Cassini-Huygens swings by Earth and accelerates towards Saturn.
When Europe’s comet chaser Rosetta swings by Earth on Nov. 13 for a critical gravity assist, tracking data will be collected to precisely measure the satellite’s change in orbital energy. The results could help unravel a cosmic mystery that has stumped scientists for two decades.
The first Solar Sail spacecraft met an untimely end, crashing into the ocean instead of making it into orbit. But now, in 2010, a new, improved version of that craft–an entire spaceship that’s propelled only by the sun’s rays–is set to launch. And scientists will be see if this unique spaceship will become the prototype [...]
Graphic illustration released from Japan’s Institute for Unmanned Space Experiment Free Flyer (USEF) shows a system of space solar power system (SSPS)
It may sound like a sci-fi vision, but Japan’s space agency is dead serious: by 2030 it wants to collect solar power in space and zap it down to Earth, using laser beams or [...]
The Briz is a concept air conditioner that takes the familiar form of blinds. But instead of just blocking the sun out, when these blinds are open they keep the air inside cool.
Featured Invention at the Colorado Inventor Showcase 2009
Seamount Solar is a product that augments a clean-powered hydrogen-transmitted energy system by making ultra-pure water, in quantity, from saline or polluted water evaporated and collected by solar power and condensed by the cooler non-potable source. Hydrogen and oxygen produced by electrolysis burns to power the flow of clean vapor [...]
By now we’ve all seen our fair share of green energy cars and devices, but there remains a dearth of public works-centric green tech innovations. Helping to fill the void of cool green-tech-meets-public-works design ideas, Taiwanese designers Cheng-Tsung Feng, Yao-Chieh Lin and Bo-Jin Wang created this solar-powered traffic light that easily could have emerged from [...]
Flexible dye-sensitized solar panels incorporated into this bag make it capable of recharging electronic gadgets.
The first commercial product to incorporate dye-sensitized thin-film solar cells will soon be on the market. Backpacks coated with the cheap, lightweight, and flexible solar cell, for on-the-go recharging of portable gadgets, were unveiled at the Hong Kong Electronics Fair last [...]
Featured Invention at the Colorado Inventor Showcase 2009
Environmentally-friendly mobile power generation has arrived. SolaRover™ Mobile Solar Power Systems provide pure, consistent electricity for all types of commercial, industrial and emergency applications — wherever and whenever needed. Categorically clean, absolutely silent and far more economical than comparable diesel generators over the long term, SolaRover systems offer [...]
LG’s solar-powered e-book
If we were stuck on a desert island with only one book, this recently unveiled solar e-book would be at the top of our list! Designed by LG Display, the sleek reader features a wafer-fin photovoltaic cell that provides it with a steady stream of solar energy. Whereas most e-books run the risk [...]
Section of a butterfly wing under a microscope
A team of researchers from the State University of Pennsylvania (USA) and the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM) have developed a technique to replicate biological structures, such as butterfly wings, on a nano scale. The resulting biomaterial could be used to make optically active structures, such as optical [...]
Power Flower
Small-scale wind has been taking a beating lately, with local zoning ordinances throughout the United States that fly in the face of the technology. People confuse small wind power in residential areas with big, commercial blades, and have concerns about noise and aesthetics, mostly. An art project could solve that.
Bozen, Denmark’s E-Move Charging Station is the work of that country’s entrepreneur, Valentin Runggaldier, and — while those renders make it look like a flight of fancy — it’s actually real and going through a series of tests. (Pics)
The carbon nanotube at center is connected to several electrodes and acts as a superefficient photovoltaic cell.
Today’s solar cells lose much of the energy in light to heat. Now researchers at Cornell University have made a photovoltaic cell out of a single carbon nanotube that can take advantage of more of the energy in light [...]
The Japanese are preparing to develop a two trillion yen (approximately $21 billion USD) space solar project that will beam electricity from space in the form of microwaves or lasers to around 300,000 homes in Japan within three decades.
I have a confession; I’m a total lost cause when it comes to recharging my phone, iPod and camera. Three gadgets I can’t leave my home without and somehow, I always leave it till the last moment for recharging! Needless to say, I manage just some amount of power on them and carry their wires [...]
Carbon nanotube-based photodiode
Cornell researchers fabricated, tested and measured a simple solar cell called a photodiode, formed from an individual carbon nanotube. Using a carbon nanotube instead of traditional silicon, Cornell researchers have created the basic elements of a solar cell that hopefully will lead to much more efficient ways of converting light to electricity than [...]
The 2,000-megawatt complex similar to this will be built
in Ordos City, Inner Mongolia, China by 2019
First Solar, a leading maker of solar panels, based in Tempe, AZ, has announcedthat it will build an enormous, 2,000 megawatt solar power plant in China, starting next year. Bloomberg reports that it will be the largest solar power plant in the [...]
Solar panels point to the Nevada sky as they generate electricity for use on Nellis Air Force Base
Fair competition or Save the Planet? That could ultimately be at play as China and the West, long at odds over trade in steel, textiles and auto parts, risk being sucked into a row over protectionism in renewable [...]
BioLogic FreeCharge
Apple devices are getting quite a bit of attention when it comes to renewable energy lately. Just yesterday we showed you the new solar power skin that is coming out later this month. But if you’re needing a charge on a cloudy day, there’s a solution coming out in a few months – you’ll [...]
Solar roads
The Department of Energy just gave $100,000 to upstart company Solar Roadways, to develop 12-by-12-foot solar panels, dubbed “Solar Roads,” that can be embedded into roads, pumping power into the grid. The panels may also feature LED road warnings and built-in heating elements that could prevent roads from freezing.
Nano-ink could replace standard method of manufacturing solar cells
This is one powerful idea that would do away with massive solar panels. Solar cells could soon be spray painted onto the sides of buildings or rooftops with nanoparticles.
House on the Water
Our friends from formodesign sent us House on the Water, a self-sufficient house for nomadic life offshore. Designed as a rental house for people who want to be independent it’s available only through water. It is located by Navagio beach, NW coast of the Greek Zante island. (Pics)
Go go glowing orb in the sky!
These new vessels, set to enter service in November, get 3/4 of their power from solar cells and 1/4 from liquefied petroleum:
The technology could cut in half carbon-dioxide output on a typical urban ferry route, Solar Sailor said on its Web site. Makers of ships, planes and autos around [...]
Eneloop Portable Solar
SANYO Electric Co., Ltd. (SANYO) announces that it is further expanding its highly acclaimed ‘eneloop universe’, a product series emphasizing a lifestyle valuing reusing resources, with stylish and trendy new products to be released this fall: the ‘eneloop portable solar’, a handy ready-to-use solar power generator. (Pics)
Ceramatec have created the disk, which can hold up to 20-kilowatt hours
A small disc could be the solution for the efficient and cheap storage of the sun’s energy. A Utah-based company has found a new way to store solar energy – in a small ceramic disk which can store more power for less. Researchers at [...]
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