Solar Power

We still have to miles to cover before solar power can replace the fossil fuels and become a cheap and effective solution for common folks. But it is indisputable that sun is the single greatest fuel source we can harness to our advantage. Solar energy can leave its impact on a global scale in a significant manner. Everyone who is blessed with a hot, sunny spot by the grace of the nature could one day power their homes entirely by photovoltaic roofs. Even it seems possible that large solar arrays could feed power plants that keep the lights on in entire municipalities. 8 Comments

On the odd chance that you were traveling through South Israel in late June, you may have had to do a double take thinking that your eyes had deceived you. In the distance, it may have appeared as though a giant flower had sprouted right out of the desert floor. That was no dessert mirage, but it was the future of solar power. The Solar Flower Tower is one of the latest inventions in our never ending search to make alternative energy sources more viable. 15 Comments

It seems the California Governor is making an all-out effort to encourage people to switch over the renewable source of energy. Assembly Bill 920, authored by Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-Marin, and signed by the governor of California, requires utilities to pay solar customers who produce more energy than they use. Currently homeowners that produce more solar energy than they produce can zero their bills but they're not paid for the extra energy they feed back into the grid. The payment for producing extra energy is known as "feed-in tariffs" and such an incentive has seen great success in European countries like German and Spain. 15 Comments

The international image of America is a country that is constantly creating roadblocks in the way of reaching a global agreement on climate change and environmental protection. Americans are seen as totally oblivious to the issues of global warming, and energy and food crisis. Recent research shows a totally different outlook. When asked if it’s important for the U.S. to develop and use solar energy, 92% of Americans responded "yes," according to a recent survey by Kelton Research. 5 Comments

Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) has announced the near completion of its DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center in Arcadia, Florida. This solar power plant will be producing electricity by the end of month. This project is ahead of its schedule. The plant has an impressive number of 90,000 photovoltaic panels. Experts claim that this solar power plant will generate around 110MW of electricity by the end of 2010. This will provide Florida with the distinction of the second largest solar power-producing state in the country. 17 Comments

MIT professor Daniel Nocera earlier worked on a catalysts that can divide water molecules which can be utilized to store energy. Daniel Nocera has established a company named as Sun Catalytix to give his dreams a concrete shape. His company is backed by venture capital firm Polaris Ventures. Nocera is known as a "huge centralized energy person." When he thought about the problems faced by developed and developing world then formed the view that the solution to energy problem lies in cheap energy generation. Sun Catalytix is working on an advanced system that will use low-cost solar panels to produce hydrogen. This hydrogen will then be stored and used to produce electricity in a fuel cell. 13 Comments

Gujarat, a state of India, is quite eager to opt for alternative sources of energy. It started out as a small dream. The Gujarat government visualized only 500 MW of solar power generation by 2014. But this humble goal may now be increased to 3,000 MW. The Gujarat Government is undertaking a $10 billion project and it will hold the distinction of the world’s largest solar power facility in India. This project will be backed by former U.S. President Bill Clinton. The 3,000oMW project will get aid with logistics and financial support from the William J Clinton Foundation. This foundation is a charitable organization founded by the former President. The foundation and the Gujarat government signed a preliminary agreement on Sept. 8, 2009. 22 Comments

IMEC (Interuniversity Microelectronics Center) has presented a large-area solar cell with 18.4% conversion efficiency at the ongoing European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference (Hamburg, Germany). A world leader in its own right, IMEC is an independent research center working on nanoelectronics and nanotechnology. It is headquartered in Leuven, Belgium, and has offices in Belgium, the Netherlands, Taiwan, US, China and Japan. 4 Comments

The Eindhoven University of Technology and University of Ulm scientists have successfully developed the first high-resolution 3D images of the internal structure of a hybrid polymer solar cell. This helps them in gaining important insights into the nanoscale structure of polymer solar cells and how much it will be effective when used for energy generation. They also gathered more information on the operational principles of polymer solar cells. Stefan Oosterhout, who is the leader of the team says that the images, prepared using 3D electron tomography, show how the nanoscale structure of the polymer solar cell influences its ability to produce electricity. 1 Comment

Silicon is one of the basic but expensive materials used in designing solar panels. If we can use something else as effective as silicon but more economical, solar power will be within the reach of the common consumers. Cornell researchers are thinking on somewhat similar lines. They are using a carbon nanotube instead of traditional silicon that hopefully will lead to much more efficient ways of converting light to electricity. 2 Comments

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation and IHI Corporation are undertaking an ambitious project of $ 21bn. They are aspiring to design and develop a Space-based solar farm that would generate 1GW of power. This will require an area of four square kilometer consisting of rows of solar panels. This space solar farm will be housed 36,000km above the surface of the earth. 20 Comments

Solomon Technologies announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Technipower LLC has installed its first Instant Solar(TM) system at its Danbury, CT headquarters. Technipower has successfully completed the development program in less than six months. Their pilot manufacturing is in the process now. 3 Comments

Sunlight is a non exhaustible source of energy without contributing greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Still it is miles away from replacing the fossil fuels. Many reasons can be sited. One of its biggest disadvantages is it is still out of reach for the common man and it has a long break-even period. Unless a product or service is embraced by masses it can’t be treated as alternative source to fossil fuels. But scientists are tirelessly working on solar cells. It is believed that solar cells could soon be produced more cheaply using nanoparticle "inks". These nanoparticles can help in printing solar cells like newspaper or painted onto the sides of buildings or rooftops to absorb electricity-producing sunlight. 6 Comments

Manufacturers who are concerned not only about profit but about future too are developing such products that are clean and green and run on alternative fuels. Though currently clean and green products are costly, efforts are on to make them easy on pocket too. Solon SE is a Berlin-based solar company that has produced a zero emission solar ship. Berlin’s mayor Klaus Wowereit was present at a ceremony to launch the "SOLON." It is Berlin’s first passenger ship deriving its power from solar energy. 4 Comments

BAA is trying to upgrade its airport terminal Heathrow East by investing to an amount of £1 billion and naming it as Terminal 2. This new terminal would be designed by Foster + Partners and developed by Ferrovial Agroman and Laing O’Rourke’s joint partnership company HETCo. This terminal will house around twenty million passengers every year that chose Star Alliance airlines. No Comments

We all are familiar with the positive impact of alternative energy on our environment. Now researchers are trying to improve upon the existing alternative energy technology. As far as solar energy is concerned they are trying to make solar panels cheap and people friendly. Normally the solar panels are quite bulky and difficult to fit in on existing architecture. Therefore scientists all over the world are focusing on developing organic solar cells. They could be inexpensive and look like thin films. 5 Comments

Imagine a parking lot that keeps your car cool and charges it while you do whatever you need to do after parking your car. That’s what the new solar forest designed by designer Neville Mars aims to achieve. Electric-powered automobiles are a great way of reducing pollution levels but the main hurdle in the way of them becoming mainstream vehicles is long duration of time they need to recharge. Even to cover small distance you need to recharge your vehicle for hours. One solution is to speed up the recharging process, and another is recharging the cars while they stand unused, like in a parking lot. 9 Comments

Stirling Energy Systems (SES) and Tessera Solar worked jointly and have come out with their precious device called SunCatchers(TM). They exhibited their four newly designed solar power collection dishes at Sandia National Laboratories’ National Solar Thermal Test Facility (NSTTF). SunCatchers are the new dishes that will be utilized on commercial-scale by 2010. Chuck Andraka, who is the lead Sandia project engineer, shares his enthusiasm about SunCatchers, "The four new dishes are the next-generation models of the original SunCatcher system. Six first-generation SunCatchers built over the past several years at the NSTTF have been producing up to 150KW of grid-ready electrical power during the day. Every part of the new system has been upgraded to allow for a high rate of production and cost reduction." 7 Comments

When one lives in a developed country it becomes hard to visualize that how people manage in those parts of the world where electricity is still a distant dream. Residents of the village Ahire, Maharashtra in India claimed that people didn’t want to marry their daughters in their village due to lack of electricity. Now the government has installed solar panels in the village and the residents are having electricity for the first time. Similarly someone is thinking about people living in Sub-Saharan Africa, which is said to be the least electrified region in the world. To a rational mind the task seems daunting. The mind will think about infrastructure, finance, technical know-how, professionals etc. But an imaginative mind will think of bypassing all this and think about reality and what works without the essentials. A Kansas State University student is doing such kind of thinking. He is combining engineering and nature to design a more affordable and more sustainable lighting source for those souls living without electricity. 4 Comments

The progress is being steadily made in the field of alternative energy. Though we have not hit the bull’s eye yet but still the search is on. Scientists and researchers all over the world are spending sleepless nights on their projects to find an all-pervasive alternative to fossil fuels. How can we utilize the alternative energy technology for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) When we think about the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) we think of saving human resource, undoubtedly the most precious resource of any nation. But UAVs have some drawbacks too. They can’t fly to the far and distant places because after traveling certain distance an aircraft needs refueling. And here we face the disadvantage of UAVs. They can’t refuel. But if they utilize solar energy they can travel more and work more effectively in enemy’s territory. The Air Force is thinking of using Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in future. Then they can fly for a longer duration of time without refueling. 4 Comments