Happy New Year! It's time for a highly subjective list of my favorite sustainable tech news from the year. If you're looking for a decade rundown, I recommend the tech team's top stories here. Here's what recharged my batteries in '09:
1. Car parts grow up
From coconuts to wheat waste and even root vegetables, automotive researchers were looking to nature for inspiration, with an eye on the compost heap for later.
2. Solar goes for broke
It rained during my Solar Decathlon visit, but there's no stopping this parade. Australians broke records with their solar cell, the massive Desertec project moved forward, and DIY panels hit store shelves.
3. Flying car takes off
TreeHugger panned it as a "wacky combo" for the "super rich," but Terrafugia's Transition vehicle is a street-legal plane that gets great fuel efficiency, requires a pilot's license, and could mean less congestion in the skies, not more.
4. Recyclebot melts hearts
Described by some as "the real WALL-E" the DustCart robot took to streets in several countries for testing this year. The bot is not only ridiculously adorable--it has potential to make recycling collection quieter and smarter.
5. Saved by shark teeth
This year scientists discovered that a special mineral in shark teeth called apatite could help us determine what ocean temperatures used to be like long ago. When their research is done, we'll know just how much hot water we're really in.
6. Bikes do the tough stuff
Entrepreneurs looking for low tech solutions to challenges in developing areas turned to the bike. A group at MIT made a laundry bike and a group of students from New Jersey fashioned an agribike thresher for sorghum and millet.
7. Nano aims high
Tiny tech demonstrated its potential. A superhydrophobic surface crafted by Duke University scientists with carbon nanotubes could shrink power plants, AggraLight nanoparticles promise to lighten up solar cells while improving efficiency, and a nanostructure in algae led to lightweight, flexible batteries.
8. Geoengineering gets real
Science fiction no more: the University of East Anglia did a scientific evaluation of the most massive Earth-scale engineering plans out there and the Oxford Geoengineering Institute launched in the fall. After Cop15, an Earth-scale agreement might be the hard part.
9. Poo power for all
Oslo made plans to turn municipal sewage into methane for a new city bus fleet, an aid group in Haiti called SOIL set up dry composting toilets to make humanure, and Dean Kamen tested a sterling engine powered by cow dung.
10. Electricity wises up
We're a long way from widespread vehicle-to-grid tech, but the grid is getting smarter. GE announced that it will start making smart appliances, Google made a smart meter app, and a bunch of competitors collaborated to secure smart grid devices.
Here's to an even greener 2010!
Photo Credit: Wonderlane.
Tags: Green New Year, Green Tech, Nanotech, Solar Power, Waste and Recycling
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