Energy

The sun has terrific energy potential but harnessing its electricity with silicon solar cells is too expensive; at times 10 times the price of coal energy it is fine for wealthier people but…

Decentralization is the greatest challenge facing energy companies in Germany - directing energy efficiently has become more important than how much to produce.  "Distribution System Operators…

We love our modern gadgets, so we sometimes forget we still have an energy problem our Founding Fathers faced - and it impacts everything from the usability of solar power to the uptake of electric…

In America, the government banned incandescent light bulbs, convinced that if they banned them, the free market would replace it with something affordable, effective and efficient. In reality, since…

In 2005, a decade and a half of environmental lobbying convinced President George W. Bush and the U.S. Congress that corn ethanol was a promising fossil fuel substitute which would reduce both…

While corn ethanol was always a bad idea, biofuels themselves have a potential. Perennial biofuel crops miscanthus, switchgrass, and mixed prairie species have shown high yields in producing ethanol…

These days Sweden is better known for its design exports than its blonde bombshells. IKEA, the world’s largest furniture retailer, has developed a brand using a business philosophy that incorporates…

Galactan is a polymer of galactose, a six-carbon sugar that can be readily fermented by yeast into ethanol and is a target of interest for those researching advanced biofuels produced from cellulosic…

In Europe, Spain and Germany, whose populations bought into the 'subsidize legacy technology now and it will be cheaper later' myth, there is a backlash against solar power. Politicians are seeing…

A future without fossil fuels is ideal but impractical in the short term.  However, for people not afraid of science, a PNAS paper showing that synthetic biology can be used to manipulate…