New analysis shows eastern US can handle 30 percent renewable electricity

http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/08/new-analysis-shows-eastern-us-can-handle-30-percent-renewable-electricity/

"both Hawaii and California have set targets of 50 percent renewable energy by 2030. But, in an effort to keep the pace, New York recently announced that it, too, would be aiming to get to 50 percent renewables by that date."

Still not enough, but getting the grid to handle such intermittent sources of energy may be the sticking point.

Engineers Design a New Solar Cell That is More Efficient and Costs Less

http://scitechdaily.com/mit-engineers-design-a-new-solar-cell-that-is-more-efficient-and-costs-less/

"The team’s step-cell concept can reach theoretical efficiencies above 40 percent and estimated practical efficiencies of 35 percent."

‘Star in a jar’ could lead to limitless fusion energy

http://www.kurzweilai.net/star-in-a-jar-could-lead-to-limitless-fusion-energy

It's always 30 years away...but it would still be a great option to have in addition to solar and wind.

LEDs, Not Solar, Have Transformed Their Industry

http://breakingenergy.com/2016/08/29/leds-not-solar-have-transformed-their-industry/

"We expect the light output per unit of electricity for LEDs to double from 2015 to 2125 as efficiency gains continue."

Great, and the LED bulbs I bought five years ago are already obsolete, though they should last until 2030!

Offshore wind costs hit a record low with Dutch wind farm

http://www.triplepundit.com/podium/offshore-wind-costs-hit-record-low-dutch-wind-farm/

"This is a major contribution to the Netherlands’ goal of 16% sustainable energy in 2023, states the Dutch government."

The part that I don't quite get is that despite these major developments, we're still talking projected sustainable energy percentages (both in this article and the Texas one before this) in the teens. I hope they are making the classical mistake of not taking into account the rapid economies of scale and technological improvement. Because we need to do a lot better than that over the next couple decades.

Offshore wind costs hit a record low with Dutch wind farm

http://www.triplepundit.com/podium/offshore-wind-costs-hit-record-low-dutch-wind-farm/

"This is a major contribution to the Netherlands’ goal of 16% sustainable energy in 2023, states the Dutch government."

The part that I don't quite get is that despite these major developments, we're still talking projected sustainable energy percentages (both in this article and the Texas one before this) in the teens. I hope they are making the classical mistake of not taking into account the rapid economies of scale and technological improvement. Because we need to do a lot better than that over the next couple decades.

How Texas Raised the Bar on Renewable Energy

http://247wallst.com/energy-economy/2016/08/29/how-texas-raised-the-bar-on-renewable-energy/

Big data, Google and the end of free will

The humanism argument's a bit weak, but the rest is interesting. It ties well into David Brin's "The Transparent Society," which argues that privacy will soon disappear due to impending technological advances:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/50bb4830-6a4c-11e6-ae5b-a7cc5dd5a28c.html

Flying with the Fourth State of Matter

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/space/plasma-air-control/

New Lidar Chips for Self-Driving Vehicles are Smaller Than a Dime, Cost $10 to Manufacture

https://mishtalk.com/2016/08/24/new-lidar-chips-smaller-than-a-dime-cost-10-to-manufacture/

Considering $10,000 was a low price a year ago, this is significant!

This Edible Packaging Is Made From Milk Protein

http://mentalfloss.com/article/84958/edible-packaging-made-milk-protein

Solar Cost Hits World's New Low, Half the Price of Coal

http://www.ecowatch.com/solar-price-chile-1982242311.html

NVIDIA's made-for-autonomous-cars CPU is freaking powerful

https://www.engadget.com/2016/08/23/nvidia-parker-processor-autonomous-cars/

Beyond Wi-Fi

http://www.kurzweilai.net/beyond-wi-fi

GE is building America's first offshore wind farm with turbines twice as tall as the Statue of Liberty

https://amp.businessinsider.com/ge-building-wind-turbine-farm-at-block-island-2016-8

How to separate out semiconducting carbon nanotubes

http://www.kurzweilai.net/how-to-separate-out-semiconducting-carbon-nanotubes

Ford Aims to Have Self-Driving Cars Take to Roads by 2021

http://www.livescience.com/55783-ford-announces-self-driving-cars-by-2021.html

Half A Billion Solar Panels By 2021: U.S. Army Makes It Look Easy

http://www.triplepundit.com/2016/08/half-billion-solar-panels-2021-u-s-army-makes-look-easy/

Utilities Fighting Lower Electric Bill Zombie Apocalypse

http://www.triplepundit.com/2016/08/utilities-fighting-lower-electric-bill-zombie-apocalypse/

"What is obviously missing in EEI’s perspective is a utility’s obligation to keep bills low in the face of competition just like businesses not protected by regulators and legislators."

Self-propelling liquid metals: the future of soft electronics?

http://www.kurzweilai.net/self-propelling-liquid-metals-the-future-of-soft-electronics

"May be possible to build a [T-1000-style] 3D liquid metal humanoid on demand”

Oh, yeah!

A Robotic Suit Is Helping Paralyzed People Feel Their Legs Again

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/robotic-suit-paralyzed-breakthrough_us_57ac6892e4b06e52746f54f6?utm_hp_ref=whats-working

The oil industry's massive supply-and-demand problem is about to get even worse

http://www.businessinsider.com/iea-report-on-global-oil-demand-and-supply-2016-8

This doesn't help the alternative energies sector, unfortunately. I'd rather see oil prices go through the roof, galvanizing a "moon shot" for solar and batteries.

Elon Musk announces ‘Solar Roof’ product, Tesla/SolarCity will go after the roof industry

https://electrek.co/2016/08/09/tesla-solarcity-solar-roof-elon-musk/

Texas Is Drowning in Wind Energy

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/a22228/texas-is-drowning-in-wind-energy/

Nuclear Power Is Losing Money At An Astonishing Rate

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/08/04/3803499/nuclear-power-bail-out/

First Reprogrammable Quantum Computer Created

http://www.livescience.com/55642-reprogrammable-quantum-computer-created.html?utm_source=ls-newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20160805-ls

Federal regulator says car makers “cannot wait for perfect” on automation

http://arstechnica.com/cars/2016/07/federal-regulators-says-car-makers-cannot-wait-for-perfect-on-automation/

China has actually built an elevated bus that travels above car traffic

https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/02/china-has-actually-built-that-elevated-bus-that-travels-above-car-traffic/

Better put down your radio antenna....

A New Kind of Computer Chip Could Soon Make Your Smartphone Way More Powerful

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/a19318/a-new-kind-of-computer-chip-could-soon-make-your-smartphone-way-more-powerful/?click=my6sense

Resveratrol impacts Alzheimer's disease biomarker

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/09/150911164211.htm

Scientists invent a way to create CO2 fuel from a solar leaf

"The result: an artificial leaf that turns CO2  into fuel, "at a cost comparable to a gallon of gasoline" could render fossil fuel obsolete, according to the researchers."

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2016/0801/Scientists-invent-a-way-to-create-CO2-fuel-from-a-solar-leaf