The world needs better batteries, to be sure. Could Angela Belcher create them from viruses and help us all out?

Batteries are a big industry; that’s definitely part of the excitement around Tesla right now. But the problem is, the way we make batteries currently is somewhat ineffective and can be harmful to the environment. What if, instead, we made… Continue Reading

72 percent of the Earth is covered by ocean. So desalination seems like a logical answer to drought, right? Not so fast.

California droughts right now might be the worst in 100 years, and Lake Mead’s at a fairly dangerous level (which threatens tourism mecca Las Vegas), so clearly we’re moving to the “answers” stage of our water problem. It would seem… Continue Reading

If you have $340,000 and can move to Sri Lanka by 2016, you could basically live in a 46-story-tall forest

Milroy Perera was previously the architect of note on the Kandalama Hotel in Sri Lanka (video profile above), which is carved into a rock face and faces out towards an ancient jungle. (“You’re not a guest; you’re part of nature.”) Now he’s… Continue Reading

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Can Elon Musk and Tesla get the price of an electric car down to $30,000 because of a huge battery factory?

There’s been a ton about Tesla in the news lately — about two days ago, it was on Google Trends — but I’m not going to run that deep on it, since I’m not a business journalist. Here’s what you… Continue Reading

Is the next big thing going to be a solar-powered Macbook from Apple?

Apple’s new patent — U.S. number 8,638,549 — concerns a rear plate for the MacBook. It could be used to house solar cells. (The correct term is photovoltaic, but I’m trying to keep things relatively clean here.) From Apple Insider: Finally, Apple… Continue Reading

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If you want to talk about the 2016 Presidential election, talk less about Chris Christie and Hilary Clinton and more about wind and solar energy

Here’s the chain of events on this one: Warren Buffett, about two weeks ago, spent $1 billion (through his utility company, MidAmerican Energy Holdings) to help finance five different wind turbine projects in Iowa. That was the largest-ever order (for land-based… Continue Reading