Solar Power

Alternative energy can be a boon for third world countries. Normally governments have to invest vast sums of money in developing infrastructures for a long period of time in underdeveloped areas. If we consider the example of cell phones, they have bypassed the usual wires, poles, roads, telephone exchange infrastructures. People residing in remote villages can be connected via mobiles. Same thing can happen with ATMs (automated teller machines) too. Vortex Engineering is an India-based rural ATM manufacturer. State Bank of India (SBI) wants to deploy 545 ATMs across semi-urban and rural India. 1 Comment

Nanoscience is quite fascinated with the process of photosynthesis. They want to duplicate this process exhibited by green plants and utilize the solar power for energy use. Till now power generating solar panels are not in a position to replace the fossil fuels. They produce little amount of energy and quite expensive also. Generation of solar energy also depends on geographical locations. Deserts are more suitable locations for solar power than areas experiencing temperate climate. But we can have a new source of solar power that also delivered a power packed performance for us when it is on our dinner/lunch plate i.e. pea power. 2 Comments

Sunpods Inc. is California-based manufacturing company. They produce modular, fully integrated and tested solar power generation systems. Recently they have come out with an idea of the first solar power-assist system for buses. They should be applauded for developing it in a mere six weeks. Their partner is Bauer Intelligent Transportation. The system developed by Sunpods will help Bauer to meet strict anti-pollution standards laid down by the State of California. California state law since 2008 has disallowed diesel vehicles to remain idle for more than five minutes. Now more than 25 states across the United States have anti-idling laws. 1 Comment

PlanetSolar enjoys the distinction of being the largest solar-powered boat in the world, and it's ready to take on the world. This beauty’s vital stats are: weight: 60-ton, a 470-square-meter are covered by 38,000 solar cells to generate 103.4 kW of energy. 18 million euro ($24.4 million) was spent to adorn this beauty in environmentally friendly way. SunPower Corporation has provided the all vital 38,000 black photovoltaic cells to generate power for this catamaran. These solar panels have a pretty decent conversion rate of 22%. This solar powered ship will be launched this month to get the real taste of water from the Knierim Yacht Club in Kiel, Germany. 2 Comments

Science continues to amaze and one of the latest discoveries may literally change the world as we know it. This tiny solar-powered sensor can fit on the face of a penny and barely cover up the date. How this little wonder, developed at the University of Michigan, is able to create the power of something 1,000x its size is amazing, and because of this, the applications are quite numerous. When devices like this come to light, one of the first things that anyone thinks of is the effect that they will have on the medical community. Many implants require some type of power source and if a solar-powered sensor can be used to power then, it changes everything that we currently rely on or know in regards to this implants. 7 Comments

Honda finally unveiled their new solar hydrogen solar station and all signs point to a dramatic success. The station is smaller than previous models and enables an electric car owner to refill their fuel cell overnight. The unit should easily fit into a homeowners’ garage taking up significantly less space than previous models. The older model required a compressor and electrolyzer for it to be operational. One of the reasons the units were so big was because of the compressor that was required to run the unit. Not only that, the compressor was also the reason that the units were so expensive to produce and purchase. 5 Comments

The brain of any electronic device is the circuitry that operated the machine. Without the circuitry, the device is not even worth the cost of the plastic that it is made of. Any electronics device requires some kind of battery or it is nothing more than a paperweight. Recently, some new technology was created by scientists from the University of Pennsylvania that will no longer require a device to use a battery as the power can come from light-powered circuitry. 3 Comments

As the world continues its quest to use less fossil fuels, the latest possible solution comes from the most unlikely of sources: the tobacco plant. This latest news comes from the University of California, Berkeley. It will be nice to see tobacco used for something other than lung cancer. This new discovery is based on the possibility of literally programming the cells of the plants to get solar cells from tobacco plants. The science behind it is actually pretty simple (at least in explanation form) and pretty amazing. By using a genetically engineered virus, scientists were able to literally transform the cells of the plants to create synthetic solar cells. 13 Comments

What can a scientist do with salad dressing apart from telling you that it increases the taste of salad manifold? But that’s the beauty of this profession. As Newton could give some theories when he saw an apple falling from a tree, salad dressing can inspire scientists towards a brand new type of solar cells. The researchers managed to create a cheap, efficient and very simple method of making solar cells. The USP of these solar cells is that they self-assemble on a variety of substrates. The new technique draws parallel from the fact that oil and water don’t mix at all. Another unique fact is forces the elements of electronic components for example solar cells assemble themselves at the boundaries between the two types of liquids. This work was recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). 7 Comments

If UAVs starts running on the solar system, then it will save lots of expensive fossil fuel and the add-ons in the form of greenhouse effects. Researchers at the Queensland University of Technology are working on a model of a solar-powered unmanned flight system for round-the-clock surveillance. They have christened their baby as the Green Falcon. This solar UAV aspires not only to save lives but millions of dollars too by using the most up-to-date green technology. Queensland University of Technology is aiming to make the services of this unmanned air vehicle commercially available within 24 months following successful flight tests. 2 Comments

Researchers at the University of Nevada, Reno are developing a solar technique that will take care of the ecosystems of terminus lakes around the world. This new solar distillation system will help in removing the salinity of the lake water. This will be possible with the help of a specialized low-cost solar pond and patented membrane distillation system deriving power by renewable energy. Francisco Suarez is a doctoral student in hydrological sciences at the University. He is of the view, "These lakes -- hundreds worldwide -- such as the Great Salt Lake, the Salton Sea, the Aral Sea and Walker Lake here in Nevada, see a decline in water levels and an increase in salinity from both human and natural processes. The high levels of salinity are dangerous and unsustainable for aquatic life." 2 Comments

Researchers speak in unison that if we develop the capability to harvest 40 minutes of sunlight falling on the entire earth, we can provide energy to the whole population of this planet for about a year. But we are successful in trapping just 1% of that energy till now. Scientists and industrial designers are continuously engaged in research so that they can create mechanics and systems that can harvest solar energy in a better way. That will help in dispelling the doubts about alternative energy resources. 7 Comments

Tiny, glitter-sized solar cells have been developed by the Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories. It might turn out to be the perfect alternative energy preference for the holiday season. This project is funded by the American government. The dimensions of the snowflake sized crystalline-silicon photovoltaic cells are merely 14-20 micrometers thick and measure 0.25 to 1 millimeters across i.e. only 10% as thick as regular ones. They also consume an estimated 100 times less silicon to produce the same amount of electricity compared to standard solar cells. Their efficiency level is 14.9%. 6 Comments

Robins has time and again been considered as a pioneer in testing alternative energy technologies. Recently they have installed a solar panel which is a matter of curiosity. Their installed solar panel assumes the dimensions of a drive-in-movie screen. It is the shining example of the state-of-the-art technology. At peak hour it generates 25 kilowatts of electricity. 7 Comments

China is often dubbed as a heavy user of fossil fuels and polluter or a climate killer. Because it meets the 70% of its power needs by exploiting coals. But they are making changes on the environment front too. Slowly and steadily they are choosing wind and solar power as their source of energy. China has earned the distinction of having the world’s largest solar-powered building. It is situated in Dezhou, Shangdong Province in northwest China. The building covers an area of 75,000-square-meter. The office building is modelled after the sun dial structure. 3 Comments

The World Bank will invest $5.5 billion for North African solar power projects. They have announced that initially World Bank will put in $750 million dollars from the Clean Technology Fund with the remaining amount will be arranged from other sources. World Bank is expecting to complete these projects by 2015. They are willing to include five countries in this project and hoping to triple world wide concentrated solar power technology (CSP) capacity. This relatively new technology uses mirrors to concentrate sunlight onto a single point, heating water to drive turbines. Construction of the 11 facilities in the project is scheduled to begin in 2011. It is expected that the North African project will generate a total of 900 MW in capacity by 2020. 5 Comments

We are registering good progress in the field of alternative energy. Scientists and researchers are working tirelessly to come up with newer and better alternatives to fossil fuels. Scientists are also trying to apprehend the future problems related with clean and green fuels, for example, cleaning of windows and solar panels and expanded battery storage capacities for the next electric car. Nature Nanotechnology has just published the New Tel Aviv University research. The research findings deal with a breakthrough in assembling peptides at the nano-scale level that could make these futuristic luxuries come true in the coming years. 1 Comment

Villagers of Wagharwadi till now knew how to make most of the daylight. This village is in Maharashtra, India. They used plastic plates as skylight. This kind of skylight helped women to recognize the ingredients stocked in their kitchens. After evening, villagers depended on candles and kerosene lamps. If some emergency or calamity forced to get some more light in the night they resorted to burning dry twigs. People living in the developed countries would find it a bit difficult to imagine such a situation. 7 Comments

If we try to observe which states are going solar we will find an interesting bend. Many states in U.S.A. are not the sunniest one but still they are opting for solar energy. It’s natural for sunny California to go for solar energy. South Florida is a focus of solar activity because it enjoys a balmy weather and a progressive bend of mind. If we study the energy maps of parts of the Phoenix we will find that they are also opting for the solar energy. If we care to look into the demographics we will find that people want clean and green energy like solar energy while living in shady area. Why? The answer lies in the economic status. They have money to spend and possess progressive thinking. 14 Comments

You can think of it as origami -- very high-tech origami. Researchers at the University of Illinois are working on the same good old silicon but they are taking an entirely different route. They are working on thin films of silicon applying two processes one is photolithography and another is self-folding process driven by capillary interactions. This technique results in the three-dimensional, single-crystalline silicon structures. Their films are only a few microns thick. Their greatest strength is mechanical bendability that is not possible with thicker pieces of the same material. 2 Comments