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.
Swedish company Home Energy recently unveiled a new look for a home-based wind turbine. Opting away from the traditional rotor style, the Energy Ball funnels wind within the turbine’s blades. This innovation is hailed for its increased efficiency and lower noise levels and vibration, making it more appealing for small-scale, personal, home use.
Solar tree installations by Ross Lovegrove are sprouting in cities across Europe. The scene above is in Milan. Next will come Venice, at the Biennale dell’ Architettura. The designs more resemble bouquets of flowers, with the petals being lined with LED bulbs and photovoltaic cells.
What a great idea: incorporating solar energy not only into windows and roofs, but into the building blocks of structures themselves … as in bricks. The solar-powered brick, which has a solar cell embedded inside it, could be used to provide decorative or safety lighting, or even illuminate rural airplane runways, according to San Antonio-based distributor Sunrise Solar. Equally cool: you can order bricks that glow in any of a variety of colors.
On the Big Island’s Hamakua Coast, the 24-megawatt Hu Honua Bioenergy Facility will convert locally grown biomass into electricity. 95% of the area’s residents signed a petition in support of converting the coal burning plant into a biomass facility. The converted facility is expected to stimulate local agricultural business, prevent tens of thousands of tons of green waste from ending up in landfills, and create hundreds of local jobs.
The Queen of England has made her Scottish estate, Balmoral, energy-independent by installing a small hydroelectric plant. The plant, near a stream on her estate, not only fuels her estate, but 1,000 area homes through net-metering. Balmoral is no stranger to renewables. The Queen had a water turbine as early as the 1920’s to provide electric lights to her castle, and in the 50’s, to a sawmill.
Iowa State University has figured out a way for the youngest and/or hippest generation of go-getters to power their iPods while maintaining that business professional look: solar neckties.
