Ian Pearson is a futurist and is involved with a consulting practice called Futurizon. A recent blog posting of his at the site caught my eye and I wrote to him to ask for permission to repeat it to my readers. Ian gladly obliged me with a caveat. He states, “obviously bear in m

This week’s five stories look at: What will happen to American investment in science and technology based on the outcome of this upcoming presidential election IKEA, the build-it-yourself furniture manufacturer revealing its plans to go 100% renewable by 2020 A new initiative in

The energy under our feet may prove to be the answer to producing a reliable 24 x 7 source of power for now and the future. Unlike wind and solar, geothermal energy is never interrupted. That’s because the Earth’s heat, whether in an area of active vulcanism or not, is ubi

Piezoelectricity is energy produced from pressure. The energy gets generated when an automobile, a truck or a train passes over a surface in which piezoelectric devices are embedded. Even a sidewalk or dance floor can be outfitted with such devices. The cigarette lighter in an automob

The proposal is called “trigeneration.” The city is Sydney, Australia. The plan is to use city roofs and basements to become local sources of power generation to supplement and eventually replace coal-fired power responsible for 80% of Sydney’s greenhouse gas emissio