Toshiba Corp Building SCiB Cell Production Factory by 2011

Toshiba Corp is anticipating strong demands and sales for their SCiB (super charge ion battery) and started the construction of another production plant in the Kashiwazaki Frontier Park, in Kashiwazaki city, Niigata prefecture.

WindSentinel to Reduce Costs for Offshore Wind Power

A Virginia based company specialized in wind power called Catch the Wind Ltd. has deployed its first laser wind sensor on a buoy in Race Rocks Island, British Columbia, for an initial assessment of a new offshore wind power farm.

FastCAP Receives DOE Funding for Developing Commercial Ultracapacitor

ARPA-E, or the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy has awarded FastCAP Systems, from Cambridge, MA, with a 2.5 year, $5.35 million grant to further develop and commercialize a nanotube-enhanced ultracapacitor, which could reduce the costs of hybrid and electric cars.

Prius-Like Gearbox to be Used in Less Pricey Wind Turbines

The CVT (continuously variable transmission) technology is already being used in hybrid cars, and now it enters the wind turbine industry. Texas-based Viryd Technologies, use CVTs to make the fluctuating wind speeds convert into a more efficient stream of AC current that will be fed to the grids.

Optical Fiber Solar Cells: Cheap, Flexible, Six Times More Efficient

Georgia Tech researchers have developed a system that uses dye-sensitized (Grätzel) solar cells wrapped around optical fibers to increase their overall efficiency, since it's known Grätzel cells are not very efficient. The fiber solar cells they obtained are 6 times more efficient than zinc-oxide solar cells having the same area.

Solar iPhone Charger DIY Tutorial

The construction of this universal solar charger is very simple and cheap(only $50) . You don't need to have any familiarity with electronics or prior circuit knowledge. It can be used to charge any device via USB.

Solarig to Build Eight Photovoltaic Parks in Italy

SOLARIG, a Spanish solar company, has started construction of 8 photovoltaic parks in Itlay this month. When the construction will be ready, the parks will provide 8 MW of clean energy in total. The same company plans to build photovoltaic projects that will produce 30 MW throughout different regions of Italy.

New York Area to Have 17 GW of Renewable Energy Projects

According to a recent report by SNL Financial, a business research firm, more than half of all planned energy projects in the Northeast Power Coordinating Council region, comprising part of Canada and 6 US states, are renewable energy projects.

Zinc Air Batteries Just Got Rechargeable

A Swiss company based in Staefa, claims it developed zinc-air batteries, capable to hold three times the energy of lithium ion batteries, by volume, while costing only half as much," and compared with other existing air batteries, this one would be rechargeable.

Pyron Solar's Floating Photovoltaic Panels Use CSP to Get Efficient

Their new concentrated solar power system uses shallow pools of water as a passive cooling system for high-efficiency solar cells. The unique proprietary technology was developed by Pyron Solar of Sorrento Valley, California.