Programs

One of the best programs that we found is called the Energy Innovations Small Grant Program. It is a program put together by the government of California to give grants to individuals, businesses and schools in order to develop a new piece of technology to conserve energy and money. They give anywhere from $50,000 to almost $100,000 to aspiring inventors.

Click here to visit their site

Inventions

There are three inventions that are on the horizon; Electric cars, fuel cells and micro turbines.

Electric cars

In the Midwest there is a competition called the “Electrathon”. In which kids build their own electric cars and then race them. These cars run for miles and miles on only a few cents worth of electricity.

Click here for more information on Electric cars

Fuel cell

The fuel cell is probably the most viable future technology that we are currently aware of. A fuel cell is basically a battery, that instead of using battery acid to create power and then discharging it, it uses hydrogen to create power. Fuel cells discharge water at their waste product. The water is clean enough to drink, so there are no harmful effects from the fuel cell.

Micro Turbines

Micro turbines use fuels to turn a jet engine that creates electricity in the space of an average kitchen refrigerator.  It can run off of anything from garbage to petroleum based fuels. There have even been some farmers that have modified their turbines to run off of cow manure, which contains a lot of methane.