Phil and Stephen welcome presidential candidate and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich to FFR to discuss how energy and space policy factor into our national dialog about the future. Plus, we continue our discussion of Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler’s new book, Abundance: The Future Is Better Than Yout Think, which argues that we […]
Sounds great! But there is a little bit of a catch… Startup announces big breakthrough for electric vehicle batteries For years, the electric vehicle industry has been eager to build a better electric car battery: one that extends range while having a longer overall life, is affordable, quick-charging and safe. Now Envia Systems, a start-up […]
[ UPDATE: Thanks for the link, Glenn! Reviewing this piece, maybe I come off as kind of single-issue where energy is concerned. In addition to one with a serious energy policy, I could also get behind a candidate who recognizes that the solutions to our health care and higher education bubbles lie in automation (although […]
[ UPDATE: Thanks for the link, Glenn! Reviewing this piece, maybe I come off as kind of single-issue where energy is concerned. In addition to one with a serious energy policy, I could also get behind a candidate who recognizes that the solutions to our health care and higher education bubbles lie in automation (although […]
This sounds like an encouraging development: With one bottle of drinking water and four hours of sunlight, MIT chemist Dan Nocera claims that he can produce 30 KWh of electricity, which is enough to power an entire household in the developing world. With about three gallons of river water, he could satisfy the daily energy […]
The near future may be nuclear powered, or it may be thermonuclear powered, or it may be powered by geothermal energy or algae-derived biofuels or wind power or tide power or (most likely) some interesting combination of all these, plus the big one, plus some additional sources of energy thrown in for good measure. The […]
Dispatches from a rapidly changing, rapidly improving world Special Dispatch April 24, 2009 The good news keeps rolling in. I hope to do a few more of these before real life resumes. Enjoy! Item: Use Energy, Get Rich and Save the Planet By the 1990s, researchers realized that graphs of environmental impact didn’t produce a […]
Dispatches from a rapidly changing, rapidly improving world Special Dispatch April 12, 2009 I don’t know how much time I’ll have for blogging while I’m on paternity leave from work, but it’all going to be good news stories. Let’s get this party started. Item: Lightning Hybrids Develops Biodiesel-Hydraulic Hybrid The LH4 was designed by a […]
When I was in California last week, I was driving down highway 101 south from SFO towards the San Mateo bridge when I passed (and was later passed by) a truck pulling a trailer with the Tesla logo proudly displayed. The trailer was fully enclosed, so I couldn’t see the vehicle inside, but it was […]
T. Boone Pickens came to my home town Shreveport yesterday as part of his campaign for the Pickens Plan. It was set to start at 10:30, and I showed up a few minutes early to make sure I could get a decent seat. Out in front of the Shreveport Civic Center were two CNG vehicles. […]