Micro grid keeps the power on in Japan

In March, Japan suffered a 9.0 earthquake and tsunami.   The power grid was knocked out in the port city of Sendai.  The power would be out for weeks.  In one corner of the city, though, a micro power grid kept the lights on. Tohoku Fukushi University had power from a micro power grid that was part of an experiment to show how a micro power grid with smart grid technology would make power more reliable.  While not set up to provide power in an extended disaster, the micro grid did supply power and heat to the university's labs and hospitals.

This may be the future of power delivery.  http://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/the-smarter-grid/a-microgrid-that-wouldnt-quit

CNN starts innovation blog and show

CNN started a blog on innovation on Monday.  Look at http://whatsnext.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/07/welcome-to-whats-next/

They will also have a new show on innovations.  "The Next List" starts on Sunday, November 13 at 2 PM.  The host is Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Could following innovation become more mainstream ?

More life for Moore's Law

For decades, the density of transistors that can be economically put on a chip has doubled roughly every two years.  In 2010 the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors predicted the pace slowing to only a doubling of chip density every 3 years.  Now Intel has announced the most dramatic change to the architecture of the transistor since it was invented. New Intel fabrication will build all transistors in 3 dimensions.
If it works, Moore's Law will continue for at least another 6 years,  with an eightfold increase in transistor density during that time.

Other manufacturers have different ideas, so it will take time to see which are successful.

The IEEE article is at:

http://spectrum.ieee.org/semiconductors/devices/transistor-wars/0