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Briz Turns Your Blinds into Mini Air Conditioners

November 7th, 2009 at 12:03 pm » Comments (0)

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.



Seamount Solar: Turns Saline or Polluted Water Into Ultra-Pure Water

October 31st, 2009 at 10:15 am » Comments (0)

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 [...]



Solar Traffic Light

October 22nd, 2009 at 11:14 am » Comments (0)

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 [...]



Dye-Sensitized Solar For On-The-Go Recharging

October 21st, 2009 at 10:21 am » Comments (0)

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 [...]



SolaRover – Mobile Solar Power Systems

October 14th, 2009 at 9:30 am » Comments (0)

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 Debuts A Solar-Powered eBook

October 13th, 2009 at 6:54 am » Comments (0)

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 [...]



Scientists Create Nanometric Butterfly Wings

October 9th, 2009 at 9:45 am » Comments (0)

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 Wind Power Technology

September 19th, 2009 at 6:24 pm » Comments (0)

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.

 



Solar Kiosk Could Be the Gas Station of the Future

September 19th, 2009 at 11:52 am » Comments (0)

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)



Super Efficient Next-Generation Solar Cells From Nanotubes

September 16th, 2009 at 9:52 am » Comments (0)

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 [...]



$21 Billion Solar Space Project To Beam Electricity To Homes Within 30 Years

September 15th, 2009 at 6:24 pm » Comments (0)

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.
 



Solar Tree: Personal Solar-Powered Pole

September 12th, 2009 at 12:27 am » Comments (0)

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 [...]



Efficient Solar Cells Could Be Made With Carbon Nanotubes

September 11th, 2009 at 8:51 am » Comments (0)

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 [...]



World’s Largest Photovoltaic Power Plant in China

September 9th, 2009 at 10:43 am » Comments (0)

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 [...]



Global Trade Wars Escalate Over Solar Energy

September 7th, 2009 at 8:47 am » Comments (0)

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 [...]



Charging Your iPhone With Pedal Power

September 5th, 2009 at 10:13 am » Comments (0)

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 [...]



Future of Energy Could Be Solar Panels Built Into Roads

September 3rd, 2009 at 8:32 am » Comments (0)

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: Spray-on Solar Cells To Harvest The Sun

August 29th, 2009 at 8:50 am » Comments (0)

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 by Formodesign

August 28th, 2009 at 12:23 pm » Comments (0)

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)
 



Hong Kong’s Solar-Powered Ferries

August 11th, 2009 at 9:43 am » Comments (0)

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: Mobile Green Energy

August 5th, 2009 at 11:29 am » Comments (0)

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)
 



Tiny Battery Traps Solar Power To Run An Entire House

August 3rd, 2009 at 3:45 pm » Comments (0)

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 [...]



Solar Technology For Dark Climates

July 8th, 2009 at 10:22 am » Comments (2)

A prototype of a Stirling engine that’s powered by a solar water heater.
Cool Energy, a startup based in Boulder, CO, is developing a system that produces heat and electricity from the sun. It could help make solar energy competitive with conventional sources of energy in relatively dark and cold climates, such as the northern half [...]



World’s First Solar-Powered Plane Unveiled

June 28th, 2009 at 11:20 am » Comments (1)

The solar plane has the wingspan of a Boeing 747 
It has the wingspan of a Boeing 747 but weighs less than a small car – and could be the first plane to fly around the world powered entirely by the sun.



Orange Solar Tent Concept Revealed

June 23rd, 2009 at 9:46 am » Comments (1)

Orange Solar Tent
Orange is really going for it with its Glastonbury sponsorship this year. As well as the power pump mobile charger, the GlastoNav mobile app and that spot the bull comp that’s ongoing, it’s unveiled the “tent of the future” concept design.