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This means, right from the start, we need to consider imposing strict efficiency standards on these technologies to make sure efficiency isn’t abandoned for the sake of convenience. I hope Energy Star is on this case. That said, it’s quite possible that wireless charging will elminate a considerable amount of electronics waste, because we won’t have a lot of wired chargers being sent to the dump. That’s assuming, of course, that manufacturers stop selling wired chargers with the device and require it as a separate purchase.

Pure metallic carbon nanotubes could be the key to overhauling the electrical power grid with more efficient transmission lines - but only if they could be made in huge quantities and uniformly. Through a refined version of a technique called “amplification,” researchers at Rice University plan to make long and highly conductive nanotube fibers they dubbed “armchair quantum wire”  that could be woven into more efficient electrical transmission lines. They eagerly plan to generate a large quantity of this material by the end of summer. Aaron Franklin, a researcher at IBM’s Watson Research Center says that the update Rice study probably doesn’t reveal “the golden ticket for achieving high volumes of metallic-only tubes,” reports MIT Technology Review. We’ll just have to wait and see. Learn more.

Using magnetic induction to send electricity to devices is more efficient when more than one machine is involved.

Like some tantalizing cursed treasure, boron nitride nanotubes have been tempting researchers with their promise of high heat tolerance, which makes them excellent candidates for components in the next generation of microscopic-scale high efficiency electronics.  But for years the tiny nanofibers, which are similar to carbon nanotubes, have lead researchers down one blind alley after another. tweetmeme_url="http://cleantechnica.com/2010/01/28/carpet-of-boron-nanotubes-could-lead-to-new-generation-of-nano-scale-electronics/"; The fact is that boron nanotubes are much harder to produce than carbon nanotubes.   They won’t catch on until that obstacle is overcome - and it seems that a team of researchers at Michigan Technological University has done just that.  Working with the same instrumentation used for carbon nanotubes, the team has developed a way to grow virtual “Persian carpets” of boron nitride nanotubes in the lab, paving the way for their commercial use.

Turning adversity on its tail and making it work to your advantage is what a rain chain is all about. The malleability and natural beauty of copper is used to throw up various combinations of a practically usable yet a beautiful object to match the architecture of a home. Copper rain chains are more known for their aesthetics than for their efficiency to transport water. These appear even more beautiful if you have a garden around the home. However, a rain chain on its own will not add any value, and instead will appear out of place for a simple building with no creative design in its appearance.

Peter Beerepoot, who was responsible for instrumentation process control of the entire project for Shell Eastern Petroleum, says: "We were given the opportunity to develop a complete infrastructure. Our initial thoughts during the front end engineering and design (FEED) phase, was that wireless would give us a number of key benefits. So we considered substitution of local panels, which we believed would bring us advantages in terms of cost reduction and increased efficiency."