Evolving our way to energy efficiency

[phantom power]

I'm a sucker for evolutionary optimization methods.

(Video at the link)

This is a cool talk: Bill Gross talks about his efforts to tap into solar power. It's a little bit over-optimistic — how much of the desert Southwest would we have to pave over to collect enough energy for the country? — but the really fun part is where he talks about using unguided evolutionary processes to design solar collectors and heat engines. People who claim that chance and selection can't produce anything new have never tinkered with genetic algorithms.

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/03/evolving_our_way_to_energy_eff.php