Japanese Company Suggests Use of Organic Solar Cells in Low Power Gadgets
Photovoltaic solar cells are often used in centralized power harvesting installations, generating large amounts of energy for use in the grid. Rohm Co Ltd, on the other hand, proposes the usage of organic photovoltaic solar cells (dye-sensitized cells) in small appliances and healthcare devices.
Chinese Oil Company Cleaned Up 1,500 Metric Tons of Spilled Crude
Maybe this is not the typical alternative energy article we've gotten you used to, but it may look like BP could use some Chinese people in their fishing boats to clean up the spill.
14 Year Old Teen Converts 1972 Volkswagen Beetle Into Electric Car
Who would have imagined that a 14-year-old boy will convert his grandpa's 1972 Beetle into an electric one? After almost a year of building...
Bumpy Nanoparticle Treatment of Solar Cells Making Them More Efficient
Yi Cui, a researcher from Stanford University, about whom we've been talking about many times lately, has discovered how nanoscale wires, pores, bumps and other material textures can improve the performance of solar cells dramatically. They could even serve as self-cleaning coatings, because of their highly hydrophobic properties.
Singapore to Have First Hydrogen-Electric Bus Powered by Fuel Cells and Batteries
Researchers at Beijing's Tsinghua University and NTU unveiled the first hydrogen-electric bus that will be from now on Singapore roads. Dubbed GreenLite, this eco-friendly bus only emits clean water and has zero carbon emission. Compared with other conventional buses, GreenLite does not run on fossil fuel and is powered by a combustion engine, which makes it very quiet.
Genetically Modified Enzyme Leads to Better Carbon Sequestration at Coal Powered Plants
Capturing the carbon dioxide that a coal-powered plant produces and sequestering it is not an easy task, and until now it rose the costs of the electricity produced by 80 percent. Due to researchers at Codexis, a Redwood, CA, company, genetically modified enzymes can make carbon dioxide capture much cheaper, increasing the cost of electricity by less than a third.
HighDro Power Produces Energy from High Buildings' Falling Waste
The device's working principle is very simple. "HighDro Power works by using the water discharged from appliances such as showers, toilets and sinks in high-rise apartments. The water goes down the pipe and hits four turbine blades that drive one generator."
3,000 MW of Wind Power to Be Built Near Los Angeles by Next Year
Wind power is the best there is right now in terms of reliability and ease of deployment, at least in some areas of the world. The Californian government, for example, has set an objective to have 33% of their energy coming from renewable resources by 2020.
World's First Commercial Solar-Powered EV Charging Station Unveiled by SunPods
California-based company SunPods Inc. has recently unveiled at the Cleantech Open event in San Jose this Thursday, world's first factory-built, solar-powered electric-vehicle charging station. Dubbed â€Ã…“SP-300 Plug-N-Go,†this solar-powered EV charging station is able to charge two cars at the same time. The energy surplus can also be sold back to utility companies.
Archimede: World's First Concentrated Solar Power Plant That Uses Molten Salts as Energy Storage
First of all, Italy is one of the leading innovators in solar power. On July 15, their electricity company Enel has unveiled Archimede, their most innovative power plant using concentrated solar power (CSP) technology, where parabolic mirrors focus the Sun's light onto capturing surfaces which take the heat to the storage location. For the first time in the world, molten salts have been used as storage for the heat they captured from the Sun.
