Solar Power

Do you know who is the most competent solar power expert, according to a research team from Tel Aviv University? It is the humble common Oriental hornet found in our gardens! Much to the astonishment of the scientists and researchers, the hornet utilizes solar power much like a plant and it produces electricity. Think how much easier it would be if only we could unravel how the hornet manages it. This discovery could revolutionize future solar power harvesting. View Comments

New York City's Brooklyn Bridge Park is getting even greener with the addition of a solar powered electric vehicle (EV) charging station – the first of its kind in New York City. Brooklyn Bridge Park has already added a number of green areas with lush grass, making it a great spot for both locals and tourists to enjoy the fabulous view of Manhattan and this EV charging station is the latest and unique green energy addition. The station will likely reduce the carbon emission inside the park to a great extent. View Comments

Zhenan Bao, Stanford researcher, is keen to create "Super skin." Taking her previously created super-sensitive sensor a step ahead, she is now creating a super skin that will be self-powered with renewable clean solar energy. Bao and her team have designed polymer solar cells that are flexible and can be stretched to power the 'super skin'. View Comments

Think of the earthquake that happened at Tahiti, or havoc-provoking typhoons like Katrina; or the recent plane crash that took so many lives. With man-made or natural disasters occurring unexpectedly at all corners of earth, there has been a sharp demand for dependable portable energy sources that can make rescue efforts a lot easier and more successful. And to that effect, arrives PowerMod - the new portable solar tent ready to help in relief work to victims of disaster. View Comments

Yes, as of 2011, The Empire State Building, one of the world's largest buildings has achieved the distinction of becoming the largest buyer of green renewable wind power. The Empire State Building will be using more than 100 million kWh of wind energy in the coming couple of years approximately. It will be totally - 100% - wind-powered from now on! This is not the only feather in the lofty Empire State Building's green cap. Already the tall building has executed the refurbishment of fitting of all its - some 6500 or so - windows with a unique type of insulating glass for power savings. Some $13.2 million very well spent in boosting the green credentials. View Comments

Newer and more exciting devices are being invented to harness renewable energy - especially solar energy. One such device is a prototype which uses one of the rare earth metals - ceria, otherwise known cerium oxide - utilizing its natural propensity of alternatively exhaling and inhaling oxygen as it heats up or cools down. View Comments

Over the years, thanks to the devoted research work going on for increasing the efficiency of solar cells, today solar cells are no longer flat shaped or unyielding. Ultra thin film-type solar cells have now been manufactured which are quite flexible and adaptable for use in corners, curvilinear and other structures. Today almost 20% of global solar power generation is done by these thin-film solar cells and expected to grow more in near future. View Comments

Glad tidings for book lovers with green ethics! Maybe the e-reader does not consume much power. But if you love to read online and think you should do your bit towards using renewable energy, you have Toshiba and KDDI joining the ranks of LG to provide solar-powered e-readers. Biblio Leaf is the new kid in the e-reader block to match LG's Solar eReader. View Comments

A German owned company IMO has set-up a plant in USA that will make the largest solar tracker solar panels to tap solar energy. As per Ruediger Unverzagt and Klaus Pless, respectively the CEO and vice-president of this company, these solar tracker solar panels are the largest in Summerville in South California. IMO is looking forward to commercially sell these solar tracker solar panels. Despite being huge in size, they are very easy to assemble and one can assemble them just outside the building where they are to be installed. View Comments

A report recently published in an online journal called Advanced Materials points out that a process has been developed by the researchers at the Iowa State University and the Ames Laboratory that can produce thin and constant light absorbing layers on textured substrates. This increases light absorption by polymer solar cells, thereby increasing their efficiency and enabling its best use. View Comments

Haidar Taleb, a 47 year old man from UAE, displayed a rare combination of human spirit and willpower when he took up a 200-mile long journey on a wheel chair that he has built for himself which runs on solar power. Being a person with polio since the age of 4 has not stopped him from taking up this challenge on this wheelchair, a piece of technological innovation. View Comments

If you have opted for a wireless keyboard you know the importance of rechargeable batteries and a wall charger. Although it is easier to charge the batteries after a while it becomes an annoyance to change them repeatedly. Now Logitech is coming out with a solar-powered keyboard that will be free of such hassles. View Comments

MIT researchers are hopeful of capturing and releasing solar energy with the help of thermo-chemical technology. Scientists were already working on this technology in seventies but this project was aborted due to its expensiveness and termed as too impractical to achieve. But MIT researchers are now gearing up to take this thermo-chemical technology that is supposed to convert solar energy into electrical energy. View Comments

The United States of America will now produce clear power that can light up as many as 11000 to 277500 homes in the country. The Sectary of Interior Ken Salazar has given a go ahead to the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating system, a project proposed by BrightSource of Oakland that can produce up to 370 megawatt of clear energy and generate nearly 1100 opportunities for employment. The project, located in San Bernardino Country, California, is the inaugural large-scale solar energy project on US public soil to use the power tower. View Comments

As the world discovers new ways to meet its growing energy needs, energy generated from Sun, which is better known as solar power and energy generated from wind called the wind power are being considered as a means of generating power. Though these two sources of energy have attracted the scientists for a very long time, they are not able to decide, which of the two is a better source to generate power. Now scientists are looking at a third option as well. Scientists at Washington State University have now combined solar power and wind power to produce enormous energy called the solar wind power, which will satisfy all energy requirements of human kind. View Comments

Prominent corporations are paying special attention to go green and create a conducive environment for clean and green energy. Walmart too is taking appreciative steps in the field of alternative energy. In the year 2007, Walmart entered into a partnership with Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) to provide a thrust to the photovoltaic technologies. It was related with thin-film solar. They aimed for taking it out from labs to the real world. View Comments

Two scientists are on a path-breaking method to produce 'sea-urchins' to expedite the work capacity and efficiency of photovoltaic devices. Jamil Elias and Laetitia Philippe are the two scientists from Empa's Mechanics of Materials & Nanostructures Laboratory who have been successful in producing these tiny 'sea urchins' which are ready to revolutionize solar-cell technology. New methods are generally difficult procedures, more so when the aim is to lend materials new characteristics as well by new processes. The two scientists from Thun have used materials that do not cost a bomb and they have achieved these results without utilizing any instrumentation that costs too much time and/or money. View Comments

New and unique ways of making solar panels more efficient in power generation are coming to light every day. The new kid in the block of one such device is a large transparent sticker applied to the front of the panel which increases the power output by about 10% or so. Genie Lens Technologies is the firm which has developed these polymer film stickers. These polymer films are imprinted with special kind of microstructures. Even the panels that have been prior installed and working can have these polymer stickers applied easily to them and the stickers will boost their efficiency. View Comments

A new joint venture research work at Stanford and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, supported by Department of Energy and DARPA has come up with a new solar energy conversion process that can potentially double the efficiency of solar cells. Stanford engineers have discovered this new and totally different process to harvest energy from sun. View Comments

A southern California University team has come up with what could be the alternative new breed of economical and flexible solar cells. For some decades now, organic photovoltaic cells (OPV) have been acclaimed as the new solar cell prototypes and extolled for their light weight, flexible substrates, low cost and easy manufacturability. Research is now being done on them. View Comments