In today's media, death, destruction, war, politics, and celebrity relationships are the only things that tend to be reported. Watching FOX News, CNN, or MSNBC is nothing short of depressing. It erodes away your faith in humanity. Here I'm going to try and counter that by sharing stories that the media doesn't like to cover, stories that show the progress humanity is making, and how the future isn't as dark as you would probably believe.
Elon Musk's solar roofs and house batteries
Elon Musk, earlier this month, announced his invention of solar roofs. You read that right, not solar panels you install on a roof, but an actual solar roof. With these solar shingles, energy could be stored throughout the day into a house battery. Musk has also talked about this in his Master Plan: Part Deux. With this technology the homeowner would not just be a consumer of energy anymore, they would also become a producer of clean energy. Allowing the consumer to use the energy that is produced for their home or electric cars could really go a long way. The future of green energy is looking very bright.
Rhode Island becomes first state to build offshore wind farm
Rhode Island just finished building its final offshore wind turbine this month, marking the completion of the Block Island Wind Farm. They speculate that the wind farm will generate enough energy to power 17000 homes. What makes this wind farm different is the fact that it is offshore in the ocean. Since the winds are much stronger and more consistent at sea than on land, these wind farms are expected to yield more megawatts than their land counterparts. Other nations without large amounts of land, such as England and Scotland, have been building such farms since 2010. In fact, the United Kingdom has built so many wind farms, wind energy may be surpassing nuclear energy use very soon. States such as Vermont and Massachusetts are looking into offshore wind farms already; so, Block Island may just be the first of many, at least, I certainly hope so.
Proxima B: A potentially Earth-like planet
4.2 light-years away around Proxima Centauri scientists have found a planet known as Proxima B. It is in the nearest star's "habitable zone", or the range of distances at which liquid water could be stable on the world's surface. It orbits a red dwarf which actually have a longer lifespan (trillions of years) than stars like our sun (10 billion years). What has scientists so excited about this planet is the fact that it is close enough to Earth that they believe they will be able to image it directly, in the near future. By being able to image it directly scientists would be able to determine the type of atmosphere Proxima B has as well as search for signs of life. Its close proximity also makes Proxima B a prime candidate for space probe visits in the near future. You can bet that, over the next few decades, studying Proxima B will be near the top of the priority list for astrophysicists.
