Samsung Plans To Unveil Solar Powered Laptop
Right now I'm propped to a tree, writing this article, at the margins of an enchanting forest, with birdies singing everywhere. My laptop's battery is nearing its low percentage, and I'd really need some power source. I'd use Samsung's solar powered laptop, or at least the one they're planning to release in the not-so-distant future.
Tibet Enlarges Solar Power Capacity, Aiming to Become China's Top Producer
Tibet may be the home of a world spiritual leader, but it isn't all about spirituality: the Chinese autonomous region has been using solar energy since the 80's and has a solar potential of about 3,000 hours of solar radiation per year. Its annual input of 9 MW of energy secures 13% of China's total production.
Atom-Thick Coating Helps Researchers Achieve Artificial Photosynthesis
By growing layers of zinc oxide and titanium dioxide on a semiconductor surface, researchers from the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) have managed to create solar cells that can ultimately extract hydrogen from water under the direct action of sunlight, just like leaves do their natural photosynthesis.
Italy Adds 7 GW of Solar Power To The Grid, Incentives Helping
2010 saw the surge of Italy's interest for investing in the solar market, so much so that it drove the country to rank second on the new installations scale. Worries that government incentives were about to stop this year led consumers into frenzy. A prolongation of the program until June 2011 will make Italy own an impressive 7 GW of solar power attached to the grid.
Lubi – World's Most Efficient Solar Air Heater Available Commercially
Whether we are talking about a commercial, institutional or industrial facility, what is required from a solar air heater is, of course, to produce heat and also a quick return on its investment. Lubi, created by Enerconcept Technologies, is the most efficient solar air heater on the market.
TenKsolar's New Technology Makes Rooftop Solar Panels Shadow-Proof
As you may already know, solar panels are great, but they have one big drawback: if as little as one shadow covers one of the cells, the entire power output slumps. Not to mention that if one of the cells themselves brakes down, the whole system crashes. To hear of such sensitivity in a technology of the future is rather disappointing, but TenKsolar can take up the challenge and solve these issues.
Solar Thermoelectric Device Harnesses Sun's Heat, Transforms Directly Into Electricity
A new material that could one day change the efficiency of thermal solar panels has been invented by MIT and Boston College researchers, with collaborators from GMZ Energy. The thermoelectric device is at least eight times more efficient than what's currently available in labs.
U.S. Data Centers Set Example of Solar Powered Office Spaces
Several large data centers have opted for solar roofs this April, in an attempt to reduce their internal electricity consumption. It seems logical that they should do so, given the kind of roofs that they have. What so far didn't really make economic sense, right now seems to be the right thing to do.
3D Nanocone Solar Cells Improve Efficiency by 80% in Lab Experiments
Jun Xu and his team from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory have just created a three-dimensional "nanocone-based solar cell platform," which is able to increase the light conversion efficiency by almost 80 percent by eliminating the issue of poor charge transport due to bulk material defects.
Wake Forest Researchers Develop Polymer-Based Solar PV & Thermal Device
Infrared light makes up the most part of the light spectrum, but the glitch in today's solar panels is that they can't really harvest it for direct electricity generation, because of the long wavelengths involved. Thus, a standard solar panel misses about 75% of the incoming energy, and some of them, concentrated solar cells, need cooling to prevent damage to the silicon substrate that favors the energy conversion.
