Because solar panels are designed to accumulate as much light from the sun as possible, they’re typically very dark in color. It makes them more efficient, but also kind of an eyesore, minimizing their adoption. So researchers at the University of Michigan have developed what they believe to be the world’s first semi-transparent, colored solar panels.
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It’s easy to live with a few smudges on your smartphone’s display, but for devices like solar panels that are completely dependent on every last drop of light making it through, cleanliness is a top priority. And when you’ve thousands of solar panels
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Conventional wisdom in the northern hemisphere is to face solar panels south so they get the most light all day. Architects and panel installers implement this approach all the time, especially on homes. But a new study indicates that panels facing west may actually get more juice from the sun, and at more convenient times.
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Ever notice how you feel more productive while listening to a great song? It’s not just you. Researchers just discovered that a certain type of solar panel works most efficiently when exposed to the acoustic vibrations of pop music. Crank it up!
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Someday your home might be nice and cool in the middle of July without air conditioning. How? Some Stanford researchers have created a solar panel that cools buildings in direct sunlight. More »
Though we can’t knock it out of the sky, man has learned to completely and utterly dominate the sun, making it do our bidding without fear of recourse. Case in point: this outdoor patio umbrella featuring a set of four solar panels on top and a pair of USB ports at table level. More »
The cost of energy isn’t cheap as gas prices and home heating costs rise on a semi-regular basis, and one place that we usually don’t think of as energy-sucking locations is the local 24-hour pharmacy. These places need to run their business at all times of the day in order to get you your pills to help with your upset tummy. But one pharmaceutical chain plans to introduce a store that completely runs on renewable energy.
Walgreens is announcing they have started working on what it’s calling America’s first zero energy superstore. The store will be located in Evanston, Illinois and will have over 800 solar panels, two wind turbines and geothermal energy to provide enough power to the store so it wouldn’t need to draw power from outside power sources. (more…)
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Cleaner Air, Thanks To Metal Organic Material, Charging Your Electric Cars Become Easier,
Generating solar power from the infrared spectrum, or even nearby frequencies, has proven difficult in spite of a quarter of the Sun’s energy passing through those wavelengths. The Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications may have jumped that hurdle to efficiency through sulfur — one of the very materials that solar energy often helps eliminate. By irradiating ordinary silicon through femtosecond-level laser pulses within a sulfuric atmosphere, the technique melds sulfur with silicon and makes it easier for infrared light electrons to build into the frenzy needed for conducting electricity. The black-tinted silicon that results from the process is still in the early stages and needs improvements to automation and refinement to become a real product, but there’s every intention of making that happen: Fraunhofer plans a spinoff to market finished laser systems for solar cell builders who want their own black silicon. If all goes well, the darker shade of solar panels could lead to a brighter future for clean energy.
Fraunhofer black silicon could catch more energy from infrared light, go green with sulfur originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Oct 2012 05:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Sharp has announced an unusual photovoltaic panel for the Japanese market that collects energy from the sun while still allowing the light to shine on through. Though it’s rated at a lowly 6.8 percent / 98 watt max efficiency, the glass-like properties make it useful as a construction material (as shown in the balcony railing above), with the semi-transparent nature giving occupants privacy, to boot. The energy-producing cells are embedded in a laminated glass structure and an air slot provides a thermal barrier, allowing the panels to also be used as “windows, curtain wall and eaves” according to Sharp’s PR. Though the system won’t win any potency prizes, it has garnered a design award in Japan, so it won’t blight any landscapes. There’s no mention of pricing or western availability so far, but you can hit the source for all the technical details.
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Sharp unveils semi-transparent solar panels, lets you see the sun while reaping its benefits originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Sep 2012 05:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Whenever Popeye was in trouble, he’d always reach for his can of spinach that would give him the strength to punch Bluto’s lights out.
While spinach won’t really transform a normal human being into a massive hulk, it actually achieves an effect similar to that on Popeye when it comes to solar panels.
A team of researchers from Vanderbilt University in Tennessee published results from their study which showed that a protein found in spinach known as PS1 was actually pretty efficient in converting light to energy.
They recommended that this protein be combined with the silicon used in creating solar panels to come up with a more efficient system. This discovery was first reported forty years ago, but no one really did anything about it – until now.
When the researchers built the biohybrid cells and put them to the test, they discovered that it was up to 2.5 times more efficient than cells without the protein.
Professor David Cliffel explained: “People are trying to get around limitations in semi-conductors with fancy, multi-element devices. But molecular biology is a better known game than these complicated multi-element inorganics. Our components are also non-toxic [and] they literally grow on trees.”
Now who would’ve thought that spinach was indeed this powerful?
[via BusinessGreen via Softpedia]
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