Clipmarks | Photovoltaic Clips

New Solar Balloon Creates 400 Times More Energy Than The Average Solar Cell

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 01:17:18 GMT

clipped by: tabsey

There are many new forms of alternative energy but maybe none as interesting as the Cool Earth Solar “Balloon.” The concept behind this design is that they create an “inflatable plastic thin-film balloon (solar concentrator) that, upon inflation, focuses sunlight onto a photovoltaic cell held at its focal point.

The design produces 400 times the electricity that a solar cell would create without the company’s concentrator.” Cool Earth has already began construction on a power plant in Livermore, CA that will utilize this new technology. The plant is modest in size, creating only 1.4 Megawatts but if this plant works as well as they expect it to, they plan on launching a full sized plant next summer. One great thing about this device is that it’s made up of a very common and cheap material. “Plastic thin film is abundant and cheap,” said Cool Earth Solar CEO Rob Lamkin. “It only costs two dollars for the plastic material necessary for our solar concentrator.”

Tags: energy

A Moving Skyscraper for N.Y

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 12:20:35 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: It looks amazing...

Clip Source: tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com

A Moving Skyscraper for N.Y.?

Each of the floors of the Dynamic Tower rotates independently, giving the building different shapes throughout the day. (Dynamic Architecture/ David Fisher)

Would you like to see a building twisting itself into different shapes night and day on the New York skyline? Would you like to live in an apartment with a view that rotates 360 degrees? It may be a little hard at the moment to arrange financing for such tower — or any other new skyscraper in Manhattan — but the architect David Fisher is looking for a place to build it here someday.

He’s already designed such an edifice in Dubai called the Dynamic Tower, billed as the “world’s first building in motion.”

The tower is supposed to generate enough electricity to supply the power needs for itself as well as buildings nearby

electricity will come from horizontal wind turbines tucked away between each of its 80 floors, and from solar photovoltaic cells on the roof each story

Tags: architecture, design, electricity

China's 1st zero emission building

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 02:46:31 GMT

clipped by: deb2012

Clip Source: www.inhabitat.com

Located in a country that relies heavily on coal power to support a population nearing 1.5 billion, CSET’s sustainable attributes are are vigorous as its environmental curriculum. The building is powered by a large array of photovoltaic cells and geothermal energy (which cools and heats the five story floor slabs). Any additional energy collected is stored in batteries that can provide up to two week’s worth of electricity for sunless days.

CSET’s double-glass skin reduces solar radiation, and the large rooftop opening creates natural ventilation while allowing daylight to illuminate the interior spaces. The building also makes extensive use of locally sourced materials in its construction and boasts an onsite rain and gray-water recycling center.

Tags: energy, china, environment

U.S. Department of Energy: Six Solar Bets

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:26:37 GMT

clipped by: Andrew Gillies
clipper's remarks: Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Energy gave the nod to six solar companies working on advanced photovoltaic tech. The companies chosen hail from California, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. Among them: 1366 Technologies, a company we profiled recently here: http://www.forbes.com/businessinthebeltway/2008/08/19/beltway-solar-vanmierlo-biz-wash-cz_atg_0820beltway.html The dollar amounts here are a long way from staggering, and, as the DOE's press release notes, they are "subject to annual appropriations." At the very least, the win fits 1366's explicit strategy of working with public sector.

Clip Source: energy.gov

September 29, 2008

DOE to Provide Up to $17.6 Million for Solar Photovoltaic Technology Development

1366 Technologies (Lexington, Mass.) is developing a new cell architecture and related processes for low-cost multi-crystalline silicon cells. This project is expected to enhance cell performance by light-trapping texturing and grooves for self-aligned metallization fingers. By improving the light trapping and charge carrier movement within the cell, this project will significantly increase the efficiency of multicrystalline cells. By the end of the project, 1366 Technologies plans to deliver a 19 percent efficient, 15.6x15.6 cm2, multi-crystalline silicon cell with a technology that is applicable across the crystalline silicon cell industry. (Up to $3 million)

World's Greenest Museum

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 19:40:06 GMT

clipped by: Rebecca Ruiz
clipper's remarks: It took 10 years to build and cost $500 million, but the California Academy of Sciences finally unveiled its new green home. The single building hosts a planetarium, natural history museum, aquarium and four-story rain forest. Some of the green components include floor to ceiling windows that provide natural lighting; a "living roof" with solar panels and native plants; and insulation made of recycled blue jeans.

Clip Source: intelligenttravel.typepad.com

The California Academy of Sciences will reopen this weekend as the greenest museum in the world. Located in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, the revamped, gargantuan CAS is an aquarium, digital planetarium, natural history museum, and four-story rain forest all rolled into one.

CAS is green on many levels: it’s insulated by nontoxic, second-hand blue jeans; it’s topped off with a 2.5-acre “living roof” stocked with 1.7 million native California species (which will absorb about 2 million gallons of rainwater annually); its pair of celebrity chef-led restaurants feature organic produce and local seafood; its glorious glass piazza uses an automated ventilation system to let in cool breezes from the park and refresh the building; it’s set to consume 30 percent less energy than required by federal codes; and its 60,000 photovoltaic cells will use solar power to produce between 5 and 10 percent of the museum's energy needs.

Solar Will Beat Oil

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 21:29:06 GMT

clipped by: gingembre
clipper's remarks: This article gives me some hope.

A bit more: "Enough total solar energy shines on the earth during a 40-minute period of time to power the entire world economy for a year. We only need to harness a tiny portion of this sunshine to make a huge difference in the world: environmentally, politically and economically."

Clip Source: www.motherearthnews.com

This Habitat for Humanity house utilizes solar thermal collectors and photovoltaic panels.

Photovoltaic (PV) panels turn sunlight directly into electricity, and production and conversion efficiencies of this hardware are skyrocketing

Industry analysts think the price of photovoltaics will drop to $1 per installed watt by 2010. That’s a magic number because it’s the point at which solar-generated electricity becomes competitive with electricity produced from fossil fuels

Several countries are right on top of this

March 2007, Spain began requiring all new, non-residential buildings to generate a portion of their electricity with photovoltaics

China is poised to become the world’s largest producer of photovoltaic cells this year

Germany now boasts more than 300,000 buildings with solar panels

as fossil fuels become more expensive and politically troublesome, those early “kick-start” subsidies offered by forward-looking governments will look like good investments indeed

Tags: solar power

Solar Photovoltaic stats for the US

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 20:59:05 GMT

clipped by: darkduskx

Clip Source: www.eia.doe.gov

Solar Photovoltaic

Data For: 2006
Release Date: October 2007
Next Release Date: October 2008

Year	Photovoltaic Cells and Modules ^a (Peak Kilowatts)
Table 2.17 Annual Photovoltaic Domestic Shipments, 1997-2006
1997	12,561
1998	15,069
1999	21,225
2000	19,838
2001	36,310
2002	45,313
2003	48,664
2004	78,346
2005	134,465
2006	206,511
Total	618,302
^a Total shipments minus export shipments. Notes: Totals may not equal sum of components due to independent rounding. Total shipments include those made in or shipped to U.S. Territories. Sources: Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-63B, "Annual Photovoltaic Module/Cell Manufacturers Survey."

Photovoltaic devices use semiconducting materials to convert sunlight directly into electricity. Solar radiation, which is nearly constant outside the Earth's atmosphere, varies with changing atmospheric conditions (clouds and dust) and the changing position of the Earth relative to the sun

Nevertheless, almost all U.S. regions have useful solar resources

GreenPix - Zero Energy - Trippy Solar Media Wall

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 22:51:13 GMT

clipped by: syncopath
clipper's remarks: Involved parties: German manufacturers Schueco and SunWays; architect Simone Giostra; Urban design firm Arup.

Clip Source: spacecollective.org

I found this wild LED wall today while perusing the interweb that is completely powered by solar power. It is located at the Xicui entertainment complex in Beijing, near the site of the 2008 Olympics.

Polycrystalline photovoltaic cells are laminated in the glass wall curtain at various density throughout, allowing natural light into the interior.

The wall is made up of about 2,300 color (RGB) light emitting diodes to create a 24,000 sq. ft. screen for dynamic visual display. As far as I can tell, it will be projecting abstract art and atmospheric panoramas predominantly.

Dynamic large-scale public art that utilizes renewable energy from the ambient environment. If China is going to continue on their headlong charge into industrial development, they'd be wise to follow this example toward innovation and clean, local energy production.

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

Quantum Crystals: A Solution to Inexpensive & Efficient Green Energy?

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:34:05 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Innovalight is already planning to make flexible solar panels available at a cost that could be as much as ten times cheaper than the current solar cell technology.

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

Those concerned about Earth’s future will be encouraged to hear about the announcement by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy. They reported the discovery of a unique quantum physics effect in silicon nanocrystals, which should eventually help humankind come much closer to the goal of leaving “dirty” energy behind.

The researchers

discovered a new effect called Multiple Exciton Generation (MEG).

The effect occurs efficiently in silicon nanocrystals, resulting in the formation of more than one electron per absorbed photon, the scientists reported.

When today’s photovoltaic solar cells absorb a photon of sunlight, about 50 percent of the incident energy is lost as heat. MEG provides a way to convert energy lost as heat into additional electricity.

The finding might lead to the application of MEG for greatly enhancing the conversion efficiency of solar cells based on silicon.

Tags: solar energy, clean energy, quantum physics

Government funding for clean tech 14 August 2008

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 13:05:31 GMT

clipped by: amesliz
clipper's remarks: TSB and US government funding

Clip Source: media.cleantech.com

The U.K. government is investing £20 million in projects that are developing the use of cleantech in manufacturing. The 21 projects are getting a total of £19 million from the Technology Strategy Board and a further £1 million from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. Combined with contributions from the businesses involved, the total value of the research and development projects is in excess of £40 million (see Cleantech manufacturing projects in U.K. get £20M).

The U.S. Department of Energy is putting up cash for solar energy, announcing that it will invest up to $24 million in projects that are designed to accelerate the penetration of solar photovoltaic systems in the country. Twelve industry teams will share the financing as part of the DOE's Solar Energy Grid Integration Systems projects, working on advancing the integration of solar power into the electrical grid (see U.S. DOE to invest $24M in solar energy).

Two Large Solar Projects Planned for California

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 16:35:05 GMT

clipped by: Wisco
clipper's remarks: While I'm not extremely keen on these sort of plants -- there's no real reason to centralize solar generation like this -- it's nice to see that solar's being taken seriously. Given recent advances in photovoltaic technology, the price is coming down enough for it to be put anywhere the sun shines. In other words, there's no reason to use up huge expanses of land when you can do the same thing on rooftops.

Still, any time new generating capacity comes from green tech, it's good news.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Companies will build two solar power plants in California that together will put out more than 12 times as much electricity as the largest such plant today, the latest indication that solar energy is starting to achieve significant scale.

The plants will cover 12.5 square miles of central California with solar panels, and in the middle of a sunny day will generate about 800 megawatts of power, roughly equal to the size of a large coal-burning power plant or a small nuclear plant. A megawatt is enough power to run a large Wal-Mart store.

At 800 megawatts total, the new plants will greatly exceed the scale of previous solar installations. The largest photovoltaic installation in the United States, 14 megawatts, is at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, using SunPower panels.

Tags: news

Oregon Launching First Solar Highway in US

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 16:27:25 GMT

clipped by: pperazzo

Clip Source: cleantechnica.com

Oregon Launching First Solar Highway in the US

Oregon is once again taking the lead with renewable energy by installing the country’s first highway solar energy project. The project will consist of a 104 kW solar photovoltaic system that covers 8,000 square feet and produces 112,000 kWh each year. That’s 28% of the energy needed to power the project’s location, the Interstate 5 and Interstate 205 interchange in Tualatin.

Electricity for the interchange will be provided by PGE. The solar panels will come into play by producing electricity during the day, giving the power to the PGE grid, and getting the equivalent amount of power back at night from PGE to power lighting on the highway.

The whole project will literally be Oregon-powered, as companies based in-state will provide materials, design, and installation.

Electro-Magnetic Skyscrapers

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:43:41 GMT

clipped by: solitonix
clipper's remarks: In this futuristic scenario controlled Electro Magnetic force (E.M.) will be a key element in the building industry. This controlled E.M. force will free humanity from the need to waste our planet resources by making the E.M. technology the ultimate sustainable method. E.M. Structures will be able to support each other simply by pure physical magnetism that can also direct electricity. By using magnetic fields as a construction material there can be Infinite vertical and horizontal expansions due to the final liberation from gravity. Tokyo was chosen to set the first example for the rest of the world in building a series of Electro-Magnetic Skyscrapers and these buildings will be able to migrate like birds. Self sufficient energy cubes will provide the basic needs to the community. By using built-in energy resources in every E.M. Cube (such as photovoltaic cells on the sides of the cube, Wind turbines, air shafts forcing wind into energy, water conservation tanks etc.)

Clip Source: www.geotectura.com

Electro-Magnetic Skyscrapers

Clip Source: www.geotectura.com

Sun Hopes

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 11:30:14 GMT

clipped by: solitonix

Clip Source: www.israel21c.org

Israeli inventor puts his head in the clouds

Joseph Cory's helium balloons made from fabric coated with photovoltaic (PV) solar cells. These balloons are much cheaper to build and install than existing solar panels, and also take up far less room, which is significant in an urban environment.

You can tell Joseph Cory is a dreamer. Turn to his company's web site, Geotectura.com, and you see a host of ideas ranging from the wild - a one-meter square movable 'house' for the homeless, to the wacky, electro-magnetic skyscrapers that float above the ground. But out of this riotous imagination, Cory, a new breed of environmental architect, has developed a number of award-winning schemes that could help deal with some of the world's most pressing problems - lack of renewable energy, and water scarcity.

The Israeli scientist, who is shortly to complete his PhD at the Department of Aeronautical Engineering, Architecture and City Construction, at Haifa's Technion Israel Institute of Technology