Archive for May, 2009
Toyota seeing huge demand for its 2010 Prius
Sunday, May 31st, 2009So far, Japanese demand for the new Toyota 2010 Prius, the 3rd generation of the Prius hybrid, is greatly exceeding Toyota’s expectations. Toyota had set a sales goal of 100,000 cars in Japan by December – right now it looks like they’re going to meet that goal this summer. With so much initial demand, [...]
Is molten salt the “secret sauce” for solar?
Saturday, May 30th, 2009A couple of companies in California, SolarReserve and Rocketdyne, are gearing up to use molten salt as the key ingredient in a new solar plant that’s expected to power 100,000 homes. While it sounds like a weird idea, the concept has actually been proven before, in a shuttered concentrated solar power (CSP) pilot plant near [...]
NY Times interview with Daniel Nocera – Professor of Energy at MIT
Wednesday, May 27th, 2009This New York Times interview is very interesting. Daniel G. Nocera is a Professor of Energy and Professor of Chemistry at MIT, and he’s currently working on an artificial photosynthesis system that will use sunlight to generate hydrogen that can be used to power a fuel cell. One of the benefits of this [...]
Greentech Media reports on the latest wave power designs
Tuesday, May 26th, 2009Wave power hasn’t been doing so hot lately. Last month, reports surfaced that one of the biggest and furthest along project – a farm of floating, electricity generating sea-snake devices, is in trouble because of the global finacial crises – the Australian owner of the project, Babcock & Brown, is in bankruptcy proceedings.
That [...]
Chevy Silverado Hybrid 1500 4WD Crew Cab review
Sunday, May 24th, 2009If you’re looking to buy a full sized pickup truck and you also want better gas mileage than what you’re used to in this size range, you might want to take a look at the review of the 2009 Chevy Silverado Hybrid 1500 4WD Crew Cab posted at All Cars Electric. A 6.0 [...]
Sanyo hits new world record for solar cell efficiency, claims lower cost too
Saturday, May 23rd, 2009Sanyo has just announced that it has broken its own world record for crystalline silicon solar cell efficiency, with its new cells achieving an efficiency of 23%. On top of that, Sanyo also claims that its new process will lower the production cost of its solar cells, reduce the amount of silicon used in [...]
Obama Administration cuts funding for hydrogen powered cars
Wednesday, May 13th, 2009The Obama Administration, in its 2010 budget proposal, seems to have lost faith in hydrogen fuel cell technology. The latest budget knocks out over $100 million in funding for hydrogen research, leaving only $68 million that’s earmarked specifically for fuel cells. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, in explaining the cuts, has said that they do [...]
Solyndra adds to its contracts with a $189m SunConnex deal
Sunday, May 10th, 2009Solyndra, the maker of thin film cylindrical solar cells that can absorb light from all directions and who recently had gotten a $535 million Federal load guarantee from the Department of Energy, has just signed a new $189m multiyear contract with Amsterdam based solar intergrator SunConnex. The contract, which calls for Solyndra to [...]
World’s largest solar power tower now operating in Spain
Monday, May 4th, 2009A new concentrating solar power (CSP) tower, built by Abengoa Solar in Spain, has started up operations. The PS20 is made up of a solar field consisting of 1255 mirrored heliostats with a surface area of 1291 square feet each. These mirrors reflect the sun onto the receiver, which is sitting at [...]