A research team has created an energy storage device that is highly flexible and stretchy.
How long would your battery last if your phone was always awake and processing data? Would the battery last three hours? One hour? The next generation of electronics will require that kind of always-on energy consumption, but our current batteries are far from powerful enough to accommodate that.
Continue reading… “Graphene supercapacitors could provide energy for flexible electronics”
Maine is geared to join hands with other few states to generate electricity from tidal waves.
With increasing global warming and increasing awareness of other environmental hazards, more and more people across the world are focusing on harnessing natural sources of energy like wind energy. Wave power is a renewable source of energy and is available in abundance. Wind energy provides clean fuel which is environment friendly and does not produce greenhouse gases. And to capitalize on its greener attribute, we have been utilizing ocean waves for centuries.
Continue reading… “Maine to harness wave power to generate electricity”
Renewable energy shows an average price decline over the last 5 years of 78% for utility scale solar and 58% for wind.
Lazard, an asset management firm, has a fascinating new analysis of renewable and other energy prices out. There are a huge number of insights in this, from an outside analyst whose primary interest is financial.
Continue reading… “Solar and wind prices plunge below fossil fuel prices”
High Concentration PhotoVoltaic Thermal (HCPVT)
A cutting-edge solar system that resembles a 10-meter-high sunflower has just been unveiled by IBM Research and Swiss solar technology company Airlight Energy. The High Concentration PhotoVoltaic Thermal (HCPVT) system can concentrate the sun’s radiation 2,000 times and convert 80 percent of it into useful energy, generating up to 12 kilowatts of electrical power and 20 kilowatts of heat on a sunny day—enough to power several average homes. It can also produce clean, fresh water as a result of the process used to cool the solar cells. (Video)
Tesla/SpaceX chief and sustainable energy champion, Elon Musk, has finalized plans to build a 1.2 million square-foot megafactory in Buffalo, NY through his company SolarCity. The factory targets to create enough solar panels a year to harness a gigawatt of the sun’s energy.
Continue reading… “Elon Musk’s SolarCity to build a Gigafactory for producing solar panels”
The fuel cell system is based on the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology.
Those interested in off-the-grid heating and power sources for the home might soon be getting a new option. The Germany-based Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems (IKTS) has joined forces with the heater manufacturer Vaillant and together they have come up with a domestic fuel cell system, which uses natural gas to produce both heat and electricity.
Continue reading… “New fuel cell system will heat and power homes using natural gas”
Inexpensive renewable sources will provide more energy than the world needs in less than 20 years.
Leading consultants were skeptical about cellular phones in the 1980’s. McKinsey & Co. noted that the handsets were heavy, batteries didn’t last long, coverage was patchy, and the cost per minute was exorbitant. It predicted that in 20 years the total market size would be about 900,000 units and advised AT&T to pull out.
Continue reading… “We are headed into an era of unlimited and free clean energy”
We have been talking about how much solar panels increase the value of your home for years. We use a simple calculation to determine the increase in value: We add the energy savings you’ll see per year for 20 years. Well, it looks like we’re not just blowing solar smoke; study after study after study comparing sales of solar and non-solar houses show clearly that homes—even near-identical homes in the same community—sell for more with solar. But we know you don’t want to read a 200-page PDF to find out, so we’ve collected some of the most important information below.
Continue reading… “Are homes with solar worth more than non-solar homes?”
Wildpoldsried produces 500% more energy than it needs.
Wildpoldsried, Germany, a Bavarian village of about 2,600 residents, is leading the way in Germany’s extraordinary renewable energy transformation. The village has invested in a holistic range of renewable energy projects over the past 17 years that include 4,983 kWp of photovoltaics, five biogas facilities, 11 wind turbines and a hydropower system. As a result, the village has gone beyond energy independence – and it now produces 500% more energy than it needs and profits from sales of the surplus power back to the grid.
By the late 2020s or early 2030s renewables could be competing much more aggressively with the oil market.
Kepler Chevreux, a French investment bank, has produced a fascinating analysis that has dramatic implications for the global oil industry. The investment bank estimates that $100 billion invested in either wind energy or solar energy – and deployed as energy for light and commercial vehicles – will produce significantly more energy than that same $100 billion invested in oil.
Continue reading… “$100B invested in wind or solar will produce more energy than oil”
Solar cell printers.
We’ve come a long way from the solar-powered calculator to waiting to see when innovators are going to give us solar-powered smartphones, where most of our calculators are these days. While the average energy consumer is busy worrying about such everyday concerns, scientists at the Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consortium (VICOSC) are wondering how to power entire buildings, and pretty much the whole planet, as the technology they are creating will be easily transferred inexpensively to developing and third-world areas, thanks to 3D printing and design. (Video)
Continue reading… “The sky’s the limit for 3D printing solar panels”
One of Kyocera’s existing solar power plants in Japan, which has 70 MW of power capacity.
Being short on free land space is not stopping Japan from investing in renewable energy. Solar panel company Kyocera Corp, Century Tokyo Leasing Corp and Ciel Terre have announced that they’re teaming up to create two huge floating solar power plants which will be up and running by April next year.
Continue reading… “Japan to build the world’s largest floating solar power plants”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.