The Green Optimistic

Geothermal technology surely is one of the cleanest technologies available to us, extracting clean heat from the hot underground. This energy source is often seen as inexhaustible, and its benefits seem to outweight its weak points. For decades, geothermal companies have been drilling into Earth’s crust at depths of over 4-5km.

The inventor of Segway (you know, those 2-wheeled self-balancing personal transporters you see in touristic cities - I saw one in Rome) is now specializing in Stirling engines - the grandfather of the steam engine and more efficient than current gasoline engines.

In the renewable energy field offshore wind farms are not a new concept and Europe has already made several developments in the technology, which promises better returns than onshore farms being built all over the world.

Scientists at the University of Toronto have created a new type of light sensor that acts like a pixel in a digital camera. Researchers believe the sensor, which takes advantage of a phenomenon called multi-exciton generation (MEG), could lead to substantial advancements in the performance of a variety of electronic devices including digital cameras.

Some people have realized that our interference with the planet’s ecosystems is in most cases disastrous and have come with several ideas to diminish our influence on the environment. Industrial designer Chris Allen has come up with an idea to use plastic bottles that we usually throw away to help generate energy from wind.

A Korean team led by Nam-Gyu Park has recently made a breakthrough discovery in solar cell development. This discovery will not only increase the efficiency of thin-film panchromatic solar cells but as well the use of clean and reusable energy on the entire globe.

Columbia University has announced the development of a structure that could capture carbon 1,000 times faster than a real tree. Klaus Lackner said, as the “tree” could be used for capturing carbon which has been already emitted into the air by car gasoline or airplain fuel.

Solar cell system which concentrate solar light through lenses seem to be the most efficient and advantageous. The concentrator enables the system to work with cheaper lens system instead of expensive semi-conductor materials, making it as well more efficient.

Modular thinking has brought us many wonderful things in technology, medicine, and in most exact sciences. I see no reason why it should not work in power generation.

In order to satisfy energy needs for people in the Upper Midwest of US, The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved a green energy project. The green power superhighway(around 3,000 miles) will deliver energy to consumers in and around Chicago, Minneapolis and other load centers.

The first thing I read when I woke up this morning was Michael Jackson’s death. “Earth Song” and “Heal the World” were among the first that taught me about caring for the environment and for the people as a part of it.

This years scholarship prize of $20,000 of Invent Your World Challenge went to a 15 year old fellow from Texas called Javier Fernández-Han, who proved us all that renewable energy is the way we should direct our creativity upon.