Harald Haas: A breakthrough new kind of wireless Internet

Existing wifi technology, both the router and the receiving device, consumes energy.  Harald Haas' team has created a technology that uses light to transmit data using off the shelf LEDs and solar panels, which can transmit up to 50Mbps of data and can work even when partly obscured due to things like fog.  Because the receiver is a solar cell, it is able to harvest some of the energy used to transmit the data, making the technology more energy neutral.