Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Innovation / Energy

Coated in a conductive polymer material, this half-inch square of fabric contains an array of six rectangular solar cells.

Future of Energy

A Chemist and a Designer Team Up to Weave Solar Panels Into Fabric

Trisha Andrew and Marianne Fairbanks are developing a solar textile that could end up in clothing, curtains, car seats and tents

Customers usually opt for a pay-as-you-go contract that allows them to purchase the Simpa Networks solar system in monthly payments over two to three years.

Future of Energy

Is Rent-to-Own Solar Power the Answer?

A Canadian entrepreneur is using a business model familiar from ‘70s daytime TV to get Indians to embrace solar

The prototype solar vapor generator

Future of Energy

How a Sponge, Bubble Wrap and Sunlight Can Lead to Clean Water

With simple materials, MIT researchers have developed a cheap, easy-to-build device to desalinate water and treat wastewater

Fabric containing the same material as plastic wrap was found to make human skin almost 4 degrees Fahrenheit cooler.

Future of Energy

Is Plastic the Secret to Clothes That Will Keep You Cool?

Because it allows infrared radiation to escape your body, polyethylene could become key to what we wear in a warming world

The Block Island Wind Farm should be operational before the end of this year.

Future of Energy

Getting Up Close and Personal With America’s First Offshore Wind Farm

The newly-erected turbines off of Block Island may signal the future of American wind power

Gorona del Viento, a hybrid power station on El Hierro that generates energy using both wind and water, has five windmills.

Future of Energy

In the Canary Islands, Tiny El Hierro Strives for Energy Independence

A photojournalist goes behind the scenes at a hybrid power station that could help the island reach its goal to be powered entirely by renewables

Future of Energy

This Dutch Startup Is Making Bricks From Industrial Waste

StoneCycling turns ceramic tiles and toilets, discarded glass and insulation into new, eco-friendly building materials

David Amster-Olszewski, founder of SunShare, at one of the "solar gardens" his company built in Colorado

Future of Energy

Meet Eight Young Energy Innovators With Ingenious Ideas

From community “solar gardens” to energy pellets made from coffee grounds to a phone-charging device that you plug into soil

The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History holds this patent model for a Gorrie ice machine, the first mechanical refrigeration or ice-making machine the U.S. Patent Office patented.

Six of History’s Smartest, Weirdest and Most Interesting Inventions for Beating the Heat

From a bicycle mister to ice energy, here are a few innovative ways for cooling down

Future of Energy

One Step Closer to Turning Plastics Into Fuel

Researchers in California and China have discovered a new method for breaking polyethylene into liquid fuel and solid wax

Future of Energy

A Canadian Company’s Quest To Turn Air Pollution Into Fuel

Startup Carbon Engineering has opened a prototype plant in Squamish, British Columbia, that captures carbon dioxide emissions

Future of Energy

Tofu Power and Other Cool New Alternative Energy Sources

From fueling homes with tofu wastewater to lighting up bathrooms with the power of pee, these are some of the most unusual, hyperlocal fuel sources

Mya Le Thai holds her invention.

Future of Energy

Did Scientists Stumble on a Battery that Lasts Forever?

Researchers studying nanowires have found a battery material that can be recharged for years, even decades

Neurospora crassa, or red bread mold

Future of Energy

Could Mold Power the Batteries of the Future?

Researchers have discovered how to use a fungus to create materials that could be used to make more sustainable lithium-ion batteries

Future of Energy

Five Technologies That Would Heat or Cool People and Not Entire Buildings

Research groups are developing robots, fabrics and furniture that could lead to energy savings

Future of Energy

This Solar Cell Can Float on a Bubble

MIT scientists have created the world’s lightest solar cell, thin enough to be used on paper or clothing

Future of Energy

Five Tech Innovations That Can Keep Your Car From Burning So Much Gas

Yes, gas is cheap, but car makers are still facing ambitious goals to make vehicles way more fuel efficient

A concept (preliminary) rendering for the Mulciber Stove, which its inventors say gives off less smoke per hour than one cigarette.

Future of Energy

How to Modernize the Wood Stove and Help Save the Planet

The humble wood stove is getting a high-tech makeover, and may be going green

A "wind tree" installed at the COP21 climate talks in Paris. Each tree produces enough energy to light 71 parking spaces (or power one average American home for four months).

Age of Humans

These Creative Wind Turbines Will Have You Rethinking What You Know About Wind Power

Wind turbines don’t have to all look the same. Here are some that are helping cities go green—and look like art in the process

Thin Red Line Aerospace Chief Engineer and CEO Maxim de Jong inspects a UW-CAES “Energy Bag” during initial test inflation

Future of Energy

Could Renewable Energy Be Stored in Balloons in the Ocean?

Underwater compressed air energy storage is promising, but the fate of this tech remains unknown

Page 7 of 12