These solar panels create clean water in the desert

Good News Notes: “Most of the energy that hits a solar panel is wasted. Energy technology researcher Peng Wang told IE that less than 20 percent of the energy that hits a solar panel gets turned into electricity. The rest is turned into heat, which can cause the panel to become even less efficient. Researchers have spent decades figuring…

Will California’s roads soon be made of recycled plastic?

Good News Notes: “Plastic bottles by the side of a road are a common sight, an unseemly reminder of how often consumer products are discarded carelessly. Now some of those bottles may become part of the road. A Northern California company has devised a process that integrates recycled plastic into road repaving, an innovation that…