Science tells us that every square meter of the earth’s surface, when exposed to direct sunlight, receives about 1000 watts (1 kilowatt) of energy from the sun’s light. Depending on the angle of sunlight, which changes with the time of day, and the geographical location, the power of the sun’s light will be somewhat more or less than 1 kilowatt-hour per hour for every square meter of the earth’s surface exposed to the sun. Of this solar energy, about 523 watts is in the infra-red spectrum and the ultra-violet portion accounts for about 27 watts. The remaining 440 watts is produced by the octave comprising the visible range.
The chart pictured below depicts the current state of the art for Photovoltaic (PV) solar cells. PV research focuses on boosting solar cell conversion efficiencies, lowering the cost of solar cells, modules, and systems, and improving the reliability of PV components and systems. Accelerating the integration of PV technology is an essential part of global sustainability. Click on the chart reproduced here for a full size copy.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have accomplished a stunning architectural feat using silkworms. To construct this “Silk Pavillion,” 6,500 live silkworms were guided via computer, creating a 3D print of the domed structure. Students at MIT studied the worms’ spinning patterns and tested whether they could control them by altering the worms’ environment.

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NASA has successfully tested its first rocket engine component made through 3D printing. On Thursday, NASA subjected its new rocket engine injector to a series of high-pressure fire tests involving liquid oxygen and gaseous hydrogen, demonstrating that additive manufacturing (its official name) could one day help the agency build the next generation of rockets faster and at lower cost.

Additive manufacturing uses layers of metallic powder traced in specific patterns by lasers. The technique isn’t too far removed from traditional 3D printing, except it uses high-powered laser beams. While an engine injector is normally one of the most expensive components of a rocket engine to produce, additive manufacturing not only reduces development time from over a year to a number of months, it also cuts costs by more than 70 percent. Following the successful test, NASA says it will look to scale-up and establish production requirements for the injector, helping it “demonstrate the feasibility of developing full-size, additively manufactured parts.” However, the agency says has no plans to test its printed components in a live test flight until 2017.

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Two 3d printed metal samples made with EOS 3d printers. A Formula 1 race car’s custom heat exchanger and an artificial joint.

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URBEE is a return to fundamentals, a rethink of traditional automotive design and manufacturing. As a species endangered by our own actions, we must quickly learn to stop burning fossil fuels. Surely, the ultimate goal of Design is to serve the ‘public good’. Therefore, corporations and individual designers have a responsibility to offer products that are not only useful, but in balance with the environment.

URBEE is now crowd-funded to create the greenest car on Earth. A first prototype was completed in 2013. It became the first car to have its body 3D printed. The team recently initiated a second prototype, called URBEE 2. They are embracing Digital Manufacturing as essential to the design of an environmental car. Engineered to safely mingle with traffic, the two passenger vehicle will have its entire exterior and interior 3D printed.

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NASA just threw a $125,000, six-month grant at a project by Anjan Contractor, a mechanical engineer at Systems and Materials Research Corporation in Austin to develop a working prototype of his proposed universal food synthesizer.

The feedstocks for this device, including all the carbs, proteins, macro, and micro nutrients are in powder form. Does placing 3D food printers in households allow a world population, that’s on its way to an estimated nine billion people by 2040, to synthesize healthy meals from powder-filled cartridges? Such dehydrated food stocks would have long shelf lives.

In light of all this it would seem the Star Trek food replicators are really not all that far off. The fictional devices featured in that series were capable of fiddling with reality at the subatomic level to reproduce pretty much anything edible. Also not far off is the Mission to Mars. 78,000 people recently applied for Mars One. The ETA for the first colonists on that mission is just ten years from now in 2023. How would you pack for that little trek?

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Anthony Atala asks, “Can we grow organs instead of transplanting them?” His lab at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine is doing just that — engineering over 30 tissues and whole organs.

Most 3D printers use a technique called extrusion, through which the printer melts plastic and lays it down in layers to create a 3D object. But the Form 1 features stereolithography, which uses a laser to cure liquid resin into microscopic layers, resulting in much more precise creations.

For $3,300, the Form 1 package includes the 3D printer, software, and post-processing kit that comes with a finishing tray to hold components, rinsing solution to remove excess resin, water bath, dipping basket, scraper to remove excess material, tongs and drip trough.

The idea of a relatively affordable desktop 3D printer has shaken up the competitive landscape. Lesser models can be as cheap as $1,300, while some of the top models can run over $100,000.

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The house itself has been designed to be airtight and well insulated to cut energy costs and produce net zero carbon emissions. It has also been designed with its eventual sustainable deconstruction in mind.

An ‘off-site modular construction method’ will be used to build the house, which will see parts being built offsite and then being assembled on the plot. This method is intended to provide ‘greater control over cost, waste produced and supply chain accreditation’, and to reduce potential delays caused by problems such as bad weather.

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Over winter break, Cornell students began building an affordable and environmentally sustainable model house in Nicaragua. The students, who are part of Cornell University Sustainable Design — an organization that promotes sustainability through design — traveled to Nagarote, Nicaragua to build the house. The house will serve not only as a home for a family, but also as a platform to demonstrate ideal eco-friendly housing initiatives, said Kai Keane ’14, one of the students who led the project.

The house and its landscaping — part of the Sustainable Neighborhoods Nicaragua project — are the product of more than three semesters’ worth of research on designing sustainable and affordable housing for low-income Nicaraguan families, according to Keane. The house is scheduled to be completed around mid-February 2013, according to SNN’s press release.

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