Clean and Green Power

Methane bricks and solar panels are only two ideas of hundreds that scientists are considering to bring power to the earth’s inhabitants. Harnessing power is thesubject of today’s text.

The world needs power.

We know this, which is why the U.S. government is supporting solar-power projects, Exxon Mobil is exploring algae oil, and wind farms are popping up all over the place. Turn on the news, and it seems that everyone is talking about alternative energy, blah, blah, blah.

But it isn’t enough, which is why the race for even more innovative technologies is heating up. The cleanest and greenest ideas include:

Launching solar panels into space. The problem with putting solar panels on rooftops is that clouds and nightfall prevent them from working around the clock. But if you launch them into space, solar panels can soak up the sun’s energy 24 hours a day. Once they’ve absorbed all the energy they can, microwave transmitters on the satellites can beam the energy down to Earth to be converted into electricity.

Methane bricks at the bottom of the sea. You know about methane, don’t you? It’s the combustible gas that emerges from volcanoes, garbage ...