Tag: Energy

Wind is increasingly important for generating renewable energy. So, too, is water. Now a Scottish company is using the ocean tides to generate electricity in a new way. Their 74 metre long floating tidal turbine is anchored to the seabed at four different points. It has recently been connected to the local electricity network by undersea cable. Two turbine...

Working together, ants can achieve great things and are actually stronger than many larger animals. Following their lead, a Norwegian-based startup has developed a 300-meter-high lattice structure containing multiple miniature wind turbines. Their rotor blades have an advantage over those of bigger turbines, lasting 20 years longer and being cheaper to manufacture. The firm’s concept is based on mounting...

Temperatures are on the rise; the holiday season is around the corner. The beach bag is being packed, the camper van upgraded. And don’t forget the cooler. An American startup has recently developed a model that actually works better in the sun. The 45 liter box has a fridge and freezer compartment, both of which can operate at any...

Caught off guard by a cold rain shower? Then how about a nice warm bath? Only, if you’ve got a continuous flow heater at home, the thought of your electricity bill might make you reconsider. Because traditional devices regularly heat water when we don’t need it. And since heat inevitably escapes through them, our energy bills go up. Now...

Innovation is when two or more things combine to make something new. Or get rid of something. Like the startup making wind turbines minus the rotor blades (the latter are neither sustainable nor safe for birds.) The cylindrical turbines vibrate in the wind, generating electricity as they go. Gears, brakes or oil? Not required. A 2.75 metre high turbine...

Two multicolored strands. Containing all information pertaining to our bodies, DNA is a miracle – and a model when it comes to data storage. Currently storing all the world’s data would require 1.394 million m² – with 2.5 trillion new bytes added every day. If that same data were stored in DNA it would fill no more than a...

The wooden bowl on the kitchen table, the cheese roll in the fridge. Apart from a few exceptions, these days pretty much everything is battery-operated. And there aren’t always enough sockets to go around. For some time researchers have been working on how to use our bodies as biological batteries. The latest development? A stretchable polyimine module that can...

The world doesn’t switch off, and more than ever we need innovative solutions for sustainable energy. Can the sun’s energy be used to generate electricity 24 hours a day, on a global scale? The answer is yes, using solar cells from space permanently inclined towards it. If coated with an ultra-light and strongly reflective membrane, thousands of satellites in...