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.
Category: Uncategorized
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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...
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Trendpost
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...
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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. ...
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Trendpost
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...
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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...
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Trendpost
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...
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Prepare for 2016 at retreat
“Prepare for 2016,” a weeklong retreat in January on a magnificent estate in Naples, Florida, will feed your brain, nurture your spirit and strengthen your body to make the year ahead your best. Gerald Celente and his Trends Research Institute have announced an exhilarating and unique weeklong retreat from January 10-16. It’s designed to explore the powerful trends that will unfold in the year...
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10. THE PERSONALIZED CITY
As micro-apartment complexes rise and tech-savvy entrepreneurs reshape the economy, the low-skilled working poor are being pushed out of city centers to suburbs. This fortifies the traditional pattern in Europe, reverses a century of suburban escape in the US, and dispatches the poor to areas where public and social services are unequipped to meet their...
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9. BREEDING ROBOTS
In 2016, robots become mainstream, transforming many aspects of daily life. Robots already do hundreds of human chores, from monitoring the mood swings of an elderly shut-in to searching for lost hikers. But what distinguishes the rise of robots in the year ahead is how their functionality expands and grows as a result of the...