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Printed solar cells are paper-thin, lightweight and extremely inexpensive to produce. The cells are also flexible, making their transportation virtually effortless, even to remote rural areas. “I’ve witnessed first-hand how the technology has enabled urban poor communities in India to access off-grid electricity,” says Scott Watkins of the Korean firm Kyung-In Synthetic. “Its success is due to its cost effectiveness and simplicity. A 10×10 solar cell film is enough to generate enough as much as 10-50 watts per square meter.”
The Design Museum in London has chosen its Best Design of the Year: a chip that replaces animal test subjects with a complex package of human cells. This radical invention has the potential to eliminate animal experimentation, and in effect save millions of species’ lives worldwide.
The lung-on-a-chip, called so because that’s what it actually is, was designed at Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. It may look simple, but the chip contains complex human cells arranged similarly to the way a lung works. In fact, it even breathes like a human does!
A Reactionless AC Synchronous Generator (RLG) has been invented by Paramahamsa Tewari, electrical engineer and former Executive Director of Nuclear Power Corporation of India. His background includes engineering project management for construction of nuclear power stations. The efficiency of models he has built, which have also been independently built and tested, is as high as 250%.
Costa Rica got 100 percent of its electricity from renewables for 75 days straight this year, the state-run Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) announced this week.
The Latin American country hasn’t had to use fossil fuels at all so far in 2015, due to heavy rains that have kept hydroelectric power plants going strong. Wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal energy have also helped power the country this year.
Fernando Vossa of Searl Magnetics is one of the forerunners of free energy and healing technologies that will be soon available to the world through open sourcing. Many things are occurring on the planet at this time that will allow for these inventions to now come forth to finally put an end to all of the major conveniences of living that have been stifled by the American petrodollar. The HAIAH home project is just one of many of Fernando’s projects.
This is an invention that might change civilization as we know it: A compact fusion reactor developed by Skunk Works, the stealth experimental technology division of Lockheed Martin. It’s the size of a jet engine and it can power airplanes, spaceships, and cities. Skunk Works claims it will be operative in 10 years.
NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope recently discovered an Earth-like planet orbiting a nearby star within the habitable zone of our galaxy. Kepler-186f is approximately 500 light-years from Earth in the Cygnus constellation.
The habitable zone, also known as the Goldilocks zone, is the region around a star within which planetary-mass objects with sufficient atmospheric pressure can support liquid water at their surfaces. While it has been estimated that there are at least 40 billion Earth-sized planets orbiting in our Milky Way Galaxy, this particular discovery is labeled the first Earth-sized planet to be found in the habitable zone of another star.
According to Musk, the company is working on a consumer battery pack for the home. Design of the battery is apparently complete, and production could begin in six months. Tesla is still deciding on a date for unveiling the new unit, but Musk said he was pleased with the result, calling the pack "really great" and voicing his excitement for the project.
The world is rapidly reaching global water crisis mode with nearly one billion people lacking access to clean potable water. But a new solar-powered invention by award-winning British company Desolenator can turn seawater into drinking water – and may turn this dire situation around in a hurry.
Read more: New solar-powered invention can make sea water drinkable | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building
Imagine downloading your favorite flick in 31 thousandths of a second. Such insane internet speeds are now a reality, with researchers rolling out a 255 terabits per second fiberoptic network which could transport the entire Internet on a single cable.
The cable, the joint effort of Dutch and US scientists, is 2,550 times faster than the fastest single-fiber links in commercial operation today.
In real terms, it could transfer a 1 GB movie in 0.03 milliseconds or the entire contents of your 1 terabit hard drive in about 31 milliseconds.