What will be the tech breakthroughs of the next decade? Watch the energy and transportation sectors. Here are eight forecasts pulled from the pages of The Letter in 2009 that look at some promising developments to come -- everything from spray-on solar cells to
new ways of relieving traffic congestion. And please share
your own thoughts and predictions in the reader discussion area.
Among them: Energy storage systems, such as flow batteries -- in effect, reverse fuel cells -- that can store unused wind and solar energy for use later when it is needed. Conventional lead-acid battery arrays will grow much bigger. And a system that stores compressed air: At night, when demand is typically low, wind-made electricity would run pumps that compress air into underground caverns. In daytime, released air would turn turbines to make electricity.
Thorium has a lot of practical advantages over the more commonly used uranium, and it can churn out the same amount of emission-free electricity to power the U.S. Thorium is safer, produces less waste and is abundant here in the U.S. Plus it’s less likely to cause accidents and can’t be used by terrorists for dirty bombs.
Oil companies are already scurrying to stake claims to the bonanza. New drilling and recovery technologies make the fields ripe for production. They sit a mile beneath the surface and, until recently, were mostly inaccessible. Though drilling has begun, commercial production at Three Forks is five years away.
Solaren, PowerSat, Space Energy and others working on orbital power are getting a lift from state laws requiring more use of renewable sources. And they figure they’ll have a steady customer in the Defense Department, which wants a means of getting power to troops in remote areas.