photovoltaic
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Two US startups break solar efficiency records, aim to light up your life
Two US startups are breaking solar efficiency records in their quest to bring clean, cost-effective, eco-friendly energy to a power grid near you. Alta Devices, based in Santa Clara, CA, has achieved a 23.5 percent efficiency rating with its standard solar panel, while Semprius, a Durham, NC company, has achieved a rating of 33.9 percent with its concentrated photovoltaic offering -- besting the previous records of 22.9 percent and 33 percent, respectively. Interestingly enough, both outfits chose to utilize a new material to construct their sun-sopping cells: gallium arsenide. The material, while more expensive, is better suited for absorbing the sun's energy, especially when compared to silicon, the cheaper element typically used. Alta and Semprius are looking to proliferate solar power by further refining the technology, making its price per kilowatt equivalent to that of fossil fuels without the use of government subsides. Here comes the sun...
Arman Ahnood teases OLED display with solar cells, idealizes the self-sustaining smartphone
Plenty of effort is going into improving smartphone battery life, but only a few individuals are delving into radical realms to achieve the goal. Take for example, Arman Ahnood, a researcher at the London Centre for Nanotechnology, whose latest prototype uses solar cells to capture wasted energy from OLEDs. Similar to Wysips (which uses only ambient light), and equipment from UCLA (designed for LCDs), each project faces the unenviable task of making the smartphone a self-sustaining piece of gear.Ahnood's handiwork relies on an array of solar cells that surround and sit beneath the phone's display. Currently, the system averages 11 percent efficiency in its energy capture, with a peak efficiency of 18 percent. Naturally, there are gains to be made. Of the light generated from OLEDs, Ahnood approximates that only 36 percent is actually projected outward. Critically speaking, this also suggests that similar power savings could be achieved with dimmer, more efficient displays, but we'll let that slide. As it stands, Ahnood's system is able to generate approximately five milliwatts of additional power, given a screen size of 3.7-inches. It's hardly sustainable, but if the creation lets us squeeze in a few more text messages on Friday night, we'll take it.
Google's letting it shine as it nears $1 billion investment in solar energy
Google's feeling charitable this holiday and has pumped $94 million into a Californian solar-energy project. The photovoltaic power plant (which is a posh way of saying "lots of solar panels in the Sacramento desert valley") currently being built by Recurrent Energy will generate 88MW, enough juice for 13,000 homes. Additional investment is coming from equity fund KKR, who has already sold the first 20 years of energy to the Sacramento Municipal Utility District. It brings the search giant's investment in clean energy projects to $915 million -- with the company expected to cross the billion dollar mark some time next year, when we hope it'll get a nice loyalty bonus from Mother Nature.
AUO's flexible e-paper to take on Stretch Armstrong in battle of the bendiest
There's nothing better than unplugging on a Sunday afternoon with a newspaper and a cup of Joe, which is exactly what AU Optronics hopes to facilitate with its 6-inch Rollable Organic TFT E-paper. We've heard rumblings about the foldable photovoltaic device before, but the company has finally delivered a working prototype that is completely solar powered and elastic enough to make even Gumby jealous. Made of organic TFTs, the SVGA e-paper has an amorphous silicon PV battery, which turns natural or indoor light into solar energy without requiring a power plug. The only downside? Unlike the dead tree variety, wrapping presents in this stuff is a no-go. Check out the extended PR after the break.
GE's new factory will push out one solar panel every ten seconds
General Electric is sending its troops to Colorado to conquer the thin film solar panel business. The 38th state will play home to a new facility that leverages the supermodel-thin panel know-how of PrimeStar Solar, which GE scooped up back in 2008. In traditional solar panels, sand is refined into silicon ingots, sliced wafers of which are then placed in a frame. The thin film process eliminates this, sandwiching layers of semiconductors between panes of glass -- saving time, money and, most importantly, energy. The factory will open ahead of schedule in 2012 and is reportedly capable of producing a new panel every ten seconds. You can learn all of that and more in the press release we've got for you after the break.
Murata Tactile Controller TV remote hands-on (video)
What's that, you're not into changing the channel with that boring old remote, or even with your voice? Murata's ground-up Tactile Controller brings a real twist to every couch potato's favorite gadget. Quite literally. The company's prototype remote uses touch-pressure pads and pyroelectricity to analyze the position of a piezoelectric film. In English: a plastic film produces tiny amounts of electricity at various voltages (output as data) when it's forced into a variety of positions, letting you change the channel simply by twisting the controller in either direction, or flexing to adjust volume. The model we saw was a plastic sandwich of sorts, and also included four solar cells, capable of producing one milliwatt of electricity -- just enough to power the device. We put the controller through its paces at the company's CEATEC booth, adjusting a TV's volume and channel up and down, and, well, up and down, since that's just about all you can do with the thing. The model we saw only supported five twist positions and four bending positions in each direction, so it could theoretically adjust those two basic settings more quickly based on how much pressure you put on the film, but realistically can't do much beyond that. The Tactile Controller on display here is more of a proof of concept of sorts -- with the concept being the plastic film technology itself, and not the battery-free remote control, which the company decided would be the most visual application for testing its new film, though not necessarily the most practical. Understandably, Murata doesn't have any plans to release the remote that we saw today, but you can jump past this to see us do the twist.%Gallery-135771%
Murata wants to take couch potatoes by the hand and do the remote control twist
We've seen Murata's marketing future, and it involves either Chubby Checker or that '90s Helen Hunt movie. The Japanese electronics maker's cooked up a flexible sensor device that'll let you twist and shout bend your way to remote television control. Dubbed the Leaf Grip Remote Controller, the prototype UI design makes use of a special pyroelectric effect-free piezoelectric film that translates twisting into channel changing, rapid twisting to swap video inputs, bending for volume control and rapid bending to power the set on / off. The company's also outfitted the non-clicker (which we'll henceforth refer to as "the Twister") with a photovoltaic cell, giving it the ability to charge -- from your man cave? Kinks in its planning aside, sample shipments are expected to be delivered sometime next spring. But, before they rush this product out to market, may we suggest the inclusion of a sports-induced rage-proof mode?
Photovoltaic polarizers could make self-charging smartphone dreams come true
There's nothing worse than losing the charge on your iPhone at the company picnic. But fear not, you won't be stranded Twitter-less next to the potato salad if UCLA's new energy recycling LCD technology ever makes it to market. According to its inventors, the traditional LCD polarization process loses as much as 75 percent of light energy -- something that eats around 80 to 90 percent of the device's power. By using polarizing organic photovoltaic cells, however, the LCD-packing gizmo can recycle its own lost backlight energy, keeping itself charged for longer. What's really cool is these cells can recycle indoor or outdoor light as well, so you will essentially never lose a charge -- or have to speak to another human IRL again. Full PR after the break.
Solar panels light up Yosemite National Park, don't spoil your view
Normally we like to keep our technology and nature reasonably separate, but like peanut butter and chocolate, some combinations turn out better than you'd think. In the latest in a long line of projects funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Yosemite National Park has installed over 2,800 solar panels in the El Portal maintenance complex, neatly hidden from the all seeing eyes of the public. The plenitude of photovoltaic plates will produce about 800,000 kWh per year, saving the park $50,000 annually on its power bill and scoring it $700,000 in rebates from PG&E over the next 5 years. The 5.8 million dollar system cuts the park's reliance on carbon fuels by 12 percent, and is now the largest grid-connected solar energy system in the National Park Service. Press release junkies can hit the break for the official announcement; solar fanatics looking for a better view should check out KCRA's coverage in the links below.
MIT researchers revolutionize solar cell printing, fold the power of the sun into your everyday home (video)
Wouldn't it be neat if you could power a few gadgets around the house with some tastefully chosen, solar cell-embedded curtains? Alright, so this MIT-pioneered tech's not quite that advanced yet, but it's destined to have a Martha Stewart Living future. By eschewing liquids and high temperatures for gentler vapors kept below 120 degrees Celsius, researchers were able to cheaply print an array of photovoltaic cells on "ordinary untreated paper, cloth or plastic." And here's some additional food for thought -- the vapor-deposition process used to create these cells is the same as the one that puts that "silvery lining in your bag of potato chips" -- science, it's everywhere. Despite the tech's home furnishing friendly approach, this breakthrough printing technique can't be done with your everyday inkjet, but it will make the cost of solar energy installations a bit cozier. Its flexible durability aside, the cells currently operate at only one percent efficiency -- so you might want to buy those drapes in bulk to see a real bottom line kickback. Foldable paper video demonstration after the break.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: IKEA's massive solar array, climate-controlled clothing and ultra-green yachts
The summer sun supercharged green technology this week as Inhabitat reported that IKEA flipped the switch on a massive 65,000 square foot solar array and designer Markus Kayser unveiled an awesome self-sufficient solar-powered laser cutter. We also spotted a clever off-grid Tropicana billboard that is juiced by oranges, and we learned about a new piezoelectric film that could lead to laptops powered by typing. Energy-generating architecture also made headlines as SMIT announced plans to roll out their Solar Ivy system on several buildings and one designer unveiled plans for a green energy island large enough to power Copenhagen. Green transportation also reached for the sky this week as the sun-powered Solar Impulse airplane made its public debut at the Paris Air Show and EADS unveiled plans for an innovative all-electric commercial aircraft. Efficient autos also hit the streets as the Nissan Leaf became the first electric car to tackle Pike's Peak, and we learned that Porsche is working on a new breed of cars that are able to drive themselves. If pedal-powered transportation is more your speed you won't want to miss this beautiful kinetic energy-storing Potenza vehicle, and we were wowed by the solar panel-clad Emax Excalibur hybrid yacht. In other news, we shined a light on green consumer electronics this week as we brought you a lunar LED light modeled after the moon and Peter Rojas explained how wasteful it is to keep gadgets chargers plugged in as part of our Ask a Tech Geek column. We also shared a low-tech tablet that's perfect for kids, and we showcased a new type of climate-controlled clothing that beats the summer heat. Finally, we were excited to see Sprint launch a contest where you can recycle your old cell to score a Vespa scooter and an eco smartphone, and we brought you seven sustainable designs for a greener Fourth of July.
Oregon engineers roll out cheaper, less wasteful solar cells with inkjet printer
It looks like the push to turn the inkjet printer into the next great manufacturer of solar cells has found another proponent in a team of engineers at Oregon State University. That group of resourceful researchers claims to have created the world's first "CIGS solar devices with inkjet printing," thus giving birth to a new production process that reduces raw material waste by 90 percent. CIGS (an acronym for copper, indium, gallium, and selenium) is a highly absorbent and efficient compound, especially suited to creating thin-film solar cells. The team has used inkjet technology to pump out a CIGS ink with an efficiency of five percent, and a potential efficiency of 12 percent; apparently enough to produce a "commercially viable solar cell." Unfortunately, the group has yet to announce plans to bring the ink to our desktop printer -- so much for that backyard solar farm. Full PR after the break.
Solar Sinter solar-powered 3D printer turns sand into glass, renews our faith in higher education (video)
Where would we be without the world's graduate art projects? In the case of Markus Kayser's Solar Sinter, we might never have seen the day when a solar-powered 3D printer would turn Saharan sand into a perfectly suitable glass bowl. Well, lucky for us (we suppose) we live in a world overflowing with MA students, and awash in their often confusing, sometimes inspiring projects. Solar Sinter, now on display at the Royal College of Art, falls into the latter category, taking the Earth's natural elements, and turning them into functioning pieces of a burgeoning technology. Solar Sinter uses the sun's rays in place of a laser and sand in place of resin, in a process that is perhaps more visually stunning than the results. See for yourself in the video after the break.
Solar Impulse completes first solar-powered international flight, Captain Piccard returns to earth
We're big fans of charming, ungainly Solar Impulse, and of Captain Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg's quest to circumnavigate the globe in a solar-powered plane. In case you missed the live stream: the Swiss flier just got a little closer to that goal by completing its first international flight, taking off near Berne, Switzerland and landing in Brussels, Belgium, just under 13 hours later. That's half the flight time of an earlier test, in which the craft's 200-foot wingspan, covered with 12,000 photovoltaic solar cells, kept it aloft for 26 hours. Of course, a controlled test flight is one thing -- making solar-powered flight commercially viable means proving your plane can successfully navigate busy airspace. To see Solar Impulse come in for a smooth landing, peep the video after the break.
Energy-efficient military uniforms to make solar-powered necktie so last season
This definitely isn't the first time we've heard of wearable solar cells, but a new development underway in the UK could certainly have a greater impact than, say, an iPod-charging denim jacket. By combining photovoltaic cells with thermoelectric devices, a team of researchers is working to create new, more efficient uniforms for British troops. The solar-powered outfits could cut the weight of traditional battery packs in half, allow for significantly longer military missions, and actually absorb energy across the electromagnetic spectrum, decreasing the possibility of detection by infrared technology. To ensure 24-hour power, the solar cells will collect energy in daylight, with thermoelectric devices taking on the task at night. A prototype is set for 2013, but we wonder how long it will take to hit the catwalk.
New solar machine could generate hydrogen fuel, food for your future vehicle
We're hesitant to file this one in the folder marked "Awesome Things That'll Never Happen," but it's definitely on the watch list. A new prototype solar device has been concocted to convert sunlight into fuel, much in the same way a plant does. Eco-minded folks will probably understand that conventional photovoltaic panels "must use the electricity they generate in situ," and thus, cannot deliver energy at night; this here device takes a rather unorthodox approach, using the sun's rays along with ceria (a magical, marvelous metal oxide) to "break down carbon dioxide or water into fuels which can be stored and transported." In theory, at least, the device could be used to create hydrogen and / or carbon monoxide, with the former being obviously useful for fueling up hydrogen-based cars of the future. Sadly, the existing prototype is horribly inefficient -- only around 0.7 percent of the solar energy can be converted into fuel -- but researchers are adamant that they can boost that to nearly 20 percent in time. We'll check back in a decade or so to see how things are progressing.
US Army testing solar powered tents for troops, gadget addicted campers
While the military is still hashing out plans to outfit soldiers with their own smartphones, gadgets are already a part of daily life of troops in the field. Of course, more technology means more demand for power, and the Army has been evaluating technologies for flexible, lightweight photovoltaic tents and shades. "They are ideal for charging up batteries, making sure your (communications), night vision goggles and computers are powered up. You don't want a generator on top of a mountain, and you don't want to have to bring fuel to a generator or haul batteries," said assistant secretary of the Army Katherine Hammack. Among the various items being tested are the TEMPER Fly, a roughly 16-by-20-foot tent able to generate 800 watts of electricity; QUADrant, a smaller version of the TEMPER Fly that generates roughly 200 watts of power; and Power Shades capable of generating up to 3 kilowatts of exportable electrical power. Sounds like a kick-ass tent for next year's festival season!
NRG and SunPower partner on 250-megawatt solar plant, plan to power 100,000 California homes
NRG Solar (get it?) and SunPower -- neither of which are strangers to extracting juice from that glowing ball of fire in our sky -- have just linked up to build one of the world's largest photovoltaic solar plants. The tandem will start construction in San Luis Obispo County next year, creating around 350 jobs in the process and helping California inch ever closer to realizing its 33 percent renewable portfolio standard. The 250-megawatt plant still pales in comparison to a few others (namely this guy in Arizona), but it dwarfs the vast majority of factories in operation today. The project is expected to stretch out for three or four years, but when all is said and done, around 100,000 homes (yeah, even the home of one Vincent Chase) will be given sun-sourced energy thanks to this here installation. That said, the actual energy bills for Californians everywhere probably won't sink -- but hey, at least you're throwing Ma Earth a well-deserved bone, right?
Boeing's Spectrolab subsidiary set to mass produce 39.2 percent efficient solar cells
Boeing's Spectrolab subsidiary has been working on making solar cells more and more efficient for years now, and it looks like it's now set to put its latest record-breaking cells into mass production. Those come in the form of the company's new C3MJ+ solar cells, which boast an average conversion efficiency of 39.2 percent, making them the most efficient mass produced cells to date. What's more, Spectrolab says that since the new cells are so similar to its current C3MJ production cells, it should be relatively easy for customers already using those to upgrade to the new cells. Still no word on a price, it seems, but the new cells should be available in January. And, yes, Spectrolab is also hard at work on breaking its own record -- it hopes to crack the 40 percent mark later in 2011.
LaserMotive's unnamed quadrocopter hovers for 12 solid hours using lasers alone
Protip: $900,000 goes a long way, particularly when you're dumping practically all of it into a single investment (Hello Kitty lap warmers notwithstanding). LaserMotive, the company lauded for bringing home nearly a million bucks in the 2009 NASA-sponsored Space Elevator Games, has just broken an endurance record for laser-powered hovering with its unnamed Pelican. This here quadrocopter is designed to get energized by converting beams into power via a set of photovoltaic panels on its underside, and in a recent test, lasers were able to keep it afloat for over 12 hours. It never hovered much higher than 30 feet, and it barely moved from left to right while in the air, but we're guessing it was marginally more interesting than watching paint dry. All jesting aside, the milestone makes it a lot more feasible for the company to get this technology into UAVs used in the military -- "for example, laser-powered copters could perform on-the-road reconnaissance missions when convoys travel through a combat zone." And if you're looking to take home something similar on a far smaller scale, there's always the AR.Drone.
