2. How and why the company built a magazine
format specifically for tablet devices
Why isn’t existing magazine-reading software
good enough for the 21st century?
17. WHAT’S NEW GREEN TECH
TIMELINE SIMPLER SOLAR
SUN POWER GETS EASIER WITH NEW LIGHTWEIGHT PANELS
Solar power sounds great: electricity from sunshine, for free, no
carbon footprint. But solar panels often come with hefty price
tags or require complex installations. Now lighter materials are
making them less expensive and more convenient, whether you
carry them with you or snap them onto your roof.—Sarah Parsons
NOW
Power Pack
This take-anywhere electric plant more wavelengths in less space
won’t weigh you down. Tonino by wrapping each individual
Lamborghini’s bag is the first particle of a conductive layer in
product to use a new solar panel light-absorbing dye molecules.
that’s as light, thin and flexible Charge a cellphone in six to eight
as fabric yet absorbs rays in any hours, indoors or out. Tonino
light, including artificial light or Lamborghini Solar Bag with G24
under clouds. It’s made of dye- DSSC Panel $200 (est.);
sensitized solar cells, which trap www.tlmm.com—s.p.
SOON: FALL
Print
Plug-and-Play
Panels
Click together a rooftop solar
system in a few hours, saving
days or weeks on design and
installation. Armageddon’s modular
kit consists of metal frames light
enough to carry up a ladder, plus 18-
pound solar panels—coated in Teflon
instead of heavy glass—that snap
onto the frames’ tabs. The easy-to-lift,
ready-made parts mean that installers
don’t have to build frames on top of a
house and also eliminate tricky wiring,
since each frame has its own DC-to-AC
converter that lets it plug straight into BEAM DATA Your
a home circuit breaker. Armageddon phone can display power
Energy SolarClovers From $8,000; output and other stats sent
armageddonenergy.com—s.p. by Armageddon’s solar units.
FROM TOP: COURTESY TONINO LAMBORGHINI; COURTESY
LATER: 2011 MIX AND MATCH Dow’s
Solar Shingles solar tiles blend in with
ARMAGEDDON ENERGY; COURTESY DOW
Rather than laying solar panels across your roof, use them as your standard roof shingles.
roof. Dow built thin-film photovoltaic cells directly into polymer
shingles. They’re as protective as ordinary shingles, nail down in
the same way and, in place of exposed wiring, hook together with
simple electrical connectors at their ends. Some units go on sale
later this year, with wide availability next year. Dow is also working
on other building materials with sun power built in. Dow Power-
house Solar Shingles Price not set; dowsolar.com—arnie cooper
26 POPULAR SCIENCE APRIL 2010 POPSCI.COM
18. WHAT’S NEW GREEN TECH
TIMELINE SIMPLER SOLAR
SUN POWER GETS EASIER WITH NEW LIGHTWEIGHT PANELS
Solar power sounds great: electricity from sunshine, for free, no
carbon footprint. But solar panels often come with hefty price
tags or require complex installations. Now lighter materials are
making them less expensive and more convenient, whether you
carry them with you or snap them onto your roof.—Sarah Parsons
NOW
Power Pack
This take-anywhere electric plant more wavelengths in less space
won’t weigh you down. Tonino by wrapping each individual
Lamborghini’s bag is the first particle of a conductive layer in
product to use a new solar panel light-absorbing dye molecules.
that’s as light, thin and flexible Charge a cellphone in six to eight
as fabric yet absorbs rays in any hours, indoors or out. Tonino
light, including artificial light or Lamborghini Solar Bag with G24
under clouds. It’s made of dye- DSSC Panel $200 (est.);
sensitized solar cells, which trap www.tlmm.com—s.p.
Print to tablet SOON: FALL
Plug-and-Play
Panels
Click together a rooftop solar
system in a few hours, saving
days or weeks on design and
installation. Armageddon’s modular
kit consists of metal frames light
enough to carry up a ladder, plus 18-
pound solar panels—coated in Teflon
instead of heavy glass—that snap
onto the frames’ tabs. The easy-to-lift,
ready-made parts mean that installers
don’t have to build frames on top of a
house and also eliminate tricky wiring,
since each frame has its own DC-to-AC
converter that lets it plug straight into BEAM DATA Your
a home circuit breaker. Armageddon phone can display power
Energy SolarClovers From $8,000; output and other stats sent
armageddonenergy.com—s.p. by Armageddon’s solar units.
FROM TOP: COURTESY TONINO LAMBORGHINI; COURTESY
LATER: 2011 MIX AND MATCH Dow’s
Solar Shingles solar tiles blend in with
ARMAGEDDON ENERGY; COURTESY DOW
Rather than laying solar panels across your roof, use them as your standard roof shingles.
roof. Dow built thin-film photovoltaic cells directly into polymer
shingles. They’re as protective as ordinary shingles, nail down in
the same way and, in place of exposed wiring, hook together with
simple electrical connectors at their ends. Some units go on sale
later this year, with wide availability next year. Dow is also working
on other building materials with sun power built in. Dow Power-
house Solar Shingles Price not set; dowsolar.com—arnie cooper
26 POPULAR SCIENCE APRIL 2010 POPSCI.COM
20. HOW IT WORKS CLEAN ENERGY
XXXXXXXXX
THE NEXT-GEN ELECTRICAL CIRCUITRY: Converters
stabilize the current’s varying frequencies.
Transformers boost voltage from 690 volts
to more than 22,000, so current travels
PITCH CONTROLLER: To maximize lift as the wind speed
changes, a controller can automatically rotate each blade
anywhere from a fraction of a degree to multiple degrees per
second. It can also turn the blades away from dangerously high
BLADES: Light, sti carbon fiber
replaces fiberglass at critical points in
the blades, so they lose pounds and gain
strength. A flat (rather than tapered) edge
WIND TURBINE
e ciently over long-distance lines. winds to avoid power overloads or hardware damage. gives them a shape that increases lift.
BLADE
To take advantage of the strong winds that blow JOINT
over the ocean, this gearless turbine uses a giant
ring of magnets and 176-foot blades ROTOR
By Rena Marie Pacella
Illustrations STATS GENERATOR:
The 90-ton
by Nick Kaloterakis GE OFFSHORE
generator consists A TWIST ON BLADES
TURBINE The longer a turbine’s blades, the more
There’s enough wind energy ROTOR DIAMETER: of a nearly 20-foot
ring of magnets wind it captures and the more electricity it
along our coastlines to power the 360 ft. creates. “If we could, we would just build
country four times over, and the race TOWER HEIGHT: that spins to
produce current. infinitely longer blades,” Mercer says. “The
is on to build the best o shore tur- 300 ft. problem is, blades get heavy and flexible.”
bines to capture it. Manufacturers MAX. POWER: Its large diameter
lets it create a lot of That flexibility, coupled with the force from
worldwide are experimenting with 4 megawatts very high winds, can bend blades so much
two techniques: ever-longer blades MORE INFO: power when turning
slowly, at the same that they burden the machine or even smack
to harness more gusts, and simpli- ge.com the tower. So GE designed a blade that twists
fied drivetrains (including new gene- 8 to 20 rpm as the
blades, so it doesn’t as it bends. It’s curved backward about eight
rators) that slash the need for costly feet, instead of extending straight out. When
repairs at sea. GE’s upcoming mach- need a gearbox to
speed it up to the a gust pushes the tip up, the blade twists
ine, slated to go online in 2012, will slightly around its curve—instantly angling
combine both into one package. thousands of rpm
most megawatt itself so that it bears less of the gust’s brunt
GE created lightweight 176-foot yet still captures a large part of its energy.
blades—about 40 percent longer
generators require. ROTOR SHAFT
than the average—with a more aero-
“Get rid of the
dynamic shape. The blades will
gearbox, and now
attach to a drivetrain that does away
you don’t have to
change the oil,” NACELLE: The
with many of the moving parts, fiberglass pod is
including the gearbox, that are
says GE engineer
Gary Mercer. 30 feet tall.
prone to breakage and energy loss.
A direct-drive mechanism replaces
gears, and permanent magnets YAW DRIVE
replace the electromagnets that
require starter brushes, coils and
power from the grid every time they
fire up. The blades are now being
HOW TO SPIN POWER TOWER: The
steel tower rests
tested in the Netherlands, and the 1. POSITION THE BLADES 2. CAPTURE THE WIND 3. TURN IT INTO ELECTRICITY on a concrete
drivetrain in Norway. Combining Based on data from wind-direction The three-bladed rotor spins in The shaft spins the generator’s
pylon that’s
the two should result in a turbine sensors, a yaw-drive motor turns winds from 7 to 70 mph, sweeping neodymium magnets inside
driven dozens
that captures 25 percent more wind the nacelle to face the wind. A twice the area of a football field. A stationary copper coils, inducing
of feet into the
power than conventional models, so pitch controller rotates each blade 23-foot-long steel rotor shaft and current in the coils. Circuitry adjusts
seabed and rises
it can operate more often at its full around a bearing, setting it to the two roller bearings transfer the the frequencies and voltage of the
nearly 300 feet
four-megawatt potential—enough to best angle for the wind speed. mechanical energy to the generator. current and sends it o to the grid.
out of the water.
power 1,000 homes.
42 POPULAR SCIENCE APRIL 2010
39. Learn by doing
Continuous movement through and between stories, closer to
panning a camera than turning a page. Flow is the new flip.
40. How and why the company built a magazine
format specifically for tablet devices
Why isn’t existing magazine-reading software
good enough for the 21st century?
41. New device and channel
Huge opportunities
New products are
required
Optimized for the device and ecosystem
Experimenting and
prototyping is key
User-friendly and powerful tools
required (but didn’t-exist)
