Just close your eyes and think about the coolest tech for a minute. Chances are, your mind has become a kaleidoscope made of the iPhone X, virtual reality headsets, that Amazon Echo Dot thing and shoes with wheels built into the heel. All of which is undeniably cool. But it is by no means the coolest. How so? Because none of it is destined to save the world and that has to be the definition of cool. Surely?
Solar Everything
Solar panels are nothing new and neither is this idea of harnessing the sun’s epicness. Where the game has been changed, however, is with solar glass. Yeah, we’re talking about windows that can generate power. That is just the start, though. If it works and it becomes a thin-film-like thing that can use the sun then it could be used everywhere from the clothes you wear to the roofs of mega-marts.
Healthy People
We’re not talking about the Fitbit here. We’re talking about the healthcare strides being made behind the scenes, the kind that is available for consumer fun but for saving lives. Healthcare tech is a huge business right now, but it is things like preventing tumours from coming back, which you can go to poseida.com for details on and finding drugs that can finally beat Alzheimer’s that are well worth giving credence to. Yes, the Fitbit is cool because it can count how many steps you took on Tuesday, but it ain’t got anything on the bigger things.
Biofuel
The reality is, no bio-fuel has lived up to the hype. They have all fallen short of the mark. Jatropha, green diesel, sunflower oil, seeds – they have all been a tad disappointing. Why? Simple. They require large areas of crops to be grown, crops that can’t be used for food and that is a waste, especially with the food gap crisis. The good thing is, we know engines can be run on biofuels. Even aircraft. Which is where algae comes in, as energy.gov explains. Produced in industrial ponds, algae has already been used in test flights. That. Is. Cool.
Your Poop
Yeah, we’re going there. Sorry. But, to give it credibility, the reason we’re going there is Bill Gates has gone there. He has been working on a way to turn poop into drinkable water, and he has even drunk said water to prove it is do-doable (worst pun ever). Of course, this is totally gross, but it is still amazing to think that this might be possible. We do feel bad for the marketing team that gets employed, though.
LEDs
In every single sector, there is an unsung hero of sorts and, in tech, that is the LED. These little things have drastically reduced the amount of energy we use as a society. They have the ability to cut the energy consumption caused by lights by 75%, which is awesome because lights are accountable for 15% of the world’s energy consumption. The coolest part is how easy this world-changing tech is to adopt into everyday life.