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The Best of What's New
Innovation is that rarest of prizes, often elusive and always difficult to conjure up. Yet we live in innovative times, with new wonders regularly surprising and even delighting us. We have assembled a set of ideas that will soon affect everyday life. Some of these innovations apply clever ideas in a novel way. Carmakers are betting big on fuel cells, but small versions of these chemical power plants are likely to perk up your cell phone first. Other innovations transform old ideas with a smart twist. Think about the roof over your head: By adding a layer of living plants, builders are enriching the environment and cutting energy costs. Or consider that young artists don't know who among them will succeed or flop. Financial engineering to the rescue: Now, they can share the risks by contributing some works to a trust that will sell them years later and split up the profits. Like great art, the best innovations just jump out at you.
Environment How Green Is My Rooftop
ON A HOT SUMMER DAY, WHEN
it's 90F on the street, it can be twice that up on the roof. In most wealthy nations, the majority of residential and commercial roofs are black--made of shingles or tar, holdovers from an era when cheap, oil-based material was the best option. Yet a black roof drives up air conditioning bills as it absorbs and holds the sun's heat. There is a cooler solution: make the roof white, or better yet, cover it with vegetation.
This trend began in Europe in the 1980s and is now catching on in Tokyo, Chicago, and New York. "Green" roofs are built similarly to traditional watertight roofs, but with a final layer of living plants and dirt or synthetic soil. From hardy groundcover to ornamental foliage, plants help cool a building in the summer and insulate it in the winter. They also clean the air, reduce water runoff, and look better than blacktop. Green roofs can last about three times longer than black ones because the plant life limits temperature extremes and damage from ultraviolet rays. Factor in lower energy bills, and Earth Pledge, a nonprofit group, figures that going green is cheaper in the long run.
Sarah R. Shapiro, Photoillustration by Earth Pledge