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I think one of the issues with black leaves is photosynthesis stops being so efficient at higher temperatures. So the leaves actually aren't supposed to absorb everything. There are plants with darker leaves but they are often those that grow in shade (under other plants).

The advantage of plants is they can do much of the construction, self repair, and even some self-cleaning themselves. They don't need a energy consuming pollution spewing factory in China to make them.

The other advantage is if you plant the right sort of plants, you can eat the end product without needing that much more processing.

Whereas even if you had a 30% efficient solar panel, I figure by the time you convert the electricity and raw materials to food, it'll probably not be that much more efficient. And the end result might not be as tasty or nutritious.

If you wanted a more efficient way of generating electricity (and not for creating food for humans) might be better to just go for solar thermal.

Of course there are other usage scenarios, for example: http://www.metropolismag.com/story/20040727/pv-tv-a-multifunctional-eco-friendly-building-material
That tech seems expensive though...

In one sample curriculum, students create a graphic novel based on the epic Babylonian poem "Gilgamesh," record their understanding of ancient Mesopotamian culture though geographer and anthropologist journals, and play the strategic board game "Settlers of Catan." Google Earth comes into play as a tool to explore the regions of ancient Mesopotamia.

...

Public money also means Q2L students must take the same math and reading tests as other New York students.

From links in TFA:
Metropolis magazine:

Games offer rule-based systems that allow students to understand how the interaction of elements in one scenario might be applied to another, or to real-life situations. While exploring how Spartans dealt with rival city-states, for instance, students will learn how to make policy decisions and weigh the costs of war.

...

Each of the 20 to 25 children per class will have access to a laptop and, rather than studying individual subjects, will attend four 90-minute periods a day devoted to curriculum âoedomainsâ like Codeworlds (a combination of math and English) and the Way Things Work (math and science).

Q2L.org (PDF link):

Established Goals:
NYS Learning Standards for Math, Science, and Technology:

• Students will use mathematical analysis, scientific inquiry, and engineering design, as
  appropriate, to pose questions, seek answers, and develop solutions.
• Students will access, generate, process, and transfer information using appropriate technologies.
• Students will understand mathematics and become mathematically confident by communicating
  and reasoning mathematically, by applying mathematics in real-world settings, and by solving
  problems through the integrated study of number systems, geometry, algebra, data analysis,
  probability, and trigonometry.
• Students will apply the knowledge and thinking skills of mathematics, science, and technology to
  address real-life problems and make informed decisions.
• Students will use visualization and spatial reasoning to analyze characteristics and properties of
  geometric shapes.
• Students will develop strategies for estimating measurements.

The above standards are being applied to one of the classes in that sixth-grade curriculum. I would have killed someone to have been exposed to trig in sixth grade. It would have made a lot of things later on a whole lot easier.

I don't think I've ever seen a more undeserved insightful mod. That was non-specific heckling without a point.

Here are some points for you: the amount of innovation in green energy is tremendous these days. Take your pick, some of these are from this very site:

24/7 baseload electricity from the sun for utilities, great for sunny climates, cost-competitive with coal
Steady large-scale wind power from stacked kites
Cutting consumption and greenhouse gasses with microgrids
As seen on this very site, cost-effective solar thermal energy used to drive a stirling engine
Highly cost-effective thin-film solar electricity
Solar thermal panels for directly heating water
For efficiency, passive solar design for buildings
Inserting vertical wind turbines into electric towers for using existing structure
Tidal energy, pros and cons; Denmark certainly believes in the pros

That's just off the top of my head. Renewable energy is a matter of studying your surroundings and finding what is appropriate. Each locale is different, and of course, all of us can benefit from more efficient design than what we used on this past century while presuming that fossil fuel energy is cheap and disposable. All we need to do is stop being sloppy and wasteful. ...Or you can just be pointlessly negative on the internet. :)

http://www.metropolismag.com/pov/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/zoolander.jpg

"Hansel? This call is for you."

There already is translucent concrete. It's quite pretty looking, however it's 5x as expensive as normal concrete right now. Here are some more pictures of a similar product.

I'm still waiting for pictures of the "party plane", though.

Shrap Calculator

http://www.metropolismag.com/html/content_0401/shu lman/

this april 2001 edition of Metropolis has a pretty informative article on the man and his background.

interesting that i live in houston (concrete captial next to LA) and never have read an article on this guy.

Apparently neither The Economist nor Slashdot knows the difference between translucent and transparent. Ugh.

Anyway, this is old news. Metropolis magazine reported on the development of translucent concrete back in April 2001.

http://www.metropolismag.com/html/content_0801/mcd /index.html

About architect William McDonough who's designing 'green' factories for Ford and offices for Adidas.

He's also (with chemist Dr. Michael Braungart) been reponsible for technological feats such as a swiss textile factory waste water is actually cleaner than the tap water that comes in and a few buildings so energy efficient that they actually produce a surplus.

He's of the belief that it's not enough to minimize environmental impact -- one must maximize environmental (and cost) benefits. The savings that his energy-efficient designs provide them companies he builds them for can pay construction costs in a matter of a year or two.

I sincerely hope this kind of thinking represents the future of big business.