A new conversion efficiency record of 20.4% has been set for thin-film solar cells by researchers at Empa and the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology. The new record of 20.4% is a big improvement over the previous record achieved by this team (18.7%) in May 2011. The … [continued]
Other than our own stories, here’s some top cleantech and climate change news of the past few days: Clean Power Solar Power Bonnaroo Unveils First Permanent Festival Solar Array First Solar Begins Construction of Campo Verde Solar Project Arizona’s Black Mountain Solar Project Reaches Completion Financing Complete for Largest … [continued]
The United States suffered through what is probably its warmest calendar year on record, but the really fascinating story of the year’s weather has been pulled out by Wunderground historian Christopher Burton, who analyzed data from NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center and found that 2012 saw 362 all-time record temperature … [continued]
The electric motorcycle company Lightning Motorcycles recently set a new speed record for a 1.3-mile course that runs downs the El Mirage dry lake bed, reaching a speed of 189.086 mph. That’s the new record not just for electric motorcycles but gas-powered ones also. Lightning Motorcycles has set a … [continued]
The newest Guinness world record holder for “Lowest Roadworthy Car in the World” is an electric vehicle. The Mirai (which means “future” in Japanese) rises just 45.2 cm (17.79 in) off the ground. It’s also got a cool Jetson-like look. The EV runs on 6 main batteries and was the … [continued]
Investors purchased a record 3.9 GW of solar photovoltaic projects in 2011, worth an estimated $10.8 billion. This increased the gigawatt capacity purchased by 122 percent from 2010, according to new research published by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, a London-based consultancy firm. The report examined 221 deals made from … [continued]
One of the advantages to driving an electric vehicle is all the torque — you get off the line super fast. Where that has typically started to go ever so slightly downhill for the average EV drag racer is in sustaining a quicker top speed than drivers in a conventional gas-powered vehicle for an entire quarter mile. This is no longer quite the case. […]
In a complete reversal of the usual pattern, where water temperatures are generally cooler than land temperatures, for the second year running, the ocean was actually hotter than land in some regions, marking another ominous sign of the strange and unpredictable effects of continued global warming. [social_buttons] After last years … [continued]
