Squid-inspired smart windows could slash building energy use
Liquid-filled panels that dynamically change how they let light through could cut the energy costs of heating, cooling, and lighting buildings by over 40%
Feb 2023 2
Prachi Patel
Prachi Patel is a Pittsburgh-based freelance journalist who writes about energy, materials science, nanotechnology, biotechnology, and computing. Writes for Scientific American, IEEE Spectrum, Chemical & Engineering News, and MRS Bulletin. Find her at www.lekh.org.
Jan 2023 26
Hydropower could help developing nations decarbonize . . . with minimal environmental impact
Africa and Asia have 85 percent of the world’s affordable hydropower, and it is possible to develop the resource while treading lightly, a new analysis shows
Jan 2023 19
Concentrated sunlight puts cheap solar hydrogen within reach
Engineers have made a device one-hundredth the size of previous solar-to-hydrogen devices that is over three times more efficient
Jan 2023 12
Groundbreaking process powered by the sun converts plastic and CO2 into fuel
In a promising step toward a more sustainable, circular economy, chemists have developed a reactor that turns two of the world’s most problematic waste streams into useful products
Jan 2023 5
Green cooling tech is based on the idea of salt melting ice
By combining a salt and a solvent—both cheap and abundant—engineers developed a new refrigeration system that uses less energy and emits no greenhouse gases
Dec 2022 15
Nano-wizardry makes wood a green electricity source
With a simple one-step treatment that changes the nanostructure of wood, researchers have boosted the electricity it produces when wet--enough to light up LEDs and even laptops
Dec 2022 8
A massive supply of fresh water exists as vapor above oceans. Scientists have an idea to tap it.
Desalinating the oceans is energy-hungry business, so why not economically and sustainably capture the water vapor floating above the oceans with cruise ship-sized structures?
Dec 2022 1
Engineers use sticky tape to generate electricity
Simple energy harvester made with store-bought double-sided tape can light up a string of LEDs, hinting at bright future for low-cost sustainable power
Nov 2022 16
Mushroom skins could be the secret to recyclable electronics
Plastic boards used in electronic devices and batteries are near-impossible to recycle, so researchers devised a sustainable alternative made from biodegradable mushroom skin
Nov 2022 10
Quantum computing gives rise to a clear window coating that cools buildings without using energy
Engineers used artificial intelligence and advanced computing to design a transparent coating that blocks the sun's heat and sends it from the window straight into outer space
