Results tagged “Scientific American” from Innovations

Skyscraper Farms Could Save Energy

September 30, 2008 1:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

skyscraper and goat.jpg

South African Boer goats chews on tough weeds to clear a steep hillside lot in downtown Los Angeles. In the future, maybe the livestock will be inside the skyscrapers. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)

Instead of spending all that energy to plant and plow fields and then truck the produce from the country to the city, why not grow food right in a city, in a glass tower with different floors for different crops and livestock? A Columbia University professor tells Scientific American that such "vertical farming" would bring fresh food to urban dwellers with less fuel expended on shipping, and would allow farmers to heat or cool the environment as needed to grow crops all year round.'

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Tags: farming, Scientific American, skycrapers

Continue reading Skyscraper Farms Could Save Energy.

Your Driver's License May Be Watching You

August 22, 2008 6:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Driver's licenses in states bordering Canada or Mexico may soon come equipped with RFID tags that can be read as far away as 30 feet. Though they're designed to decrease identity fraud, they and other RFID devices could also allow the government to track you without your knowledge. " Scientific American says lawmakers so far have done little to address potential privacy invasions for citizens.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Tags: driver's licenses, privacy, RFID tags, Scientific American

Biometrics May Lower Identity Theft

August 20, 2008 1:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

More powerful and inexpensive microprocessors are leading to increased use of biometrics---the use of individual physical characteristics as identifiers. Scientific American says that fingerprinting, face recognition, and iris scans are becoming more popular methods to fight identity theft, because it's not as easy to fake an eye scan as it is to steal a PIN. One issue, though, is that the error rates in some systems are still too high.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Tags: biometrics, identity theft, Scientific American, security

California Company Captures Carbon for Concrete

August 7, 2008 7:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A California company, Calera, has developed a process in which it captures the carbon dioxide emitted by a natural-gas-burning power plant, pumps it through seawater, and produces the materials needed to make cement. Normally the process of making cement releases at least a ton of carbon dioxide for every ton of cement, but the company says it captures half a ton of C02 for each ton of cement it makes, according to Scientific American. Since cement and its sister material, concrete, are widely used in buildings all over the world, such a change could have a significant impact on global warming.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Tags: Calera, carbon dioxide, cement, Scientific American

EPA Studies Nanotech Safety

July 31, 2008 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A number of chemical companies are supplying data to the Environmental Protection Agency so it can assess whether nanoscale materials used in their products may pose health risks. Scientific American reports that 13 companies, including BASF and General Electric, have provided data to the EPA, and another 17 are expected to do so. Some scientists worry that the tiny nanoparticles or carbon nanotubes could interact with human tissue, perhaps having an asbestos-like effect on the lungs.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Tags: EPA, nanoparticles, Scientific American

Solar Cell Market May Mirror That of Computers

June 30, 2008 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In a sign that the market for photovoltaics may be about to take off, three computer heavyweights that promoted the development of the PC over the past three decades are moving into the solar cell business, says Scientific American. IBM announced it will begin making solar panels based on chemical thin films. Intel spun off a new solar tech company. And Hewlett-Packard started licensing technology to a company that makes rooftop solar systems.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Tags: Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Scientific American, solar

Web Pick: House Uses Solar Panels to Produce Hydrogen

June 19, 2008 6:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A New Jersey man has taken his home off the grid by installing 56 solar panels on his roof, and then using their power to split water into oxygen and hydrogen. He stores the hydrogen which then can power fuel cells to provide power at night and in the winter. He also uses the hydrogen to refuel his car.

Scientific American reports that the project cost $500,000, of which $400,000 came as grants from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities. Whether such a setup could be made economically feasible in subdivisions around the country is an open question.

posted by Neil Savage, xconomy.com

Tags: hydrogen, New Jersey, Scientific American, solar

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