Create. You can submit your idea or solution (preferably a video) around our questions about climate and energy challenges.
Vote. Help us choose the best ideas by rating their viability or discuss the ideas submitted by others. Get the FAQs.
Make it. Your ratings and comment help us decide which ideas are featured on our PBS TV Special. Learn how to make a video.
ActivismAdaptationAgricultureAlgaeArchitectureArtBikingBiofuelsBiomimicryBusinessCampus SustainabilityClean Tech
Climate ChangeEconomicsEducationEfficiencyElectric CarsEnergy StorageEngineeringEPA P3GeothermalGreen BuildingGreen CitiesGreen CommunitiesGreen Living
Topic Page: Science
Not a rocket scientist? Not a problem: we’ve got scientists right here in the Planet Forward community offering an inside view of some of the astounding innovations underway in labs and schools around the world. Have an idea in Science? Tell us
Related Categories : | Biofuels | BP Oil Spill | Business | Clean Tech | Efficiency | Electric Cars | Engineering | Military |
Featured Ideas
Webisodes Related to Science
A Solar Conversation with Secretary Chu
THIS WEEK: In this week’s webisode, Planet Forward’s Frank Sesno interviews Secretary of Energy, Dr. Steven Chu at the 2011 Solar Decathlon! Chu talks about the coolest innovations, and even wonks out a bit on r-values and building materials.
Solar Decathlon – Tennessee’s on Top
Viewers voted and TENNESSEE is on top in the race for the Solar Decathlon! Check out the Tennessee team’s use of solar energy, insulated windows and a remote control iPad. Ask expert Bill Worthen what HIS thoughts are on the Tennessee team’s Living Light House.
WATCH!
Rising Seas Bring Salty Risks
A rising tide may lift all boats, but what does it do to marshlands? In this week’s WEBISODE we showcase NSF funded scientist’s work on how marshes are affected by sea level rise. We also take you on a trip halfway around!
Bringing Experts to the Innovators
Innovators need feedback to make their great ideas even better. So, we try to connect experts with our PF innovators every chance we get. In our WEBISODE this week, a top architect gives feedback to 3 ideas — green urban rooftops, hemp-based building materials and large-scale passive solar. Bill Worthen, the National Director and Resource …Read More…
Could Palm Oil Biofuels Work?
This WEBISODE focuses on Dom Bosco Catholic University’s biochemistry laboratory in Campo Grande, Brazil. Dom Bosco is experimenting with a plant called bocaiúva, a native palm which could yield a new source of renewable energy.
Is Your City HOT? The Benefits of Storm Water Management
This week, our WEBISODE focuses on “GreenStreets,” a project from Drexel University Professor and NSF funded scientist, Franco Montalto. Got storm water? He’s working on a solution!
Energy Secretary Bill Nye?
Planet Forward met up with Bill Nye at the Toshiba/NSTA ExploraVision Awards last week. See the first item on his #EnergyToDo list. Tell us yours on twitter. (@Planet_Forward)
Students Reflect on their Planet Forward Experience
We caught up with students who’ve experienced the Planet Forward promise! Watch as they reflect on having their ideas and innovations featured on national television!
Top Online Vote Getters – Who Did YOU Choose?
Your viability ratings helped up select 22 nominees, then your votes determined the top three online vote getters. These three pieces made the cut and will be on our April PBS prime time special. Check them out…
Can Bacteria be our Energy Solution?
Students at Arizona State University are researching how to harness the power of the sun to create energy. Their solution goes back to the basics. Do you think it will shape our energy future?
The Phantom of the Outlet
Students at the University of Nebraska are developing technology to combat vampire energy and we want to know if you think it’s a good idea. What are your thoughts on these smart houses?
Ditch the Peanuts, Pack with Shrooms
In this week’s webisode, Planet Forward host Frank Sesno skypes with Eben Bayer, CEO and Co-Founder of Ecovative Design about the company’s sustainable product that is replacing styrofoam packaging material and home insulation. Watch>>
Sandia Labs Aces Solar Golf Carts
Planet Forward hosted a LIVE event during the White House’s GreenGov Symposium, a conference focused on making all levels of government more sustainable. In this segment, Sandia National Laboratories shows the potential of how a little change can go a long way. In webisode 215, we see how and learn what our esteemed panel (Laura …Read More…
Planet Forward: Our Energy Future
Our first TV special focused on great ideas from you, our members, about how we as a country should approach our energy future. Originally broadcast on April 15, 2009 on PBS.
Meet the Sky Trough at the National Renewable Energy Labs
Planet Forward Host Frank Sesno travels to the National Renewable Energy Labs (NREL) to find out, what is a Sky Trough? Utility-scale parabolic trough solar concentrators harness the sun’s energy to make steam for electricity generation. The thermal efficiency of the trough is the percent of available sunlight that is converted into heat and available …Read More…
Shameless Plugs: Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles at the National Renewable Energy Labs
Our host, Frank Sesno, visits the National Renewable Energy Labs (NREL) to check out a Prius they’ve retrofitted to be a plug-in hybrid vehicle. The cars are charged by solar panels in their parking lot. NREL’s plug-in hybrid electric vehicle utilizes a rechargeable lithium ion battery pack that gets charged up by a solar panel …Read More…
TV Segments Related to Science
Pursuing a Safer, Sustainable, Lithium Battery
In our wireless world, you’re nowhere without a good battery and a solid connection. But, wouldn’t it be better if we could improve both…and use less energy? Researchers at the University of Maryland is looking to polymers – like plastics, or rubber – to save energy and change how we stay connected. The team replaces …Read More…
Filtering Dirty Water, By Losing the Filter
This week, tackling one of the great challenges of our time – water. The engineers at Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) say they have the answer that could make it cheaper and less energy-intensive to clean water. It has no moving parts and no filter. Instead, it uses a vortex to separate the contaminants from …Read More…
Turning Methane Into Energy
FlexEnergy has developed a technology that takes low-quality methane and turns it into energy. By using a machine with a small footprint, this company hopes to capture some of the wasted energy that’s currently just flared into the atmosphere.
Pursuing a Better, Lighter Battery
The Army Research Lab in Maryland is looking for new ways to make lithium iron batteries that weigh less, but last for long periods of time without recharging.
Cleaning Up the World’s Dirty Water
Our latest segment from Bloomberg West features a company that can clean up our water. Think you have a better idea to save the world’s most precious resource? Tell us!
Verdant Power: Harvesting Power From the Sea
Planet Forward’s Bloomberg West debut featured Verdant Power, an innovative company that is building underwater turbines to harness the power of the tides. See what challenges they face and tell us what you think!
Solar Decathlon: The Race to Build the Most Efficient Solar Home
Peek into the solar powered house designs from Middlebury College in Vermont and University of Maryland. It’s all for the Solar Decathlon competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy.
Algae as Alternative Energy Source
Sapphire Energy is a company with quite a dream: to make algae-based fuel ready for commercial production by next year. There’s a lot of advantages to algae-based fuels. It’s carbon neutral, it uses salt water to grow, it doesn’t compete with food commodities and, with a possibility of gas hitting $5 per gallon, figuring out …Read More…
Home Energy Saving Device
Can researchers find an easy button that will get Americans to save energy? Some experts say we waste 40% of our energy in our homes. Could this be the gigantic energy reserve, hidden right under our doorsteps, that we need?
Articles From the Blog Related to Science
Hydrogen Energy Generation from Sunlight
By Raymond Orbach Is it possible to create synthetic photosynthesis? Elementary school children are taught that photosynthesis is the basis for life on Earth. Plants take carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, water and sunlight, and produce useful chemical energy – their “fuel” for growth and reproduction. But is it possible to create synthetic photosynthesis? …Read More…
Iceland Volcano’s Molten Rock Could Become Source of High-Grade Energy
Geologists drilling an exploratory geothermal well in 2009 in the Krafla volcano in Iceland met with a big surprise: underground lava, also called magma, flowed into the well at 2.1 kilometers (6,900 feet) depth. It forced the scientists to stop drilling. “To the best of our knowledge, only one previous instance has been documented of …Read More…
Status of Home Rule appeals uncertain in fracking test cases
Appeals of two high-profile cases that will influence the future of shale gas development in New York State remain uncertain. Lawyers working on an appeal challenging a fracking ban by the Town of Middlefield board face a costly legal battle with uncertain sources of funding, according to several lawyers close to the case. Likewise, a …Read More…
Exploring the New EPA Greenhouse Gas Emissions Database
By Andrew Freedman via Climate Central Yesterday I told you about an informative new U.S. EPA greenhouse gas emissions database detailing the nation’s larger sources of greenhouse gas emissions. In total, the database contains information on facilities that account for about 80 percent of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. It excludes the agricultural sector and …Read More…
Initiating Innovation at the Solar Decathlon and EPA P3
The 2011 Solar Decathlon officially ended on October 2nd when director Richard King sent a warm thank you to everyone involved. But the Solar Decathlon happens every two years, and King ended his thank you like a starter cuing off a race. “I can’t wait to do this again!” he wrote with refreshing sincerity and energy.
But it’s true, we all can’t wait to do it all over again. But, what’s next? Why do government agencies take on competitions like these? PF’s Anthony Cefali takes a look>>
It’s Alive: Purdue’s INhome and the Future of Biological Interiors
Purdue’s Solar Decathlon house featured a innovative biowall–but how practical is this kind of feature? Anthony Cefali takes a look at the future of biological interiors.
A Window Into Efficiency
Every year, I spend countless hours putting those plastic sheets over my windows for insulation. The bigger the window, the bigger the pane in the glass, the more time I spend and the more energy I lose to the winter. We often neglect insulation when it comes to energy expenditures because it only lowers heating …Read More…
What the Ancient Redwoods Tell Us about Climate Change
Around the time of the Golden Age of Greece, when Socrates was laying the groundwork for all western philosophy, some of the oldest trees living today began their lives as part of a massive grove that dates back to the ice age. The forest once spanned from California to Minnesota, but is now confined to …Read More…
Seeking Sustainable Oil? Turn to Trash!
It’s no surprise that oil and coal companies are having a banner year. Earthquakes in Japan and revolutions in Africa have oil riding a profitable wave of instability. The Wall Street Journal noted that rising gas prices are a boon to oil companies even as costs pinch consumers. Fortunately there are plenty of energy innovators …Read More…
Pay for my solar panels!
Solar is a hard sell in the midst of global recession and continued unemployment. Just try convincing a middle class family with a mortgage and car payments to part with $40,000 for a rooftop installation. So long as rooftop builds are the only way to get solar energy, the growth of the home solar industry …Read More…
Secretary Chu Re-Examines Ethanol
Secretary of Energy Steven Chu spoke at the National Press Club this week and sparked conversation about alternative energy by claiming that the U.S. faced a “Sputnik” moment. He argued that it is not too late for the US to once again become the global leader in energy innovation and research. While his central point …Read More…
Christian Earthkeeping
There’s a new program at George Fox University, just outside of Portland, Oregon – Christian Earthkeeping. The University describes its program by saying, “Christian Earthkeeping is the Church’s response to the ecological crisis and to God’s command to ‘keep’ the Earth (Genesis 2:15).” For too long climate change and sustainable living have been the domain …Read More…
Save Water, Save Energy, Save the Planet
It’s time for a restructuring of America’s sewage system. When you flush waste and water down the toilet, it takes energy to pump and filter that water. And much of our country’s energy is created through the burning of harmful fossil fuels. So how do we use less water and energy? The answer? It’s a …Read More…
Eliminating your Carbon Share
I’ve talked about it before: how much running on a treadmill and using gym equipment actually harms the environment. Though the main focus of visiting a gym is to focus on bettering your own body, there is little awareness of how much electricity the gym uses to power your calorie burner. But, additionally, most Americans …Read More…
Sip On This
So you’re thirsty — You reach for a bottle of cool, refreshing spring water, right? I guess that’s fine and all. Can you tell me where that water comes from or how it gets to your fridge? It’s actually rather interesting when you get down to it. Americans consume 33 billion liters of bottled water a …Read More…
Set your sights on solar!
By Miranda Green The increase of solar panel installations seems to be increasing. This can be seen on the local, national and international levels. And there is good reason for it. Solar panels not only offset carbon fuel emissions but they can save and sometimes earn you money! The increase of solar panels internationally can …Read More…
Fewer Americans believe in Global Warming
Today, Yale Environment released a national survey on public responses to climate change. This report focuses on public beliefs and attitudes and finds that public concern about global warming has dropped sharply since the fall of 2008: * The percentage of Americans who think global warming is happening has declined 14 points, to 57 percent. …Read More…
Time to Nominate the Ostrich for Our National Bird?
Al Gore’s Latest Update to An Inconvenient Truth (Ted Conference 2009) According to Time magazine, recent survey results released by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press indicate that the number of people who believe there is strong evidence the earth has gotten warmer over the last few decades has dropped precipitously…20% …Read More…
facebook
twitter