Solar

IBM's solar-powered desalination plant to hydrate the Saudi desert for a city with 100,000 people

A new, energy-efficient desalination plant with an expected production capacity of 30,000 cubic meters per day will be built in the city of Al Khafji, Saudi Arabia, to serve its 100,000 people. Known more for its computers, IBM has joined forces with KACST (King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology) to build the plant that will be powered by ultra-high concentrator photovoltaic (UHCPV) technology - a system with a concentration greater than 1,500 suns.Read More

Solar Impulse plane has a wingspan the size of a Boeing 747

A solar-powered plane with a 200-foot wingspan completed its first test flight this morning, soaring to 5,500 feet in an 87-minute sortie that reached a top speed of 44 mph. Solar Impulse proved itself airworthy, taking off and landing under its own power, taking a series of turns, and performing well. According to pilot Marcus Scherdel, "Despite its immense size and feather weight, the aircraft's controllability matches our expectations."Read More

A powerful sunlight transport system that’s like putting a solar robot on your roof to pump sunlight indoors What if you could light your entire building using no electricity, or artificial lights – but just the natural light from the sun? Conventional sky-lights do this well in certain types of single-story spaces, but are not very adaptable, powerful, and often have problems with excessive solar heat gain and loss. Enter the Sundolier, a powerful sunlight transport system that’s like putting a solar robot on your roof to pump sunlight indoors, The manufacturer claims a single Sundolier unit can provide enough light to illuminate a 1000-2500 sq. ft. area without any other sources. Read More

Sphelar solar cells from Kyosemi Corp. are solidified silicon drops that create a transparent solar cell window

Imagine if instead of looking out your window to see your solar-panel array, your windows were your solar panel array. Sphelar solar cells can be built into windows, whether they're flat or curved. Instead of chasing the sun, they'll capture the sun from all angles, then convert it to energy.Read More

New Robots Build Prototype Solar Cells in 30 Minutes, Then Evaluate Their Own Work

One multitasking robot can build semiconductors for solar cells on six-inch-square plates of glass, plastic or flexible metals in just over half an hour. Six of these tireless mechanical workers, chugging away at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Colorado.Read More

IBM Develops Higher-Efficiency Solar Cells Using Non-Rare Materials

IBM researchers have created a high-efficiency solar cell that is 40 percent more efficient than any similar cells, and is made of earth abundant materials.Read More

PlanetSolar Debuts The World's Largest Solar-Powered Yacht

A skipper's dream of sailing across the ocean using solar power is about to come true. More impressively, he'll be sailing on arguably the world's largest pollution-free yacht, the PlanetSolar, which was unveiled Thursday at the HDW Shipyard in Germany.Read More

New Energy Technologies has developed transparent solar cells which can be sprayed onto any glass surface

Current solar cells are largely made of silicon wafers, an expensive and brittle material. And newer, low cost thin solar film requires both a high-vacuum and high-temperature production. Techniques that are much slower than this spray-on solution.

The production of solar-generated electricity on glass is made possible by the world’s tiniest working solar cells, which along with their related components, have now been successfully sprayed on to glass surfaces by New Energy researchers.Read More

Solar panel thefts heating up in Napa Valley wine country

Hot on the heels of news about Google's new energy venture comes this sorrowful tale about renewable energy. NPR reports on enterprising thieves who used Google Earth to find California wineries with solar panels for the taking.Read More

2,400-Foot-Tall Solar Updraft Turbines To Power Arizona

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.Read More