It’s an obvious point, but I didn’t know until today that bridges contain structure sensors that burn through batteries, needing constant replacement. Luckily, a new solar-powered radio could simplify these systems greatly.

 
The Float-A-Pet collar is two gadgets in one: a water-sensing inflatable floaty, and an LED locator. The other dogs may make fun of him, but that’s a trade-off he’s probably willing to make.

 
The world’s first cargo ship partly propelled by solar power took to the seas on Friday in Japan, aiming to cut fuel costs and carbon emissions when automakers ship off their exports.

 
This beautiful Solar Paper Lantern is made out of 36 miniature solar panels. Each panels is connected to an electroluminescent diode, meaning the entire thing is powered by the sun. It’s not only lovely, but it’s environmentally friendly, too. It can remain on for as long as it’s near the sun.

Â/p>
Unveiled today, the third annual “IBM Next Five in Five” is a list of innovations that have the potential to change the way people work, live and play over the next five years.

I Can’t Imagine How Much It Will Cost To Take A Trip In One Of These
While all kinds of ocean going vessels have been adding some sort of renewable energy source recently, who would have figured that you might soon add submarines to the list?

 
Featured Invention at the Colorado Inventor Showcase  
Revolutionary new Suntrac 25TC Collector delivers water to 250 degrees F at lowest installed $/BTU cost.  

Taking off-road travel to another level
Helios was clearly inspired by the Jurassic era, when dinosaurs ruled the Earth. Helios is a concept design for an off-road electric solar-powered vehicle. When you take a break from your off-roading and stop the vehicle, the car will spread its “wings” which are made of photovolatic panels, in order [...]

Human-Controlled Sunset
 There’s nothing quite like a beautiful sunrise or sunset. It completely changes the way the world looks, if but for a few minutes, and is one of those things that just makes you take pause and appreciate everything around you. Pity that it’s so short and always happens when you’re either in bed or [...]

The top image shows a nanonet magnified 50,000 times. At bottom, a
flexible nanonet rolls up when poked by the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope.
One problem with solar cells is that they only produce electricity during the day. A promising way to use the sun’s energy more efficiently is to enlist it to split water [...]

 
The key to our energy future may be in space. A new long-range energy transmission experiment opens the possibility of sending solar energy from space to earth.

 
 The solar system shown here (darker panels) integrates thin-film solar modules directly into a metal roof.
In an effort to promote the adoption of solar technology, United Solar Ovonic of Auburn Hills, MI, has teamed with a major roofing company to create a metal roof system that generates electricity from sunlight. The partnership offers seven different [...]

 
The Spark Lamp concept by Beverly Ng is an LED lamp that you can flip over during the day to recharge itself using solar power. It’s designed to educate the owner about their power consumption. The lamp sports integrated WiFi which wirelessly keeps track of you home’s power usage. When you turn the lamp on, [...]

 
I guess we’ll have scrunching or modular cars in the year 2030. It wasn’t too long ago that we showed you this French car concept for the year 2030, and now here’s Mihai Stamati of Chisinau, Moldova with a design simply titled 2030.

 
Never mind renting a tent with faux Palladian-style arched windows for that chic outdoor soirée – make your guests think a UFO has landed in your yard with the solar-powered Art Rainbow. Providing shade and psychedelic colors akin to multi-hued sunglasses by day, this design concept’s solar panels are charging up its batteries all the [...]

 
 Mini-Windmills
They are small and look more like art than innovation. But the mini-windmills built by a British company could soon be on roofs across Europe and the US — if German energy giant RWE has its way.

 
Designer Vivien Muller’s Solar Cell Tree Charger takes a page from nature, using solar panels as leaves that’ll allow it to soak up energy from the sun.

 
Just when you thought ice cube-creation technology had peaked, a team of engineering students from San Jose State University has come up an ice maker that has zero carbon footprint. It’s more than an eco-party trick – consider it an electricity-free alternative to refrigeration and air conditioning, which is critical if you happen to be [...]

 
In 2008, solar power seems to be the hot topic for alternative fuel use. Solar powered products are already coming down in price so that the average consumer can take it home and use it, but now scientist are turning to the moon as well as the sun for power. Could the moon fuel our [...]

 
Miami is the land of the surf and the beach; hot babes and dishy guys dot the landscape. A little change in scene is about to happen because the residents are going eco friendly in a very subtle way.

 
 Associate Professor Zhu Huai Yong, from Queensland University of Technology’s School of Physical and Chemical Sciences, said that church windows stained with gold paint purify the air when they are lit up by sunlight.
Scientists have discovered that, in medieval churches, stained glass windows painted with gold purify the air when heated by the sun. The [...]

 
Cool Earth’s Solar Balloon 
Cool Earth’s inflated solar concentrators may be the lightest power plants around. Looking like a biggie version of those shiny helium balloons you might see at someone’s birthday party, the concentrators weigh just 20 pounds and, tethered to lightweight aluminum towers, seem to float 20 feet off the ground gathering solar energy. [...]

 
 Solar Powered Neck Tie
Over the years we’ve seen plenty of solar powered accessories that can give your various gadgets a much needed energy boost. The problem is that most of them make you look like a starving student or hippie.

 
“Big Bang Theory?… Think Again. SIMPLY AMAZING ” Tjames

 
 
Using solar power to run an air conditioner seems like one of those no-brainers that a six-year-old could figure out. After all, hot places are where you need AC, and they tend to be sunny most of the time, so why not marry the two together? Toyota has figured out that this idea would appeal [...]