Fantastical Nonfiction:
Flower Power

Humans have always looked to nature for inspiration and solutions. Case in point: “Project Sunflower,” a new IBM Research solar initiative, in which 36 elliptic mirrored “petals” rise up on a concrete “stem” and rotate to catch the sun at its optimal position throughout the day. These solar sunflowers concentrate the sun’s rays to over 2,000 times their normal strength and project them onto a single point. The innovation even harnesses vapor created from the heat trapping process, for desalination and absorption cooling. Seeding these across the electrical grid could make solar energy more affordable to everyone—because sustainable power consumption shouldn’t be a luxury!

9 years ago