We talk a lot about energy efficiency as being a part of sustainability here. Innovations in efficiency will play an important role in making sure we have a bright green future. But what sort of innovations could we see? Well, here's an example of one which could be big:

University of California scientists working at Los Alamos National Laboratory with a researcher from the University of Cambridge have demonstrated a simple and industrially scaleable method for improving the current densities of superconducting coated conductors in magnetic field environments. The discovery has the potential to increase the already impressive carrying capacity of superconducting wires and tapes by as much as 200 to 500 percent in certain uses, like motors and generators, where high magnetic fields diminish current densities.