SunTech India is responsible for 26 photovoltaic systems using 464 units of Conergy C125W solar modules. The modules draw 2 kilowatts of power for each of the homes, and are calculated to save 0.5 kilograms of carbon emissions for each kilowatt hour of solar energy used.
If all goes to plan, solar panels placed at the bases of the wind turbines will feed power through the farm’s existing grid.
Wind-energy purveyors Moncada Energy Group hope to install thin-film solar panels at its existing wind farms by the end of next year. The solar panels could increase power production at Moncada’s farms from 105 megawatts to over 500 megawatts, with the panels overtaking the production from the turbines themselves. While the wind turbines work best under the high-speed gusts of nighttime, the solar panels will thrive during the day under the Mediterranean sun.
Spanish car company SEAT (Sociedad Espanola de Automoviles de Turismo) has a solar-powered, three-wheeled two-seater for the eco-crowd: the Brisa (Breeze). The design concept is credited to Miguel Ángel Iranzo Sánchez, while the inspiration for the sleek, fluid design is said to come from the designer’s love of flamenco and the sea.
Would love to bike commute to work but don’t feel up to it? Wouldn’t mind an electric bike but would love one that’s as green to ride as a traditional 20th Century-style bicycle? The Cycle Sol is a concept that aims to address those concerns, making biking an ergonomic, speedy, environmentally-friendly go-go ride.
Of all places to start a greenhouse, the Sahara Desert would likely rank pretty low for many. But someone is working on a plan to make food growing happen there. The Sahara Forest Project aims to use massive greenhouses to direct the sun’s rays for heat and energy, which is planned to regulate the air, filter water and create an environment for plant growth.
Oh, the irony: a team hoping to break a land speed record for a wind-powered craft while calling attention to the twilight of the fossil fuel era and climate change has been undone by … climate change, apparently. The Ecotricity Greenbird team had hoped to speed across a dry lake bed in Australia, but the area has been soaked by a summer of unusually heavy rains.
“(I)t’s an irony not lost on us while that while Greenbird is intended to show how the world might be getting around when fossil fuels run out — the changes that fossil fuels are causing to our climate right now appears to be the very thing that has stopped us,” writes Ecotricity founder Dale Vince on his blog, Zerocarbonista.
More advancements out of the yea-for-sun! department. What follows is a line from the description of the the Snippy e-paper reader as put out at the Greener Gadgets Design Competition 2008:
“Snippy is an ultraportable handheld electronic viewer for textual and graphic information which harvests operating energy from the sun and transparently links to other Snippys in the area to share content.”
This sleek, dynamic next generation of Toyota Prius is shooting for solar-powered air-conditioning. The 1KW of electricity grabbed via rooftop solar panels won’t have the capacity to power much more than that. But it’s a solar start.
This Friday, John C. Mankins, a former NASA employee who is an expert on space solar power will make a big announcement about a potentially huge alternative energy breakthrough.
The basic idea is that satellites in space will collect solar energy and beam it down to the earth. Apparently, Mankin was involved with a project that successfully demonstrated a wireless power transmission between two Hawaiian Islands. The islands are farther apart in distance than is the Earth’s surface from space. The idea and pilot project will be featured on a Discovery Channel show called Discover Project Earth that will also be broadcast this Friday.
