Justin Hall-Tipping: Freeing energy from the grid

www.ted.com What would happen if we could generate power from our windowpanes? In this moving talk, entrepreneur Justin Hall-Tipping shows the materials that could make that possible, and how questioning our notion of 'normal' can lead to extraordinary breakthroughs.
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at www.ted.com/translate.

[@aarongrooves]

Greatest. TED. Talk. Ever.

[@toomuchtruth]

One of the best ever TED talks.

[@gigisimbajon4625]

Scientifically eloquent indeed, with a heart!!!! The test of a genius is creating solutions from one's outpouring compassion..

[@katehook7587]

This gives me hope for the future. Not only because it makes perfect sense but because here is a scientist motivated by a picture of a little girl dying of thirst, more than any other motivation.

[@benjamingresko957]

What I have a problem with in these TED talks is there is nowhere to buy these materials. All the labs make behind the scenes deals and make the material unavailable and/or highly expensive to the everyday person. If they made these materials "open source" and allowed the masses to innovate with it, more people would become wealthy and more technologies would emerge. "Take my money" is usually never an option. If anyone knows where to buy these materials. LET ME KNOW

[@lindacarroll6849]

Benjamin Gresko ....you'll never get them mate, your here to serve. Anyone coming out with this simple technology would be & have been assassinated. It started at your birth.........your birth 'certificate', your an indentured servant. Your here to serve the system, your a slave & so are your children & your children's children. Wake up bro 👊

[@sigma682]

That's kind of the point of TED talks, is showing people what companies are doing with cutting edge technology, usually decades away from commercial application. Chances are if an invention threatens a lucrative business, it won't see the light of day.

[@sigma682]

Justin Hall-Tipping is CEO of Nanoholdings, LLC. Their slogan on their website (nH2.com) is "We invent and commercialise" so i't's not a completely altruistic company, they are in business to make a profit. However, Tesla is also a for-profit business, yet it's not their mission to make a profit, it's simply a means to an end.

[@astrogirl7616]

its a R&D field under development and research this is nanotechnolgy in these years and it has problem in mass production because it is new little bit mysterious but recently a lot of companies are working on it so this is logical

[@callum1131]

Where are we with this project as of December 2014?

[@HenrySoinnunmaa]

I just love the rhythm of his speaking. Really efficient.

[@lewislewis66]

If we could put our collective ego's to one side perhaps we could just make this happen. Thank you for your humanity

[@wmjessemiller]

Use to watch all your videos back in the day. Just watched the interview you posted too.

[@gregg1321]

Good luck getting all the people profiting from the power industry to go along with this. They are going to pour every cent they need into making sure this doesn't happen.

[@matix676]

This

[@justrecklessproductions]

The ending was beautiful

[@DaTux91]

What a motivation for this man. Even if this technology is not efficient enough (yet), loads and loads of respect.

[@millomagno]

I'm always amazed when I see the amazing capacity of the human mind and the ability to solve so many problems. I've seen it so many times, solutions for energy, that sound so convincing, and that they're going to happen, soon even, and then ... where are they now? What I desire most of all now, is not so much free energy but a revolution of heart and mind. Without that we will remain static.

[@GTR003121]

Wow, brilliant! Every person who can, should be contributing whatever they can to help this R&D move forward, through funding or whatever is needed! It doesn't require much if enough people get behind it. These are the kinds of solutions we need and which can change everything.

[@BlowDevilUp]

Now that's the kind of dedication I like to see!

[@Boogieforme]

Oh my, this is brilliant!

[@DahSlayah]

Love this

[@AngilasGuy]

Absolutely brilliant.

[@srgwarcock]

This... Is... Absolutly Amazing...

[@134567123]

Wow...impressive! This is most definitely the way forward.

[@CelticWind88]

Inspiring stuff. I hope I live long enough to see this technology become the norm.

[@tifius]

Looking forward to see this implemented on scale

[@roflex2]

Id love to see some numbers of how effective this is, is it working on a scale that will be useable?

[@mastertheillusion]

This right here, is the answer to one of humanities greatest concerns. Clean Energy. Blown away here, again! This should be copied, shared mentioned, redistributed everywhere.

[@naybobdenod]

An excellent talk to say the least !

[@superfunny1972]

Wow...this is amazing

[@velcrobrother1788]

this is great, where can we get updates on development of this? No news often means bad news so please keep us updated :)

[@silentdoctorable]

This guy is definitely onto something!

[@missartist123]

YES! I knew someone would be able to create night vision lenses! :D i was waiting for this for over 10 years

[@rigamortis1066]

Wow! This technology, in conjunction with; space based solar power, geothermal power, high altitude wind power, and (hopefully sometime in the near future) nuclear fusion, would be my dream for energy production. Good to see some folks are working away with aspirations to make their technology affordable, clean and efficient. More power to you!

[@soulsanctuarymusic1]

AMAZING!

[@TheSnobar]

Only if every one thinks this way !! i would love yo meet a person like you !

[@looseSpark]

@Saesegral I wish TED was around when I was at school - I would have worked so much harder at it.

[@TuiNaMassageCambria]

Very encouraging! We were waiting for a new concept beyond the acid-lead battery---you mean storing energy in the window carbon film, instead? Redirecting light, even moonlight, great! Let this go viral~~~

[@FernandoSV]

I WANT THIS in my house, this is beautiful

[@heyitscaroline]

Brilliant.

[@JanisTreijs]

Amazing!

[@jwilferling]

This guy doesn't need money. I've heard he's got D.O.D. contracts already. This is the kind of thinking out world needs.

[@IdoloR]

Incredible

[@N3rdyDav3]

This talk has no less than 3 different world changing breakthroughs, if they all come to fruition. New TED record?

[@AlienScientist]

Check out my recent interview with Justin Hall asking some in depth follow up questions on themes presented in this talk!

[@Sal1981]

awe-inspiring.

[@soulsanctuarymusic1]

@SuperFinGuy my bad, but whatever they are currently made of, i was trying to suggest that the more conductive the material, the more efficient they would be at absorbing solar energy. Or is that incorrect?

[@aichi337]

omg can we already use this?

[@Noezil]

That's one of the best video i've ever watched. I learned a lot from it. To me it has the answer to my question: Can Africa feed the world?

[@OliverDamian]

Now that is what technology should be about.

[@rowiian]

Pure genius.

[@darlahauschild]

Fantastic. Lord God, please bless this man's work and further his ideas!!!!

[@TheSnobar]

I freakin love u !! just incredible !

[@5Pip]

This is the sort of thing I want to work on

[@MonkeyRecords]

This guy is a visionary

[@Airbiscuitmaker]

Well, this is already 4 years ago. So, where is this seemingly marvelous technolgy he is heartly speaking about.

[@nowonmetube]

Purrscratchheadbutt carbon nano tubes, hard to mass produce still and expensive

[@myfavization]

@Vortex42 # thanks for our response. I get your points. Much appreciated.

[@powerchess20002000]

@Clarensee A google search would have sufficed, but 1\AA (angstrom) is about the dimention of one atom, so 2 nm is about 20 \AA or 20 atom diameters.

[@OculusQuestFun]

I support this.

[@aarongrooves]

I can't understand why this doesn't have 100 million views and 50 million likes. Our current cultural climate sucks. And it makes me sad.

[@michaelrobbins2706]

its not any better 10 years on. but overall, this video is still better than gold.

[@xinlo]

@Clarensee Yep, and that's why we're reaching a bit of a roadblock in Moore's Law. Instead of just doubling the number of transistors again and thereby making each gap even smaller, we're just doubling the amount of cores on the CPU.

[@CetraTJ]

wicked cool!

[@George4943]

Wow! Just Wow!

[@RishiGangoly]

Brilliant

[@TheCommaQuote]

@MarkArandjus Absolutely correct. I dont know if you follow the zeitgeist movement, or the venus project, or if you're just incredibly informed and think things through clearly, but you nailed it, amigo.

[@RynaxAlien]

Where I could find more information or even order that night vision???? 7:00

[@DaBamBamMan]

Awesome

[@VortexMotiveVision]

@phaedrusalt Where are you getting this 200W/m^2 figure?

[@jgoemat]

@soulsanctuarymusic1 Copper has a static resistivity of 1.68*10E-8 ohm-meters. That is very conductive. 1000 times greater doesn't gain you much, and what does conductivity have to do with what he's talking about?

[@purugigi]

Is research on this still ongoing?

[@jpmthemonk]

He had me at a minute and thirty seconds.

[@Lojikish]

so where do i buy it...?

[@ElectronicCalifornia]

@jbdyoni Which course would that be?

[@grimslider75]

@IHighLikePlane I remember 2 years ago there were little comments on youtube about the zeitgeist movement and the resource based economy. Now, I see it on practically every video related to the depletion of resources. Great how things turn out =)

[@YawnGod]

@Vortex42 But you have to also consider everything related to oil corporations, and other corporations. Many corporations are interconnected, or part of a conglomerate. They can't stop competition, in theory, but they can advertise against, it, buy politicians to stop it, attempt to buy them out (imagine if Salk were coerced to sell the patent for the Polio vaccine to Bayer or some pharmaceutical corporation), and other things. Can you power your car with home energy sources? Farm food? Water?

[@AaronSilkwood]

Where do we currently stand with this technology as of oct, 2012?

[@BishweshJoshi]

@ennot I live in Minnesota and according to the professor at my university the cost of solar cells per kilowatt hour will be cheaper than using other sources within this decade. Based on research, to power the entire state of Minnesota, we would need 144 sq.miles of solar panels (15% efficiency). For the sake of comparison, Minneapolis-stpaul area is 6000 sq.miles. If you include only the area of roofs and glass panels in buildings in Minneapolis you could power the entire state.

[@ninjovich]

@hpearson902 The water is brought up because it needs energy to make drinkable water out of polluted or otherwise undrinkable water (like the case he brought up, salt water). And the "energy maker" is that size as a proof of concept, not the final deal most likely :P The changing of color absorbs or lets through light. If you can reflect light you can reflect energy, hence the "beaming" energy where you need it. That's how i understood it atleast :)

[@locoman7]

Can someone let me know where I can find a job building stuff like this?

[@AtheistSid]

The title of this video reminds me of Iain M Banks Culture series. They use something called 'the Grid' to get nearly unlimited energy. In the scifi series this is supposedly a grid between universes.

[@SuperFinGuy]

@soulsanctuarymusic1 Conductivity is important but what is most important is the photovoltaic effect of the material. You can have say a superconductor but it won't build an electric tension is it doesn't have a photovoltaic effect.

[@pinochska]

@hpearson902 you remove the salt from the water using electrolisis... and since you have unlimited energy you can remove the salt of ALOT of water... the film, changin color reflects the sun or lets it in as you desire... the "energy maker" is a photovoltaic cell that could be made the size of a window and produce electricity while not blocking the view... and i dont know about the transmitting via line of sight... anything else i can help you with?

[@tommy605]

@Vortex42 How much oil is used in the material in that laptop? This idea of a greener power source is great, and I'm all aboard. I've been doing everything i can to reduce my carbon footprint. Well, I could probably do more, but we all could. The problem is, reducing our dependencies on oil energy is only a percentage of the solution, and yes, I agree, it's a start. The use of fossil fuel needs to be reduced across the board. As energy source and building material, etc.

[@VortexMotiveVision]

@jbdyoni That sounds like a good mixture to me, JB. I wish you the best with that, and look forward to benefitting from your contribution to society! :D

[@VortexMotiveVision]

@phaedrusalt That's a fair point well made - Solar radiation on the ground depends much on your region and the ability to capture it, on the efficiency of your capturing technology. However, to suggest that non-grid electricity generation of this kind can't be done is short sighted. First, we don't know efficiency of tech here, & second, we don't know how it's applied - Also, it appeared to be capable of more than generate power alone - Also of regulating temperature of building & storing power.

[@myfavization]

@Vortex42 # tried posting my replybut would not load. will try and create a new post later.

[@LeonidasGGG]

This guy just drop, not one, but two atom bombs of nex-gen technology AND said, in a very kind way, FU to all those who tried to stop him... great man, may you live long and prosper.

[@Galicz]

please implement NOW!!!!!!!

[@jahrleriksen]

0:15 Pure genius, unlike TED intro

[@phaedrusalt]

@Vortex42 (Don't know if you got my reply, the server ate it.) This is the point of our disagreement, this doesn't have the potential to become powerful simply because there isn't enough power density there to do anything with. It's like the gold in the ocean, there's enough there to make you the richest man alive, but it's so distributed that you'd go broke trying to get it.

[@saadazzz]

How can I join this idea and promote it?

[@llViperStrikerll]

can anybody tell me what hes presenting....

[@Lundix]

@phaedrusalt All I got from that is "Sorry page not found The requested URL was not found on this server"

[@lolcat23]

@Pegar did you not see the same video as us?

[@VortexMotiveVision]

@phaedrusalt Can you please provide a reference for that information please? And also a reference for why you apply that information to this particular breakthrough discussed in the talk. Everything I've read about the energy from the Sun supports the idea that it could power our civilisation easily - The problem being that current capturing technology is nowhere near efficient enough. What the man is talking about here is a far more effective capturing technology, thereby making solar viable.

[@ElectronicCalifornia]

@jbdyoni I am excited for you! :) I am still a freshmen in college. Science and technology is my passion, but i don't know where i want to go yet.

[@ninadbhatt]

@HarrysMusicBlog so fucking true brahh word up... may god bless this man with unlimited resources

[@Lundix]

@Lundix eh ... maybe not really "anything". But pretty dang close.

[@roflex2]

I love the idea, but why have we not seen any prototypes? Are there problems in mass producing it, is it too expensive etc?

[@LeonidasGGG]

@khatack Amen to that.

[@ranjithark86]

Its good that crowd was silent just to hear what he says not today but atleast 75yrs later his stuff would be revolutionary cuz now no one wil realise the killing of natural resources

[@GrahamTVdotNet]

Free Energy True Freedom !

[@mikeccuk2006]

electrons are purple?

[@makeitgo]

@vanakes Any start up costs would be enormous. It's in the 'longterm' savings that the benefits would occur. Once mass production and consumption occur, costs would eventually lower. Creating a new infrastructure, disassembling the old one, and handling the surge of initial unemployment is another 'cost'. It's daunting but not impossible. If we live to see it happen we'll also suffer through it as well. It's our children, possibly our grandchildren that would truly benefit from this change.