Green technology is believed by many to be the next big innovation boom. Because there are so many things in our lives that rely on energy today, green tech will be the way that our lifestyle can continue and improve as fossil fuel resources decline. Here is a look at some of the green solutions to today’s problems that can make a big difference.
Water Billboards
Before oil becomes too precious, clean drinking water will likely be the thing that we are fighting over. World peace can be protected by innovators like those making the water billboard. Essentially, the billboard is a collector that then condenses water vapor in order to channel down the center post. A tap or pump sits at the bottom. In regions where water stays in the air without raining down, this is a godsend.
Algal Biodiesel
Algae has a 70 percent oil content. It feeds on human wastewater and helps to purify it. Algae farms replace carbon dioxide with oxygen. By improving the processing of this fuel, we win on many levels. The algae is raised in clear lucite pipes with wastewater funneled through, then centrifuged to separate the oil from the body.
Tidal Energy
Waterfalls and dams have long been a power source for cities. Wind turbines are using motion as well. The next generator is tidal energy, which will work like an underwater water wheel. Professionals with master’s degrees in civil engineering and similar fields are working to create structures that maximize energy while minimizing the impact to the environment.
Skin Batteries
Need a quick charge of electricity? Try a skin battery. These are still in the process of being perfected, and you won’t be sticking your phone on your arm anytime soon, but using the body’s natural electrical currents to recharge medical devices like pacemakers and electric current generators to speed wound healing may be happening quite soon.
Electron Data Storage
One benefit to small data storage solutions is that they require less space, and less cooling to maintain. One day soon, perhaps all our cloud data can be stored by subatomic particles. Scientists have discovered the ability to flip the rotation of electrons from clockwise to counter-clockwise and arrange them in series. If this becomes a link to binary code, then the amount of data that a storage facility can physically fit will increase exponentially, and the amount of resources needed to keep it maintained will drop.
Ocean Cleanup Array
At age 19, Boyan Slat formally announced his plans for an ocean cleanup array that could remove millions of tons of plastic from the world’s oceans in only five years, and potentially up to half of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch within ten years. The structure uses floating boons that will span over a mile long and passively collect floating plastics for recycling. The array will become the largest manmade structure ever deployed in the oceans, and if the design proves successful, the project will look to expand the device to over 62 miles long.
Many schools are putting green design into the forefront of their degree programs. They are aware of the importance in the coming decades to not only maintain our way of life, but continue to improve it for generations to come.
