Some interesting things have recently happened in the world of solar power:
Evergreen and
Solyndra have gone bankrupt, panel cost has gone sub $1.00/watt, and China has vastly increased production capacities.
[more inside]
posted by thewalrus
on Nov 17, 2011 -
103 comments
Most of the talk about renewable energy is aimed at electricity production. However, most of the energy we need is heat, which solar panels and wind turbines cannot produce efficiently. To power industrial processes like the making of chemicals, the smelting of metals or the production of microchips, we need a renewable source of thermal energy. Direct use of solar energy can be the solution, and it creates the possibility to produce renewable energy plants using only renewable energy plants, paving the way for a truly sustainable industrial civilization. [more inside]
posted by Bangaioh
on Jul 30, 2011 -
31 comments
Around
one year ago we saw some of the recent events in solar power. At that time solar panels topped out at a peak efficiency of around 290W for a 1.99 x 0.99 meter 72-cell module, with a lone rare and expensive
315W module that was used to build team Germany's
solar decathlon winning house. Since then prices have dropped a lot, and China is advancing in commodity tech.
[more inside]
posted by thewalrus
on Mar 3, 2011 -
80 comments
Solar Tower (text and video). "The rays of sunlight reflected by a field of 600 huge mirrors are so intense they illuminate the water vapour and dust hanging in the air."
posted by stbalbach
on May 3, 2007 -
61 comments
Mike Strizki lives in the nation's first solar-hydrogen house. "The technology this civil engineer has been able to string together – solar panels, a hydrogen fuel cell, storage tanks, and a piece of equipment called an electrolyzer – provides electricity to his home year-round, even on the cloudiest of winter days.
Mr. Strizki's monthly utility bill is zero – he's off the power grid – and his system creates no carbon-dioxide emissions. Neither does the fuel-cell car parked in his garage, which runs off the hydrogen his system creates."
posted by mr_crash_davis
on Mar 16, 2007 -
28 comments
Boundless energy or bad math? Randell Mills thinks he has the solution to our energy problems. In his company's patented
process,
"energy is released as the electrons of atomic hydrogen are induced to undergo transitions to lower energy levels producing plasma, light, and novel hydrogen compounds." It also implies that quantum mechanics is wrong.
posted by Espoo2
on Nov 5, 2005 -
73 comments
The ultimate renewable energy resource - kids. Unlike
Monsters inc, who harness the energy of screams, the
Playpump (also discussed
here) harnesses kids having fun to provide clean water.
If they have to cart water, the
Q-drum (also discussed
here) is a very simple way to make this chore easier. In this complicated world, the best ideas are still the simple ones.
via A Whole Lotta Nothing
posted by dg
on May 27, 2004 -
7 comments
What if oil and natural gas
were renewable resources? Prof. Thomas Gold opines that oil is produced by microbes breaking down methane deep within the earth, thus explaining how some depleted oilfields have begun producing again. He even wrote a
book on it. Brilliant re-examination of accepted theory or crackpot lunatic?
posted by CRS
on May 22, 2001 -
9 comments