Energy

Solar photovoltaic (PV) mass-market polycrystalline panels are typically about 15% efficiency. Pretty terrible, right?  Maybe, maybe not.   Cars - both gasoline and electric vehicles,…

Breathe in, Breathe out, charge your implant. It sounds like a dream, but researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison report that the simple act of human breath can create enough energy to…

Driving in Circles People often wonder whether the world would be able to do something about its dependence on oil and its effects on the environment. A child asked the following question on Hidden…

The energy from those Russian warheads I feared as a child is coming to me right now. However, it is coming at a much slower and more controlled rate than I had originally feared. In fact, that…

Energy use and environmental sustainability are deeply entwined. The impact of environmental degradation has been an important factor in the development and decline of civilizations. It has been…

For most of human history, technology changed very little during a person’s lifetime. Certainty, their life was not constant with the hard agricultural life being interrupted by war, disease, and…

Green house gas mitigation has become a business and unfortunately different interests clash in this manner. Asking for funds ? Global fund ? Some more offices ? Some more five star conferences with…

Google is doing some spring cleaning and booted seven projects that were outside what they regard as their core business, the most high-profile of which was its attempt to make solar energy cheaper…

If you've studied the martial arts, or know anything at all about Asian culture, you have heard of the ch'i.  It's spelled lots of different ways, which happens when you turn Eastern sounds into…

The current energy quandary means a lot of basic research is being done in alternative energy solutions; that's good, it's what basic research is for.  It also means political darlings of some…