The House of Tomorrow, artist rendering exterior view

Solar Housing Is Actually Kind of Retro!

The domestic fuel scarcity of World War II led to innovation in home heating—especially passive solar technology.
A solar-panel equipped ship moves down the Amazon River

Can Sustainable Travel in the Amazon Help Reduce Forest Fires?

A rainforest evangelist hopes that Brazil’s 55-million year old jungle can survive 21st century human impact.
Joshua Pearce positioning a solar panel

Converting Tobacco Fields into Solar Farms Can Save Half a Million Lives a Year

The cost of generating solar power has dropped so dramatically, it is now economically advantageous for tobacco farmers to replace tobacco with solar farms in many places.
solar panels

Are Some Solar Panels More Environmentally Friendly Than Others?

A new solar process utilizing nanoparticles has to potential to nearly double the energy output per unit area of solar panels.
“It could be so light that you don’t even know it’s there, on your shirt or on your notebook,” Vladimir Bulović says. “These cells could simply be an add-on to existing structures.” Photo: Joel Jean and Anna Osherov

Solar Panels Get Small. Real Small.

Solar panels keep getting lighter and thinner. MIT researchers have created a solar panel so light and thin that it can rest on a soap bubble.
Clams in shallow water

For the Next Generation in Solar Power, Talk to the Clam

The next generation of solar power might be waiting beneath the Pacific waves, in the form of an armchair-sized clam.