solar concentrator Archives – The Green Optimistic

IBM and Airlight Energy Develop a Unique Multifunctional Solar Concentrator

Mila Luleva — Thu, 25 Sep 2014 13:51:25 +0000

You might wander what would happen if you bring together an IT giant, like IBM, and a small private energy company that develops solar technologies, like the Swiss-based Airlight Energy. Well, wonder no more, because they teamed up, and developed the ultimate solar concentrator that increases the incoming solar radiation 2,000 times, produces fresh water and air […]

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Transparent Solar Concentrators to Produce Electricity Unnoticed

Mila Luleva — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 08:22:57 +0000

The time when solar concentrators can be placed on the surface of windows or cellphone screens, without disturbing their initial purpose, has finally come. A team of scientists from Michigan State University (MSU) developed a transparent and colourless solar concentrator, which is much cheaper than any of the previously developed technology of this kind. Ever since […]

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Solar Concentrator DIY – How to Build an $8 Fresnel Lens from Old TV

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 11:59:45 +0000

A solar concentrator DIY can seem like the easiest thing in the world – if someone else is doing the hard work. A guy who calls himself “Grant Thompson” used a Fresnel lens from a dismantled old Toshiba projection TV and shows the world on Youtube how his DIY solar concentrator can scorch nearly anything from pennies and […]

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Spinning Conical Solar Cells Increase Output Twenty-Fold

Janina Lazo-Cruz — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 12:03:55 +0000

V3Solar has launched an innovative design to the conventional flat solar cells resulting to a twenty-fold increase in its output, owing to its concentrator lenses, conical shape, and revolving assembly. The conical shape with 56o angle of the one-meter high, one-meter-wide V3Solar Spin Cells indulges maximization of harvesting light, omitting the need for an active […]

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13kW Solar Concentrators for Heating Water at Home Produced by Canadian Firm

Ovidiu Sandru — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 19:14:05 +0000

Do you remember Eric Jacqmain, who built his "Death Ray," a solar concentrator that was able to melt everything that stood in its path? Well, Solar Beam, a Canadian company now produces solar concentrators, based on the same principle Eric used, but aimed at heating your home and providing hot water... for free.

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Efficiency-Boosting Solar Concentrators from HyperSolar a Step Closer to Commercialization

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 19:40:16 +0000

Tuning existing solar cells so they run at their best is the hardest thing to do next to creating new ones, with the most advanced technology to date. HyperSolar, a company specialized in building solar concentrators, has reached that point where they can say they'll be able to develop a commercial product in the following period.

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Eric’s Homemade Mirror Solar Concentrator Melts Metals and Concrete in Seconds (Video)

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 15:11:04 +0000

Here's Eric Jacqmain, who built his "Death Ray" out of a normal satellite dish with 5,800 small mirrors on it. He worked about 24 hours on the project whose results you can see in the video below.

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Concentrated Sunlight Generating Hydrogen from Water and Splitting Carbon Dioxide

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 20:34:28 +0000

I've known for years that solar concentrators do a good job at harnessing heat. You may also use them to generate electricity, but it's not their best job possible. A recent article published in the journal Science shows how solar concentrators can be used to directly extract hydrogen from water, without any middlemen such as photovoltaic panels and electricity.

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Solar Cells Featuring Carbon Nanotube Antennas Concentrate Light 100 Times

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 11:27:05 +0000

These days, MIT chemical engineers have come up with a new approach to concentrate solar power by 100 times without needing any lenses, mirrors or anything else than the solar cell itself.

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SkyTrough Solar Concentrator Certified by NREL as Most Efficient In Its Class

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:32:24 +0000

SkyFuel, a U.S.-based company, has just published a press release, stating that the The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has certified their SkyTrough solar concentrator technology to have the highest efficiency in its class.

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Capstone Microturbine and Heliofocus CSPs Working Together Efficiently in Israel

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 18:45:20 +0000

We've been talking about the Capstone Turbine Corporation a long time ago. They used their turbines to everything from cars to solar generators. Now, Capstone and HelioFocus (a company specialized in solar concentrators) announced today their first product that converts sunlight into electricity. The solar receiver is from Heliofocus and the turbine from Capstone.

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Fraunhofer Researchers Developing 41.1% Efficient Solar Panels

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 20 May 2010 18:20:59 +0000

They used Fresnel lenses situated 10 cm apart from stacked layers of solar cells. The metamorphic triple-junction solar cells consist of gallium indium phosphide, gallium indium arsenide and germanium semiconductors. The efficiency of these cells is dazzling: 41.1 percent - higher than ever before. The two scientists even for the 2010 Joseph von Fraunhofer Prize.

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Tapas Mallick Inventing Cheaper Solar Concentrators by Using Plexiglas

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 18:38:20 +0000

Tapas Mallick, at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, UK, is developing a grid of cheap light concentrators that can be mounted on walls, rooftops or between the panes of double-gazed windows.

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Google Improving Mirror Technology For Making Solar Concentrators 2x Cheaper

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 10:31:15 +0000

Besides its search engine activities, Google focused on producing alternative energy technologies, or improving the existing ones. So is the case now, when Google developed a new mirror technology that could help solar companies like eSolar or BrightSource make cheaper and better solar thermal plants.

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Beam-Down Solar Concentrator Dramatically Reduces Costs at Price of Efficiency

Ovidiu Sandru — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:02:49 +0000

By seeking to cut costs with the production of energy and building the necessary infrastructure, scientists from the Masdar Institute along with their colleagues from the Tokyo Institute of Technology and Cosmo Oil (?) are studying how to convert old, expensive solar concentrator technology to a new and more flexible one: The Beam Down Project.

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Fraunhofer's Very Efficient Solar Cell Concentrator

Cristi — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 20:13:01 +0000

Solar cell system which concentrate solar light through lenses seem to be the most efficient and advantageous. The concentrator enables the system to work with cheaper lens system instead of expensive semi-conductor materials, making it as well more efficient.

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Italian Researchers Inventing New Type of Solar Concentrator

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:41:09 +0000

Roberto de Luca and Aniello Fedullo from the University Salerno of Italy invented a new solar concentrating device they say is inspired by the Ear of Dionysus. According to the legends, Doinysus's ear had an elliptical cave so he could hear even the weakest whispers of a prisoner in one of the cave's foci.

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Concentrated Solar Power Could Lower Price of Electricity to $0.1/kW by 2020

Ovidiu Sandru — Fri, 29 May 2009 12:45:16 +0000

CSP stands for Concentrated Solar Power, and it really isn't a cutting edge technology. It uses solar power, focused through mirrors, to heat water in a central tower (like in the image on the left), create steam, and spin a turbine to generate electricity. It's so simple and effective that it can currently deliver electricity at €0.15 to €0.23 a kilowatt.

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Flat Solar Concentrator: Cheap, Durable, 30% Efficient

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:17:33 +0000

Nicolas Morgan, the director of a Toronto-based firm, named "Morgan Solar", helped by his brother, John Paul Morgan, has invented a solar concentrator that gives a different approach to solar concentrators, by making them more appealing both as price and as durability/efficiency.

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DIY: How to Build a Solar Furnace from a Satellite Dish

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 16:51:24 +0000

This is about how to build a solar furnace out of a satellite antenna dish and mirror broken in many pieces. As you may know, satellite dishes have a focal point (that is a point in which the electromagnetic energy focuses at its maximum power).

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New Solar Panels: 80% Efficient

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:18:41 +0000

A team of scientists from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has been developing a brand new solar energy technology that is about to revolutionize the way we collect and distribute solar energy.

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