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Need power generation plants always exist as hulking industrial behemoths? Wind and solar power growth is already shifting the generation of electricity from an eyesore to a new and necessary component of our 21st century landscape.
Now a British architectural design firm is giving the more conventional combustion power plant a much-needed makeover. Of course, this [...]

With my engineering roots, I can’t resist occasionally lobbing some props to fellow engineers (or Imagineers) who produce undeniable displays of creativity, even when I share none of the motivation that inspired their innovative adventures.
Take Christmas lights. As a teenager, I had no intrinsic motivation to hang the family Christmas lights. In my mind, hanging [...]

President Obama visited my home state of Iowa yesterday, on Earth Day, to highlight his administration’s energy agenda, including reduced greenhouse emissions, increased renewable energy production, a cap-and-trade emissions reduction program, and the creation of an advanced energy innovation industry as a pillar of the US economy. See the AP article.
Obama used the town of [...]

BusinessWeek published a story yesterday with three growth scenarios for the outcome of the current financial downturn. I’m with the author in hoping for the third scenario — innovative growth.
In this scenario, the country’s investments in research (bioengineering bacteria to produce cellulosic biofuels, for example) pay off and we are able to increase our exports [...]