.“What on Earth?” Auto Week concludes.

Let’s add this up: Bebbo and Kito have recently talked about a solar panel design that’s twice as effective as traditional panels at pulling energy from sunlight, technology that dramatically reduces the lost energy that occurs during the transfer of electricity, and an electric car prototype that could drive over 180 miles on a single charge. This whole renewable energy thing is looking better all the time!

From the New York Times: A Southern California start-up backed by Google and prominent venture capital firms announced on Wednesday a technology it claimed could slash the electricity consumption of a wide range of devices like industrial motors, hybrid cars, computers and cellphones. The result could be electric cars that drive farther without recharging, the disappearance of bricklike device chargers and solar panels that generate more electricity, according to the founders of Transphorm. The company, based in Goleta, Calif., has developed a power conversion module that it says cuts energy waste by 90 percent. Currently, about 10 percent of the energy generated in the United States is lost as electricity because it is converted from alternating current to direct current and back, according to Umesh Mishra, Transphorm’s chief executive.
Info from Grist
Info from the Huffington Post

Did read about gas saving tips in Wednesday’s What on Earth?
Did read about the new VW bus prototype in Monday’s What on Earth?

LEARN MORE ABOUT WHAT ON EARTH?…

Interview: Katie Kline, Communications Officer at Ecological Society of America interviewed me via Skype for the ESA’s Ecotone blog. Read and hear it here.

Video: Bebbo and Kito were featured in one of Jim Parks’ terrific Today’s Green Minute episodes. See the video! Learn more about it.