New World Record Set For Solar Module With Perovskite
Despite the sharp U-turn in US energy policy, global innovators like China’s Trinasolar are continuing to set new records for solar conversion efficiency.
Floating Solar PV on Foam with Air Bubblers
Floating solar PV power has been one of the most interesting and fun segments of the global solar power industry in the past decade. When it started popping onto the scene, it was catchy, but one wondered, was it really practical and cost effective? As it turns out, the benefits … [continued]
Elon Musk’s Missed Full Self-Driving Targets Are Even Wilder Than I Remembered
There’s been a little debate going on lately about whether Tesla Full Self-Driving is “effectively” Level 4 autonomous driving or is still just a Level 2 driver-assist system. Yesterday, I shared a comment from a reader explaining that it’s actually Level 2++ now. I’ll come back to that in a … [continued]
The 21st-century population story is peak, plateau and divergence, not a second 20th-century-style doubling.
2100 Transition Scenarios Need A Better Population Denominator
One of the easiest ways to get 2100 wrong is to carry the 20th-century population curve forward as if it still defines the future. The world went from about 2.5 billion people in 1950 to more than 8 billion today, and that expansion shaped modern assumptions about food, energy, cities, … [continued]
$7,000 for Rooftop Solar Permitting!? Time to Automate It
According to an analysis from Environment America and Frontier Group, permitting requirements can add a whopping $7,000 to the cost of a rooftop solar power system. $7,000?! That’s a crazy amount of extra money to add onto a solar power system just to get a permit. The good news in … [continued]
"For the manufacturing process of perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells, Fraunhofer ISE focuses on the so-called “hybrid route,” a combination of vacuum and wet chemical processes."
Fraunhofer Wants Solar Cells On Vehicles — To Help The Grid
The idea of putting solar panels on vehicles has been around for decades. I can’t say how many companies I’ve seen come and go that planned to produce and sell solar-powered cars. It’s just not the safest and most efficient place to deploy solar panels. However, I’ve never really seen … [continued]
Is BYD Making A Better “Ferrari” Than Ferrari?
The Denza Z was the big news this week from the 408th monthly MIIT regulatory filings. The sports car has a 500 kW motor on the front axle and two 340 kW motors on the rear axle for a total of 1180 kW (1582 horsepower). 0-100 km/h has previously been … [continued]
Clean Energy Investments Surge, But That Is Only Part Of The Story
Ingmar Rentzhog of We Don’t Have Time wrote recently that investors have already begun the transition to clean energy.
2026 Tesla Model Y with HW4 and FSD V14. As suggested in the upper left: Tap the brake and then push the blue Start Self-Driving button or push the right scroll wheel and off you go. In this case, the car then automatically left my garage. June 11, 2026. Photo by Fritz Hasler.
Observations After Two Weeks with Tesla Hardware 4 & Full Self Driving V14 in My…
I lived through almost 7 years of numerous releases of Tesla’s Full Self Driving (FSD) as it progressed in my 2019 Model 3 using “Hardware 3” (HW3), finally reaching FSD V12. Elon Musk promised every year that all of us Tesla owners with HW3 would see Level 4 self-driving in … [continued]
Tesla’s Level 2++ Supervised Full Self-Driving Approved In Belgium
Tesla has gotten “Full Self Driving (Supervised)” approved in another European country. Following the Netherlands, Lithuania, Estonia, and Denmark, the driver-assist system is now allowed to be deployed in Belgium. Well, Tesla still has to pass some tests with it, and then it can be rolled out to customers, but … [continued]
