Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have developed a switchable solar window that goes from transparent to tinted in the sunlight, converting the absorbed rays into electricity. “There is a fundamental tradeoff between a good window and a good solar cell,” said NREL scientist Lance Wheeler in a press release. “This technology bypasses that. We have a good solar cell when there’s lots of sunshine and we have a good window when there’s not.” The material makes use of perovskites and single-walled carbon nanotubes to achieve this effect. [NREL]
San Rafael, Calif.–based software developer Autodesk announced in its third quarter earnings statement that it will cut nearly 1,200 jobs (13 percent of the company's workforce) as part of a restructuring plan. [ARCHITECT]
In March, Elon Musk made a bet that his energy storage company, Tesla, could install a record-size,100-megawatt energy storage facility—composed of Tesla PowerPacks—in Southern Australia in 100 days, or it would be free. Tesla won with a flourish, completing the project almost 40 days early. [Vox]
The Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta has been named the world's first LEED Platinum–certified professional sports stadium by the U.S. Green Building Council. [ARCHITECT]
A team of researchers from the University of Arkansas believe that graphene could some day provide clean energy due to the "jiggling" of its composite atoms. [Futurism]
Origami-Inspired Artificial Muscles from Wyss Institute on Vimeo.
Researchers from Harvard University's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have developed the technology for lightweight, origami-inspired soft muscles to lift objects that are up to 1,000 times their own weight for robotics applications. The mechanism utilizes vacuum seals rather than pneumatics to move, making this option safer than previous prototypes. [MIT CSAIL]
Arizona-based renewable water company Zero Mass Water has developed an off-grid, self-sustained water producing technology dubbed Source Hydropanels that uses solar power and air. [ARCHITECT]
