Power Flower Wind Turbine Trees Could Domesticate Wind Energy

Large, utility-scale wind turbines are fantastic and can generate a lot electricity, but they also require a lot of land and infrastructure. What if we could harness the power of the wind closer to home in an unobtrusive way? NL Architects explored this idea of 'domesticating' wind power with Power Flowers - tree-like structures outfitted with multiple vertical axis wind turbines. These small, almost noiseless generators could be placed in urban settings and serve as both distributed generation and artistic sculptures.

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Green Tech’s Big Patent Problem

You may remember the battle that raged between pharmaceutical companies who wanted to hold on to their patents and African nations who couldn’t afford the non-generic price tag on the AIDS drugs that would help their dying populations. A similar problem is brewing over green energy technologies: developing countries are demanding that the U.S. waive its patents on clean energy technologies so they can afford to cut their carbon emissions, and the U.S. is saying no way. According to a forthcoming article in The Yale Law Review, the situation benefits no one and is easily remedied.

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Purple Pokeberries Could Provide Low-Cost Solar for Developing Nations

Civil War soldiers used the dye from purple pokeberries to write letters home. Now, the bright-colored weeds are being used for a far more modern purpose. Researchers at Wake Forest University’s Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials created low-cost, fiber-based solar cells that work more efficiently when coated with a layer of pokeberry dye. Scientists hope the cheap solar cells combined with a common plant will help provide inexpensive electricity to developing nations.

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