Three new solar technologies – one developed in Adelaide – have made a prestigious Top 10 list for 2017.
The annual Top 10 Emerging Technologies list was published this week. A panel from the World Economic Forum’s Expert Network compiled the list, along with Scientific American magazine board members.
Each technology was chosen “for its potential to improve lives, transform industries and safeguard the planet”.
The top 10 technologies are:
- Non-invasive Biopsies for Identifying Cancer
- Harvesting Clean Water from Air
- Deep Learning for Visual Tasks
- Liquid Fuels from Sunshine
- The Human Cell Atlas
- Precision Farming
- Affordable Catalysts for Green Vehicles
- Genomic Vaccines
- Sustainable Design of Communities
- Quantum Computing
Harvesting clean water from air, sustainable design of communities and liquid fuels from sunshine all use solar technologies.
Australian scientists develop solar technologies
A University of Adelaide team developed a better technique for creating fuel using solar energy. It uses a new catalyst to produce methane gas from CO2 and hydrogen.
The catalyst drives the process of combining CO2 with hydrogen to produce methane and water. The process mimics photosynthesis in plants.
Another technology, harvesting clean water from the air, uses solar thermal energy to condense water molecules in the air. Existing technologies generally require high moisture and a lot of electricity, which is expensive and often unavailable.
The third item of designing sustainable communities goes beyond isolated rooftop solar to build a solar electricity microgrid. Ambitious projects join blocks of buildings into single sustainable communities that can be independent of the main electricity grid.
Panel warns of risks as well as benefits of technology
Scientific American Editor in Chief Mariette DiChristina said science “addresses the most pressing problems humanity faces”.
Murat Sönmez, a member of the World Economic Forum panel, said new technologies create new opportunities on an unprecedented scale.
However, Mr Sönmez warned that governments and public institutions should be wary of the risks unchecked technological change could bring.
The 10 technologies will be discussed at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting of the New Champions 2017, in Dalian, China, June 27-29.
The new technologies will be the basis of discussions about how to use technology for inclusive, sustainable growth.
