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
Solard Death Ray: Power of 5000 suns! [SLYT] The R5800: made from an ordinary fiberglass satellite dish, it is covered in about 5800 3/8" (~1cm) mirror tiles. When properly aligned, it can generate a spot the size of a dime with an intensity of 5000 suns! This amount of power is more than enough to melt steel, vaporize aluminum, boil concrete, turn dirt into lava, and obliterate any organic material in an instant. It stands at 5'9" and is 42" across.
posted by Fizz
on Jan 30, 2011 -
59 comments
Year On Earth breaks it down, explaining the complicated mechanics involved in trying to determine how long a year really is, why seasons and ice ages happen, and how not all years are created equal.
posted by loquacious
on Jul 5, 2010 -
22 comments
Solar takes to the skies. The
Solar Impulse took flight today, reaching an altitude of 5500 feet over 87 minutes.With
a wingspan of over 60 meters, close to that of a Boeing 747, it weighs about as much as a small car. Its 12,000 solar cells generate power for the 40hp engine, with an average speed of 70 kph (44 mph). The team will continue testing the prototype, including a 36 hour overnight flight, before constructing
an even lighter,
more powerful,
more stable plane, with the goal of flying around the world in 2012, traveling both during both the day and at night, without fuel.
posted by markkraft
on Apr 7, 2010 -
20 comments
The globe’s networked ecologies of food, water, energy, and waste have established new infrastructures and forms of urbanism. While these ecologies exist at the service of our contemporary lifestyles, they have typically remained hidden from view and from the public conscience.
Infranet Lab is studying the shifting / changing conditions.
[more inside]
posted by netbros
on Apr 20, 2009 -
2 comments
Meta-efficiency is the analysis of efficiency at a more comprehensive level.
Metaefficient Review assesses products considering not only their energy efficiency but also the embodied energy, toxicity, affordability, and usability.
[more inside]
posted by netbros
on Feb 28, 2009 -
4 comments
Have you ever thought about putting solar panels on your roof? Would you like to know how much power you can generate and what it would cost.
RoofRay is a fun site that will calculate it for you and then let you know how much it would cost and how many years you'd need to recoup your investment. You enter an address into a version of Google Maps, and then draw where you want to put the array on your preferably southern facing roof.
posted by willnot
on Aug 14, 2008 -
47 comments
How Africa's desert sun can bring Europe power. A £5bn solar power demonstration project called
Desertec is being developed by Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation (
TREC) that would send solar energy northward from African deserts. The goal is in 30 years to provide a significant fraction of Europe's electricity needs.
posted by stbalbach
on Dec 13, 2007 -
35 comments
Popular Science has named
Nanosolar the
#1 innovative product of the year. Finally, cheap and ubiquitous solar power has arrived, “You’re talking about printing rolls of the stuff—printing it on the roofs of 18-wheeler trailers, printing it on garages, printing it wherever you want it,” The only problem is demand, so they're building
the world’s largest solar-panel manufacturing facility in San Jose. See 96 other innovations in PopSci's
Best of 2007.
posted by stbalbach
on Nov 17, 2007 -
25 comments
