Oct 29

Insert Coin: Ray solar charger adheres to your window, basks in the sunlight

Posted in: Environment, green, solar, solar power, SolarPower, Today's Chili

In Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you’d like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with “Insert Coin” as the subject line.

The most frustrating products are the ones that have such simple ideas, you’re upset that it hasn’t been done before — or that you weren’t the one that came up with it. No idea is so simple as the brilliant Ray solar charger. A mobile phone juicer that comes with a kickstand and built-in suction cup so that it’s nearly always pointed right at the sun. If you think that sounds like simple madness or genius, click past the break to find out why it could be worth your investment.

Continue reading Insert Coin: Ray solar charger adheres to your window, basks in the sunlight

Insert Coin: Ray solar charger adheres to your window, basks in the sunlight originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 Oct 2011 12:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourcequirky  | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags:
Oct 24

Solar Ship takes to the skies powered by good deeds and sunshine (video)

Posted in: green, solar, solar power, SolarPower, Today's Chili, video

The Solar Ship is a little bit airplane, a little bit blimp and all good intentions. The hybrid dirigible combines the cockpit and landing gear of a plane with the top of a blimp, the latter of which is lined with solar panels. The green vehicle can take off from and land on short runways, an ideal feature in a craft designed to deliver supplies to areas hit by natural disasters or with otherwise rough terrains. The ship will come in three sizes, and the company will be offering up more public demonstrations next year. If you can’t wait that long, however, you can check out a test run after the jump.

Continue reading Solar Ship takes to the skies powered by good deeds and sunshine (video)

Solar Ship takes to the skies powered by good deeds and sunshine (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Oct 2011 17:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Inhabitat, The Toronto Star  |  sourceSolar Ship  | Email this | Comments

No Comments
Oct 23

Inhabitat’s Week in Green: quantum levitation, Zombie-Powered Vertical Farm and Macquariums

Posted in: car, eco, ev, green, solar, solar power, SolarPower, space, Today's Chili

Alternative transportation blasted off into the future this week as DeLorean revealed plans to launch an all-electric vehicle in 2013 and Richard Branson announced the official opening of the Virgin Galactic Gateway spaceport. Researchers also developed a next-gen quantum levitation technology that could lead to floating vehicles, and we spotted a cloud concept blimp that soars through the skies. We also brought you an exclusive interview with Revenge of the Electric Car director Chris Paine, and we shared a leaked brochure with specs on Toyota’s new Prius C.

Renewable energy also rocketed towards a more sustainable tomorrow as Japan’s team Tokai took first place in the World Solar Challenge and Apple filed a set of patents for next-generation solar technology. Meanwhile Facebook announced plans to launch a new energy efficiency app in 2012 and we launched a contest where you can win one of 25 $600 home energy audits. We also showcased a stunning set of satellite photos of the world’s power lines, and since Halloween is on its way, we brought you a Zombie-Powered Vertical Farm designed to keep its inhabitants safe from the Living Dead.

Speaking of Halloween, this week we shared instructions for making a DIY cardboard box robot costume, and we launched our 2011 Green Halloween Costume Contest for kids. We also brought you several developments from the realm of eco textiles — a material that repairs its own rips and tears and a Japanese company that recycles old bras into power-generating fuel. Finally, we showcased several slick developments in aqueous technology: an oil skimmer that cleans up spills four times faster, an artificial muscle that could one day propel nanobots through the body, and a quirky set of ‘Macquariums‘ made from Apple iMacs.

Inhabitat’s Week in Green: quantum levitation, Zombie-Powered Vertical Farm and Macquariums originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 23 Oct 2011 20:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags: , , ,
Oct 21

Social Solar Charger Pays You to Use It

Posted in: Accessories and Peripherals, solar power, Today's Chili

Earn points as you save the planet with the Changer charger

Powering your gadgets with solar power is seeming to be a better and better idea. The gear is getting cheaper and better looking, and now — with Changers — you even get rewarded for doing it.

Changers has two parts. The hardware part consists of a solar panel and battery. It takes about four hours to reach a full charge, and this gives you enough juice to charge an iPhone, twice. Of course you’re not limited to iPhones. Anything that charges over USB will work.

The second part is the social and software aspect. The Changers device records the amount of energy you are creating*, and lets you share that with a community, as well as Tweeting the information. If that sounds a little too much like smug, do-gooder behavior to you, then you’re probably right. But there’s a good reason to participate. Converting energy earns you credits, which can be redeemed on various hippy services and goods.

I think I might sign up. Not only does the gear look fairly good, but Barcelona, Spain (where I live) is sunny pretty much all year round, even in the cold winter. Ideal for solar power. Plus, who doesn’t love a gadget that has an input socket marked “Sun”?

The Starter Kit costs $150, or €120.

Changers product page [Changers.com]

*I know energy can’t be created or destroyed, but you know what I mean.

See Also:


No Comments | Tags:
Oct 19

Apple solar patent wants a sunny display light for your Sunny (De)light

Posted in: Apple, patent, patents, solar, solar power, SolarPower, Today's Chili
Let’s begin with the usual disclaimer: Apple patent applications do not mean the outlandish technology will be arriving in the next iPhone, just that someone in a Cupertino basement cooked it up during a marathon “imagining” session (possibly while enjoying a cool glass of purple stuff). The company’s latest drawings-and-charts masterpiece concerns the construction and placement of photovoltaic cells and, more importantly, using the sun’s energy to illuminate a display. By using a mirror pointed at the sky, you could reflect some rays toward your screen to supplement an LED backlight, or by turning the top lid of your Macbook into a solar panel. Although we can see one minor drawback in using solar powered backlighting — if you have to point your display toward the sun, you’re gonna need some powerful shades.

Continue reading Apple solar patent wants a sunny display light for your Sunny (De)light

Apple solar patent wants a sunny display light for your Sunny (De)light originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Oct 2011 12:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Patently Apple  |  sourceUSPTO, USPTO (2)  | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags:
Oct 17

GE’s new factory will push out one solar panel every ten seconds

Posted in: eco, Environment, green, new-york, power, solar power, SolarPower, Today's Chili, video
General Electric is sending its troops to Colorado to conquer the thin film solar panel business. The 38th state will play home to a new facility that leverages the supermodel-thin panel know-how of PrimeStar Solar, which GE scooped up back in 2008. In traditional solar panels, sand is refined into silicon ingots, sliced wafers of which are then placed in a frame. The thin film process eliminates this, sandwiching layers of semiconductors between panes of glass — saving time, money and, most importantly, energy. The factory will open ahead of schedule in 2012 and is reportedly capable of producing a new panel every ten seconds. You can learn all of that and more in the press release we’ve got for you after the break.

Continue reading GE’s new factory will push out one solar panel every ten seconds

GE’s new factory will push out one solar panel every ten seconds originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Oct 2011 15:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink BusinessWire  |  sourceGE Energy  | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags: ,
Oct 12

MIT researchers suggest graphene could be used to build a better camera sensor

Posted in: mit, research, sensor, solar, solar power, SolarPower, Today's Chili

As you may have noticed from the pace of research over the past few years, graphene is promising to make a whole lot of things a whole lot better. Now, it seems, you can also add camera sensors to the list. A team of MIT researchers recently discovered that graphene can serve as a photodetector over a “very wide energy range,” and that it works particularly well in infrared light, where other types of detectors often come up short. That, the researchers say, could open to the door to everything from better nightvision systems to more advanced detectors for astronomical telescopes — not to mention more inexpensive camera sensors in general, since graphene is cheap to work with. What’s more, the researchers also suggest that those same light-detecting abilities could make graphene a good material for collecting solar energy, although they note that there’s still much more research needed to determine if it’s truly an efficient means of generating energy.

MIT researchers suggest graphene could be used to build a better camera sensor originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Oct 2011 03:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Wired Gadget Lab  |  sourceMIT News  | Email this | Comments

No Comments
Oct 06

Quirky’s ‘Ray,’ a Solar-Charging Suction Cup

Posted in: Accessories and Peripherals, solar power, Today's Chili

Ray sticks to a window and slurps up the sun

How do you make sure your solar panel is always pointing at the sun? Well, sticking it in the window would be a good start, and that’s just what Quirky’s new Ray does — literally.

Ray is a combined solar charger and suction cup, meaning you can stick it to the windshield of your car or the window of a sunny room and convert photons into precious electrons. The simple device also contains a battery, so you can store energy by day and drain it by night. According to the specs, the battery holds enough juice to fully charge a cellphone.

Fresh out of windows? Ray has you covered with a flip-out kickstand, which doubles as a cable tidy for the USB cord when not in use.

I like it, and I’d probably sign up for the $40 needed to pre-order if I wasn’t so impatient. Quirky waits until enough pre-orders have been received before the production lines run, and this can take a looong time. Still, order now and I guess you’ll have one in time for next summer’s sun.

Ray product page [Quirky via Gizmag]

See Also:


No Comments | Tags:
Oct 05

Murata Tactile Controller TV remote hands-on (video)

Posted in: ceatec, hands-on, Japan, prototype, remote control, RemoteControl, solar power, SolarPower, Television, Today's Chili, video

What’s that, you’re not into changing the channel with that boring old remote, or even with your voice? Murata’s ground-up Tactile Controller brings a real twist to every couch potato’s favorite gadget. Quite literally. The company’s prototype remote uses touch-pressure pads and pyroelectricity to analyze the position of a piezoelectric film. In English: a plastic film produces tiny amounts of electricity at various voltages (output as data) when it’s forced into a variety of positions, letting you change the channel simply by twisting the controller in either direction, or flexing to adjust volume. The model we saw was a plastic sandwich of sorts, and also included four solar cells, capable of producing one milliwatt of electricity — just enough to power the device.

We put the controller through its paces at the company’s CEATEC booth, adjusting a TV’s volume and channel up and down, and, well, up and down, since that’s just about all you can do with the thing. The model we saw only supported five twist positions and four bending positions in each direction, so it could theoretically adjust those two basic settings more quickly based on how much pressure you put on the film, but realistically can’t do much beyond that. The Tactile Controller on display here is more of a proof of concept of sorts — with the concept being the plastic film technology itself, and not the battery-free remote control, which the company decided would be the most visual application for testing its new film, though not necessarily the most practical. Understandably, Murata doesn’t have any plans to release the remote that we saw today, but you can jump past this to see us do the twist.

Gallery: Murata Tactile Controller hands-on

Continue reading Murata Tactile Controller TV remote hands-on (video)

Murata Tactile Controller TV remote hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Oct 2011 11:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags:
Sep 25

Inhabitat’s Week in Green: Solar Decathlon, hydrogen jet and a solar LED installation

Posted in: eco, gps, green, LED, mit, solar, solar power, SolarPower, Today's Chili
Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week’s most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us — it’s the Week in Green.

This week an incredible crop of sun-powered prefabricated houses popped up in Washington DC for the 2011 Solar Decathlon, and Inhabitat was on the scene to bring you exclusive coverage of this year’s stunning homes! We took a look at all 19 of this year’s ultra-efficient projects, we rounded up seven stellar teams set to take the competition by storm, and we’ll continue to keep you posted as the results roll in, so stay tuned. We also highlighted several inspiring projects from MIT’s $1,000 house challenge, we saw a massive solar LED installation light up the night in Croatia, and we spotted plans for a futuristic floating island paradise at sea.

Green transportation got things rolling this week as Chicago launched a lush green subway car filled with plants, and Edison unveiled an electric version of their X-Prize winning Very Light Car. Two-wheeled transportation took off as well as an all-electric Tron Lightcycle hit the streets for the first time and researchers developed a nylon bike that is as strong as steel using satellite technology. We also took a spin in the 2012 Honda Insight Hybrid and we showcased plans for a Lockheed Stratoliner hydrogen jet that can travel anywhere on earth without refueling.

As September winds down schools across the county are now in session, but if you’re still scrambling to pick up a few last-minute supplies don’t miss our roundup of 14 green gadgets for back to school and ten solar-powered designs to charge your life. We also saw eco-fashion go high-tech as researchers developed a smart t-shirt that can monitor hospital patients’ vital signs, designers created a motion-sensing interactive window display and a Star Wars fan made a remarkably realistic stormtrooper helmet entirely from Adidas sneakers. Finally, we shined a light on a Swedish daycare center’s plans to track kids with GPS tracking devices.

Inhabitat’s Week in Green: Solar Decathlon, hydrogen jet and a solar LED installation originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 25 Sep 2011 18:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags: