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Stephanie Beavers

~ Always be yourself. Unless you can be a dragon. Then always be a dragon.

Tag Archives: energy

House of the Future

03 Monday Aug 2015

Posted by Stephanie Beavers in News

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author, Dutch, energy, Netherlands, renewable resources, Science, science news, Stephanie Beavers, wind energy, windmill, windwheels, writer

Getting engaged makes you start thinking about where your life is going. What will you do, further down the road? Where will you work? Where will you live? What are your goals? It’s an opportunity to plan, but also to dream. It’s difficult to guess what the future will hold. Scientific advances are changing life as we know it faster than ever before.

For example, come 2020-ish, we might be able to live in a windmill. Popular Science wrote an article on new Dutch Windwheels. Wind-generated energy is highly desirable as a renewable resource, but building huge, noisy turbines in densely-populated areas is a tough sell. But the new windwheels that they’re developing look cool and futuristic and can simultaneously generate energy and provide habitable spaces for residential or commercial needs.

futuristic wind energy building

This is badass. I would live in this.

So when they build these, we might have to move to the Netherlands. Y’know, if we still feel like living inside a giant generator.

For more details, check out the article linked above.

What do you think, readers? Awesome or what? What other cool buildings and/or methods of harvesting energy are we likely to see in the future?

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Parks for the End of Time

01 Monday Dec 2014

Posted by Stephanie Beavers in News

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apocalypse, author, end times, energy, future, innovation, nature, park, parks, post-apocalypse, Science, science fiction, solar power, solutions, Stephanie Beavers, trees, writer

Solar Technology Could Make Underground Parks In Cramped Cities Possible

Good news, everybody! After the surface of the earth has been reduced to a toxic wasteland, these guys will have a way to create scenic nature areas underground. (For those of us who hate how blah and dirty post-apocalyptic refuges are in movies and whatnot, this is excellent news.) The Lowline project seeks to redirect solar energy from the sunlight above on the streets to their underground park, a former trolley terminal. They’re also going to keep some of the terminal’s history alive, adding a little culture to complement the nature they plan to cultivate.

solar underground park trees

Really though, I think this is an awesome idea. One of the problems with cities is their impact on nature. Parks take up space, precious real estate that people want to capitalize on. “Building up” doesn’t work great with parks… but what about down? I hope these guys get the funding they need to make this underground park a reality. Let’s hear it for a little more nature!

What do you think, readers? Cool and innovative or impractical and silly?

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Technology Gone Wrong: KILL IT WITH FIRE!

27 Monday Oct 2014

Posted by Stephanie Beavers in News

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author, batteries, creepy, energy, jewelry, Naomi Kizhner, needles, Science, science fiction, science news, social commentary, Stephanie Beavers, writer

Jewelry That Harvests Energy From Your Veins

Let’s read that again. It’s jewelry that HARVESTS ENERGY from your VEINS.

Need a charge? Just STAB your jewelry straight into your own body to draw a charge!

(I may be a tad SCARED SKINNY of needles.)

Didn’t she watch The Matrix? We shouldn’t be giving our own technology the idea that we can be used as human batteries!
man-151816_640Equals_sign_in_mathematicsbattery-27675_640

Okay, so you may have noticed me taking a hypochondriac’s spin here. In fair representation, Naomi Kizhner created these devices as a social commentary on human energy consumption, not as a practical way to harvest energy. (Although I still say sticking a couple needles into yourself to make a wheel spin inside a transparent casing is CREEPY, but there you go.) In her words, the jewelry is a discussion piece “about how far will we go to in order to ‘feed’ our addiction in the world of declining resources.”

Check out her website to see these torture devices.

What do you think, readers? Cool or creepy?

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The Future Of Making Things Go

02 Monday Jun 2014

Posted by Stephanie Beavers in News

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author, energy, exercise, Science, science news, Stephanie Beavers, turbines, walking, writer

So IFLS has written two articles on a couple possibilities on where energy generation could come from in the future:
Micro-turbines could revolutionize small-scale energy production
Charge Gadgets Just By Walking

First on the list: mini turbines! Apparently people thing wind turbines are ugly, so some scientist went and made them so tiny you can’t really see them; ten can fit on a grain of rice. Apparently they’re sturdy despite their size, and could viably produce energy–a hundred or so to charge a cell-phone. If the scientists can get them mass produced, they’ll be cost-effective, too. There’s also talk of other micro-robot type stuff, so of course this too will lead to the robot apocalypse. Read the article for more details.

Ugly? Yeah, kinda… Besides, small = cute, right? Right?

Second: People move around anyways, so why not let all that “wasted” energy go to charging your gadgets instead? Apparently this nifty invention will work like a hand-crank flashlight. You just stick the special liner in your shoe, plug in your device, and go for a walk. It’s a practical little invention for those of us constantly letting our cell phones die…

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I For One Welcome Our Vegetal Overlords

14 Monday Apr 2014

Posted by Stephanie Beavers in News

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author, batteries, Bionic plants, energy, fun, inspiration, plants, Science, science fiction, science news, Stephanie Beavers, writer

Bionic Plants: Turning Plants Into Energy Producing Factories
First we turn plants into batteries. Before you know it, they’ll go all super-species on us and take over.

Seriously though, this article is pretty awesome. IFLS does the usual layman breakdown (although it’s a tad more technical than many of her others.)

TL;DR? They’ve figured out how to turn plants into energy-producing units. There were some fancy science-problems stopping them from doing this before, but they’re figuring it all out and it could be feasible as an energy source. It’s still in early stages, but to me, this sounds a lot more sustainable than most of the stuff we’ve got going on right now. More plants: yay!

happy flower battery

The plants will be so happy to serve us… until they’re not. :o

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Two brothers with magical abilities seek to stop an evil mage only to find the fate of an entire race in their hands.
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