venture with UK-based Intelligence Energy just last year to develop its air-cooled fuel cell system and has already announced that they [...]
The Solar Winds Gathering Place by Michael Jantzen
The Solar Winds Gathering place is a design proposal for a large, prefabricated, modular, public art project. In this specific formation, the entire gathering place consists of a cluster of 15 specially designed steel wind turbines. Each of the turbines has a large solar cell array mounted on the top. All of the turbines are [...]
In Focus: Super Cities
A metropolis is a large densely populated urban area that has a significant economic, political and cultural function to its inhabiting country or region. A city’s population has to exceed 1 million inhabitants to even be considered a metropolis in today’s context. Another term has been coined to describe cities with super densely populated urban [...]
The Future of the Global Renewables Industry
How much renewable energy will the world consume in the coming decades? That depends on who you ask. If you’re an oil company with a stake in the continued use of fossil fuels, you’ll probably downplay the penetration of renewables. If you’re an international organization with a conservative reputation, you’ll probably see moderate growth. And [...]
Apple’s Solar Touchscreen Patent Revealed
In what was called a ‘shocker’ by Patently Apple, a blog—not surprisingly—dedicated to Apple’s patents, Apple was granted a patent for a touchscreen that would also serve as a transparent solar charger. Apple filed the patent in 2008. While it’s far from the first solar patent by Apple or other tech giants, it could be [...]