Clipmarks | Naomi-K's 'solar panels' clips

Solar Ark

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 18:04:49 GMT

clipped by: shunyax
clipper's remarks: Turning a mistake into advantage ......

SOLAR ARK: World’s Most Stunning Solar Building

Sanyo has built an ark for the solar century – an impressive 630 kW solar-collecting building that boasts over 5,000 solar panels and kicks off over 500,000 kWh of energy per year. Even more outstanding is the fact that most of the monocrystalline modules used on the Solar Ark were factory rejects headed to the scrap pile. Located next to Sanyo’s semiconductor factory in Gifu, Japan, the Solar Ark stands as one of the best examples of building integrated PV design to date.

The company decided to build its solar monument but opted to use the recalled technology. That is how the Solar Ark as we know it today came to be. On the Solar Ark website, Sanyo says “we have done this to show our sincere regret that this problem has occurred and to express our willingness and determination to both remember what happened and how important it is to maintain quality.”

Tags: solar energy

No more power bills -ever

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 14:10:55 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

HYDROGEN HOUSE: This unassuming modular home in suburban New Jersey runs on solar power and stored hydrogen.
©DAVID BIELLO

EAST AMWELL, N.J.—Mike Strizki has not paid an electric, oil or gas bill—nor has he spent a nickel to fill up his Mercury Sable—in nearly two years. Instead, the 51-year-old civil engineer makes all the fuel he needs using a system he built in the capacious garage of his home, which employs photovoltaic (PV) panels to turn sunlight into electricity that is harnessed in turn to extract hydrogen from tap water.

Although the device cost $500,000 to construct, and it is unlikely it will ever pay off financially (even with today's skyrocketing oil and gas prices), the civil engineer says it is priceless in terms of what it does buy: freedom from ever paying another heating or electric bill, not to mention keeping a lid on pollution, because water is its only by-product.

Tags: hydrogen, power bills, solar power

0.3% of Saharan Sun Enough To Power Europe

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 23:42:28 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: The visionary proposal comes as the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission released its strategic energy technology plan which highlighted photovoltaic cells as one of the eight technologies that need to be developed in the future. The plan also includes fuel cells, hydrogen, clean coal, second generation biofuels, nuclear fusion, wind and smart grids.

Clip Source: www.environmentalgraffiti.com

The major obstacle to using renewable energy has always been the inability to produce a constant supply of electricity to consumers.

However, scientists now believe that they have found a way to solve the supply and demand problem.

Arnulf Jaeger-Waldau of the European Commission’s Institute for Energy, speaking at the Euroscience Open Forum in Barcelona (ESOF), believes that the creation of solar farms in the Sahara desert could produce enough energy to meet all of Europe’s energy needs.

Power could be generated either through photovoltaic cells or by using the sun’s heat to boil water and power turbines.

The argument for solar farms in the Sahara is solid in that photovoltaic panels there could potentially generate three times more energy than panels in northern Europe.

It is estimated that capturing 0.3% of the sunlight falling on the desert would meet all of Europe’s needs.

around €450bn would be needed and scientists estimate that it would take until 2050

Tags: energy, economy, europe, solar energy

Will "Th!nk" Ignite an Electronic Car Revolution in the U.S.?

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 17:55:18 GMT

clipped by: Mohir
clipper's remarks: Think City is one of two models that are out already, together with the Think Ox, with a choice of either lithium or a sodium battery, it's range is enough to take a suburban dweller to the downtown office and back, with zero carbon footprint. The car is thoughfully fully computerized and allows a key-less entry. It features real time navigation, web, e-mail and open source interfaces, intelligent and sustainable driving and route calculations. The DNA-key gives the user feedback on charging status and sends messages, for example, for pre-heat or pre-cool options via GPRS.
Pricing has yet to be announced, but the company's current vehicles cost less than $25,000.

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

Th!nk Global, yes, think with an exclamation mark, gas-free, city cars are poised to invade the U.S. from its Norwegian where some 1,200 Think concept vehicles are driving on European, mostly Norwegian, roads today. Th!nk is buoyed by undisclosed funding injection by Silicon Valley venture capital firms, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and RockPort Capital Partners, will be introducing the Ox, Open and City models starting in 2009 -and it can't be too soon!

With an an overnight power charge it’s ready to go in the morning -up to 200 kilometers (124 miles) in city driving on a fully charged battery, with a top speed of 100km/h. The lithium-ion batteries have capacity to charge to 80% capacity in less than an hour, and slender solar panels integrated into the roof power the dashboard electronics.

Tags: cars, green

Cheaper Solar Power

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 00:26:07 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: The future of energy seems to be solar.

Clip Source: www.technologyreview.com

New solar arrays from SolFocus generate more power than conventional solar panels but use just one-thousandth as much expensive semiconductor material.

The arrays' curved mirrors focus sunlight onto one-square-centimeter solar cells, concentrating the light 500 times and improving the cells' efficiency.

SolFocus's first power-producing installation will be generating 500 kilowatts of electricity by the end of the summer.

The company expects that by 2010, electricity from its arrays will be about as cheap as electricity from conventional sources.

Tags: energy, solar energy

Solar powered Prius!!

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 02:55:31 GMT

clipped by: egoldstein
clipper's remarks: Now this is exciting news! This type of innovation is exactly what the world needs to help us lose our dependency on oil. It is also the type of progress that i believe will spur the economy out of its very nasty funk.

Clip Source: www.marketwatch.com

The move will make Toyota the first major automaker to install a popular model with solar panels. The redesigned Prius will have solar panels on the roof, which will supply part of the two to five kilowatts needed to power the air-conditioning unit, the Nikkei business daily reported.

Tags: alternative energy, oil, prius, solar

Facts About Solar Energy

Fri, 08 Sep 2006 17:43:22 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: www.solarenergydirectory.info

Facts About Solar Energy

You have likely been told many times different facts about solar energy. Of course, it is hard to know which facts about solar energy are actually “facts” and which are more like opinions.

This article is going to relay to you some of the top facts about solar energy. It will delve into not just positive facts about solar energy, but negative ones, as well. Are you ready? Here we go:

Facts about solar energy (in no particular order):

· Solar energy is a renewable resource (it may go away at night, but we will always have it.)

· Solar energy will not pollute our air with carbon dioxide and other harmful greenhouse gases and bad emissions.

· Solar energy can be used to heat water, dry clothes, heat swimming pools, power attic fans, power small appliances, produce light for both indoors and outdoors, and even to power cars, among other things.

· Solar energy products can be very expensive. The initial cost is, perhaps, the main disadvantage of solar energy.

· You need a relatively large area to install solar panels if you want a good level of efficiency.

Tags: solar energy, alternative energy, environment, science

Mars Rovers Come Alive Two Months After Dust Storms

Sat, 08 Sep 2007 16:48:14 GMT

clipped by: Mohir

Clip Source: crunchgear.com

Mars Rovers Come Alive Two Months After Dust Storms

NASA’s Spirit and Opportunity rovers landed on Mars back in 2004 and were built to last all of three months. Three years and a handful of dust storms later, they’re back online and ready to keep exploring the surface of the Red Planet.

A July dust storm coated the rovers’ solar panels so badly that JPL (NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory) engineers were beginning to think that Spirit and Opportunity had finally seen their last days. However, both systems came back online recently thanks to some gusty winds that served to clear the dust from the panels.

Tags: nasa, mars, astronomy

The Henry Ford of Solar Power?

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 15:58:14 GMT

clipped by: dgreplay

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Nanosolar, a heavily financed Silicon Valley start-up whose backers include Google’s co-founders, plans to announce Tuesday that it has begun selling its innovative solar panels, which are made using a technique that is being held out as the future of solar power manufacturing.

Nanosolar’s founder and chief executive, Martin Roscheisen, claims to be the first solar panel manufacturer to be able to profitably sell solar panels for less than $1 a watt. That is the price at which solar energy becomes less expensive than coal.

According to the Energy Department, building a new coal plant costs about $2.1 a watt, plus the cost of fuel and emissions, he said.

Got a roof? Be a power plant!

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 16:53:13 GMT

clipped by: egoldstein
clipper's remarks: This is so freakin' cool. The way of the future. This type of innovation is truly world-changing.

Clip Source: greenwombat.blogs.fortune.cnn.com

Southern California Edison plans to install 250 megawatts’ worth of solar panels on commercial rooftops, generating enough electricity to power 162,000 homes.

“This project will turn two square miles of unused commercial rooftops into advanced solar generating stations,” said John Bryson, CEO of the utility’s parent company, Edison International (EIX), in a statement Wednesday night.

Tags: solar energy, alternative energy, utilities, electricity

Solar Cells break the 40% efficiency barrier.

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 21:20:38 GMT

clipped by: ratilfar
clipper's remarks: Sounds like good news to me.

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

40% efficient solar cells to be used for solar electricity

Most conventional solar cells used in today’s applications, such as for supplemental power for homes and buildings, are one-sun, single-junction silicon cells that use only the light intensity that the sun produces naturally, and have optimal efficiency for a relatively narrow range of photon energies.

The Spectrolab group experimented with concentrator multijunction solar cells that use high intensities of sunlight, the equivalent of 100s of suns, concentrated by lenses or mirrors. Significantly, the multijunction cells can also use the broad range of wavelengths in sunlight much more efficiently than single-junction cells.

While Spectrolab's primary business is supplying PV cells and panels to the aerospace industry (many of their solar cells are used on satellites currently in orbit), the company envisions that this breakthrough will also have applications in commercial terrestrial solar electricity generation.

Tags: energy, solar energy, alternative energy, power, electricity

Boston is in Hot Water

Thu, 22 May 2008 23:33:21 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad

Clip Source: www.planetark.com

28 solar hot water panels atop Fenway Park in Boston

The Boston Red Sox unveiled 28 solar hot water panels atop Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts May 19, 2008, which will help heat water throughout the facility.

According to Bonneville Environmental Foundation, the installation of the panels will also help avoid 18 tons of Carbon Dioxide or CO2 emissions each year.

Offsetting 18 Tons of CO2 is the environmental equivalent of planting 4.86 acres of trees, not driving a car for 43,611 miles, or off-setting the CO2 produced through natural gas use from approximately 4 average U.S. homes annually.

12-year old solar energy inventor

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 02:59:54 GMT

clipped by: RecordSage
clipper's remarks: One smart boy...

Clip Source: www.katu.com

Beaverton boy lauded for solar cell invention

BEAVERTON, Ore. – A new invention could revolutionize solar energy – and it was made by a 12-year-old in Beaverton.

Despite his age, William Yuan has already studied nuclear fusion and nanotechnology, and he is on his way to solving the energy crisis.

It all started with Legos - after he learned nanotechnology to make robots take off. The seventh grader then got an idea inspired by the sun.

"Solar it seems underused, and there are only a few problems with it," Yuan said.

"This solar cell can't be generating this much electricity, it can't be absorbing this much extra light," he recalled thinking.

If he is right, solar panels with his 3D cells would provide 500 times more light absorption than commercially-available solar cells and nine times more than cutting-edge 3D solar cells.

"Which would make solar energy actually a viable energy source for the Pacific Northwest," Yuan said.

His next step is to get a manufacturer and market it.

Tags: energy, invention, solar

The Aquanaut's Home Under the Sea

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 16:01:07 GMT

clipped by: dorine

Clip Source: www.popsci.com

Batteries, a bicycle, a bathing suit, algae and sandwich delivery are all Lloyd Godson needs to live underwater

The BioSUB

Container: The two-ton, mostly recycled-steel box is moored to the lakebed by 28 tons of concrete.

Biocoil: A pump churns water and algae through a coiled tube. The algae absorbs carbon dioxide and supplies oxygen.

Dive Compressors: The algae-filled biocoil tube offers a nice experiment in human-plant sym-biosis, but 12-volt compressors floating on the surface above the shelter are Lloyd Godson's primary source of oxygen.

Generator: A modified exercise bike powers a laptop and the biocoil pump. Godson also drew power from onshore methane fuel cells and solar panels.

Air MonitorThis waterproof gas-detection device monitors oxygen and carbon dioxide levels.

PEDAL POWER
Godson's laptop draws power from a bicycle.

Tags: undersea, home, aquapod, technology

Google Plants Solar Trees

Mon, 18 Dec 2006 13:25:41 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: a sensible approach

Clip Source: www.wired.com

Google Plants Solar Trees

Parking lots are the traditional wasteland of the suburban biosphere -- flat, ugly, resistant to landscaping and immune to whatever aesthetic ideals animate the adjoining architecture.

But now these asphalt acres are getting their day in the sun, with search giant Google joining other companies in planting groves of pole-mounted solar panels between the rows of Saabs and SUVs, generating clean power and providing a little shade at the same time.

Google's Mountain View, California, headquarters is getting a 1.6-megawatt solar system -- enough to power about 1,000 homes -- that will feed about 30 percent of the complex's power demand. About a third of the 9,000 solar panels Google's installing will take the form of overhanging parking shades at the million-square-foot campus in Mountain View. The others will be mounted on rooftops.

Google hired Energy Innovations to design and build the project, which should be completed by spring. Taking advantage of Google's parking lots helped surmount some of the challenges inherent in grafting solar panels onto the company's eclectic architecture.

"It was a design challenge," says company spokesman Steve Chadima. "What you want is a gigantic, flat Wal-Mart roof; what we had was a campus with 11 buildings, interesting architecture and challenging angles."

Beyond utility, a parking lot solar project makes a statement, says Bob Noble, an architect at San Diego-based Envision Solar, which offers similar, but more organic-looking, "solar trees" to green corporations.

"Parking lot installations are a visible demonstration of the company's commitment to the environment," says Noble. "You can talk about your energy savings, your recycling and green practices, but the sight of solar panels in the parking lot is an emblem of that commitment."

Tags: technology, solar power, google, clean power, renewable, alternative energy, energy solutions