Solar24

Today's solar power plants work either through photovoltaics or heated steam. If Enviromission gets its way, tomorrow's plants will combine wind and solar, with acre-sized mirrors and multi-thousand-foot-tall chimneys generating turbine-spinning gusts. The technology's called solar updraft, and a $750 million, 200-megawatt project may just bring Enviromission's future into the present. The plants work by generating pressure differentials between warm and cool air at the surface. Four acres of solar panels sit around a 2,400-foot-tall chimney, and above turbine-laden tunnels. The panels heat the air closer to the chimney far faster than the air at the ends of the tunnels. The warmer, less dense air then serves as a partial vacuum, drawing in the colder, denser air at the edges through the tunnels fast enough to spin the turbines and generate electricity. Solar updraft technology first broke onto the scene in the 1980s, but this is the first time a company has made a serious go at it....

Ecosystems of terminus lakes around the world could benefit from a new system being developed to desalinate water using a specialized low-cost solar pond and patented membrane distillation system powered by renewable energy.

Solar-powered drip irrigation systems significantly enhance household incomes and nutritional intake of villagers in arid sub-Saharan Africa, according to a new study.

The battery could power zero-emissions homes Bringing power storage to the people, Panasonic will bring a home-use lithium-ion storage cell to market in fiscal 2011, making it possible for homes to store a week's worth of electricity for later use. Panasonic -- along with the recently acquired Sanyo -- have already test-manufactured such a battery, which could allow for more widespread deployment of eco-friendly but inconsistent modes of power generation. While generating wind and solar energy is obviously preferable to burning fossil fuels, the fact that they can't generate steadily and consistently throughout the day and night means that at best they can only supplement more consistent sources of power. But if households and businesses can store excess power when generation is peaking and use it during periods of low electricity output, we could make renewables a larger part of our energy diet. Saying that the battery will last "for about one week," as Panasonic's president has, is...

Suburban rave-goers, women of Jersey Shore, and Elton John, take note: your lives just got a little bit greener. The sartorial risk-takers over at Sandia National Labs have created glitter-sized photovoltaic cells that could revolutionize solar energy collection the way Liberace revolutionized the dress code for concert pianists. Made of crystalline silicon and fabricated using microelectric and microelectromechanical systems processes commonly found on electronics manufacturers' production floors, the tiny cells hold great potential for better perfomance and efficiency as well as reduced cost. At just 14 to 20 micrometers thick (less than a human hair), they are 10 times thinner than normal 6-by-6-inch brick cells and use 100 times less silicon, yet the difference in their performance is negligible (14.9 percent efficiency, versus 13-20 percent for brick panels). Also, because of their flexibility, they have myriad applications going far beyond fashion that larger, static PV cells...

Scientists have developed tiny glitter-sized photovoltaic cells that could revolutionize the way solar energy is collected and used.

Adding cerium oxide to phosphate glass rather than the commonly used silicate glass may make glasses that block ultraviolet light and have increased radiation damage resistance while remaining colorless, according to researchers. These cerium-containing phosphate glasses have many commercial applications for use in windows, sunglasses and solar cells.

China, constantly straddling the line between super-polluter and clean tech pioneer, has unveiled what for the time being is the world’s largest solar-powered office building . The fan-like roof of the 800,000 square-foot facility located in Dezhou in Shangdong Province was cleverly designed to resemble an ancient sun dial, though rather than ticking off the passing hours, the building houses exhibition centers, research facilities, meeting and convention spaces and a hotel, all of which are powered by the hundreds of solar panels adorning its roof. A lack of fossil fuel burning indeed makes the building decidedly green, but it’s architecture hides several other energy- and resource-saving innovations like advanced wall insulation and roofing that help trim 30% its energy consumption compared to the national average. And while massive, the external structure actually uses 1% of the steel that the People’s Republic poured into the Bird’s Nest for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. Of...

Harnessing the power of "hot" electrons for solar energy has been held as a theoretical possibility. Now researchers report observing the hot electron effect in an ultra-thin solar cell for the first time and collecting the elusive charges, which are typically lost in less than one-trillionth of a second in traditional solar cells.

Considering the massive carbon emissions that come from burning jet fuel, air travel is in serious need of a green makeover. To that end, the folks over at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland, have been working on a solar-powered plane since 2003. Now, after six years of testing, they have finally managed to get the plane off the ground. The flight wouldn't exactly impress Lindbergh, as the plane only lifted a yard off the ground for a 1,148 foot trip. In fact, due to the short nature of the flight, the engineers nicknamed the test "the flea hop". However, it is the first takeoff by a solar-powered plane carrying a pilot ever in history, and the plane behaved just as engineers predicted in their models. The plane carries only one person, but has a wingspan of almost 200 feet. And despite that long wing length, the whole craft only weighs 3,527 pounds. This test is the first in a serious of flights building up to a 2011 trans-Atlantic flight. Eventually, the...

Researchers have developed a method to control the atoms and molecules of peptides so that they "grow" to resemble small forests of grass. These "peptide forests" repel dust and water and can also serve as high-density battery capacitors.

A team of academics and students has begun work on a solar-electric powered boat which they claim will be one of the most sophisticated to enter the annual prestigious Solar Splash competition so far.

Scientists have developed an innovative way to boost the output of the next generation of solar cells. They have produced tandem dye-sensitized solar cells with a three-fold increase in energy conversion efficiency compared with previously reported tandem dye-sensitized solar cells.

Researchers have developed a technique for fabricating 3-D, single-crystalline silicon structures from thin films by coupling photolithography and a self-folding process driven by capillary interactions.

Nanophysicists have developed a new method for manufacturing the cornerstone of nanotechnology research – nanowires. The discovery has great potential for the development of nanoelectronics and highly efficient solar cells.

In the quest to make hydrogen as a clean alternative fuel source, researchers have been stymied about how to create usable hydrogen that is clean and sustainable without relying on an intensive, high-energy process that outweighs the benefits of not using petroleum to power vehicles. New findings however, show that photosynthesis may function as that clean, sustainable source of hydrogen.

http://friendfeed.com/solar24 - http://friendfeed.com/green24 - http://friendfeed.com/solarth... - Petr Buben

check this one out - forever unbelievable to me ..... a land of size of small country of Austria covered with solar thermal power generation in equatorial Africa will cover the energy needs OF THE WHOLE WORLD !!! ... do i even believe this?? ... it's a German energy project .... so why do we even have coal or oil ?? http://friendfeed.com/solarth... - Petr Buben

Scientists are making progress toward development of an "artificial leaf" that mimics a real leaf's chemical magic with photosynthesis -- but instead converts sunlight and water into a liquid fuel such as methanol for cars and trucks.

New scientific discoveries are moving society toward the era of "personalized solar energy," in which the focus of electricity production shifts from huge central generating stations to individuals in their own homes and communities.

Even as some of the world moves into a future of unimaginably complex technology, many communities still lack the basic electrical infrastructure needed to power even simply electric devices like light bulbs. Unwilling to wait for the wiring to catch up to the demand, Danish researcher Frederik Krebs has created an LED lamp embedded within a flexible, printable solar panel that could replace the kerosene lamps still used around the developing world. While sheets of photovoltaics aren't that new, Krebs is the first person to embed LEDs inside those solar panels. Printed out in reams, the combo light/solar panel can be rolled up to mimic a lamp, and could potentially provide light to the 1.5 billion people around the wold currently living without electricity. Right now, the panels used in Krebs's lamp are, even by his own admission, some of the lest efficient cells on the market. However, that lack of efficiency also translates into low cost, an important factor in spreading these lamps...

Converting sunlight to electricity might no longer mean large panels of photovoltaic cells atop flat surfaces like roofs.

Dust samples collected from the stratosphere have yielded an unexpectedly rich trove of relicts from the ancient cosmos, scientists report. The dust includes presolar grains and material from interstellar molecular clouds. This "ultra-primitive" material likely wafted into the atmosphere after the Earth passed through the trail of an Earth-crossing comet in 2003, giving scientists a rare opportunity to study cometary dust in the laboratory.

Sharp has achieved the world's highest solar cell conversion efficiency (for non-concentrator solar cells) of 35.8% using a triple-junction compound solar cell - http://www.solardaily.com/reports... - Petr Buben

Researchers released a new study on the installed costs of solar photovoltaic (PV) power systems in the US, showing that the average cost of these systems declined by more than 30 percent from 1998 to 2008. Within the last year of this period, costs fell by more than 4 percent.

The National Mall was transformed into a futuristic commune for the past two weeks as 20 teams from four countries erected solar-powered homes The bright future of green living has been on display for the past two weeks at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., during the Department of Energy's 2009 Solar Decathlon. The biennial contest, which wraps up this weekend, brings hundreds of university students from around the world to a temporary solar village for two weeks, where spectators can walk through student-designed houses and marvel at the latest green tech. These solar homes have it all, including things that aren't commercially available yet -- like self-activating curled-metal shades; walls made of plants, both living and recycled; and roofs that tilt at the sun, making them efficient sun-catchers from Phoenix to Fargo. Worried about efficiency while you're away? How about an iPhone app that controls your entire house? Teams include engineering, architecture, graphic arts and...

Scientists in Spain are working on optimizing a type of photovoltaic cell (Grätzel cell) that artificially mimics photosynthesis. Grätzel cells are photovoltaic devices that take advantage of the interaction of a structured semiconductor less than a nanometer in size and an organic dye that acts as a solar collector.

Scientists in Spain are working on optimizing a type of photovoltaic cell (Grätzel cell) that artificially mimics photosynthesis. Grätzel cells are photovoltaic devices that take advantage of the interaction of a structured semiconductor less than a nanometer in size and an organic dye that acts as a solar collector.

A kite flown in a strong breeze will quickly unspool string as it climbs higher. KiteGen Research in Italy aims to turn that action into electricity. The company developed a prototype that flies 200-square-foot kites to altitudes of 2,600 feet, where wind streams are four times as strong as they are near ground-based wind turbines. As the kite’s tether unspools, it spins an alternator that generates up to 40 kilowatts. Once the kite reaches its peak altitude, it collapses, and motors quickly reel it back in to restart the cycle. This spring, KiteGen started building a machine to fly a 1,500-square-foot kite, which it plans to finish by 2011, that could generate up to three megawatts—enough to power 9,000 homes. Flower Power Any blossom would stand out in the desert of southern Israel, but you’d be hard-pressed to miss a 98-foot-tall one. The tulip-shaped tower is the centerpiece of the world’s first hybrid-solar power plant, opened this summer by Israeli start-up AORA Solar. An array...

Chemists have pioneered a method to tease out promising molecular structures for capturing energy, a step that could speed the development of more efficient, cheaper solar cells.

Chemists have pioneered a method to tease out promising molecular structures for capturing energy, a step that could speed the development of more efficient, cheaper solar cells.