ARPA-E is Long on Promise – Short on Specifics

The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) recently held its annual conference, where investors and scientists gather to discuss the future of energy. The agency’s director Ellen Williams said the battery storage technology developed under her organization’s oversight is “on the verge of transforming America’s electrical grid” within the next five to 10 years. ARPA-E researchers … Read more

Game Changing Battery

Tesla will finally be passing along details on its long-awaited batteries designed for home use, plus a “utility-scale” battery. They will likely be manufactured in its new Gigafactory in Nevada. A Tesla spokesperson has confirmed the announcement: “We have decided to share a bit about what we will announce on the 30th,” Jeff Evanson, Tesla’s … Read more

Consumer Sovereignty and the Apocalypse-proof Dream

Dreaming tiny dreams has become a favorite pastime in the past five or 10 years.  The “tiny house movement” is gaining greater traction as ever more people choose to downsize for economic or ecological reasons. A small house, usually being defined as one offering less than 400 sq ft of space, offers a stimulating challenge about living … Read more

A Cheaper Way to Make Solar Cells

“The way solar is progressing it will just be a matter of time before it becomes competitive with fossil fuels and eventually replace them.” So says Dr Jon Major who led a team at Liverpool University that has found a way of replacing one toxic element, used in the process of manufacturing solar cells, with … Read more

Biomass Fuels Breakthrough

Ethanol is but one of the products the bacterium can be taught to produce. Others include butanol and isobutanol (transportation fuels comparable to ethanol), as well as other fuels and chemicals-using biomass as an alternative to petroleum. Janet Westpheling, a professor in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences department of genetics, and her team … Read more

The Small Footprint Kitchen

This is the Ecooking unit that Italian manufacturer Clei showed in Milan at the 2014 Salone del Mobile furniture fair. The Ecooking kitchen’s moving parts rotate around a central pivot that also serves as the exhaust pipe for the sink and dishwasher — and as the conduit for the plumbing and electricity. The tower can … Read more

Solar & Wind Power in Germany

At the end of 2012, Germany had approximately 400 MW of solar power capacity per million people. The United States produces about 25 MW of solar power per million people. Germany set a new world record in July of 2013, producing 5.1 terawatt-hours from direct solar. Germany’s world wind power record of 5 TWh was … Read more

Solar FREAKIN’ Roadways

This is probably the biggest acquisquishin’ candidate we’ve ever seen. Just think about the number of J.P Morgan wannabe’s that would like to see this initiative die a premature and speedy death. The inquest report would likely mention the usual suspects such as public utilities, the energy monopolies, even the pollution remediation industry. Talk about making … Read more

House Optimized for Ideal Solar Gain

This house on Barcelona’s waterfront, uses time-tested passive solar techniques, but it takes a high-tech leap forward using digital design and digital fabrication techniques to make it completely optimized for ideal solar gain. With its jagged cantilevers jutting out at odd angles across most of the facade (except the North corner), Solar House 2.0 looks, … Read more

The Wind Belt Blows Turbines Away!

The Windbelt is a small-scale wind turbine that can generate 40 milliwatts in 10-mph winds and only costs a couple of dollars. Working in Haiti, Shawn Frayne, a 28-year-old inventor based in Mountain View, California, saw the need for small-scale wind power to juice LED lamps and radios in the homes of the poor. Conventional … Read more