Archive for September, 2008
« Previous EntriesControversy over 12 year old boy’s new solar cell design
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008You may have seen a story about 12 year old William Yuan’s 3D solar cell design that won him a $25,000 scholarship and a fellowship from the Davidson Institute. When the story originally broke, it sounded like William Yuan had come up with a world changing invention all on his own – “12 year [...]
UPS expands testing of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles
Monday, September 29th, 2008The United Parcel Service (UPS) has announced that they are expanding their U.S. hydrogen fuel cell testing program to include three large package delivery vehicles. UPS’s initial tests conducted on fuel cell cars were very successful, so they are ready to move to the next phase.
The new fuel cell trucks, which are being built as [...]
Scottish Power to build tidal energy project
Sunday, September 28th, 2008ScottishPower Renewables has announced plans to build 3 tidal energy projects off the coast of Scotland and Northern Ireland. The projects will consist of 20 underwater turbines at each site, which would generate 60 megawatts of tidal power for up to 40,000 homes.
Scottish Power has said that they will apply for planning permission for the [...]
Plastic from sugar, not oil
Saturday, September 27th, 2008Genomatica, a San Diego based company, plans to have a pilot plant up and running next year that will produce 1,4 butanediol (BDO) from bacteria. Currently, oil is needed by plastic manufacturers to make BDO. BDO is the base chemical used in the production of plastics.
‘”We are able to couple the growth [...]
Build your own solar powered computer
Friday, September 26th, 2008I sure was surprised today when the mailman brought my new issue of Computer Power User (CPU). The cover story is entitled “Build a Solar-Powered PC & other high-tech projects.” For the solar powered computer, they selected components very carefully to minimize power consumption and maximize performance (CPU is very good at [...]
Senate passes renewable energy bill
Thursday, September 25th, 2008I was going to write about the Senate passing a bill to expand and encourage investment in renewable energy, but Ecogeek.org has a nice synopsis of the bill, so just go there instead. The House gets to put their spin on the bill next, so we’ll see what happens with that. Hopefully the House [...]
Stopping shadows from harming solar cells
Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008Researchers at the Australian National University have come up with a new process that stops moving shadows from “cannibalising” solar cells and lowering the efficiency of the solar panel.
According to Professor Andrew Blakers, head of the team at ANU, moving shadows cause big problems with solar concentrator cells. “If a shadow from a stick, a [...]
Payback period for hybrids shortening
Monday, September 22nd, 2008One of the main issues with hybrids is their larger upfront cost compared to regular gas powered cars. When the Prius first came out (and gas was alot cheaper), the payback period – the amount of time it took when the amount saved in gasoline equaled the initial higher cash paid – was [...]
Sunrgi to show off their solar cells at Wired’s NextFest 2008
Sunday, September 21st, 2008Sunrgi, the Silicon Valley start up that says that they will delivery solar power in about one year at prices competitive with coal produced electricity, has been selected to be the only solar company featured at Wired NextFest 2008, a showcase of global innovation that’s transforming the world.
Sunrgi, who I wrote about this spring, has [...]
Applied Materials completes largest US solar setup
Saturday, September 20th, 2008Applied Materials announced that it has finished the installation of two new solar power systems that together produce about 2.1 megawatts of electricity. Applied Materials says that this is the “largest solar power deployment at a corporate facility in the United States.” This beats Google’s solar panel farm of 1.6 megawatts and Far West [...]
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