Two basics of life—clean water and energy—help keep Mike Hickner highly motivated in his Steidle Building labs. One of his goals is to develop technology that allows consumers to recycle water from their homes and decrease their reliance on the power grid. Home water-purification units and distributed power devices—whether it’s power from a solar panel that sits atop their roof or from an energy storage device that is plugged into their basement—will usher in a new era of how we use and conserve energy.  More>>