Wind turbines have a “big” problem. As in, they’re really big: bigger than you might think. One of the latest turbine designs sports a swept area of about 10 American football fields.1 This is generally desirable, especially for offshore turbines. But as you can probably imagine, this makes
Imagine getting the energy needed to power our phones, light up our homes, or drive our cars, from thin air. And no, we’re not talking about Nikola Tesla’s dream of wireless power a century ago, but a new and accidentally electrifying discovery along those lines from the University
Heat pumps are the most efficient way to heat and cool a home, but they’re not all created equal. Geothermal, or ground source, heat pumps are more efficient and effective at a wider range of temperatures than air source, but at a cost. It’s way more expensive up
In the process of building my new home, I’ve heard time and time again from many of you that my home’s highly energy efficient features are considered standard in other areas of the world. From the type of window construction to the method of heating water, there’s
3D printing rocket engines? It seems like these days you can 3D print just about anything. Just on this channel, we’ve talked about 3D printed next-gen perovskite solar panels, houses, and the development of advanced toroidal propellers for boats and drones. So you probably shouldn’t be surprised to
How can CO2 actually help us keep the planet cooler? When it’s the refrigerant in a heat pump! And these heat pumps can warm your house while they heat your water. All while being more than twice as energy efficient as their competitors, at least according to some calculations.
The growth of solar energy has exploded in the past few years. According to Our World in Data, solar’s share of global electricity production jumped from 0.15% percent in 2010 to over 4.52% in 2022.1 This has left even the most optimistic solar adoption predictions in
I Made A Mistake Building My New Net Zero Home My new net zero home build is almost done, but there’s been a few issues along the way that could be a good learning lesson. The high level goal for my new home has been to build an energy
Wave Energy Converters have been making a lot of, um, waves in the energy sector lately thanks in part to China’s brand new, megawatt-scale, wave energy device. This device isn’t the first of its kind, but its sheer size represents a breakthrough for this underutilized but potent branch
The saying goes that “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” and as we speak, researchers around the globe are experimenting with taking this phrase literally. Right now, it’s possible to turn leftovers from brewing beer into batteries and to generate electricity from wastewater. There’s a
What do you do if a satellite runs out of batteries? It’s prohibitively expensive to send a team into orbit and pop in some new AAs, and as a result many satellites use very efficient, reliable and long-lived nickel-hydrogen batteries. We’re talking about batteries that may last decades.
This is Ascent Milwaukee. A gorgeous combo luxury apartment and retail space. But if you look closely, you might notice something special about this building… Figured it out yet? It’s made out of wood. That’s right, aside from a concrete garage and elevator shafts this 25 story-tall building