- November 30, 2009 2:41 pm
What would you say if I said your roof could be so much better? Why am i asking you about your roof on a tech blog? If you thought there was nothing cool about such things, think again. The roof above our head is a grossly outdated piece of human existence that has remained unchanged for decades. That’s all about to change with the Thermeleon roofing tiles. What’s so special? These futuristic phase-change polymer gel-filled tiles developed by MIT students for the MIT MADMEC (Making and Designing Materials Engineering Contest) actually change color according to the temperature during the day — white during the summer days to reflect heat and black during this bitter winter days to absorb heat. Novel idea. Simple in theory. Brilliantly executed. Now don’t get all excited that you’re heating/cooling bill is going to be slashed by 99%. Instead, take comfort in knowing that you’re saving energy. Even though it’s a relatively small portion in the grander scheme of things, every little bit helps right?
While I’m not discounting the teams’ efforts or results in any way, a user comment on Gizmag highlights one way the MIT team could take the whole “green roof” one step further — add some sort of solar energy converter/storage system. Not only could you power the house with the solar energy, but a system of houses connected to the grid could, if the system required, push stored energy back into the grid. Getting somewhere…?
Ubergizmo > Gizmag > MIT News
- September 8, 2009 5:42 am
Imagine driving down the road and looking out in front of your car and seeing the roadway light up with markings or directions. Such a sight might make you think of some science fiction movie or some futuristic technology that is still decades from becoming reality. However, the technology and deployment may not be that far off. Instead of the typical asphalt based roadway that does nothing but cause us to use more petroleum based products, the solar roadway could actually make us more independent. The company with the technology, Solar Roadways, has been given a $100,000 grant by the U.S. Department of Transportation to further develop a prototype of the solar roadway mentioned above. The power harnessed by even a smaller 12′ x 12′ section could top 7.6 kilowatt hours. Moving on to bigger sections such as a mile long section of highway could provide enough energy to power 500 homes! As mentioned previously, adding LED lights to the roadway could also provide drivers with short bits of information as well as provide the lane markings reducing the need for road paint.
Naturally, the thought of driving on LED’s and glass can make some uneasy. Though, with as many incredible feats I’ve seen attained with glass, a roadway is but another notch in the belt of science.
Source: Dvice, Dvorak, Physorg
Nothing is more free and more eco-friendly/tree huggin good as the sun, solar panels, and solar energy. It is one of the few forms of “free” energy meaning we don’t have to anything to harness it. Simply plop a solar panel down out in the sun and you’re good to go. Taiwan is set to one up every other environment do gooder by slapping a whopping 8,844 solar panels on the roof of their $152 million National Stadium, home of the 2009 World Games. The panels will soak up enough solar juice to provide power for up to 75% of the stadiums needs. When not in use, the stadium goes into power plant mode and simply pushes the collected electrons back into the power grid. Talk about a good deal. Not only do they have a monstrous stadium, they also have a new power plant. Who’s up for a trip to Taiwan?
Source: Engadget, Inhabitant
With the ever increasing tension between the U.S. and other countries of the world, particularly countries that supply us with tons of black gold, we have shifted our priorities from careless living to finding new sources of energy that are either renewable, or at least “home grown”. PG&E is looking to space (literally) for the answers to the United State’s ever increasing and unquenchable hunger for energy. Said company has reportedly has signed a deal with Solaren in order to receive space based energy by 2016 in order to lessen our dependence on foreign oil just a little. How does this energy make it from the cosmos to us here on earth? It starts with big solar panels in space which then beam that energy down to earth in the form of RF transmissions. Upon reaching the surface, they are converted back into useable energy to allow us to continue on with our happy little lives. It almost sounds like something out of a science fiction book. Just think, our grandchildren will more than likely deal with this type of energy everyday, but for us who have grown up being tied to this dirty black liquid that we have to pump from the ground, grabbing energy from visibly nothing in space and then beaming it down to earth almost seems too good to be true. Now we’ll just have to figure out a way to get our gadgets to suck some of that beamed energy and truly rid us of pesky batteries and cords.
Source: Gizmodo, MSNBC
