Is Google the real-world equivalent of Skynet?

http://gizmodo.com/googles-buying-an-ai-startup-called-deepmind-for-500m-1509664408

Renewable Energy Is Winning the Battle Versus Fossil Fuels

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/01/28/renewable-energy-is-winning-the-battle-versus-foss.aspx

Note from the president of Plug In America

Happy first newsletter of 2014!

The timeline of electric vehicles spans back to the 1800s. During the EV “golden age” (late 1890s and early 1900s) 38 percent of American automobiles were powered by electricity and “America became the country where electric cars had gained the most acceptance.” The period between 1920 and 1990 saw some small-scale electric car projects, but most progress was lost.

In the 1990s, driven by research programs like the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles and legislation such as California’s ZEV Mandate, we were introduced to vehicles by U.S. Electricar, Solectria and GM and Toyota which were faster and could go further than ever before. Some call this the “modern age”, but because development was purely research and legislative-based, and sales never reached critical mass, the term chosen by Wikipedia is very fitting. It was a “revival of interest.”

The “modern age” arguably began with a disaffected Tesla Motors developing the Roadster which began deliveries in 2008, and really solidified in late 2010/early 2011 with the start of Chevy Volt and Nissan LEAFs deliveries. Plug In America was founded on the hope that something would make this wave of vehicles different. That highway-speed electric cars would “stick” and become once more an indelible part of America’s transportation system. And that perhaps we could help.

How do we know this is an “age” at all, instead of merely another “revival?” Here are a couple of reasons:

Exponential Growth

We know, of course, that EVs are a great product. So just like in the old (but brilliant)shampoo commercial, we expected that early drivers would tell their friends. In fact, we’ve used an adage for a couple of years now—“It takes a driver to make a driver.” Seeing an exponential growth curve is a clue that drivers may be selling cars to other drivers. And now that we have three years of data, that’s just the curve we see in this chart (again from the very useful Luskin study to which we’ve referred several times already).

Just three simple numbers can convey this phenomenon. 17,000, 53,000, 96,000. Those are the rounded last three years of PEV sales. More on that last number in the 2013 summary below.

Variety of Models

Depending on who you ask, there are nine to thirteen new PEV models coming out this year. History shows that new models are often delayed, and never (in my recollection at least) come early, so some of these may be pushed back as always.

Diversity is important for any ecosystem, including the electric car industry. 2014 will be an exciting year because we will be welcoming:

• The BMW i3 with its REx option, which will offer a new combination of battery and auxiliary power
• Models from car companies who have so far stayed on the sidelines of the “modern age”. These include the aforementioned BMW i3 and i8, the Volkswagen e-Golf, the Kia Soul EV, and the Porsche Panamera Plug-In S-E (which has already started deliveries).
• Upscale versions of existing platforms. The Cadillac ELR and Infiniti Electric Sedan allow GM and Nissan to leverage their existing Volt and LEAF technologies and reach new customers.
• Hopefully a second model from Tesla Motors. The Model X may however, bedelayed until next year.
• Breakout sales of e-motorcycles

More Cars

There have been many predictions made lately. One of the most respected (and quoted) studies to come out recently was “10 Predictions for 2014”. In it, Navigant Research predicts 86% growth in worldwide electric car sales in 2014. If this is true in the United States (and the 3-year chart above seems to indicate this as well) we may be seeing two milestones in 2014. The first 15K sales month, and the doubling of all electric cars on the road by the end of the year.

So welcome to the modern age of electric vehicles. It’s so exciting to be witnessing this first-hand. We’re not quite back to 38% of cars (we’re still working on cracking 1%). But we’re headed in the right direction.

Thank you,

Richard Kelly
President

PS: The peak of the “golden age” was also the peak of lead-acid vehicle sales, the “revival of interest” in the ’90s coincided with the first NiMH cars, and the “modern age” began with the new lithium battery EVs. Referring to battery chemistry may be a bit geeky to some drivers who don't want to delve to that level of detail, but it remains a clear way to identify the different periods.

Plug-in Vehicle Roundup (December Plug-In Vehicle Sales and 2013 Summary)

First of all, let’s talk about December.

The biggest news is that Nissan sold an all-time record number of LEAFs, 2,529. Nissan recently announced that awaited production capacity has finally come on line. So we hope to see in 2014 what sales look like with less supply bottleneck. Pricing for 2014 LEAFs has been bumped up $180 for all trim levels.

The Cadillac ELR marked its first month in the charts, selling a few vehicles. This beauty has been called an “upscale Volt” and may represent GM’s first shot across Tesla Motors’ bow.

Looking back on all of 2013, it was really a great year. 96,000 vehicles is a breathtaking accomplishment and represents more vehicles sold in one year than were sold in the last 100 years.

The “real” cars made up the bulk (86%) of sales. The Chevy Volt was the winning model for 2014, with more than 23,094 sold. Nissan LEAF followed closely at 22,610, and the other models’ numbers start dropping off a bit after that.

In 2011 we heard critics say that low initial sales of PEVs signaled their doom. However many noticed that compared to initial conventional hybrid (eg. Prius) sales, adoption rates looked pretty good. The Luskin researchers did this apples-to-apples comparison as well and show that BEVs and PHEVs are actually doing a little better than conventional hybrids did at the same time in their introduction. And this is true even for BEVs and PHEVs individually. We all know how well hybrids are doing today, so this is likely just the beginning.

Military considering replacing troops on battlefield with robots

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/robots-replace-troops-battlefield-111500084.html?soc_src=mediacontentstory

Lithium ion batteries expanding to larger storage units

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/01/26/will-a-simple-battery-reshape-the-future-of-energy.aspx

Tapping more of the sun’s energy using heat as well as light

http://www.kurzweilai.net/tapping-more-of-the-suns-energy-using-heat-as-well-as-light?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=85e37caa13-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-85e37caa13-281903081

The military's plans for robotics

http://breakingdefense.com/2014/01/bird-dogs-drones-terminators-swarms-the-race-towards-robotic-warfare/?ncid=webmail24

$1000 genome sequencing price barrier broken

WAY outpacing Moore's Law:

http://res.illumina.com/documents/products/datasheets/datasheet-hiseq-x-ten.pdf

Harvard creates inexpensive, organic carbon-based "quinone" molecules free flow battery

Great potential for storing energy for overnight use in homes with solar panels:

http://m.fool.com/investing/general/2014/01/14/harvard-research-team-has-breakthrough-on-battery?source=eogyholnk0000001

The movie "Her" emphasizes hidden technology

http://www.wired.com/design/2014/01/will-influential-ui-design-minority-report/

I already have a passive-aggressive relationship with Siri. A romantic relationship can't be far behind.

California residents install more solar panels in 2013 than in all the previous 30 years combined

http://www.nationofchange.org/california-residents-install-more-solar-panels-last-year-previous-30-combined-1389623227

Ken Jennings TED talk on Jeopardy and Watson

Fascinating insights:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2M-SeKey4o

An intermittent energy storage solution, paved the way by...rhubarb?

http://www.kurzweilai.net/organic-flow-battery-promises-breakthrough-for-renewable-energy?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=bb9a1769d9-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-bb9a1769d9-281903081

Major gains in solar energy production and storage

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/01/12/how-you-can-give-up-oil-and-go-100-green-today.aspx

The Next Step For IBM's Watson

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/09/technology/ibm-is-betting-that-watson-can-earn-its-keep.html

Self-Assembling Circuits Should Extend Moore's Law

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/10/science/designing-the-next-wave-of-computer-chips.html?_r=0

World’s fastest organic transistor could lead to low-cost transparent electronics

http://www.kurzweilai.net/worlds-fastest-organic-transistor-could-lead-to-low-cost-transparent-electronics?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=bb1faf571b-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-bb1faf571b-281903081

Fully Autonomous Autos Expected by 2030

http://press.ihs.com/press-release/automotive/self-driving-cars-moving-industrys-drivers-seat

I hope WELL before 2030....

Rupturing The Nanotech Rapture

I suspect the author is yet another person who observes near-term engineering problems in a narrow area, while underestimating accelerating returns and ignoring the developments in converging fields. He says he hasn't seen much progress in nanotech in the last 15 years, but then critics of the Human Genome Project scoffed at the 1% sequencing achieved after 7 years (halfway through the project), even though the project was completed a couple years ahead of schedule. But it's still an interesting perspective, and he does ultimately accept that we may achieve achieve the goals of advanced nanotech and the technological singularity, just not so soon nor through the same methods predicted:

http://spectrum.ieee.org/semiconductors/nanotechnology/rupturing-the-nanotech-rapture

Lockheed Martin uses graphene to purify water

Helping to eliminate 99% of disease-related deaths in the developing world:

http://www.nationofchange.org/weapon-maker-finds-cheap-way-desalinize-sea-water-1388415840

Why is Google snapping up robotics firms?

To become Skynet? To colonize the moon? To beat everyone to the technological singularity punch? Inevitably, robots and AI will massively dominate (not necessarily the negative connotation) our future. Google appears to recognize this and is going balls-to-the-wall to be the one that makes it happen:

http://www.dailytech.com/Google+Wins+DARPA+Challenge+to+Produce+TerminatorLike+Robot/article33995.htm

RIKEN to build exascale computer by 2020

http://www.riken.jp/en/pr/topics/2013/20131226_1/

30 times faster than the current fastest supercomputer, China’s Tianhe-2.

The Navy is now working on a fleet of underwater drones

http://swampland.time.com/2013/12/22/navy-underwater-drone/?xid=newsletter-weekly

Google's Schaft robot wins Darpa rescue challenge trial

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25493584

http://www.kurzweilai.net/time-meet-the-google-robot-that-won-darpa-robotics-challenge-trials?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=0a6751537c-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-0a6751537c-281903081

Breakthrough in Creating Fuel From Algae

http://www.nationofchange.org/us-scientists-convert-algae-crude-oil-less-hour-1387812791

It still takes more energy to produce than you get out of the process, but at least it's carbon-neutral and simple.

Morphing micro-muscular motor is 1,000 times more powerful than a same-size human muscle

http://www.kurzweilai.net/morphing-micro-muscular-motor-is-1000-times-more-powerful-than-a-same-size-human-muscle?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=14b7da7bbb-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-14b7da7bbb-281903081

Restoring Your NADs May Reverse Aging!

Not THOSE 'nads...

http://www.kurzweilai.net/a-new-and-reversible-cause-of-aging?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=2aa099345b-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-2aa099345b-281903081

Another story on the same topic:

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/dec/20/anti-ageing-human-trials

And another:

http://io9.com/scientists-develop-an-elixir-that-reverses-a-known-ca-1487149703?utm_campaign=socialflow_io9_facebook&utm_source=io9_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

How to Communicate With Nanobots

Radio transmissions don't work well enough to communicate with nanobots that might inhabit your cells, so there has to be a different system. Here's a way to digitally communicate with chemicals:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/worlds-first-text-message-via-molecular-communication-sent?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=2aa099345b-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-2aa099345b-281903081

Phone Robot Who Claims She's a Real Person

Unless you're paying attention, you would likely be fooled by her:

http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/12/10/meet-the-robot-telemarketer-who-denies-shes-a-robot/?xid=newsletter-weekly (listen to the audio files)

How much longer before she passes the Turing test?

MetaPro Augmented Reality Glasses

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuMv29nKo2k

Cellulose Nanocrystals are as Stiff as Steel

http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2013/Q4/cellulose-nanocrystals-possible-green-wonder-material.html

Google's Road Map to Global Domination

Long but insightful:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/15/magazine/googles-plan-for-global-domination-dont-ask-why-ask-where.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

Promising Trends in Renewable Energy Technologies

http://m.theweek.com/article.php?id=254215

The Beginning of Personalized Learning

http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLaFe0BJiho2qpq9gHIT-PvfaD9D2WvWDL&v=hTA5GyWamR0

Producing Hydrogen From Just Water, Nanoparticles and Sunlight

http://www.kurzweilai.net/researchers-split-water-into-hydrogen-oxygen-using-light-nanoparticles?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=7fb0bbf631-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-7fb0bbf631-281903081

Conflicts Between Solar and The Grid

http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-clouds-over-hawaii-39-rooftop-solar-growth-121006876--finance.html?soc_src=mediacontentstory

Moving Away From a Centralized Grid

Boulder is moving in the direction of local green energy production, something Drexler's "Engines of Creation" predicted would become a common development:

http://truth-out.org/news/item/20564-the-transformation-of-americas-energy-economy

Google Has Bought 8 Robot Companies

Sounds to me like the best way to hurry the arrival of personal robots:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/14/technology/google-adds-to-its-menagerie-of-robots.html?_r=0

Super Hydrophobic Treatment

Applied to electronics, boat hulls and even ordinary windows, I would think this could save a lot of money:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcbIjqkLjMg

The Environment Over the Next 100 Years

Ugh:

http://www.upworthy.com/the-future-of-the-earth-s-next-100-years-visualized?c=bl3

I think nanotech may be the only way out.

NASA's New Valkyrie Robot

Watch the video:

http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/11/5198124/nasas-valkyrie-robot-made-for-darpa-robotics-challenge

It's speed is not impressive. Yet. But I can't wait to see how the challenge works out.

Solar Power Small But Growing Fast

Projected to go from less than 1% of the market now to 5% by 2020 and 20% by 2035 (I'm hoping for much faster than that, if nanotech takes off in the mid-20s as projected):

http://news.yahoo.com/us-solar-power-sector-small-growing-115605453.html

DARPA Robotics Challenge Entries

I am really excited to see what will come from this:

http://www.theroboticschallenge.org/teamlist

Thin, Efficient, Flexible Solar Cell Manufacturing Process

http://www.kurzweilai.net/a-new-way-to-make-solar-cells-thin-efficient-and-flexible?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=c4fd6f5a6e-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-c4fd6f5a6e-281903081

New Technique Can Improve Fiber Optic Throughput Ten Fold

http://actu.epfl.ch/news/ten-times-more-throughput-on-optic-fibers/

Scientists Sequence DNA of 400,000-Year-Old Human Relative

http://news.yahoo.com/39-pit-bones-39-yields-oldest-known-human-203310093.html?soc_src=mediacontentstory

Inflatable Solar Energy Chimney More Efficient Than Photovoltaic

http://www.theengineer.co.uk/energy-and-environment/news/per-lindstrand-plans-1km-high-inflatable-solar-energy-chimney/1017508.article

Documentary on Advances in Robotics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zP7yP8hdLE#t=94

I especially like the giant mech with dual Gatling cannons. The Japanese will ensure society is destroyed by giant robots before anything else does. :-)

And Asimo can take everyone's orders at once. Whoa, I hadn't been aware of that one!

A Variety of the Latest Robot Types

http://www.kurzweilai.net/googles-droids-take-on-amazons-drones?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=4eaf9434a0-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-4eaf9434a0-281903081

Scientists build a low-cost, open-source 3-D metal printer

http://news.yahoo.com/3d-metal-printer-open-source-affordable-182234682.html

and

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-12/mtu-sba112613.php

Printing metal objects is the most critical step for universal 3D printing.

Amazon Looking to Deliver Packages by Autonomous Robot Drones

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/amazons-jeff-bezos-looks-to-the-future/

Turn off the ad video, then watch the "Amazon Unveils Futuristic Plan" video.

Here's a shorter version of the process:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98BIu9dpwHU#t=30

Getting to 100% Renewable Energy Sources

https://medium.com/armchair-economics/47a04ab0450d

Another Kurzweil Interview

Nothing really new here, but he's still drawing media buzz:

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2013/11/ray_kurzweil_s_singularity_what_it_s_like_to_pursue_immortality.html

A side note about the video: The reason why most future fiction about life extension is dystopian is not because it's been out of reach for us, but because of the nature of fiction. Fiction is about conflict, and the easiest way to generate conflict in stories about the future is to make it dystopian. It's something to fight against. The reason we don't see much in the way of utopian futures is because they would be boring stories. Really, the only way to have utopian stories with real conflict and tension is to have the utopian society ultimately be or become dystopian, drop a character from a utopian society into a dystopia, make the utopian society a goal, that sort of thing. Which means that even if/when these technologies arrive, stories about the future will continue to be dystopian.

Alzheimer's May Be Caused By Diabetes

You can't really extend the life of a person if their mind is gone, and one way to avoid losing your mind may be to avoid getting type 2 diabetes:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22029453.400-are-alzheimers-and-diabetes-the-same-disease.html?full=true#.UpehjMSsjvY

Go Wilford, go Wilford...

Kepler Planet Finder May Still Find More Planets

http://www.universetoday.com/106765/kepler-may-go-planet-hunting-again-infographic-shows-how-that-would-work/

Amazing iPad 3D Scanner

http://www.bitrebels.com/technology/structure-sensor-ipad-3d-scanner/

Combine this with a 3D printer to recreate any object you can walk around. Create virtual environments of any building interior for everything from games to business meetings to real estate tours. Huge potential!

Will 2D Tin be the Next Supermaterial?

Might this be a room-temperature superconductor?

https://www6.slac.stanford.edu/news/2013-11-21-tin-super-material-stanene.aspx

Qubits survive at room temperature for a world-record 39 minutes

http://www.kurzweilai.net/quantum-world-record-smashed?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=daa44f702e-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-daa44f702e-281903081

First Sustainable Single-Atom Bit Created

Only for 10 seconds...but that's still a billion times longer than before:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/scientists-create-single-atom-bit-smallest-memory-in-the-world?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=8ba5fae05a-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-8ba5fae05a-281903081

Inexpensive and Corrosion-Free Method For Extracting Hydrogen From Water

http://www.kurzweilai.net/a-durable-low-cost-water-splitter-made-of-silicon-and-nickel?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=8ba5fae05a-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-8ba5fae05a-281903081

Google's "Moon Shot" to Defeat Death by Aging

Now this is a good use for a few spare $ billion to play with:

http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2152422,00.html

Using Viruses to Grow Nanowires to Improve Battery Energy Density By Up to 3x

http://www.kurzweilai.net/better-batteries-through-biology?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=d1598a1ce9-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-d1598a1ce9-281903081

Watson Doubles in Power and Becomes Available Over the Web!

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/14/technology/ibm-to-announce-more-powerful-watson-via-the-internet.html?ref=science&_r=1&

“The next generation will look back and see 2013 as a year of monumental change,” said Stephen Gold, vice president of the Watson project at IBM. “This is the start of a shift in the way people interact with computers.”

Very exciting!

Wolfram/Alpha Creates a New Technology That Actualizes a New Computational View of the World

http://blog.stephenwolfram.com/2013/11/something-very-big-is-coming-our-most-important-technology-project-yet/

Rock Music Boosts Solar Cell Efficiency 40%

Now I've seen everything....

http://www.nanomagazine.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2337:rock-music-bolsters-nanotechnology-solar-cell-efficiency&catid=38:nano-news&Itemid=159

Self-assembling Transport Networks Powered by Nanoscale Motors and Controlled by DNA Developed

http://www.nanomagazine.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2340:all-aboard-the-nanotrain-network&catid=38:nano-news&Itemid=159

What Solar Power Still Needs

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304520704579129211308141046

I don't think the small projected increase in solar power by 2040 takes into account a tipping point boom, but we'll see.

Solar Power Successes in Europe

Solar Power Begins to Shine as Environmental Benefits Pay Off

By DIANA S. POWERS

PARIS — Amid polemics over rising electricity prices in Europe and the level of green energy subsidies in various countries, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that the growth in clean-energy generation is a huge success story.

Solar photovoltaic generation, known as PV, like wind power before it, is coming into the mainstream — at great environmental benefit.

Based on comparative life-cycle analyses of power sources, “PV electricity contributes 96 percent to 98 percent less greenhouse gases than electricity generated from 100 percent coal and 92 percent to 96 percent less greenhouse gases than the European electricity mix,” said Carol Olson, a researcher at the Energy Research Center of the Netherlands.

Photovoltaic generation offers several additional environmental advantages, Ms. Olson said in an interview.

“Compared with electricity from coal, PV electricity over its lifetime uses 86 to 89 percent less water, occupies or transforms over 80 percent less land, presents approximately 95 percent lower toxicity to humans, contributes 92 to 97 percent less to acid rain, and 97 to 98 percent less to marine eutrophication,” she said. Eutrophication is the discharge of excess nutrients that causes algal blooms.

Toward the end of last year, installed global photovoltaic generating capacity passed the milestone of 100 gigawatts — enough to meet the energy needs of 30 million households and save more than 53 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually, according to a recent report by the European Photovoltaic Industry Association, E.P.I.A., a solar power industry lobby group.

“Right now, today, the world has installed 130 gigawatts of PV, up from 1.4 gigawatts in 2000,” Wolfgang Palz, a former manager of the European Commission’s development program for renewable energies, told a conference organized by France’s National Center for Scientific Research, CNRS, in Paris last month.

Europe alone now has 80 gigawatts of installed photovoltaic capacity, of which 35 gigawatts is in Germany, the European Union leader, providing about 7 percent of the country’s electricity, he said.

Some regions of Germany are even further ahead: “If you buy an Audi today, manufactured in Bavaria, 10 percent of the electricity used to produce it is PV,” Mr. Palz said in an interview.

With large-volume installation, economies of scale have substantially reduced unit costs.

According to a report by the E.P.I.A., the European solar industry’s lobby group, photovoltaic costs have dropped 22 percent with every doubling of production capacity.

Going back 10 to 15 years, “we had to fight to find some crazy people who would install solar panels for $70 per watt on the rooftop,” said Eicke Weber, director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, in Freiburg, Germany.

“We had to find some market support systems for the first thousand-roof program,” Mr. Weber said. “That became the 100,000-roof program — and then the million-roof program.”

Now, “the number that should be broadcast is that, in Germany now, we are able to put PV systems on the rooftop for one euro per watt,” or $1.34, “with the back-up system, with the inverter, and with the cost of installation,” Mr. Weber said. An inverter is a device that converts the direct current electricity produced by solar generation into alternating current that can be fed into the electrical grid.

“In other countries, in the United States, it’s about a factor of two to three more expensive,” he added.

The rapid expansion of renewable energy generation in Europe has been driven by policy, and specifically by the provision of relatively high guaranteed prices for renewable energy sold into the transmission grid — known as feed-in tariffs.

Ahead of the 2009 United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen, the European Union adopted a set of targets committing it to a 20 percent reduction in its greenhouse gas emissions below 1990 levels; an increase in the renewables’ share of E.U. energy consumption to 20 percent; and a 20 percent improvement in energy efficiency — all by 2020.

Since then, feed-in tariffs have been one of the main drivers of cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. The other has been reduced industrial activity resulting from economic recession. Between them, they appear to have been remarkably effective.

In Germany, Spain, Italy and France, for example, renewable energy investment boomed after the introduction of feed-in tariffs, though it has since slowed abruptly as governments have backed off to avoid a glut in supply.

According to the European Environment Agency, Europe had already achieved an emissions reduction of 18 percent by last year, putting it on course to overshoot the 2020 target, even if the E.U. economy recovers by then.

According to the E.P.I.A., the photovoltaic industry lobby group, 10 of the 27 E.U. member states had already achieved their 2020 photovoltaic targets by 2012, and most of the others were close.

With many European consumers squeezed between stagnant or falling incomes and soaring power bills, and governments desperately trying to cut back on public sector spending liabilities, green feed-in tariffs have come under increasingly sharp attack in the past year.

Power utilities have blamed them for rising electricity bills while traditional oil, gas and even nuclear generators have accused them of skewing the competitive playing field — a complaint that ignores the fiscal, regulatory and contractual advantages that they themselves have negotiated with various governments over the years.

Last month, for example, the British government agreed to a 35-year guaranteed price for power from a new nuclear plant to be operated by the French utility EDF. The price set, almost double Britain’s current wholesale electricity price, was effectively a feed-in tariff under another name, supporters of renewable energy say.

“Claiming that a guaranteed feed-in tariff for photovoltaic has to be stopped because it does not fit anymore in the new world is, of course, pure hypocrisy,” said Claude Turmes, a member of the European Parliament from Luxembourg. Mr. Turmes said that President François Hollande of France had backed EDF in its negotiations for a feed-in premium to build the British reactors, even while government policy was shifting away from feed-in tariffs for renewables.

Although cost of living concerns have increasingly been raised by critics seeking to roll back green energy incentives, Ms. Olson, of the Netherlands energy research center, said a cost-benefit analysis of German feed-in tariffs in 2011 made by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, had found that the benefits outweighed the costs paid by electricity users.

“The €10.9 billion surcharge from the feed-in tariff was in large part compensated by savings on fossil fuel imports of €7.1 billion,” she said. “The presence of renewable energy in the electricity market also brings down the cost of peak electricity by about €4.6 billion. These two factors alone offset the costs, even without calculating in the health and environmental benefits or the jobs created.”

Cutting back on support for green energy now, in response to a short-term oversupply, could seriously damage future investment prospects, clean energy advocates and some financial analysts say.

“Photovoltaic has attracted the largest share of renewable energy investment for the past three years,” said Arnulf Jäger-Waldau, a senior scientist in the renewable energy unit of the European Commission’s joint research center, in an interview. “In 2012, worldwide it attracted $137.7 billion, or €105.9 billion, in new investments.”

“When politicians put in high feed-in tariffs and then abolish them, they create too much uncertainty for the market to grow well. It is better to enact a more modest feed-in tariff directly coupled to the actual cost of developments and maintain it over many years,” he said.

By 2015, present overcapacity on the market should be absorbed, Winfried Hoffmann, president of the European photovoltaic industry lobby group, said in an interview. “Two years from now, we will see a new wave of cost-effective production units,” he said. By then the period of consolidation will be over.

“Many companies will not survive, but some will. If we do not do our homework and prepare the ground today for this next wave and this growing market, then the window of opportunity will be closed,” he said.

Michael Eckhart, global head of environmental finance and sustainability at Citigroup, warned that policy shifts risked undermining investor confidence.

“Don’t let the public policies lag,” he said, “because once we leave, we’re not coming back.”

3D Printer Makes a Fully Functional Gun

http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/08/tech/innovation/3d-printed-metal-gun/index.html?hpt=te_t1

Solar Market Forecast

http://www.kurzweilai.net/worldwide-annual-solar-pv-installations-will-double-by-2020-says-report?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=bc6314d5fa-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-bc6314d5fa-281903081

Grid parity soon, even without government subsidies.

University of CA Receives $100 Million For Stem Cell Research

http://health.ucsd.edu/news/releases/Pages/2013-11-04-sanford-gift-stem-cell-clinical-center.aspx

Nice. More such philanthropy, please.

3D Printing is Killing Retail Stores.

http://qz.com/144257/its-the-end-of-walmart-and-mass-market-retail-as-you-know-it/

Robots Can Now Learn By Demonstration

This seems like a terrific way to train robots to be useful about the home:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/attention-kmart-shoppers-theres-a-robot-checker-open-in-aisle-six?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=89522e6000-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-89522e6000-281903081

22% of Stars May Host Earth-Like Planets

Earth-like as in similar size and similar orbit. Other restrictions may apply. But that means BILLIONS of planets in our galaxy alone may hold life:

http://www.universetoday.com/106121/22-of-sun-like-stars-have-earth-sized-planets-in-the-habitable-zone/

Carbyne is the Strongest Material Yet

http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/?p=5840

Another Breakthrough in Solar Cell Efficiency

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/asu-agt102513.php

Engineering Students Create Exoskeletal Arm That Adds 40 lbs to Your Lifting Weight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6ueN19g_7U

The NSF Invests $38 Million in Next-Generation Robotics

http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=129284

New Polymer Heals Itself

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/this-could-be-big-abc-news/terminator-plastic-polymer-heal-itself-014827978.html

Someone With No Imagination

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2013/10/increasing_human_lifespan_could_have_a_serious_side_effect_boredom.html

If you think of retirement as the end of your life, time to wind down physically and mentally as you march steadily onward toward death, then yeah, you'll get bored and soon look forward to dying. But if you look at retirement as doing what you really WANT to do rather than what you HAVE to do (like I do), then it's like opening up a new world of possibilities. And if we could become youthful again, the possibilities would open up further. You don't have to be under someone else's whip; you can find your own motivation by following your passions. Of course, if you don't have any passions, well then yes, you might as well die.

Using IBM's Watson to Create a "Moon Shot" to Eradicate Cancer (and More)

http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/42214.wss

http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/42203.wss

An important step, but I want to see Watson applied to creating virtual friends/assistants that are essentially indistinguishable from human friends/assistants.

Sleep Flushes Waste Material From the Brain

Want to survive long enough to live forever? Get enough sleep so your brain can flush out the causes of Alzheimer's and other neurological disorders:

http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/news/story/index.cfm?id=3956

Nearly 1000 Exoplanets Found

Just because it's a very cool milestone:

http://www.universetoday.com/105548/on-the-road-to-one-thousand-exoplanets/

Scientists use DNA to assemble a transistor from graphene

http://www.nanomagazine.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2296:scientists-use-dna-to-assemble-a-transistor-from-graphene&catid=38:nano-news&Itemid=159

How Do People Want Their Personal Robots to Look?

Interesting:

http://www.news.gatech.edu/2013/10/01/putting-face-robot

Personally, I'd go with the "hot chick" option. ;-)

3D Printing Moves Into the Food Industry

Well, we should have seen this coming sooner than expected....

http://www.livescience.com/40445-the-ultimate-iron-chef-when-3d-printers-invade-the-kitchen.html?cmpid=555141

3D Printing is Now Being Done With Metal

Massive potential here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24528306

Bionic Limbs With a Sense of Touch

http://www.kurzweilai.net/restoring-touch-for-amputees-using-a-touch-sensitive-prosthetic-hand?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=47f0871cb0-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-47f0871cb0-281903081

Ray Kurzweil Interview

Kurzweil summarizing his vision of the future:

http://www.exponentialtimes.net/videos/ray-kurzweil-when-man-and-technology-merge

Using Robots to Reduce the Price of Solar

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/15/business/energy-environment/putting-robots-to-work-in-solar-energy.html?partner=yahoofinance&_r=1&

Using "Shells" to Terraform a Planet

http://news.yahoo.com/incredible-technology-shells-terraform-planet-140940649.html

An interesting idea, but what happens when meteoroids and especially comets and asteroids hit the shell? Also, Kevlar? Seriously? That's like Jules Verne suggesting whalebone struts for Victorian Era spaceships.

The Current Maximum Bionic Man

What you get when you assemble all the machine replacements we've created into a single bionic man:

http://news.yahoo.com/bionic-man-walks-breathes-artificial-parts-151617572.html

New Treatment Halts Alzheimer's Disease

Since we are our brains, Alzheimer's is a form of living death. Finding a treatment for it is thus HIGHLY important for those of us approaching old age but who wish to live long enough to benefit from indefinite life-extension technologies:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-24462699

Better Robot Vision Algorithm Developed

http://web.mit.edu/press/2013/better-robot-vision.html

Fusion Powered Rockets Technically Viable

http://news.yahoo.com/quick-fusion-powered-trips-mars-no-fantasy-scientists-113723220.html

Moore's Law Continues as Existing Fabricators are Adapted to Photonics

http://www.colorado.edu/news/features/cu-mit-breakthrough-photonics-could-allow-faster-and-faster-electronics

The Human Brain Project Has Begun

http://www.kurzweilai.net/the-human-brain-project-has-officially-begun?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=1d3b55b24b-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-1d3b55b24b-281903081

Introducing the Wildcat Robot From Boston Dynamics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wE3fmFTtP9g

Sleep well tonight. ;-)

Self-Assembling Swarmbots Invented

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2013/simple-scheme-for-self-assembling-robots-1004.html

Watch the video. Fascinating stuff.

Renewable Energy is Now Competitive With Fossil Fuels

Even before renewable energy subsidies are taken into account:

http://wallstcheatsheet.com/stocks/is-the-cost-of-renewable-energy-falling.html/?a=viewall