Scientists at Camel City Solar have developed a new version
of a solar cell using the wonders of nanotechnology to multiply the efficiency
of generating energy from the sun.
Researchers at Wake Forest University have found that beet
juice can lower blood pressure, increase blood flow in the brain and improve
exercise performance, and they’ve now developed a beet juice that actually
tastes good. (Samples were available and many attendees agreed that it now
tasted good.)
Technology Crops International scientists have developed a plant they are calling
ahiflower that produces enough omega 3 fatty acids that may alleviate critical
shortages of those fatty acids in Western human diets.
And a Forsyth Medical
Center pediatrician, Dr. Gretchen Hoyle, is leading a company called MD Online
Solutions that aims to improve primary care practices by catching diseases
early and reducing the need for referral to specialists and expensive admission
of patients to the hospital.
These were just four of the ten presenters at the 11th
Annual Tech Briefing, part of the Triad Business and Technology Expo at Benton
Convention Center.
Bob Summers, CEO of Camel City Solar, said that flat-panel
solar cells are just not efficient enough to meet energy needs. The new form of
solar cell using nanotechnology will produce 2-3 times more power over the
course of a day. The cylindrical surface of the cell, coated with an ink-like
nanotechnology surface, can take advantage of multiple peaks in exposure to the
sun.
And to those who argue for energy conservation, Summers told
several hundred people at the briefing, “We cannot save our way out to the need” for
increased energy production.
On the beet juice, Dr. Daniel B. Kin-Shapiro, director of
WFU’s translational science center said the wonders of beet juice were already
recognized by elite athletes. “Thousands of gallons of beet juice were consumed
in the Olympic Village.”
Beet juice works because it is a potent source of nitrate.
Andrew Hebard, president and CEO of Technology Crops
International, said the omega 3 fatty acids produced from the ahiflower were
the same as the omega 3 fatty acids from fish oil. The ahiflower already is
being grown and has the potential to produce substantial quantities in three
years that is price-competitive with fish oil and can meet the urgent need for
more dietary fatty acids.
Dr. Hoyle said MD Online Solutions might help reduce health
care costs by focusing on prevention and other primary care efforts. The online
solutions deliver results of tests and other measures quickly to the primary
care doctors, enabling them to act quickly on results.
She noted that Affordable Care Act will strengthen primary
care and prevention and perhaps reduce the 17 percent of gross domestic product
that is now spent on health care.
Furthermore, it will help primary care doctors cope with
what she called the “silver Tsunami” – the aging baby boomers, most of whom have at least one
chronic condition. Read more.
