Read the rest of Sustainable Makokos Floating School in Nigeria is Finally Complete
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Post tags: "energy efficiency", Architecture, bamboo, Floating Houses, Floating School, green materials, kunle adeyemi, Lagos, Makokos, nigeria, nle, pilot project, rainwater harvesting, solar panels, Solar Power, water issues, Wood
Read the rest of UOW Australia Wins the 2013 Solar Decathlon China!
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Post tags: chalmers university of technology, fibro home, first place, greywater, Illawarra Flame House, living building challenge standards, photovoltaic array, rainwater collection, Recycled Materials, retrofitted structure, solar decathlon china, South China University of Technology, UOW Australia, winner
While our planet may be made up mostly of water, and electricity is used in every developed country, both of these resources are in tragically short supply in many places around the globe. Moreover, the majority of still developing countries are located on or near the equator, which receives more sunlight and rainfall than just about anywhere else on Earth. NOS, a design consulting company founded by Agustin Saiz Otegui, has designed a simple solution called Photoflow that aims to provide solar power and rainwater collection in one single unit for households in underdeveloped areas.
Read the rest of Photoflow Collector Harvests Rainwater and Solar Power for Developing Countries
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Post tags: collecting rainwater, design for good, developing nations, equator rainfall, humanitarian design, NOS photoflow, NOS solarflow, photoflow, photoflow power collection system, photoflow solar power and rainwater collection system, photoflow water collection system, powering developing countries, rainwater collectors, rooftop rainwater, rooftop solar power, solar and rainwater collection system, solar cell power, solar power collection, solar power collectors, Solarflow
Read the rest of Tomas Saraceno’s Solar Bell Sculpture Explores the Concept of Flying Buildings
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Post tags: eco-friendly art, flying buildings, flying sculpture, flying sculpture Rotterdam, green design, Maasvlakte 2 Rotterdam, Rotterdam flying sculpture, Solar Bell sculpture, solar panels, Tomas Saraceno, Tomas Saraceno Solar Bell
Currently solar-powered vehicles remain a distant dream for electric vehicle fans. One of the biggest hurdles is the fact that the current on-board solar panels don’t produce enough power to supply the needs of a standard EV – but the new P-Mob electric car prototype may change that. The P-Mob city car prototype is currently being developed by six European companies, and it has been awarded €2.8 million in funding.
Read the rest of P-Mob Solar-Powered Electric Car Receives €2.8 Million in Funding
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Post tags: automotive, electric cars, green car, green transportation, p-mob electric car, p-mob solar powered car, Solar Power, solar powered car
Trains are an interesting and environmentally-friendly way to travel. In hot and crowded countries like India, however, comfort might be a poor adjective to describe the experience of the average train passenger. But Indian Railways, a government owned and operated rail network, recently announced that it would be tapping the power of the sun to make traveling in its coach cars a more palatable experience. A partnership with the Indian Institute of Technology will allow the installation of solar harvesting equipment that will supply enough electricity for on-board air conditioning, as well as more efficient internal lighting.
Read the rest of Solar-Powered Air Conditioning Coming Soon to Trains in India
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Post tags: "solar energy", Electricity, India, Indian Railways, rail travel, solar air conditioning, solar panels, Solar Power, trains, Travel
Photo via Shutterstock
Plant leaves are the ideal model for a lot of solar technology, so it only makes sense that developers of manmade solar panels would look to Mother Nature to improve the efficiency of their designs. Over time, solar cells wear down — just like leaves — due to degradation caused by ultraviolet light. A team of researchers from North Carolina State University revealed this week that they have created a new type of solar cell that can repair and reinvigorate itself by mimicking the functioning of organic vascular systems found in nature.
Read the rest of Self-Healing Solar Cells Mimic Plant Leaves to Repair Themselves
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Post tags: "solar energy", biomimicry, clean tech, green tech, green technology, leaves, natural solar cells, North Carolina State, organic solar cells, Solar Cell, solar panels, Solar Power, solar technology
Researchers have discovered that a mineral known to science for over a century has great potential for solar power applications. Perovskite, which is an abundant mineral first discovered in the Ural Mountains of Russia in the mid 19th century, is said to be very efficient at absorbing light and uses less material to capture the same amount of energy when compared to conventional solar absorbers.
Read the rest of Age Old Perovskite Mineral Offers Promise of Dirt Cheap Solar Power
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Post tags: cheap solar energy, clean tech, green tech, new solar absorbers, perovskite, reducing costs of solar energy, renewable energy, silicon vs. perovskite, Solar Power, solar research
Researchers at MIT have engineered a new kind of rechargeable flow battery that could lead to a greater switch to renewable energy, such as wind and solar. Despite widespread support for renewable electricity, utility planners have hesitated to integrate large amounts of renewables into the electric grid due to the high transmission costs and capricious nature of solar and wind. MIT’s breakthrough membrane-less flow battery, however, could bring us one giant step closer to a greener, more cost-effective electricity grid.
Read the rest of MIT’s Breakthrough Rechargeable Flow Battery Could Lower US Electric Bill and Carbon Footprint
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Post tags: "solar energy", "sustainable energy", carbon footprint, electric grid, electrolytes, energy storage, flow batteries, flow battery, MIT, renewable energy, utility companies, wind energy
President Obama just announced that the White House is finally undergoing an energy-efficient retrofit, beginning with the installation of a solar array on the iconic building’s roof. The greening of the White House was first announced by Obama three years ago, and the solar panels will provide clean energy to help power the nation’s most famous address for the first time since the Carter administration. Although the solar panel manufacturer has not been not disclosed, the photovoltaics are American made, and they will provide enough clean electricity to meet the energy needs of the first family.
Read the rest of White House Begins Installation of First Family’s Rooftop Solar Array
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Read the rest of Earthship Biotecture to Build Green Community Center in Malawi from Earth and Recycled Materials
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Post tags: Disaster Relief, earth architecture, Earthship Biotecture, earthship design Africa, eco design, Empower Malawi, green design, greenhouse technology, humanitarian design, Malawi, Malawi community center, rainwater capture, Recycled Materials, Solar Power, sustainable design, thermal cooling
Read the rest of Michael Jantzen’s Radius Transformation Pavilion Is a Futuristic Solar-Powered Structure On Wheels
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Welcome to Kenya’s “Slum Island,” a place where overcrowded shantytowns fend for themselves on a forgotten island where infrastructure is all but non-existent. A barren pinprick of land on the Kenya-Uganda border in Lake Victoria, Remba (Slum) Island’s isolated location from the mainland makes life even harder for its impoverished residents. Access:energy, the Nairobi-based off-grid energy specialist group, wants to change that with a micro grid that could give thousands of forgotten islanders access to cheaper, cleaner, and more reliable energy.
Read the rest of Access:energy Aims to Bring Life-Changing Clean Energy to Kenya’s Slum Island
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Post tags: "clean energy", "sustainable energy", "wind power", Access: energy, Africa, clean electricity, crowd funding, indiegogo campaign, kenya, micro grid, mobile services in Kenya, off-grid energy, remba island, slum island, Solar Power
Image © Tim Fuller
Germany just broke its monthly solar generation record by clocking over 5.1 terawatt hours (TWh) in July, according to data from the EEX Transparency Platform. The accomplishment proves once again that a lack of sunshine is no obstacle to scaling up solar energy – and if the Teutons can produce record amounts of solar power under grey skies, then the potential for countries with sunnier weather and more land mass (like the United States) is limitless.
Read the rest of Germany Shatters Monthly Solar Generation Record With 5.1 Terawatt Hours of Clean Energy
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Envision Solar isn’t new to innovative solar design. They created the Solar Tree, an umbrella-like solar array that can be used in a parking lot to charge multiple vehicles. Now they have broken new ground with the EV ARC, a completely portable solar charging station that fits in the average parking space.
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Germany’s largest gas, electric, and water utility has threatened to relocate to Turkey if the government continues to push for renewable energy. E.ON reports that its coal and gas-fired plants are currently operating and the situation (for them) only promises to get worse. In the wake of the Fukushima disaster, Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed to phase out nuclear power in Germany within a decade — another main source of revenue for E.ON.
Read the rest of German Fossil-Fuel Utilities Push Back Against Renewable Energy Initiatives
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Post tags: coal power, electric utilities, fossil fuels, gas power, german power companies, germany, nuclear power, renewable energy
Kids and adults can power-up their electronic devices en route to school or work with this awesome Voltaic Converter Solar Backpack. Big enough to carry all your books and papers for class, the backpack doubles as your very own solar power station. The 3.4 Watt outward facing solar panel siphons the sun’s energy while you skip from class to class- and can be yours if you win Inhabitat’s 2013 Back to School Contest!
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Chinese company Trina Solar will supply 1.1 million 250-watt solar panels for a 250-megawatt (MW) solar farm in Nevada. When the project is completed, it will be one of the biggest solar photovoltaic power plants in the world. The project, located in the desert town of Boulder City about 20 miles from Las Vegas, is the third expansion of Sempra U.S. Gas & Power’s Copper Mountain Project. When the project is completed in 2015 the total solar capacity will be up to 458 MW.
Read the rest of 250 MW Nevada Solar Farm To Be Built With Chinese Solar Panels
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Photo via Shutterstock
Solar panels provide one of the cleanest forms of green energy by converting sunlight into electricity, but the photovoltaic panels we use are made with toxic elements including cadmium and lead elements. Researchers from Australia and Japan are now working together to advance the next generation of non-toxic solar panels. The new RMIT University-led research collaboration is working to develop cheaper and less toxic solar cells using nanotechnology.
Read the rest of Australian and Japanese Researchers Team Up to Develop Non-Toxic Solar Panels
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Post tags: australia, copper, CSIRO and the Japan Science and Technology Agency, green energy, Japan, nanocrystals, nanomaterials, photovoltaic, rmit, Solar Power
Read the rest of Architecture for a Change’s Mamelodi Pod is a Self-Sustaining Solution to Shantytowns
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Post tags: AFAC, Architecture For a Change, informal architecture, Mamelodi, Mamelodi Pod, off the grid, off the grid architecture, self-sustainable architecture, shantytown architecture, solar panels, South Africa, water tank
