Solar Power

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. View 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. View 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. View Comments

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. View 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. View 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. View Comments

Industrial designers are dreaming of a project like this for a long time. They wanted a solar powered parking lot which can sustain itself and light up its own lights. They also want future electric vehicles to be charged at the same place too. The spirit of Isla Vistans can be imitated. They turned out in large number for the inaugural ceremony of a new parking space at 881 Embarcadero del Mar. What was so special about a parking lot? The parking lot was constructed on a half-acre site. The interesting part is the same location used to house a Chevron gas station. Isla Vista, Santa Barbara County, California, has registered its presence in the field of clean and green energy. They established their first solar-powered car parking lot. View Comments

Two things are certain for the future: electric cars will become more popular and solar power will continue to grow as a viable source of energy. Because of this, the world is looking to industry leaders not only in the energy business, but to other major corporations that can have a major impact on the world’s power usage. Dell has stepped up to the plate and hopefully the Dell solar trees parking lot is a sign of greater things to come. The Dell solar parking lot by Envision Solar is a very innovative way that Dell has implemented solar powered lights and it is something that is immediately making an impact. The solar trees serve not only the purpose of gathering the suns energy as a viable energy source, but even provides shade over about 50 parking spaces as well! The lot was made viewable from the highway so Dell can let everyone know that solar power is the way to go. View Comments

When we think about going solar we make a mental picture of large heavy panels adorning one’s rooftop. But researchers are trying to get rid of bulky solar panels. They are aiming to achieve this feat with the help of zinc oxide nanostructures grown on optical fibers and coated with dye-sensitized solar cell materials. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have built up a new kind of three-dimensional photovoltaic system. This three-dimensional photovoltaic system will not be heavy and it will not occupy a place of prominence on rooftops; it can be hidden from the view. View Comments

Researchers and scientists are putting on endless effort to make the sources of energy clean and green. There are many devices in the market that run on solar energy. The alternative energy atmosphere is charged with anticipation and excitement. But till now one of the biggest dampeners in green energy scenario is the prices. Fossil fuels are available cheaply all over the world. But solar, wind, geothermal or biofuels are still expensive and out of reach of commoners. View Comments

It seemed like it would only be a matter of time before Toyota would jump into the market of using renewable energy to charge a car and they have done so in a big way. The solar charging station by Toyota will be put on display at the Tokyo Motor Show 2009. While there are other charging stations on the market for electric cars, the fact that this one is solar powered has the industry abuzz in anticipation. The solar charging station by Toyota almost looks like something that you would have seen in one of the old sci-fi movies, but this is the real deal. It works by collecting the suns energy through solar panels and then stores the energy in a battery that is later used to charge and power the vehicle. This is just another great innovation that is pushing our world to a 'greener' lifestyle and will use renewable energy in yet another every day application. View Comments

What is worse than being away on a trip, at a ballgame or just at the office and realizing that you don’t have anywhere to plug in your mobile device? You see the last bar of power and panic starts to settle in because you are about to be cut off from the outside world. Worry no more because the portable solar charger Novacell is going to give you all the solar power that you can handle to charge up your devices. View Comments

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. View 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. View 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. View 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. View 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. View 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. View 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. View 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. View Comments