Cheap Solar Power at Night

Solar storage: The beads in these vials are made of two types of glass that can store heat up to 1,200°C. Halotechnics

Solar power has two main problems: it’s expensive, and it’s intermittent, since the output of a solar power plant depends on the time of day and cloud cover. Halotechnics, an early-stage solar-thermal startup, could help solve both problems.

The company has developed new heat-storage materials that promise to not only make solar-thermal power plants more efficient, but also reduce the cost of storing energy from the sun for use when it’s most needed. … Continue Reading

Glasgow solar study: ‘We could put oil back in ground’

By Ken Macdonald, BBC - Researchers in Glasgow are working on a way to remove greenhouse gas from the atmosphere and put oil back under the North Sea. The sun gives its energy away for free. We can harvest it with solar cells and wind turbines to make electricity. That’s the good news. The bad? It’s electricity. It’s difficult stuff to store and sometimes, just when you need some, it’s dark or the wind’s stopped blowing.

That’s why Glasgow University’s Solar Fuels Group want us to make the leap from solar power to solar fuel. It’s a multidisciplinary, multi-million pound effort which aims to convert renewable energy into fuel that’s simple to store. … Continue Reading

Biosolar Breakthrough Promises Cheap, Easy Green Electricity

Biosolar hydrogen production with green algae

 ScienceDaily — Barry D. Bruce, professor of biochemistry, cellular and molecular biology, at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is turning the term “power plant” on its head. The biochemist and a team of researchers has developed a system that taps into photosynthetic processes to produce efficient and inexpensive energy. … Continue Reading

‘Bicycle pump’ to turn wave power into clean energy

A UK engineer has invented a device that harnesses wave power to pump sea water uphill, from where it can flow downhill to create hydroelectricity, raising hopes of a cheap, abundant source of renewable energy.

An aquatic “bicycle pump” is set to take to the seas and turn wave power into clean electricity after being acquired by green energy company Ecotricity. The Searaser device, which pumps saltwater to an onshore generator, has been tested in prototype and praised by ministers. … Continue Reading

PlanetSolar’s solar catamaran – Solar Powered Boat Travels the World

Planet Solar's solar catamaran docks in Abu Dhabi

In Spring 2004, the seed of an idea a little crazy germinates in the mind of Raphael Domjan. He is 39 years old and Swiss. He was trained as an electronics engineer but he is also ambulance man, jet and glider pilot, and mountain guide. In love with Nature, he is a Jack of all trades and a fervent defender of clean energy. Like others, he feels that we rapidly need to find alternatives to our wild oil consumption but that, at the same time, the huge potential of renewable energy still need to be proven and promoted. … Continue Reading

DOE Researchers Report Breakthrough for Cheaper Biofuels

New molecular breakthroughs could help in designing E. coli that better digest switchgrass and other plants to help make biofuels. Credit: Todd Johnson

Researchers at DOE’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) announced on December 22 a major breakthrough in engineering systems of RNA molecules using computer-assisted design. The innovation could lead to important improvements across a range of industries, including the development of less-expensive advanced biofuels. Scientists will use these new “RNA machines” to adjust genetic expression in the cells of microorganisms. This will enable scientists to develop new strains of Escherichia coli (E. coli) that are better able to digest switchgrass biomass and convert released sugars to form gasoline, diesel, and jet fuels. JBEI is led by researchers at DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. … Continue Reading

ALD to enable novel, high efficiency silicon nanorod solar cells

Georgia Tech scientists' goal has been focused on the optical properties of the fly eye's nanostructure, aiming to understand the visible light, UV light and infrared light transmission through the structures.

Picosun Oy, Finland-based global manufacturer of state-of-the-art Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) equipment, has reported successful final results of the European Union 7th Framework Programme funded research project ROD-SOL. The goal of this multinational, inter-European, three years (2009-2011) project combining the efforts of both scientific and industrial partners has been to dramatically increase the efficiency of solar cells and reduce the costs of their manufacturing. This has been achieved with novel, innovative, silicon nanorod based concept. … Continue Reading

Energy: Storage will make solar power reliable after sunset

These plants are unique because they can generate power when it is needed, day or night, rain or shine.

BY LESLIE BERKMAN

Reliability is the greatest weakness of solar power. The sun provides an abundant, clean source of power to run steam generators that produce electricity. But it is ineffective after the sun sets.

To address that shortcoming, solar plant developers have plans to build facilities in Inland Southern California to store the sun’s power as heat that can be tapped to run steam generators in the late afternoon and evenings when demand for electricity is greatest. … Continue Reading