Our Neighborhood Earth - Next Big Green Thing

Our Neighborhood

Earth

Keeping It Green

(There's No Planet B)

What do you think will be.....

The Next Big Green Thing?

Page Updated:
June 9, 2026

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• The Unlikely Ingredient That Cleans Wastewater and Turns It Into Fertilizer Scientists Discovered That Plasma Bubbles Strip Contaminants From Industrial Wastewater While Locking In Nitrogen May 22, 2026 -The only thing standing between wastewater and its new life as a nutrient-rich fertilizer may be streams of tiny, tiny bubbles. This is the novel takeaway from a recent study which focuses on an emerging new approach: plasma bubble technology. This technology can purify water, while retaining its crop-benefiting nutrients. What’s more, when researchers tested the resulting purified and concentrated feed on hydroponic garlic crops, they noted that the plants had notably faster and healthier growth. In general terms, plasma bubble technology works by pumping ionized gas into water, which creates millions of microscopic bubbles that course through the water, reacting in different ways with the ingredients within it. • A Startup Is Teaching Robots To 3D Print Adobe Homes From Local Soil This Could Pave the Way For Innovative and Affordable Housing. {ZME SCIENCE} May 7, 2026 -Outside Luling, Texas, a few houses are seemingly just growing out of a field. There are no masons stacking bricks, no crew pouring concrete forms, no lumber frame waiting to be wrapped in drywall. There’s just a robot suspended from cables placing a site-sourced adobe mixture, pressing and hammering it into walls. The machine is called Terry. Built by Terran Robotics, it turns one of humanity’s oldest building materials into a very modern experiment in home construction. • Researchers Use “Bottled Lightning” to Turn Methane Into Liquid Fuel A Plasma Reactor Transforms Stubborn Methane Into Methanol, Bypassing Extreme Heat and Pressure Entirely {ZME SCIENCE} April 20, 2026 -Inside a submerged glass tube, tiny bolts of plasma pulse through bubbling methane gas. It looks like miniature lightning, but this electrified reaction tackles a problem that has frustrated chemists for decades: breaking methane’s notoriously stubborn bonds and instantly converting some of the gas into a commercially valuable liquid chemical. Converting methane to methanol usually demands blistering heat, crushing pressure, and multi-step processes that release millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year. Now, researchers at em>Northwestern University have discovered a single-step shortcut using just water, a copper-oxide catalyst, and electricity. • The Constant Motion of Living Cells Could Be a Hidden Source of Electrical Power The Constant, Energy-Driven Motion Inside Living Cells May Generate Electricity in a Way No One Fully Recognized Before Jan. 5, 2026 -Cells have always hummed with activity. They make their own energy, package it into molecules like ATP, and spend it relentlessly to stay alive. Proteins twist, ions rush, and membranes flex as life keeps itself going. Now, a new theoretical framework suggests something even stranger: cells may generate electricity simply by moving. That’s not by firing neurons or opening ion channels — but by rippling. In a study published in PNAS Nexus, researchers argue that the constant, tiny bends and waves in cell membranes could produce electrical voltages strong enough to matter for biology. In some cases, the predicted voltages rival those used by neurons to send signals. The work offers a fresh physical explanation for how living cells might harvest energy, move ions, and even spark nerve activity — all without invoking the usual molecular machinery. • A Battery Powered by Probiotics Scientists Have Built a Battery Powered By Yogurt Microbes that Dissolves After Use June 10, 2025 -In the action-packed world of Mission: Impossible, Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt receives messages that self-destruct in seconds. Science fiction, yes — but what if your medical implant could do the same?. At Binghamton University in New York, researchers have taken a dramatic step toward that vision. They’ve built a battery that doesn’t just power itself using microbes from probiotic yogurt — it also dissolves when it’s done, leaving nothing toxic behind. • Bacteria That Make Biodegradable Plastic Scientists have Modified Bacteria to Produce Biodegradable Plastics From Simple Sugars Mar. 19, 2025 -Scientists in South Korea have engineered tiny bacterial cells that are churning out plastic. The plastics produced by the modified Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria are known as polyester amides (PEAs). Unlike the petroleum-derivedplastics that litter oceans and landfills, PEAs are biodegradable. And now, for the first time, they can be biosynthesized by living organisms. • A Radioactive Diamond Battery A Tiny Diamond Battery Could Power Devices for Thousands of Years Dec. 10, 2024 -In the vast emptiness of space, Voyager 1 has been faithfully whispering its secrets back to Earth since 1977. But in a little over two decades, its nuclear-powered heart is expected to go dark. What if, instead, it could keep humming for thousands of years? A team of British scientists and engineers have crafted a battery that could make such a thing possible. Their device — a carbon-14 diamond battery — is a strange fusion of radioactive decay, synthetic diamonds, and plasma chemistry. The result is a power source that could outlive generations of human civilization. • 3D-Printed Titanium • Algae Powered Energy Cell • All Weather Miniloop • Artificial Leaf • Battery-Free Game Player • Carbon Sucking Devices • Close Dryers Without Heat • CO2 - Direct to Bio-Fuel • Cold Tube • Connect Free Batteries • Compressed Air Vehicle • Congestion Problem Solved • Diesel Making Bacteria • CO2 Consuming Battery • Disposable Paper Battery • Electric Cars to All • Electric Scooters: Green Commuters • Emmissions Absorbing Sculpture • Energy Capture From Movement	• ERVIS Ocean Plastics Removal • Fabric-Based Photovoltaics • Two Energy Firsts Out of Japan This Week Watch Out, Cyberattackers {energy central} Mar. 19, 2026 -GE Vernova and IHI successfully tested 100% ammonia combustion in a full-scale F-class gas turbine. The companies are targeting commercial availability by 2030, with retrofittable combustors for multiple GE models. Panasonic and Itochu are simulating how continuous monitoring of BESS power-control communications could catch cyberattackers in their tracks. • Scientists Generate Power At Night By Passively Beaming Heat into Outer Space It’s “Like Solar Cells in Reverse” Dec. 9, 2025 -When the sun sets, the world’s solar panels go dark. But above them, the night sky radiates a different kind of power. Every night, as the world cools, Earth dissipates much of its heat into space. The invisible stream of infrared radiation escaping our planet has been, until now, mostly untapped. That’s until engineers at the University of California, Davis, entered the picture by building a small machine that captures this outward flow of energy and turns it into motion — and, ultimately, electricity. The invention is a simple, elegant twist on an old-school technology: a Stirling engine. This isn’t a massive, complicated semiconductor electronic rig. Instead, it uses a mechanism that is “mechanically simple and [does] not rely on exotic materials”. The machine essentially runs on the temperature difference between the ground and the open sky. • Turning Falling Rainwater Into Electricity It Looks Like Plumbing But Acts Like a Battery Apr. 18, 2025 -In a new study, researchers in Singapore describe a way to turn falling water into electricity using nothing more than droplets, a narrow plastic tube, and a surprising flow pattern called “plug flow.” The setup, they say, can turn something like rainfall into a source of clean, renewable energy — enough to light a dozen small bulbs. • Folding Electric Bike • Geothermal Gets Loopy • Gravity-Powered Light • Green Concrete • Insect Eyes & Solar Design • Infrared Wall Paper • Kite Wind • Lean Green Locomotives • LED's Big Wattage Reductions • Protects Like Metal, But Light as Foam • Miracle Liquid • Nanofibers Capture Carbon • New Energy Source • Newest Hydrogen Fuel Research • Night-Time Solar Panels (Un-Solar Cells) • Not Just a Load of Manure • Oceans: The Next Frontier • Organic Waste to Energy • Photovoltaics That Trap Light • Printable Solar Cells	• Engines Harness Soundwaves • Rocket Fuel Production Using Artificial Photosynthesis Chinese Space Station Achieves It -the First Ever - Jan. 22, 2025 - When humans dream of venturing farther into the cosmos, one question looms: how do we sustain life and the journey toward the stars? Aboard China’s Tiangong space station (the name means Heavenly Palace), scientists are offering a glimpse of the future. In a recent demonstration, Chinese astronauts operated a series of experiments that produced oxygen and rocket fuel in orbit, mimicking the natural process of photosynthesis. The experiments, conducted by the Shenzhou-19 crew, utilized artificial photosynthesis—a technology that mimics how plants convert carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and glucose. • Shocking Automotive Advance • Hungry Microbes Devour a Powerful Pollutant The Cows Had to Be Deterred From Messing With the Experiment Researchers from a Bay Area technology company had come to the sprawling dairy farm north of San Francisco to test an emerging solution to planet-warming emissions: microscopic pink organisms that eat methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Kenny Correia, 35, of Correia Family Dairy, watched the team from Windfall Bio working near the lagoons used to store manure from the farm’s several hundred cows. The researchers erected a futuristic system of vats, pipes, tubes and shiny metal supports. Then, when everything was assembled, they poured pink liquid into one of the vats. “They were looking like mad scientists out there,” Correia recounted. • Smart Window Glass • Smelly Hydrogen Catalyst • Solar Chimney • Solar Impulse 2 • Solar Lighting • Solar-Powered Gas Stations • Solar Paint • Solar Roadways • Solar-Powered Flying Boat • Solar-Trees • Solar Windows • Solar-Wind Tower • Spaceport Japan • Spherical Solar Generator • Thin Film Solar • Turbine-Free Wind Power • Uberizing Your Roof • The Unusual Inspiration for This Energy- Free Cooling System is Elephant Skin Mimicking the Heat-Regulating Ability of an Elephant's Skin, the Bumpy Fungus-Based Tiles Improved Cooling Rates by as Much as 70% Compared to Flat Tiles Apr. 10, 2025 -Wrinkles on elephants make the gentle beasts look wise. But they also serve an important purpose: the crevices and the porous skin hold water and help keep the pachiderms cool by storing water and expelling heat via evaporation. Researchers have now turned to elephant skin as an unusual source of inspiration for tiles that provide energy-free cooling for buildings and homes. They have used mycelium, the root network of fungi, to make wall tiles that have a bumpy, elephant skin-like texture. • Vehicle to Grid Technology • Water: Fuel's Future? • WaterNest Floating Home • What's It All About, Algae • Windpower With Gusto

Disposable Paper Battery

Scientists have devised a low-power battery made from paper coated with graphite and zinc. Like a cooking recipe, the paper battery stays dormant until you add water. The ultra-thin device could power tiny yet useful electronics, such as real-time parcel trackers, environmental monitors, and medical sensors.

The Next Big Green Things Defined

(Click on the image for more information.)
Insect Eyes Inspire New Solar Cell Design Packing tiny solar cells together, like micro-lenses in the compound eye of an insect, could pave the way to a new generation of advanced photovoltaics, say Stanford University scientists. In a new study, the Stanford team used the insect-inspired design to protect a fragile photovoltaic material called perovskite from deteriorating when exposed to heat, moisture or mechanical stress. The results are published in the journal Energy & Environmental Science (E&ES). Turn Your Organic Waste Into Energy for Your Home HomeBiogas, an Israel-based startup, has created an affordable and compact anaerobic digester that converts organic waste into cooking gas and liquid fertilizer. Home wastes like food scraps, kitchen trash and pet manure no longer have to go to waste. Here’s how it works: after the HomeBiogas system is fed organic matter, microorganisms break down the biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen. The end product is biogas and biofertilizer. LED Lights to Cut 60-Watt Bulb to Five Watts Philips has cut the amount of power of its overhead Light-Emitting Diode (LED) tube light in half, a sign of continuing improvements in LED lighting geared at displacing incumbent technologies. The company says it has built a prototype of a tubular overhead LED light that produces 200 lumens of light with a watt of power. Its current products produce light at 100 lumens per watt, about the same as florescent tube lights. Even though the price of LEDs will be higher, Philips thinks that they can start to displace more of the florescent tube lights that are everywhere from office buildings to parking garages based on energy savings. Drying Clothes Without Heat It could make your home safer and more energy efficient. It could be as affordable as your current clothes dryer. "It consumes almost 5 to 10 times less energy," said Ayyoub Momen, a scientist with the laboratory better known as one of the birthplaces of the atomic bomb. The laboratory, under the U.S. Department of Energy, now conducts research into clean energy and national security problems. Momen stumbled on a technology that uses vibrations, rather than heat, to dry clothes. It uses ultrasonic transducers to dry the fabric. The vibrations turn the water into a cold mist. This Massive Tower May Be the Future of Energy in the U.S. The country's largest freestanding structure will soon start construction — and it's going to be a solar-wind tower. Projected to reach 2,250 feet, it will be considerably taller than other American landmarks like the 1,454-foot Empire State Building. Designed by Maryland-based Solar Wind Energy Tower Inc., the solar-wind hybrid facility just secured funding to build its first model, which is projected to stand near San Luis, Ariz., by 2018. Tubine-Free Wind POWER From the NY Times Magazine 2011 Ideas Issue Conservationists argue that wind turbines pose a risk to birds, bats and sensitive habitats like shorelines. People living close to wind farms, meanwhile, complain of constant noise and vibration. This year, engineers responded with a new way to draw electricity from the wind: oscillating wind panels. Click the icon on the left to read more and catch the video. Solar Paint Melbourne: Scientists have developed a new solar paint that can absorb water vapour and split it to generate hydrogen - the cleanest source of energy. The paint contains a newly developed compound that acts like silica gel, which is used in sachets to absorb moisture and keep food, medicines and electronics fresh and dry. However, unlike silica gel, the new material, synthetic molybdenum-sulphide, also acts as a semi-conductor and catalyses the splitting of water atoms into hydrogen and oxygen. Green Concrete Nikolaos Vlasopoulos, chief scientist at London-based startup Novacem, is trying to eliminate green-house gas emissions with a cement that absorbs more CO2 than is released during its manufacture. It locks away as much as 100 kilograms of the greenhouse gas per ton. Light-Trapping Photovoltaics In 1995, Kylie Catchpole decided to take a risk on a field that was nearly moribund: photovoltaics. "There was a sense that I might have difficulty ever being employed," she recalls. But her gamble paid off. In 2006 Catchpole, then a postdoc, discovered something that opened the door to making thin-film solar cells significantly more efficient at converting light into electricity. It's an advance that could help make solar power more competitive with fossil fuels. Flexible Sheets Capture Energy from Movement The day of charging cellphones with finger swipes and powering Bluetooth headsets simply by walking is now much closer. Michigan State University engineering researchers have created a new way to harvest energy from human motion, using a film-like device that actually can be folded to create more power. With the low-cost device, known as a nanogenerator, the scientists successfully operated an LCD touch screen, a bank of 20 LED lights and a flexible keyboard, all with a simple touching or pressing motion and without the aid of a battery. Capture with Nanotubes Membranes made with carbon nanotubes could reduce the amount of energy needed to capture carbon-dioxide emissions from smokestacks, and therefore cut costs, according to a company that will receive $1 million from the new advanced-research projects agency for energy, Arpa-e, to develop the technology.• Read More In another aericle from Tech Times, there is this headline: Researchers Turn CO2 From The Atmosphere Into Carbon Nanofibers A group of researchers claims that they were able to fulfill what majority of scientists and government officials have long dreamt - transforming the most widespread greenhouse gas called carbon dioxide (CO2) into something beneficial. Specifically, they stated that they were able to come up with a technology that can economically turn atmospheric CO2 directly into carbon nanofibers, which may be used for industrial and commercial purposes. Read More New Energy Source BrilliantLight Power (BLP) Inc. announced the successful independent replication and validation of its 1,000 watt and 50,000 watt reactors based on its proprietary new clean energy technology. This follows BLP's May announcement that it had successfully tested a new non-polluting energy source. Electric Scooters for Green Commuters Does 15 MPH with Zero Emmisions There are tons of options on the market for bicycles and electric bikes for commuters, but most of them can't pack down to the size of a carry-on bag and go with you on the bus or train. This little e-vehicle could be the missing link for traveling that 'last mile' between transit station and destination. The URB-E is essentially a foldable electric scooter, although one that you can sit on, and it packs a lot of features into a small package. Weighing in at just 27 pounds, and folding up to about the size of a small wheeled carry-on bag (16?x16?x 36?), this portable electric vehicle is capable of going up to 15 mph and traveling up to 20 miles on a single charge. Fuel from Thin Air (Does .85 p/g Sound Good?) Advocates of America’s Green New Deal or other radical efforts to decarbonize the world economy in the face of a looming climate crisis may well have one of their greatest champions in a rumpled 65-year-old who lives in the Toronto suburbs. Roger Gordon wears a navy wool coat that extends well past the bottom of his green knit sweater on a chilly day in February. He talks with a quintessentially Canadian politeness as he rails against what he sees as a massive conspiracy to suppress his life’s work — which could amount to a fuel revolution. Geothermal Gets Loopy A Geothermal Loop System sits securely in the earth underneath your home. It's zig-zag grid of underground pipe acts like a giant, low-energy heating & cooling machine. The system transfers air, water, or coolant through hundreds of feet of underground plumbing. After passing that media through the plumbing, the air, water, or coolant reenters your building, passing over your HVAC's heating & cooling coils and saving you about 80% on your #1 energy expense......... It's the Cool Tube With the world getting hotter, finding energy-efficient ways to cool down is more important than ever. A team of researchers from the University of British Columbia, Princeton University, the University of California, Berkeley and the Singapore-ETH Centre plan to help us do just that with the ‘Cool Tube’. Air conditioning can be a blessing in the hot summer months, but they also consume a lot of power. Added up on a city- or country-wide scale this translates to a huge drain on our grids and vast quantities of CO2 emissions. Air conditioning can also contribute to respiratory complications by keeping germs in suspension in the air (by keeping it in constant motion). The team behind Cold Tube wanted to change how we manage our personal temperature during such times, and their approach doesn’t involve cooling or moving air at all. Solar Powered Gas Stations A Romanian oil company is powering its gas stations with solar panels. Romanian oil and gas company OMV Petrom has installed solar panels on the canopies that cover the gas pumps at 40 service stations in Romania. The output of those solar arrays will provide about 30,000 kWh of electricity annually — enough to offset approximately 10% of the electricity need to operate those service stations. Spaceport Japan Spaceport Japan was designed by Noiz Architects, in collaboration with the communications agency Denstsu, design firm Canaria, and the non-profit Spaceport Japan, and it’s intended to be a getaway in and of itself. If you can’t afford to go on an expensive suborbital day trip, you can always just go on a day trip to part of the spaceport where there are shops, a hotel, an astronaut-food restaurant, a 4D IMAX movie theater, a gym, an aquarium, and even a disco — all sharing a space theme. The whole project is designed to serve like an open-space museum to go with the main attraction. Wind Catching Systems Launches Floating Offshore Wind Technology Wind Catching Systems will, in co-operation with Aibel AS as the main contractor, commercialize the groundbreaking Wind Catching technology for floating offshore wind farms. The technology increases efficiency, cuts acreage use by 80% and reduces production costs, which will enable floating offshore wind to produce electricity at bottom fixed prices. Ferd AS and North Energy ASA are among the main owners of the company and see significant growth and export opportunities for the technology. Algae Powered Energy Cell Green computing is taking on a whole new meaning: researchers at the University of Cambridge have developed an algae-filled power cell that has successfully powered a microprocessor for a year now — and it’s still going. Synechocystis is a widespread species of photosynthesizing blue-green algae. As it captures energy from the sun, these algae generate a very small electrical current. The cell, after being filled to the brim with Synechocystis, uses an aluminum electrode to tap into these biologically-generated currents and power a microprocessor — the part of a computer that does the computing. Turning Smelly Hydrogen Sulfide into a Cash Cow 3D-Printed Titanium Metamaterial Could Change Engineering It's lightweight, yet mighty! Researchers at RMIT University in Australia have made a discovery that could revolutionize manufacturing across multiple industries, from aerospace to medical implants. The study, published in the journal Advanced Materials, introduces a titanium multi-topology metamaterial with a unique lattice structure design, offering strength-to-weight ratios previously thought unattainable in both nature and manufacturing. This material, fabricated using advanced 3D printing technologies, boasts a strength level 50% greater than the strongest alloys of similar density currently utilized in aerospace applications. H2O:The Fuel Future? The tangle of pipes at this industrial plant doesn’t stand out in this city built around the carbon-heavy business of pumping oil and refining it into fuel for planes, ships, trucks and cars. But this plant produces fuel from a different source, one that doesn’t belch greenhouse pollution: hydrogen. Specifically, hydrogen made from water using renewable electricity, also known as green hydrogen.	Congestion Problem Solved Cities becoming so overcrowded with traffic, even emergency vehiclies become stymied. What if there was a better way? Watch this video for a very different approach, by clicking on the image above. Lean, Green Locomotives As the world continues to explore new ways of limiting carbon emissions in the transport sector and beyond, a new wave of eco-friendly locomotives is emerging to maximise the environmental benefits of rail transport. World’s Lightest and Most Compact Electric Bike Can Fold Into a Backpack Folding bikes are already incredibly convenient, but throw in a battery and an electric motor, and now it’s a bike commuter’s dream. At 26 pounds, the A-Bike Electric claims to be the lightest and most compact e-bike in world. With its tiny wheels and a battery that’s the size of a thermos, the ride is so small it can tuck inside a backpack or under a desk, making it a cinch to take onto a subway, train or car. Parking isn’t even an issue when you can easily take it inside of a store or restaurant. Don't Be "Shocked" By this Automotive Advance. Despite shifting into higher gear within the consumer's green conscience, hybrid vehicles are still tethered to the gas pump via a fuel-thirsty 100-year-old invention: the internal combustion engine. However, researchers at Michigan State University have built a prototype gasoline engine that requires no transmission, crankshaft, pistons, valves, fuel compression, cooling systems or fluids. Their so-called Wave Disk Generator could greatly improve the efficiency of gas-electric hybrid automobiles and potentially decrease auto emissions up to 90 percent when compared with conventional combustion engines. Click the on the graphic to read the Discovery Channel story and watch the video. An Engine To Harness Sound Waves Etalim, a startup company, has developed a new type of engine that could generate electricity with the efficiency of a fuel cell, but which costs only about as much as an internal combustion engine. The engine uses • thermoacoustics to achieve these efficiences. Artificial Leaf That Creates Hydrogen Fuel from Sunlight MIT researchers just officially unveiled a device that uses sunlight to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The device builds upon a breakthrough hydrogen producing technology developed in 2008, and they are calling it an “artificial leaf” because of it capacity to create chemical fuels directly from sunlight. The cell is also made from common materials like silicon, cobalt and nickel, which means that the “leaf” could potentially be mass-produced. If the technology proves itself it could create hydrogen fuel directly from the sun, which could be used for transportation, heating, and running fuel cells for electricity. Check out a video of the leaf’s bubbling action by on the image. All-Weather Miniloop Architect Richard Moreta just unveiled the MINILOOP, an enclosed cycleway that could be a dream come true for bicycle commuters. Envisioned as the “ideal zero-emission transportation system,” the MINILOOP is designed to harness renewable energy and supply excess power to the local city grid. Geared to satisfy even the most fair-weather cyclists, the cycleway would be enclosed in a weather-resistant elevated pipeline and it’s designed to cater to bicycles and e-bikes. Fabric-based Solar Cells New textile-based solar cells developed by Fraunhofer researchers, semitrailers could soon be producing the electricity needed to power cooling systems or other onboard equipment. In short, textile-based solar cells could soon be adding a whole new dimension to photovoltaics, complementing the use of conventional silicon-based solar cells. In the future, we may well see other surfaces being exploited for photovoltaic generation. Truck tarps, for example, could be used to produce the electricity consumed by the driver when underway or parked up for the night, or to power electronic systems used to locate trailers in shipping terminals. Spherical Solar Energy Generator Behold The Future...Rawlemon Solar Devices Their spherical solar concentrating system produces efficient solar energy in any place. Building Integrated Concentrated Solar Power (BICSP) Technology by incorporating a patent-protected (pending) optical sun tracking solution for the conversion of solar power in buildings, we introduce the world’s first Building Integrated Concentrated Solar Power (BICSP) Technology. Climeworks Carbonr Capture Device • Carbon capture is essential to the fight against climate change and keeping temperatures below a two-degree-Celsius increase, according to Swiss-based Climeworks. For a few years now they’ve been working on technology to suck carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air and sell it to agriculture or energy industries for reuse. And now they’ve finally switched on the final product – the world’s first Direct Air Capture (DAC) commercial plant on top of a waste recovery facility in Zurich, Switzerland. Seasteadding - Not Homesteading Low-lying islands in the Pacific, like Kiribati and parts of French Polynesia, face the imminent threat of disappearing because of sea level rise. Hencken believes that seasteading offers one practical solution for these places to create new, resilient territory on which to continue to exist … Hencken looks forward to working with French Polynesia’s youth in building new ocean tech that can benefit the island nation and subsequently be spun out to places in need of new land. He said that once they’ve built a successful pilot, he can imagine deploying similar seasteads to places like Miami and Bangladesh.” Breakthrough Could Be Game-changer for the Future of Automotive Fuels Solar Impulse 2 - Progress Eagle • As the Solar Impulse 2 makes its historic round-the-world trip powered only by the energy of the sun, it’s not so crazy to think that sometime in the future, commercial flying will abandon dirty fossil fuels. Solar Roadways Solar Roadways is a modular paving system of solar panels that can withstand the heaviest of trucks (250,000 pounds). These Solar Road Panels can be installed on roads, parking lots, driveways, sidewalks, bike paths, playgrounds... literally any surface under the sun. They pay for themselves primarily through the generation of electricity, which can power homes and businesses connected via driveways and parking lots.A nationwide system could produce more clean renewable energy than a country uses as a whole. • More Here. They have many other features as well, including: heating elements to stay snow/ice free, LEDs to make road lines and signage, and attached Cable Corridor to store and treat stormwater and provide a "home" for power and data cables. EVs will be able to charge with energy from the sun (instead of fossil fuels) from parking lots and driveways and after a roadway system is in place, mutual induction technology will allow for charging while driving. Solar is Now Out the Window SolarWindow™ achieves payback within one year, according to first-ever independently validated financial modeling results. To produce the equivalent amount of energy with conventional solar systems would require at least 5-11 years for payback and at least 10-12 acres of valuable urban land. Unlike the many acres of expensive downtown real estate required for solar array fields, SolarWindow™ systems can be installed on the readily-available vast window glass surfaces on tall towers and skyscrapers. Solar Can Make This Boat Fly Russia researchers to test solar powered ‘flying boat.' Engineers from Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU) in Russia are working on an unmanned solar-powered ‘flying boat’, operated using advances in artificial intelligence.’ The Storm-600 wind-in-ground-effect vehicle will be capable of reaching speeds of 200km per hour with an “unlimited” power reserve. The final prototype of the Storm-600 wing-in-ground-effect vehicle will be tested in summer 2020 on the Neva river in St Petersburg. ERVIS Oceans Plastics Removal A 12-year-old Pune-based boy Haaziq Kazi designed a ship called 'ERVIS' that will help reduce pollution in the ocean and save marine life. "I watched some documentaries and realised the impact waste has on marine life. I felt I had to do something. The fish we eat in food are eating plastic in the ocean so the cycle of pollution comes to us and that is even affecting human lives. Hence, I came up with ERVIS," Haaziq Kazi told ANI. The Solar Chimney Saves Energy & Booosts Fire Safety (Click the image below for more information and a video.) In “Solar Chimneys & Solar Updraft Towers,” we described these solar solutions as ancient passive solar technology, whereby natural heat convection processes are harnessed to provide ventilation. The basic idea is to harness the power of natural ventilation to increase the turnover rate for air within a building by amplifying natural convection processes through the use of a (typically external) vertical shaft that heats up rapidly when exposed to the sun. RMIT University researchers have energetically enhanced the safety aspect and designed a solar chimney optimized for a 6-fold increase in fire safety — as well an increasing energy saving. As a passive solar heating and cooling technology, this type of ventilation and/or cooling system has seen widespread use in the region encompassing and surrounding Greater Iran, throughout the Middle East and North Africa, and in Roman Europe throughout the millennia. It’s time to spread its use with the advancements of RMIT University and the Australian town of Kingston, Victoria. This could be a turning point towards expansion. Shock-Absorbing Material Protects Like Metal but Light Like Foam Scientists at Johns Hopkins University may have invented the perfect material for protective gear. They’ve devised a new material that is strong and sturdy like metal, but is super lightweight like foam. The material performed very well in preliminary tests, which suggests it could be a real game-changer for the automobile and aerospace industries, as well as the military that could use it to fashion lighter body armor and helmets. Disposable Paper Battery Scientists have devised a low-power battery made from paper coated with graphite and zinc. Like a cooking recipe, the paper battery stays dormant until you add water. The ultra-thin device could power tiny yet useful electronics, such as real-time parcel trackers, environmental monitors, and medical sensors. Researchers at Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA) led by Gustav Nyström started off with literally a piece of paper. On one side, they printed a circuit using graphite ink, acting as a cathode. The other side was printed using zinc powder ink to make the anode side. Infrared Wall Paper Radiators in a central heating system heat rooms by what is known as convection heating, warming up the air in rooms, which then circulates. This infrared technique warms up solid objects in the room directly, including us humans. It also means you can easily choose to heat only one room at a time, using an app. Why also heat the bedroom, for example, when you are going to be watching Happy Valley in the sitting room for the next few hours? Rechargeable CO2 Consuming Battery Scientists have been trying to make lithium-carbon dioxide batteries for years. The technology promises to pack seven times more energy than lithium-ion batteries. And it provides a way to use carbon dioxide captured from power plant and factory exhaust. But the chemistry has been thorny and the batteries have suffered from low lifetimes. In fact, exactly one year ago, researchers at MIT reported a practical prototype. It could only be charged 10 times. But the chemistry has been thorny and the batteries have suffered from low lifetimes. In fact, exactly one year ago, researchers at MIT reported a practical prototype. It could only be charged 10 times.	From Bugs OPX Biotechnologies uses genetic engineering to speed the development of organisms that make chemicals and fuel. A startup that has successfully engineered bacteria to make common industrial chemicals is now using its technology to engineer organisms to make renewable fuel. Read More. Future of Thin-film Solar Watch this Em-Tech Video of an interview with CalTech Professor Harry Atwater on making solar competetive with fossil fuels, without governemnt subsidies. We wish those subsidies were not available to the fossil fuels industry, so the playing field would be level to begin with. Smart Window Glass In 2017 Kinestral Technologies unveiled the first installation of its new Halio smart-tinting glass at Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.’s (NYSE:ARE) San Francisco office. Halio is the most responsive smart-tinting glass on the market, transitioning from clear to dark within seconds and achieving its darkest, neutral gray tint in less than three minutes. CO2 to BioFuel, Bypassing the Middleman When Noubar Afeyan, the CEO of Flagship Ventures in Cambridge, MA, set out to invent the ideal renewable fuel, he decided to eliminate the middleman. Biofuels ultimately come from carbon dioxide and water, so why persist in making them from biomass--corn or switchgrass or algae? "What we wanted to know," Afeyan says, "is could we engineer a system that could convert carbon dioxide directly into any fuel that we wanted?" Bacteria Make Diesel from Biomass The bacteria, developed by South San Francisco company LS9 in collaboration with researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, make the necessary enzymes for every step along the synthesis pathway and can convert biomass into fuel without the need for additional processing. Vehicle to Grid Technology Electric-drive vehicles, whether powered by batteries, fuel cells, or gasoline hybrids, have within them the energy source and power electronics capable of producing the 60 Hz AC electricity that powers our homes and offices. When connections are added to allow this electricity to flow from cars to power lines, we call it "vehicle to grid" power, or V2G. Cars pack a lot of power. One properly designed electric-drive vehicle can put out over 10kW, the average draw of 10 houses. The key to realizing economic value from V2G are grid-integrated vehicle controls to dispatch according to power system needs. More from the University of Delaware. Simple Elixir: "Miracle Liquid" Sounds like the old "Saturday Night Live" gag for Shimmer, the faux floor polish plugged by Gilda Radner. But the elixir is real. U.S. regulators have approved it. And it's starting to replace the toxic chemicals Americans use at home and on the job. Read More Electric Cars to Al An overarching plan to replace the world's gas cars with electric ones--really, really quickly. The nutty thing is, it just might work; the streetside charging outlets for these cars are already under construction in six countries and two U.S. states. (You can watch the story • here.) Not Just a Load of Manure Farmers Turning to Alernative Sources of Power Fresno Bee, Nov. 6th 2008 - With energy prices high and crop prices sluggish, farmers are turning to solar power, converting animal waste to natural gas and planting exotic trees to help them survive in a tough economy. The article looks at a dairy farmer and entrepreneur who spoke this week at the first Farming Clean Energy Conference. David Albers is president of a company that builds facilities to extract methane gas from cow manure. Unlike other companies that use the gas to power farm buildings, Albers’ company pumps it into a pipeline to be sold to Pacific Gas & Electric Co. He and participating dairies benefit by getting paid for the gas while also managing their cow waste in a more environmentally friendly way. He says he has contracts or letters of intent with 100 dairies to join the project. Compressed Air Vehicle for the U.S. Peugeot debuts first-ever hybrid gasoline-air vehicle At the 2013 Geneva auto show, Peugeot unveiled the first-of-its-kind HybridAir system in its 2008 model, with a drive system that combines compressed air and gasoline power. What's It All About, Algae? From Forbes December 2013 - Scientists at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are claiming success in perfecting a method that can transform a pea-soupy solution of algae into crude oil by pressure cooking it for about 30 minutes. The process, called hydrothermal liquefaction, also works on other streams of organic matter, such as municipal sewage. And the crude oil created is lightweight and low in sulfur and can be “dropped in” to refineries that process fossil crudes. Kite Wind The high-altitude wind of the troposphere represents an untapped energy source that is larger than the world’s current energy needs. The concept of Kitenergy is to use wings or power kites, linked to the ground by two ropes, to reach altitudes of about 800-1000 m above the ground. At such elevations, winds are stronger and more constant compared to the elevation where actual wind towers operate. The flight of the airfoils is tracked using on-board wireless instrumentation and it is suitably driven by an automatic control unit, able to differentially pull the ropes to influence the wing motion. UK researchers today announced what they believe to be a game changer in the use of hydrogen as a "green" fuel. A new discovery by scientists at the UK's Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), offers a viable solution to the challenges of storage and cost by using ammonia as a clean and secure hydrogen-containing energy source to produce hydrogen on-demand in situ. Solar Lighting Use sunlight to illuminate your rooms. No skylight necessary....Read More Game-Changing Lamp Powered by Gravity Could Provide Light to Billions Solar-powered electricity systems have often been touted as a solution for those living without reliable access to electricity, but another Earthly force is also readily available (and doesn’t surrender to inclement weather or nightfall): Gravity. GravityLight is powered by the lift of a weight. As the weight falls it turns a gear train, driving the motor that powers the LEDs. It doesn't need batteries or sunlight and costs nothing to run. It takes seconds to lift the weight that powers GravityLight, creating 20 minutes of light on its descent. Click the image for more information. A University of Toronto engineering innovation could make printing solar cells as easy and inexpensive as printing a newspaper. Dr. Hairen Tan and his team have cleared a critical manufacturing hurdle in the development of a relatively new class of solar devices called perovskite solar cells. This alternative solar technology could lead to low-cost, printable solar panels capable of turning nearly any surface into a power generator. Emissions Absorbing Sculpture Kengo Kuma just unveiled a spiraling, air-purifying sculpture that can absorb the emissions produced by 90,000 cars in a year. Kuma’s “Breath/ng” is made from a cutting-edge fabric with a nano-molecule activated core that separates and absorbs toxic molecules. Developed by Anemotech, this pollution-neutralizing material uses the natural flow of air to purify the surrounding environment. The Un-Solar Cell Jeremy Munday, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California (UC) Davis says “A regular solar cell generates power by absorbing sunlight, which causes a voltage to appear across the device and for current to flow. In these new devices, light is instead emitted and the current and voltage go in the opposite direction, but you still generate power.” “You have to use different materials, but the physics is the same.” The whole system relies on the property of physical bodies to radiate heat to their surroundings (if these are cooler). In essence, it works as a reverse to a traditional solar cell, which absorbs light and energy from the sun. Out of the Box Thinking Leads to Energy Efficiency Breakthrough The term “out of the box thinking” seems a little overused, but in this case it appropriately describes the unique thought process that has led one research team to a fantastic discovery. What if there was a way to control magnetic waves the way we control electric current? Research led by a University of Sussex scientist has turned a 156-year-old law of physics on its head in a development which could lead to more efficient recharging of batteries in cars and mobile phones. Dr Jordi Prat-Camps has for the first time demonstrated that the coupling between two magnetic elements can be made extremely asymmetrical. Working with colleagues from the Austrian Academy of Sciences and University of Innsbruck, Dr Prat-Camps’ research rips up the physics rule book by showing it is possible to make one magnet connect to another without the connection happening in the opposite direction. Game Boy Look-Alike Runs On PV and Button Smashes The prototype handheld game console, built by researchers at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., and Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, harvests enough energy from key smashing and sunlight to run games like Tetris and Super Mario Land. Such a battery-free setup, presented September 15 at the virtual UbiComp conference, could one day help curb electronic waste from handheld games and other mobile devices. The WaterNest Floating Home Designed by renowned Italian architect Giancarlo Zema and produced by EcoFloLife, the WaterNest 100 is an eco-friendly floating housing unit. The 100 square meter residential units are made of up to 98% recycled materials; including the laminate timber and aluminum hull. Skylights, balconies and large windows encircle the dwelling, allowing for efficient lighting and beautiful waterfront views. 60 sqm of photovoltaic panels embedded in the rooftop provide up to 4 kWp of internal electricity. A sophisticated system of natural micro-ventilation and air conditioning classifies it as a low-consumption residential habitat. Scroll down for more photos. Solar Trees A solar tree is a structure resembling a tree that generates solar energy using photovoltaic (PV) panels. It employs principles of biomimicry, using a natural system—in this case the form of a tree—to help solve a pressing global challenge: Replacing greenhouse gas-emitting energy sources like coal, oil, and gas with renewable energy. These attention-grabbing installations generally have a sturdy metal, plastic, or stone base that extends up and out into “branches” on which solar panels are mounted. Beyond this basic structure, there is great diversity in the design of solar tree units, reflecting innovative responses to particular environments, climates, and local energy needs. Uberizing Your Roof The Uber model is changing America. First it made a business out of the family car. Then it made a business out of the spare room or vacation house. Soon it might make a business out of the roof over your head. That is the dream of a group of hugely successful entrepreneurs who see roofs as the next big monetization of a widely held capital asset. This group, which at present chooses to remain anonymous, believes that with the right communications network and smart computer linkage, the nation’s sun-trapping roofs could become a new source of electricity and, if connected to in-home batteries, a virtual power plant of scale and reliability.