Published on September 4th, 2008
The University of California, San Diego, in support of its ambitious goal of being the greenest university in the U.S., are installing a 1.2 MW solar electric system as part of its comprehensive sustainable energy program. This system will contribute approximately 1.5 million kW hours of clean energy to the university per year and be one of the largest non-utility solar arrays in California. The project is just part of a university effort to become energy independent, and should be finished and functionally running by the end of the year. Read the rest of this entry »
Published on September 4th, 2008
Morgan Solar, a Toronto-based company launched last summer, believes it has the answer to creating simple and cheap solar concentrators.
While other companies are working to make solar cheaper by using mirrors or lenses to magnify sunlight that is directed into solar cells, Morgan Solar takes a different approach. Their system uses a thin sheet of acrylic to concentrate sunlight 750 times. The sunlight is directed to a tiny cell on the edge of the plastic, greatly reducing the amount of material needed.
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Published on September 2nd, 2008
Solar power—is there anything it can’t do? British scientists have found a new use for solar technology with the Sahara Forest Project, a proposed plan to combine greenhouses that use seawater to grow crops with solar power installations.
The greenhouse-solar power combination could potentially provide food, fresh water and energy to deserts.
According to the project’s designers, the technology works by having greenhouses use solar farms to power seawater evaporators. Cool air is pumped through the greenhouses, reducing the temperature by about 15 C compared to outside.
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Published on August 28th, 2008
This past week was an eventful one for thin-film solar companies Nanosolar and AVA Solar , which received a total of over $400 million in funding.
Nanosolar, which took in $300 million, has now raised nearly half a billion dollars of capital. The company plans to use the money to expand thin-film solar panel production at its San Jose and Berlin factories.
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Published on August 28th, 2008
In the department of “How has this not already happened?”, Haaretz reports that Israel’s first solar power station is now functioning. The 50 kW solar array is on a farm in the Negev, and will be hooked up to the national power grid in two weeks.
The reason for the long wait? Israel’s state solar incentives just kicked in on July 1st. They allow home and industrial customers to receive NIS 2.01 per kWh for electricity produced. Household power plants are limited to 15 kW, and business plants are limited to 50 kW.
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Published on August 26th, 2008
With the entire planet in a crazy attempt to make everything from transport to washing green, it comes as no real surprise to see another industry take up the challenge. And, as with a lot of things technological, Japan is leading the way.
Japan’s biggest shipping company – Nippon Yusen KK – is going to be working with Nippon Oil Corp to develop solar panels capable of partially powering their vessels.
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Published on August 21st, 2008
Solar power usage is growing in the United States, Europe, and Australia, but what about developing areas that don’t even have access to basic electricity? Now that University of NSW PhD student Nicole Kuepper has developed a cheap and simple way of producing solar cells in a pizza oven, these areas might get a chance to use solar power too.
Photovoltaic cells are generally expensive to produce and require large manufacturing plants. But Kuepper’s technology needs relatively low-cost items such as ovens, ink-jet printers, and nail polish. Her iJET solar cells also use a low-temperature process.
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Published on August 19th, 2008
San Francisco-based 1 Block Off the Grid (1BOG) announced today that it is teaming up with Real Goods Solar for a 100-home solar campaign in the city. 1 Block Off the Grid is an initiative set on driving renewable energy adoption for residential use through the use of education, private finance, and community purchase programs.
Essentially, the organization uses the power of community as a bargaining chip to make solar more accessible to homeowners.
With this initial solar campaign, 1BOG was able to negotiate up to 48% off 2 kW solar systems from the market price for its participants. According to 1BOG Founder and Managing Partner Sylvia Ventura, 2 kW is the average size of a home-based solar system in San Francisco.
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Published on August 18th, 2008
Solar-powered clothing could be the next big trend for environmental enthusiasts. Researchers at North Carolina State University have designed a process called digital textile printing that makes it possible for solar panels to be fitted into jackets and ties.
The wearable solar panels act much like batteries when energized. With a consistency similar to paper, the panels shouldn’t weigh its wearers down too much.
However, the researchers did find problems with the neck tie: the solar panels make it extremely difficult to tie knots. They propose using a clip-on tie to remedy this problem.
The research team’s tie design contains a cell-phone pocket and 3.6V plug-in. And no, the solar clothing doesn’t create any dangerous electric shocks.
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Published on August 18th, 2008
The most efficient form of renewable energy may be right underneath us. Researchers at Worchester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Massachusetts announced today that they have discovered a method to use road surfaces for solar collection.
The key is using the plentiful heat absorbed by asphalt pavement. By experimenting with different asphalt compositions, the team discovered that heat absorption in pavement can be significantly increased with the addition of highly conductive aggregates such as quartzite. Heat exchangers could be placed a few centimeters under the pavement to collect and use solar energy.
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The University of California, San Diego, in support of its ambitious goal of being the greenest university in the U.S., are installing a 1.2 MW solar electric system as part of its comprehensive sustainable energy program. This system will contribute approximately 1.5 million kW hours of clean energy to the university per year and be one of the largest non-utility solar arrays in California. The project is just part of a university effort to become energy independent, and should be finished and functionally running by the end of the year. Read the rest of this entry »
