Sharing the Ascension Experience
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
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
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 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
The Disruptive Influence of Microfinancing Ten percent of the world has access to traditional banking. And traditional banks often refuse to finance low-income or unemployed entrepreneurs, no matter how viable their ideas are. Now, enabled by the spread of mobile technology and wireless internet access, microfinancing organizations are attempting to eradicate this problem through small … Read more
Material scientists are now using the technology to create new super strong materials that may be used one day in building lightweight, yet powerful, structures. MarkForged announced that it had created a carbon fiber 3D printer. Germany’s Karlsruhe Institute of Technology revealed that is has invented a new material that’s lighter than water, yet stronger … Read more
A new means of generating electricity, one that utilizes bacteria to harness the energy of evaporating water, has been created by researchers from the Wyss Institute of Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. The method could potentially be used to capture the energy released by ponds, harbors, and other bodies of water when the Sun … Read more
Nickel titanium, also known as nitinol, is a metal alloy of nickel and titanium, where the two elements are present in roughly equal atomic percentages. Nitinol alloys exhibit two closely related and unique properties: shape memory and superelasticity (also called pseudoelasticity). Shape memory is the ability of nitinol to undergo deformation at one temperature, then … Read more
It’s been selling all of us overpriced ink and toner for decades now, while basically giving its printers away. It plans to do the same thing with 3D printers by making them compatible only with proprietary spools and filaments. HP recently told the press that it has already developed a special polymer that its 3D … Read more
No one makes a better case for open source hardware and software than the manufacturer of a high-priced, high-end CNC mill like the Mori Seiki NV5000 A/40. Even if you own the machine outright, if you move it at all, a GPS and gyro sensor package in the machine will automatically shut it down and … Read more