The imminent arrival of the self-driving car will change how people move around city streets, but they could do so much more.
The Tridika is a conceptual driverless electric vehicle I created to change how we use cars in our ever-growing cities, where space is expensive and limited. Inspired by Thyssenkrupp’s Willy Wonka-esque Multi elevator, the Tridika works like a self-driving car you can literally park next to your apartment and use as an additional room.
Ashish Thulkar
Instead of wheels, it works like a maglev train: magnets lift and propel the vehicle. It pulls its electricity from the tracks, and takes you wherever you command. The boxy shape optimizes interior space: You could configure it to travel with up to six passengers or create a fair-sized office space to work while you commute. New apartment towers and condos could be designed and built to accommodate them.
Charles Bombardier
About
A mechanical engineer and a member of the family whose aerospace and transportation company, Bombardier’s actually at his best when he ignores pesky things like budgets, timelines, and contemporary physics. Since 2013, he’s run a blog cataloging more than 200 concepts, each a fantastic, farfetched new way for people to travel through land, air, water, and space. His ideas are most certainly out there, but it’s Bombardier’s sort of creative thinking that keeps us moving forward.
Tridika would connect to the outer wall of the building using a dedicated ramp, get picked up by a mechanical elevator system, and station itself in front of your apartment unit. A large sliding door on the side of the unit would open to let you enter your condo. A similar door inside your unit would open simultaneously by detecting the encrypted signature of your Tridika or smartphone.
Think how easy it would be to enter your home directly from the elevator with your arms full of groceries!
The Tridika could also be used with a townhouse or fitted inside existing garages. You could use it as a people mover, too, carry folks in certain residential areas where the infrastructure would already be in place. In this case, you would simply order the vehicle and pay your fare with your smartphone.
It may seem wild, but why shouldn’t people use their vehicles for purposes other than transport?
I developed the Tridika concept with Ashish Thulkar, a vehicle designer at the Indian Institute of Science. Thulkar also created the drone tower concept.
It’s never been easier to give your house a solar roof. Falling manufacturing costs and increasing demand have led to a number of fascinating new solar products in recent years, including roof shingles with integrated solar cells, modular solar arrays and even efficient thermal tiles made from glass. As the technology improves and more people get turned on to the benefits of renewable energy, we expect to see even more innovative products hitting the market in the coming months and years, pushing forward the envelope for solar power production.
In 2010, Dow Chemical unveiled a line of solar-integrated rooftop shingles that were a marked improvement over existing technologies. The sleek plastic-coated Powerhouse shingles were capable of converting 13 percent of the sun’s energy into electricity — a full 2 percent increase over other solar shingles on the market at that time. The shingles were expensive when they debuted ($10,000 for 250 shingles spread over 1,000 square feet), and an array that size would only make a small dent in energy usage for a typical household. However, Dow promised they would pay for themselves within a decade, and the product was an important step forward for integrated solar power systems.
Solar shingles continue to evolve, not only in efficiency but also in design. Sweden-based SolTech Energy created a stunning example of the best of both worlds with its translucent glass mission tiles, which, when installed across an entire building, give the illusion of a roof tiled with ice. The shimmering SolTech roof tiles capture solar heat and use it to warm air beneath the tiles, which is then used to heat water and warm the home during the winter. The company claims the gorgeous roof tiles can produce about 350 kWh of heat per square meter (10.7 square feet), depending on weather conditions and the angle of the roof.
Solar shingles — once a unique way to add solar power production to your rooftop — may actually become a thing of the past. That’s thanks to the emergence of new roof technologies that integrate solar cells so fully that they’re actually part of the roof, rather than just installed atop it. Elon Musk promised that SolarCity, which is being acquired by Tesla Motors through a $2.6 billion merger deal, will create such a roof, but the New York–based SunTegra Solar Roof Systems has already done it.
The company’s integrated solar systems have been installed on homes in the northeastern United States and in California, two prime spots for making the most of the sun’s energy. SunTegra’s solar roof (available in tiles or shingles) currently costs 15 percent more than typical rooftop solar panels, but the company claims it’s just as durable and weather-resistant as traditional roof coverings, which is something most solar panel manufacturers cannot say.
When it comes to ease of installation for rooftop solar arrays, the SolarPod might have the market cornered. The system can be mounted to nearly any type of roof and requires no drilling of holes. Since holes are the last thing you want in your roof, this is a fairly clever solution to a common installation challenge. SolarPod’s Grid Tied solar array is an integrated and modular plug-and-play solar power system that includes a prefabricated frame made from corrosion-resistant steel that holds the solar panels. Because the frame floats above the existing roof, it’s also easy to adjust the angle of the solar array to capture the maximum amount of sunlight for that particular location, thereby increasing solar energy production.
In a completely different approach to easing the woes of installation, SoloPower developed a flexible solar panel that can be unfurled as easily as a carpet. The thin-film solar panels, linked together in long strips, boast an 11 percent energy conversion rate and a smooth installation process, thanks to their light weight and flexible composition. In theory, the flexible solar panels could be unrolled right over the top of an existing roof, in any quantity desired, without the sort of expensive glass and aluminum frames required by most rooftop solar arrays. Although the desire for integrated solar roofs may drive innovation faster, it would be nice to see more flexible — and potentially portable — options hit the market as well.
The installed price of solar energy has declined significantly in recent years as policy and market forces have driven more and more solar installations.
Now, the latest data show that the continued decrease in solar prices is unlikely to slow down anytime soon, with total installed prices dropping by 5 percent for rooftop residential systems, and 12 percent for larger utility-scale solar farms. With solar already achieving record-low prices, the cost decline observed in 2015 indicates that the coming years will likely see utility-scale solar become cost competitive with conventional forms of electricity generation. Â
A full analysis of the ongoing decline in solar prices can be found in two separate Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Reports: Tracking the Sun IX focuses on installed pricing trends in the distributed rooftop solar market while Utility-Scale Solar 2015 focuses on large-scale solar farms that sell bulk power to the grid.
Put together, the reports show that all categories of solar have seen significantly declining costs since 2010. Furthermore, larger solar installations consistently beat out their smaller counterparts when it comes to the installed cost per rated Watt of solar generating capacity (or $/WDC).
The installed price of solar in dollars per Watt of rated generation capacity has declined significantly across all categories since 2010. (Credit: LBNL)Â
The installed cost includes everything needed to get a solar power system up and running: the panels, the power electronics, the mounting hardware, and the installation itself. The continued decline in total installed cost is noteworthy considering the fact that the price of the solar panels (or modules) themselves has remained relatively flat since 2012. This means that the decline in installed cost observed since 2012 was largely caused by a decline in the cost of the inverters that convert the DC power produced by solar panels to AC power for the grid and other “soft†costs such as customer acquisition, system design, installation, and permitting.
While the total installed price of solar has continued to decline, the price of the solar panels or modules themselves has remained relatively flat since 2012, indicating a decline in non-module costs. (Credit: LBNL)
Both reports also stress the fact that while the median price of solar has declined, there is still significant variability in the cost of both rooftop and utility-scale solar installations. For example, among residential systems installed in 2015, the cheapest 20 percent of systems sold for less than $3.30 per Watt while the most expensive 20 percent sold for more than $5.00 per Watt. Likewise, the cheapest 20 percent of utility-scale systems sold for less than $1.60 per Watt while the most expensive 20 percent cost over $2.60 per Watt. The point is that cheap solar in one location doesn’t necessarily mean cheap solar everywhere. The installed price still varies a lot.
Perhaps the most interesting piece of data to come out in the latest Lawrence Berkeley National Lab reports is the trend in the price of solar power purchase agreements or PPAs. These prices reflect the price paid for long-term contracts for the bulk purchase of solar electricity. The latest data show that the 2015 solar PPA price fell below $50 per megawatt-hour (or 5 cents per kilowatt-hour) in 4 of the 5 regions analyzed. In the power industry, the rule of thumb for the average market price of electricity is about $30 to $40 per megawatt-hour—so solar is poised to match the price of conventional power generation if prices continue to decline.
The price paid for long-term solar power purchase agreement (PPA) contracts in 2015 fell below 50 dollars per megawatt-hour (or 5 cents per kilowatt-hour) in 4 of the 5 regions analyzed. (Credit: LBNL)
Going forward, the declining price of solar across all categories demonstrated by the latest Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory reports coupled with the extension of the federal renewable energy investment tax credit through 2019 should drive a continued expansion of the U.S. solar market and even more favorable economics in the next few years. It will certainly be interesting to see what kind of market dynamic develops as solar approaches the tipping point where it becomes more economical than conventional forms of electricity generation.
The views expressed are those of the author(s) and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.
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Before the idea of a ‘smart home’ came long, people had to actually walk over to a switch to turn lights on and off—it was barbaric. Now you can illuminate your entire house with just a few taps on a smartphone app, but Philips wants to make life even easier than that with a new motion sensor that automatically turns its Hue lights on and off for you.
If you ask Russia, modern rockets are hindered by not just their engines, but their fuel — the chemicals just aren’t powerful enough to carry increasingly heavier loads and keep costs in check. To that end, the country’s Advanced Research Foundation has conducted what it says is the first successful test of a full-size pulse-detonation engine (where rapid-fire detonation waves combust the fuel and oxidizer) running "clean" fuel. The oxygen-kerosene mix isn’t so much eco-friendly (although it does burn more cleanly) as very efficient. Its high thermodynamic performance, combined with the extra efficiency of pulse-detonation itself, would let rockets either carry more cargo into space or reduce costs by getting vehicles into orbit faster.
The concept of a pulse-detonation engine isn’t new. The concept reportedly originated in Russia in the mid-20th century, and the US Air Force even tested one aboard an aircraft in 2008. However, it has largely been the stuff of sci-fi in rockets, in no small part due to the added risk of stress. You are producing continuous explosions, after all. Russia’s test shows that the technology could finally be practical for spaceflight. If scientists can translate their experiments to practical rockets, you could see more frequent (not to mention more ambitious) space missions going forward.
When you really love something you want to hold on to it forever. Relationships; the car you had in high school; your stash of fun-size Twix. But the truth is, nothing good lasts—and if it does, the appeal fades long before the attachment does. You can’t tickle the same pleasure center in your brain over and over again without diminishing returns. The same holds true for our expectations of TV shows, though, and fans have to let go of that thinking.
Look, I’m not talking about giving up a long-term, healthy relationship with Grey’s Anatomy or Two Broke Girls if it’s still giving you what you want. (Though if it is, you might want to look at some of your life choices.) Nor am I talking about leaving a show after it finally breaks your heart in some disastrous shark-jump. What I’m saying is that it’s fine for shows to just end after a single season. That way, you can enjoy a torrid, all-consuming affair—and then break up before things get messy. It’s better for everyone that way.
Nothing exemplifies this more than last night’s fantastic finale of HBO’s The Night Of. Tense, bleak, and heart-breaking right up to the end, the climax delivered on all the promises of prestige television. It also, I feel compelled to mention, ended the series. That’s what made the show so gripping: It told a story without taking eight seasons to do it (the last three of which doubtless would have slid from inconsistent to mediocre to execrable). Just thank The Night Of for all those great summer nights and let it go.
But fans won’t do that. TV viewership now requires that people all want too much of a good thing—and that networks, looking for advertisers or subscribers, will want to provide it. In fact, viewers feel entitled to it, as if television episodes were ketchup packets at McDonald’s—available in abundance, ready to drown out all flavor. There are already murmurs of a second season of The Night Of, and while the idea is that it would (rightfully) be an anthology format, revolving around a story that has nothing to do with the tale of Nasir Khan, this still may not be the best idea. Not because creators Richard Price and Steven Zaillian aren’t talented, but because the longer people force them to hang on to their old show idea the longer they’ll have to wait for their new one—or any new one, for that matter.
This same “more, more, more!†vibe is in the air for Stranger Things. A second season hasn’t yet been confirmed, but creators the Duffer Brothers have indicated one will likely happen. Stranger Things is another show that could easily be serialized American Horror Story-style and given a whole new set of characters and new story, but in an interview with IGN, the Duffers indicated things would pick up where Season 1 left off. Instead, guys, how about telling us a strange new story? The last one was fine where you left it. (Insert obligatory “RIP, Barb†here.)
For a reminder of what could go wrong, let’s revisit the winter of 2014, when #TrueDetectiveSeason2 was all the rage. For the most part, the trending Twitter hashtag was a joke, a way for snark alecks to posit really dumb duos to be the next pair of investigators on Nic Pizzolatto’s uber-hyped show. The sad reality, of course, is that the real Season 2, while cast well, stunk like a garbage fire made of Ray Velcoro’s dirty laundry.
These things happen. Creators, be they Pizzolatto or Duffer, spend a lot of time coming up with the big ideas for their shows, but then after Season 1 everything is on a much faster timeline. Having exhausted much of the Big Idea early on, subsequent seasons fizzle. ShondaLand-style primetime soaps get more mileage because they can kill off characters, add new interns, or create a new scandal, but shows built around a single central conceit—a question that needs to be answered—have a much harder time maintaining momentum.
Michael Parmelee/USA Network
Mr. Robot seems to be suffering from a similar issue. After a humdinger of a first season, the current chapter of USA Network’s hacker psych-drama has been routinely falling flat. Season 1 slowly and energetically laid out the creation of fsociety, the near-collapse of the financial world, and the shattering of its main character Elliot’s psyche. It was a brilliant build up with a great payoff. Now that those things have happened, creator Sam Esmail—who seems to be a doing most of the lifting on the show—is struggling to keep up with the pace he set.
This doesn’t happen all the time, though. Halt and Catch Fire, now back for its third season, actually got better in Season 2. That, however, says more about the rocky start the show had in its initial run than it does about the second season besting its predecessor. Sometimes stories take a while to find their true heroes (or, in the case of Halt, heroines), and with AMC’s computer-programmer drama that’s certainly been true.
All of which leads to a more existential question: Why do people need TV shows to keep going? It’s human nature to want to keep watching something you like, but is that devotion worth it if it’s never as good as it once was? If time is indeed a flat circle, would it be better if audiences came back each fall to find love in new shows and have nothing but happy memories of the old ones? One of the drawbacks of the era of prestige television is that it seems to mandate that everything has to be the TV equivalent of The Odyssey. Fans, many scarred by seeing beloved series like Firefly or Freaks and Geeks cancelled too soon, have rallied behind beloved shows with more fervor than ever. And networks seem to think, now that everything lives on in perpetuity on streaming services, that they have to fill their coffers with sprawling, elaborate deep cuts—even if they don’t go anywhere.
This doesn’t have to be true. When The Knick shut its doors after just two seasons, fans were surprised. Its period setting and serious actor cast indicated the kind of show that would go on for at least five seasons, if not more. But after the initial shock, it was nice to have one truly brilliant series that never got the chance to disappoint its fans. Same goes for Showtime’s Penny Dreadful. Creator John Logan went into that show with three seasons planned out, made them, and got the hell out before he ran out of gothic romances to adapt. Fans may miss Eva (I certainly do), but if the show had started looking to Charles Dickens for source material, it would’ve been a disaster.
And so now we return to The Night Of and its potential future installments on HBO. Yes, some things went unanswered following the conclusion of the murder trial of Nasir Khan. Like Naz trying to piece together the events of the night in question even as he was on the witness stand, viewers have been left to fill in some blanks. But they are the perfect blanks, intentional redactions between facts that allow us to make the show our own. They do not need to be filled with another season. Drop it. The Night Of had a nearly perfect finale. It should be treated as such. “Finale†means “last,†so this is the end. The more fans look for another thread to pull, the more the simple brilliance of Night will fall away—and no one wants to see that unravel.
