A faster, cheaper way to transform seawater into fresh water has been developed by a University of Illinois research team. The invention could make fresh water cheaper and more plentiful for coastal nations, such as Saudi Arabia, when droughts are becoming more frequent around the world. In the usual process of removing brine from ocean water, the fluid is pushed...
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As groundwater supplies dry up, desalination will grow rapidly as an industry. Breakthroughs like this will reduce costs and lure more cities and nations to build facilities.
A different kind of water power
There are balloons full of energy under Lake Ontario. Actually, the balloons are full of compressed air and are part of a pilot project by Hydrostor, a Canadian energy firm. The company is testing the concept of storing compressed air in balloons under water, then releasing the air as strong wind to turn generator turbines during times of peak demand...
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Hydropower in various forms can offer less expensive, lower-tech solutions to energy supply and demand. Companies such as Hydrostor are entering this under-explored market niche and will rapidly expand it over the next 10 years.
Blocking pain wirelessly
Implacable pain from nerve damage, amputations and other irreversible conditions has long defeated medicine’s attempts to quell it. Now, researchers at Washington University’s School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have found something that works. Scientists implanted soft, stretchable micro-LED lights that, when switched on and off, can prevent or allow pain signals to...
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Chronic pain among an estimated 100 million Americans could be costing the US economy as much as $635 billion annually — a figure likely to rise with the median age. A cheap device controlled with a handheld switch or cellphone app could return millions of people to gainful work and billions of dollars back to more productive uses.
Solar beats fossils south of the equator
In bids to build electrical generation plants in India and Chile, unsubsidized solar projects beat the bids of coal-fired utilities. The contest in Chile was open to all forms of power generation and drew a low bid of US 6.5 cents per kilowatt-hour from a solar power firm. Coal-fueled bids didn’t win, place or show. In India, the district of...
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Even in the US, unsubsidized solar power is winning business away from conventional utility technologies. The relentlessly falling costs of solar power will continue to accelerate the dismantling of the conventional electric grid and utility companies’ traditional business models. The shift will be gradual until, by 2040, renewable power sources will provide more electricity in the developed world than fossil...
Leap forward for indoor gardens
Could the farmers’ market be replaced by a three-tiered indoor ecosystem? Grove Labs of Massachusetts has introduced the Grove Ecosystem, which is shaped like a 6-foot-tall bookcase but holds an aquarium and space to grow greens, herbs and fruits. In essence, the fish in the aquarium provide the fertilizer that helps the greens grow. To complete the cycle, the greens...
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Are we about to see a living ecosystem in every home? Not quite. The Grove Ecosystem is expensive and, for many intents, a first-generation product. Make no mistake, however: The indoor ecosystem is here to stay. There’s a real demand for fresh, homemade food in the easiest way possible. An indoor ecosystem helps meet that demand.