Demi (aka Solar Demi), who comes from a very small village in the Philippines, came up with a solution to bring light to his village by turning a soda bottle into a light bulb.

With the rising cost of energy and increased government oversight of greenhouse gas emissions, reducing energy consumption is a key topic for chemical engineers. Christianto Wibowo, principal engineer at ClearWaterBay Technology, talks about ways to manage energy consumption in chemical plants.

Researchers at Rice University have announced a nanotechnology success that could play a significant role in making renewable energy more practical and could contribute to many electrical applications where weight is a factor. The breakthrough: researchers have created carbon nanotubes that are approaching electrical conductivities seen in metal wires, a goal that has been pursued since the 1980s.

Maria K. Burka, 2011 AIChE President and Program Director, Process and Reaction Engineering (National Science Foundation), will be giving a plenary lecture at the 12th Annual Mediterranean Congress of Chemical Engineering in Barcelona, Spain.

There's a long list of things I learned in school, and I am grateful for all of that knowledge. It makes me the stellar employee that I am today, but there are a few things that I have learned in the real world that I really wish they would have clued me in on before releasing me out into the world.