This occasional series looks at powerful ideas — some existing, some futuristic — for fueling and electrifying modern life.
Explore Powerful Ideas
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- Robotic Spy Planes Go Green
- Military vehicles powered by alternative energy provide more than environmental benefits.
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- Powerful Ideas: Winery Waste Make Fuel
- Waste byproducts from brewing wine can be used for energy.
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- 'Smart Grid' Gets $3.4 Billion Jolt
- President Obama will announce $3.4 billion in grants aimed at reducing blackouts and cutting utility bills.
More Powerful Ideas News and Information
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Powerful Ideas: Reducing China's Carbon Emissions a Breeze
China is now the world's largest producer of carbon dioxide, the most important global warming pollutant.
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Powerful Ideas: Cars Could Run on Watermelons
Sugar from watermelons could be a sweet deal for your car.
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Powerful Ideas: Bacteria Clean Sewage and Create Electricity
Batteries made with microbes could help generate power by cleaning up organic waste at the same time.
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Powerful Ideas: Spray-On Solar Cells
Nano-inks could allow for spray-on solar cells.
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Powerful Ideas: Wind Turbine Blades Change Shape
A wind turbine that adapts to windy conditions may harness more energy.
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Powerful Ideas: Beer Waste Makes Fuel
After beer is made, the waste from breweries could help generate power, researchers now suggest.
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Powerful Ideas: Fungus Sex Forced for Fuel
Scientists hope to breed fungus that can help the environment.
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Powerful Ideas: Shrimp Cocktail Helps Make Biodiesel
Scientists are turning to shrimp shells to help save the environment.
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Powerful Ideas: Chicken Feathers Could Store Fuel
Chicken feathers may help hydrogen cars go the extra mile.
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Powerful Ideas: Military Develops 'Cybug' Spies
Scientists can already control the flight of real moths using implanted devices.
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Powerful Ideas: Alcohol Could Run Artificial Muscles
Artificial muscles driving the robots or prosthetic limbs of the future might be powered by the kind of alcohol that can make people blind.
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Powerful Ideas: Miles-High Kites Could Generate Electricity
Rotors spinning miles high could help supply electricity worldwide.
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Powerful Ideas: Electronics Grown by Germs
Ancient germs that hunt bacteria are now getting recruited to assemble the electronics of the future.
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Powerful Ideas: Fusing Atoms Just Might Work
Nuclear fusion facilities are trying to fuse nuclei using lasers and magnets.
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Powerful Ideas: Teaching an Old House New Tricks
Retrofitting old houses could do more to save energy than increasing the energy of new homes.
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Powerful Ideas: Humans as Renewable Sources
Humans can make power while they work out at the gym, push open a door or just walk.
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How Green Gifts Could Power the Future
A few holiday ideas that can spread cheer by reducing energy consumption.
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How Crazy Ideas Could Power the Future
The next X Prize competition is organizing a contest of crazy green ideas.
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How Fishy Technology Could Power the Future
A new technology inspired by fish could extract energy from slow-moving currents.
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How Geothermal Heat Pumps Could Power the Future
A geothermal heat pump can work anywhere.
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Power of the Future: A Timeline to Energy Independence
When might we expect exciting alternative technology to become our ho-hum everyday energy supply?
Powerful Ideas Features
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