Articles by Christopher Mims
Christopher Mims's dystopian non-fiction is sought after by an ever-growing roster of publications.
All Articles
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Google's open-source, wireless, smartphone-controlled lightbulb
Google continues to roll out new details about its wirelessly-controlled “smart” lightbulb, which gets around all the problems usually associated with making a home energy-aware. The latest: the company is working on open-source software that will run on the lightbulbs themselves.
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Why Michele Bachmann thinks she can get gas under $2 a gallon
Michele Bachmann isn't crazy -- she's just horribly misinformed. At least in this particular instance: When Bachmann promised that if she became president, gas would be under $2 a gallon, her statement was entirely consistent with the voodoo alternate energy universe she and countless right-wing conspiracy theorists happen to inhabit.
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'Skypump' let's you fill 'er up — with wind
Got an electric car? And some wind? Then this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship, if you add in the Sanya Skypump for a horsepower three-way. Sure, you might think putting a wind turbine on an electric car charging station is kind of obvious, if you are a wiseacre. But the Skypump is a […]
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'Floatovoltaics' energize otherwise boring bodies of water
'Flotovoltaics,' solar panels that float on existing reservoirs, leads to all kinds of unexpected side benefits. At the Far Niente winery in Napa Valley, which pioneered the technology in the U.S., their floating solar grid reduces evaporation from their irrigation pond and inhibits algae growth. It also saves the winery from giving up valuable grape-growing land, even as it produces more electricity than the winery uses.
